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| Sports ExtraSunday, May 11, 2008 10:40 PM CDT |
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Decatur tries to defend Signature Cup title
Mark Tupper mtupper@herald-review.com DECATUR – The quest to defend Decatur's victory in the inaugural Lee Enterprises Signature Cup golf challenge will accelerate this weekend with a qualifying tournament. Decatur defeated a team of amateur men and women and club pros from Bloomington-Normal 12½-11½ last year at Red Tail Run. This year it's Bloomington-Normal's turn to host the Signature Cup, presented by Budweiser Select. And the match play challenge will be contested June 21-22 at The Den at Fox Creek, the Arnold Palmer-designed course in Bloomington. Each captain is responsible for selecting up to 10 amateur men, three amateur women and three pros. Hammel began that process by selecting eight ''captain's picks'' on the amateur side and three club pros. This weekend's qualifier will determine the remaining four amateur men and one more amateur woman. In picking six amateur men and two amateur women, Hammel has returned to the exact same selections he went with in 2007, something he said was made ''extremely difficult'' this year due to the performance of 2007's clutch team member, Lon Lugten. Lugten's courageous battle to score in singles play against Todd Mitchell, regarded as Bloomington-Normal's best player, gave Decatur the winning margin in a tense showdown was not decided until the 17th hole on the final match of the day. That alone made Hammel think long and hard about elevating Lugten to one of his captain's picks this year. But he decided to go with the same six amateur men, a group that includes Tommy Bliefnick, Nick Chadwick, Kraig Rogers, Rod Maxwell, Dave White and Larry Osborne. ''It's probably the toughest decision I've ever had to make,'' said Hammel, who realizes Lugten must now qualify in this weekend's event at Hickory Point and Red Tail Run. ''I really want Lon on this team. But we felt strongly about having four spots open to golfers who would like a chance to qualify and I also felt strongly about the six golfers I named last year. ''Plus I think some of their games could really help us at The Den.'' Hammel, along with assistant captains Darryl Stock and Marilyn Dechert, said they expect about 30 men to participate in the qualifier and are hoping for several women to enter. The format for this weekend's qualifier is 18 holes of stroke play at Hickory Point Saturday morning. On the men's side, the 16 low golfers will move to Red Tail Run for a match play round Saturday afternoon. From there, the field will be seeded. The low individual golfer will be matched against the 16th individual, No. 2 against No. 15, and so on. The eight winners Saturday afternoon will be paired in four match play matches Sunday and those four winners will make the Signature Cup team. Hammel and his assistant captains are bringing back Hilary Anderson and Kallie Harrison as two of the women's players with the third spot up for grabs this weekend. And Hammel said his three pros will be Signature Cup veterans Kurt Rogers and Rick Anderson as well as Country Club of Decatur pro Steve Orrick, Jr. Bloomington-Normal will be led by a new captain this season. Harland Kilborn, who competed last year as one of Bloomington-Normal's pros, takes over the team and has made his selections. The amateur men's roster will include Todd Mitchell, William Cullen, Elston Mitchell, Jeff Niepagen, Drew Miller, Mike Henry, Tom Kerfott and Josh Wheeler. Assistant coach Mike Cushing may also be used as a player. The three women's players are Stacey Miller, Marisa Milligan and Erin Bradley. The pros will be Craig Onsrud and Illinois State University coach Ray Kralis. Mark Tupper can be reached at mtupper@herald-review.com or at 421-7983. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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