Mulligan Tour News

Mike Prieskorn improved his finish from the day before by one place to take the Two Stick title. His 7 under par 65 set an event record by 2 shots over last years winner Scott Wilsey. Rod Theunissen finished 2nd at 4 under par. Roger Smith was 3rd at 1 under and Brian Pieszchala took 4th at even par. On course prizes went to John Nievierowski and Prieskorn. The win is Mike's 15th on Tour in 176 Tour starts, moving him ahead of Rich Dunmore to solo 6th All Time.

Thomas Mulhern strung six birdies and an eagle at Shenandoah for a 7 under par 65 and a 3 shot win over Mike Prieskorn and Scott Wilsey the defending champ. Tim Markel finished 4th at 1 under par 71. Mulhern captures the 2nd coolest trophy on Tour. Fewest putts went to Prieskorn, Markel and Joe Robar with 33. Mulhern hit 14 greens in his round. This is Thom's 1st Tour win in 22 starts. The event also marked the milestone of 150 Tour events for Chuck Withey.

Mike Geisser exploded from the gate with 2 eagles and added 4 more birdies to make the turn at Lake Erie Metropark in 28. He cooled off only slightly, making 4 more birdies on the back nine to finish with a sparkling 9 under par 63 and a 3 shot win over Steve Villerot and defending champ Scott Wilsey. David Martin took 4th at 5 under par 67. Martin also swept the on course prizes including the All Star team invite to the Skins Game. The win is Geisser's 3rd in 128 Tour starts.

For the second day in a row Chris Cooley won a Playoff to get the win, this time at his own sponsored event! The host again held par in the playoff to outlast Chuck Withey and John Lennane who suffered one bogey each to tie for 2nd. Brian Lardin took 4th at even par 1 shot out of the playoff. Chris gets win #13 on Tour to move to 8th on the all-time list. The plethora of on course prizes were dispersed to Helen Puffenberger, Withey (2), Corey McCue (long drive) and Eric Birkle (2). Lardin had a milestone round with his 50th Tour event played.

Chris Cooley's Pro picks at the Quad Tour Challenge spotted him a 3 shot lead and he held onto it to get into a playoff with Jeff Klipa who came from 6 shots back to tie in regulation at 19 under par. Cooley held serve in the playoff with all pars to top Klipa by one in the 4 hole aggregate format. Kevin Gregoire took 3rd at 18 under par, gaining 3 strokes in his round, and Greg Kline was 4th at 16 under par making up 4 shots in his round. Kline now has 100 Top 4 finishes in his career. Helen Puffenberger and David Hansen took the on course prizes and Charlie Roy earned the coveted Skins Game invitation. The win is Chris' 12th in 138 events.

June 28, 2019 Madison Heights
Chuck closes

Chuck 'The Closer' Withey birdied two of his last 3 holes to get into the shootout at Red Oaks, then dropped an ace on the first putt of the shootout to ride off with the Tour's coolest trophy. Chuck held his nerve thru the remaining 4 shootout holes at par to hold off Tyler Floyd and Helen Puffenburger with a record tying 17 points. Floyd played par thru the shootout for a conventional 15 points. Puffenberger tied him with a roller-coaster shootout that included an ace of her own among 2 pars and 2 bogeys. 2015 champ Rich Dunmore made the shootout and finished 4th. Puffenberger led the preliminary round at 5 under par to get into the shootout. The win is Chuck's 9th and 146 Tour starts.

The 2019 Harbour Pointe Open came down to the final hole with 3 players tied for the lead at Paint Creek Country Club. All playing in the final group, Rich Dunmore, Chuck Withey and David Hansen teed up on the 36th hole of the HPO (the course's 9th hole) tied at 9 over par. Hansen finds the right rough but can see the hole. Both Withey and Dunmore find the trees and are forced to layup short of the creek running across the hole about 50 yards short of the green. Hansen decides to go for it, but the ball is cut by the wind and is falling short in the creek. Whack! It hits the wooden bridge crossing the creek on the right and bounces to the edge of the green! Hansen pars to win! Withey and Dunmore tie for 2nd at 10 over par and Scott Wilsey took 4th at 12 over par. Hansen has the size of Reavie with the record of Koepka having now won 3 majors in 4 wins on Tour in 34 starts. The win also moves him to #1 in the World Rankings with only a couple weeks to go until the Match Play Championship.

