Staff writer
Twenty four participants met early Saturday at Pine Edge golf course near Goessel for the course’s 12th annual putting tournament.
K-State sophomore Dakota Cavaraugh of McPherson won, beating out his father, Mike Cavaraugh, and winning $100 and a green vest.
Asked whether he was proud of his son’s victory, Mike jokingly said “Well, he did beat me out.”
Dakota, who also won the competition in 2011, joked:
“The vest still doesn’t fit.”
Mike advised that taking a vacation and not worrying about it was one way to prepare for the competition, while Dakota said taking a break from the sport was how he prepared.
“Don’t play golf for a week and a half,” Dakota responded. “I saved up all my good shots.”
After the putting competition, Mike and Dakota made up a team in a two-person scramble.
“This is our first year together because he gave up on golf for three or four years,” Mike said. “He’s back to where he enjoys it.”
“Yeah, I pulled a Tiger,” Dakota said. “I took a couple year break.”
The top five placers for the putting competition were: Dakota Cavaraugh of McPherson, first place; Avery Anderson of Newton, second place; Greg Dick of Newton, third place; Delbert Peters of Goessel, fourth place; and Alex Richert of Newton, fifth place.
Chet Roberts of Newton and Leroy Koehn of Moundridge placed first in the scramble, shooting an 8-under-par 52. Second place went to Anthony Jenkins of Wichita and Clyde Goering of Moundridge; third to Alex Richard and Avery Anderson, both from Newton; fourth to Don and Riley Kingsley, both of Newton; and fifth to Gregg Dick of Newton and Dale Dick of Moundridge
Myron Schmidt, a former dairy farmer and owner of Pine Edge, said that the tournament was just for fun.
“There really is no putting tournament around that I know of,” Schmidt said. “It’s a fun little tournament we have every year.”
The course itself, which took seven years to complete, was what Schmidt decided to do after quitting the dairy business.
“One day I thought ‘oh, it’d be fun to build a golf course,’” he said, “so I got up on this 40-foot-high silo, got a pad and pencil, and started drawing the layout.”
The next competition at Pine Edge will be an Oct. 8 fundraiser for Goessel Community Foundation.
“It’s associated with the 90th anniversary of the Goessel school system,” Schmidt said, “so we’re expecting a lot of alumni to come in and participate.”