Wednesday, July 11, 2001
N.Ky. men's medalist soon to be pro
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer contributor
COVINGTON — Tom Cahill sees the end of his amateur golf career coming, and he's trying to make the best of it.
Cahill, who on Monday tied for medalist honors at the Northern Kentucky Men's Amateur with a 4-under-par 66, followed up Tuesday with a 4-and-3 victory over Jeff Lehkamp in the first round of match play at Twin Oaks Golf Club.
After this tournament, Cahill, a 1997 graduate of Scott High School, will be assistant pro at Traditions Golf Club.
“This is my last amateur event,” Cahill said.
It's a long amateur career for the 22-year-old Cahill, who still remembers being a 5-year-old hitting chip shots with his grandfather, Dick Cahill.
“Out in the backyard is where we started,” Tom Cahill said. “He decided I had to go someplace else when I started hitting it through his yard and into the neighbors' yard.”
Lehkamp didn't have much of a chance against Cahill on Tuesday. Cahill's day included five birdies inside 8 feet.
“I'm just playing and having fun,” Cahill said.
Former champions
Former champions compiled a 3-2 record in championship flight play Tuesday.
Defending champion Barry Wehrman, Lance Lucas (1999) and Charlie Nieman ('75, '83 and '93) advanced; Gary Herfel ('83) and Don Niehaus ('77, '91) lost.
Wehrman kept his chance at being the first repeat winner since Tom Goeke did it in 1995 and '96. He shot a 1-under-par 69 Monday, and he defeated Jim McCausey, 4and3, on Tuesday.
“(McCausey) would hit it ugly, and I would hit it uglier,” Wehrman said. “We traded ugly. We wouldn't have made the championship flight if they'd kept score.”
Odds and ends
Dominic Catacora, Monday's other co-medalist, won his first-round match, a 3-and-2 victory over Dave Gastright. And like Wehrman, Catacora described his game as unfit for viewing.
“I was just hacking around, just making pars,” Catacora said. “I hit two fairways. I couldn't aim for the green; I was in the rough.”
• Andrew Stephens is just 16 years old, but the Covington Latin senior is playing with years more maturity. He eliminated Herfel, 3and2.
“I'm just having fun when I play,” Stephens said. “I'm a dark horse. I don't have any expectations.”
Stephens finished third in the Signal Mountain junior amateur tournament last month in Chattanooga, Tenn. He said he prefers match play to the 36-hole stroke play he would face if he beats Phil Harper today.
“I think (match play is) more exciting,” Stephens said. “You can take more gambles in stroke play.”
Another championship flight competitor, Covington Catholic graduate Ross Kreutzjans, will begin his collegiate golf career at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala.
Kreutzjans chose Spring Hill, an NAIA Division I school, over NCAA Division I Dayton.
“It's a smaller school,” Kreutzjans said of Spring Hill. “My coach (Steve Hedges) said I'd play as a freshman.”
N.Ky. Men's pairings, results |
N.Ky. Women's pairings, results
Check out our Tristate golf guide for a directory and features on local courses, coverage of the Men's and Women's Met, and other news.
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N.Ky. men's medalist soon to be pro
