Tim Jackson (2nd left) and Craig Smith accept their trophies
JUPITER, Florida (Jan. 6, 2016) -- Three days, three
different formats. And it still took a sudden-death
playoff to crown a winning team.
Tim Jackson of Germantown, Tenn. and Craig
Smith (Springfield, Tenn.) fired a 10-under 62 today
in the scramble portion of the National Senior-Junior,
then defeated Arnie Cutrell and Darin Kowalski of
Pennsylvania in sudden-death to win the National
Senior-Junior title.
The tournament's field included living legends
like Jackson, Mike McCoy, Buddy Marucci, and Spider
Miller paired alongside younger players. Some of
them are legends in their own right, for example
record 4-time U.S. Mid-Am champion Nathan Smith
of Pittsburgh.
The first round is a standard Four-Ball
competition, and in the second round the unique
Pinehurst format, a unique spin on alternate shot
that evidently was invented at the historic course in
North Carolina. Players hit their tee shots, then
switch and hit from their partner's location (fun if
you're playing with Fred Funk, let's say) and choose
which ball they like from their and play pure
alternate shot when holing out. For the final round, a
scramble was used. And while you know what that
is, you may never have played it as a two person
team. It's fun, and the scores reflected it with one
team (David Abbell and Kris Mikkelsen) firing 60.
Jackson and Smith (66) trailed Allen Barber and
Buck Brittain of Viriginia (65) after the best ball
portion on Monday, then posted 71 on Tuesday,
which put them a shot behind Cutrell and Kowalski,
(67-69=136).
Playing together on Wednesday, Jackson and
Smith edged the Pennsylvania duo by a shot to force
sudden death at 199 for 54-holes. And while the final
round's scramble may have been fairly laid back, the
combined-score sudden-death playoff format was
anything but. When you have to count both, things
tend to tense up a bit. Jackson and Smith scored a 1-
under 9 on the par-5 10th hole to end things in a
hurry.
Tommy Brennan and Patrick Christovich fired a
final round 61 to post 200, just missing out on the
playoff, while 2015 USA Walker Cup team member
Mike McCoy and partner John Engler (a former PGA
Tour player) posted 202 to finish in fourth.
LEGENDS DIVISION
Van Lefferdink of Juno, Florida and Steve
Earsley of Hobe Sound, Florida also required extra
holes to take their trophy home -- they defeated
John Baer (Met Section, CT/NY) and Bill Hadden
(Manchester, Vermont) after both teams finished at
203.
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Legends
winners Steve Earsley (l) with Van Lefferdink (rt)
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View results for National Senior Junior
ABOUT THE
National Senior Junior
Mid Amateur, Senior Amateur. Unique three-format
54 hole invitational features a "junior" (mid
am) and a senior paired together. There is also a
Legends division
that pairs legends and super seniors. Started in 1991
by some
Society of Seniors members, the tournament is
played
on a
wonderful course re-done by Pete Dye. One round
each of Best-Ball, Scramble, and
Pinehurst format.
View Complete Tournament Information