John Bambling Wins 2005 PPA Great Lakes Tour Championship (Monroeville, PA

2005 Great Lakes Tour Championship

John Bambling Defeats Jim Cruse to Win His First Great Lakes Tour Championship Title

John Bambling
2005 PPA Great Lakes Tour Champion

17-18 September 2005 – Monroeville, PA - John Bambling defeated Jim Cruse in the finals of the 2005 Great Lakes Tour Championship in Monroeville, PA. Bambling earned his berth in the finals winning the match play portion of the championship on Saturday while Cruse won the medal play portion on Sunday.

In the final match, Bambling and Cruse were even with ten holes to play. Bambling's putt on the ninth hole caught the right block off the back hill and fell into the cup. Cruse's putt was too far left and Cruse went one down. An ace by Bambling on the tenth hole paired with Cruse's miss left Bambling two up with eight holes to play. Both players aced holes 11, 13, 14, 15 and 16 leaving Bambling two up with two holes to play. With honors in the match, Bambling's ace on hole 17 closed out the match earning him the title and the $1,000 first place prize money.

Jeff Brown Defeats Walt Kizzie to Win His Third Great Lakes Tour APA Championship Title

The Great Lakes Tour traveled to Monroeville, PA this weekend to face off for the final weekend of the 2005 season. It was an action packed weekend, starting with the Monroeville Open on Saturday morning and moving right into the match play portion of the Tour Finals on Saturday afternoon. The field returned to the tees on Sunday morning for the 108 hole medal play portion of the Tour Finals, and finished with the tour's grand finale, a 36 hole match play showdown between the winners of Saturday's match play event and the Sunday medal play event.

The opening matches of the GLT Finals match play event began, with only two competitors in the opening match, followed by the rest of the field in the second match. It was a day of upsets for many of the favorites, with only two of the top 8 seeds getting past their opening matches. Even bigger upsets came in the quarter-final matches, with Rick Wohlgemuth knocking off the reigning 2005 APA National Champion Walt Kizzie shooting on his home course and past APA National Champion Jeff Brown taking down the reigning 2005 APA World Match Play Champion. Brown went on to score a come from behind win against Wohlgemuth in the final match, acing 9 in a row to seal his position in Sunday's final match with the winner of the medal play portion of the tour finals.

In Sunday morning's 108-hole medal play event, reigning 2005 APA National Champion Walt Kizzie put on another show similar to his national championship comeback, overcoming an 8 stroke deficit from the morning's opening 3 rounds to take a two stroke victory over John Tuite who had dominated the earlier rounds. Former APA National Champion Jeff Brown also took advantage of late round slips by Tuite to move into a tie for the second position with Tuite, with Rick Wohlgemuth a couple of more strokes back in fourth.

Saturday's match play winner Jeff Brown and Sunday's medal play winner Walt Kizzie squared off in a head to head 36-hole match play showdown to determine the tour champion. With Kizzie the home town favorite, Brown took the early lead, but that lead would dwindle, and at the half way point Kizzie was up on Brown by two holes. Brown fought back to square the match going into the second 18 holes, but again lost momentum and by Hole 7 Kizzie again enjoyed a two hole lead in the match. Brown scored huge on holes 8, 9, and 10 to take control of the match. Kizzie would square the match again, but again Brown fought back and retook control of the match on Hole 14. Brown continued to fight off Kizzie, and with an ace on the final hole would win his third Great Lakes Tour Championship.

The weekend marked the end of the 2005 Great Lakes Tour season and the end of the Player of the Year battle. Scott Copeland, who lead the tour in points earned and tournament victories was named the Great Lakes Tour Player Of The Year. Additionally, Bill Combs was very deservingly named the Great Lakes Tour Sportsmanship Award winner.

Earning the right to represent the tour in the Hancock Cup was Scott Copeland, Jeff Brown, John Tuite, Barb Mingo, Walt Kizzie, and Don Mathews. The team will represent the Great Lakes Tour in the Hancock Cup competition in High Point, NC in October.

Recap of 2005 APA Great Lakes Tour Finals courtesy of AmPutters.com.

Professional Division of the 2005 Great Lakes Tour Championship
(Monroeville, PA - 17 September 2005)
Match-Play Competition

	1st Round ($60)	2nd Round ($80)	3rd Round ($140)	Quarter-Finals ($200)	Semi-Finals ($325)	Finals ($550)
	1	Jim Cruse
16	Harry Sykes		Ken Hastings
17	Ken Hastings	Ken Hastings
				Ken Hastings
	8	James Weber
			James Weber
	9	Jim Heikkinen
					Dave Nutini
	4	Robb Titchell
13	Peter Neumann		Craig Williams
20	Craig Williams	Craig Williams
				Dave Nutini
	5	Dave Nutini
12	Nate Nichols		Dave Nutini
21	Dom Perry	Nate Nichols

	2	R. Beckerman				John Bambling
15	John Ventura		R. Beckerman			Match Play Winner
18	Jim Engel	John Ventura				Match Play Winner
				John Bambling
	7	John Kropinak
10	John Bambling		John Bambling
23	Mike O'Rourke	John Bambling
					John Bambling
	3	Scott Buddie
14	Bennie Williams		Todd Viau
19	Todd Viau	Todd Viau
				Charlie Greenwalt
	6	Paul Johns
11	Paul Pastilong		Charlie Greenwalt
22	Charlie Greenwalt	Charlie Greenwalt

Amateur Division of the 2005 Great Lakes Tour Championship
(Monroeville, PA - 17 September 2005)
Match-Play Competition