Columnist Peter Benton: Seelman, Creaney win Pro-Pro event

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday's.

The Las Vegas chapter of the Southwest Section of the PGA recently held its first Pro-Pro of the new year at the Desert Willow Golf Course.

The event, an alternate shot of twosomes on holes 1-6, a best ball on holes 7-12 and a scramble on holes 13-18, was a walkover for professionals Carl Seelman and John Creaney of the Las Vegas Country Club. They won all three segments, coming in with an overall score of 54 on the par-60 layout.

In the alternate shot portion, their score of 19 edged John Spatz and Chad Myers of Desert Willow; Tom Vold (Legacy) and Jason Mattiani (Angel Park); and the pairing of Mike Messner (Palm Valley) and Chris Sarrett (Anthem CC), who all shared second with 20.

Seelman and Creaney tied in the best-ball segment of play with 18, the same score as Mike Starks (Paiute) and Brian Anderson (Spanish Trail). Seven other teams shared third spot at 19.

In the scramble, the LVCC duo tied with Scotty Greer (Highland Falls) and Jerry Holley (Legacy), along with the Desert Willow pairing of Spatz and Myers. All these teams came in with 17.

Overall results were: Seelman/Creaney, 54; Spatz/Myers, 56; Vold/Mattiani, Anderson/Starks and Greer/Holley, all with 59.

* THE EXEMPT EIGHT: Eight players earned fully exempt status for the Senior PGA Tour via a qualifying tournament held at the Grenelefe Golf and Tennis Resort in Haines City, Fla.

The medalist was Allen Doyle, followed by Bruce Fleisher, who, in his first start as a Senior Tour player, won last week's opening full field event of the season, the Royal Caribbean Classic.

Others who qualified for the Tour were Tom McGinnis, Barney Thompson, Jim Thorpe, Howard Twitty and Fred Gibson.

Gibson had played on the Senior Tour in 1998 but failed to retain his exempt status, finishing 56th on the money list with $276,436 in earnings. Doyle, Fleisher, Thorpe and Twitty all played on the PGA Tour.

* SUPER BOWL FOURSOME: Gorgeous golfing weather prevailed for a Super Bowl Tournament staged for members of the Las Vegas Country Club. The format of this blind draw for partner event was three low net balls of foursome with full handicap.

The team of Bill Jeffries, Leo Durant, Nancy Ashworth and Mary Weidman won with a 208.

The winners owed their success in large part to the play of Ashworth, who came in with a score of 10-under 62 on her own ball.

The four teams who tied for second with 210s were: Jerry Kring, Larry Paluzzi, Joann Feikes, Ed Felesky; Bob Frusco, John Woodrum, Syd Lilly, Brenda Strimling; and Mike Wood, Niki Devine, Bill Champion, Don Slack.

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