Day 1 at HPO
June 22, 2019
Rich Dunmore shot a tidy 3 over par on a tough day at Paint Creek. Tough wind and a tough course kept this major's scores in US Open territory with cut made at 17 over par. Dunmore enters day two 1 shot up on David Hansen and two up on Chuck Withey and Ned Loving. The day 1 on course prizes went to Helen Puffenberger (2), Ned Loving and Corey McCue.

True to this reporter's prediction, it was just a matter of time until Don Ward made it to the winner's circle. Rookie Don had quickly amassed 4 top 4 finishes coming into Saturday at St. Johns. He logged #5 in style with a sterling 7 under par 65 for a 3 shot victory over fellow rookie and playing partner Greg Paddison. Ward made impressive use of his Holy Hand Grenades to dunk consecutive 1's on the par 5 sixth and the par 3 7th and post a gross 71 with only 22 putts. Eric Birkle, Jeff Pasz, John Lennane and Willi Hesse all tied for 3rd at 3 under par. On course prizes went to Ward and Birkle and Hesse earned the coveted West Skins Game invitation.

Kevin Gregoire hit 13 greens on his way to a solid 1 over par 55 to take this year's Par 54 by 2 shots over perennial contender and defending champ David Martin. Brian Lardin, Barb Hoelzle and Rod Theunissen all tied for 3rd. Barb's Top 4 finish marked a milestone 50 times she has accomplished the feat on Tour. For Gregoire it is his 3rd Tour win in 77 starts. On course prizes went to Steve Villerot and Helen Puffenburger.

John Raymond stood up to the elements for a solid win at the East Side Charity Classic. Even the creepy cormorants of the dead tree in the lake didn't like the spitting rain and 2 club wind. But John posted a 5 under par 66 to hold off Bill Gordon (3 under 68), Willi Hesse (2 under 69) and Ron Hiestand (1 under 70). It is John's 4th Tour win in 105 starts. On course prizes went to Gordon, Al Stroup and Seth Erskine. Milestone of 100 events played achieved by Eric Birkle.

Mike Lum and family hosted another great event to honor his grandmother Reatha on Saturday. And Greg Kline found his winning form to notch his 23rd career victory in his 266th start. Kline walked away from the field with a back nine 31 which included 5 of his 9 birdies on the day. Kline's 7 under par 64 gave him a 3 shot win over 3 players who tied with 4 under 67 including Eric Birkle, #1 Gregg Nothdurft and impressive rookie Don Ward who keeps getting closer and closer to a win. On course prizes went to Ward, Birkle, Roger Smith and Chuck Withey. Milestones to Kevin Gregoire (75 events) and John Hawkinson (25). Kline is now tied for 2nd in all time wins with Rick Persichetti.
Charity check

Big check for charity! Thanks Lum family!

Corey McCue took home his 4th career win in his first Fox Hunt. In an event where accuracy counts more than score, McCue hit 11 greens on the day including the key valuable 18th to lock up 59 points and the win. He topped Mike Prieskorn who also hit 11 greens and finished strong with 4 in a row to post 54 points. David Martin garnered 53 points for 3rd place and Kevin Gregoire tied Jeff Graunke with 52 points for 4th. This was McCue's 54th Tour start, but first time to play in the Fox Hunt. He also took an on course prize along with Barb Hoelzle, Rich Dunmore and Gregoire. The event also marked milestone starts for Scott Wilsey (75) and Steve Villerot (100).

Chris Cooley dealt 6 birdies and an eagle to take the Casino Classic at Twin Lakes for the 2nd year in a row. Chris was a tidy 3 under par on both nines for a 6 under 65 total and 3 shot win over Don Ward and Rich Dunmore. Eric Birkle took 4th with a 2 under par 69. Chris now has 11 wins on Tour in 132 starts and is now tied with Thom Bales for 9th All Time in wins on Tour. The Casino is the 3rd Tour event that Chris has won twice, previously doubling in the Sweet Sixteen and Memorial.

In an epic battle of Jeff's, Jeff Pasz outlasted Jeff Graunke in a 9 hole playoff for the Dudlee's Plymouth Open title. Both tied in regulation with excellent 8 under par 62's. Pasz finished regulation birdie-birdie-eagle to run down Graunke who also finished with a birdie and recorded the season's first Albatross on the 2nd hole. Steve Villerot finished 3rd at 5 under 65 and Rookie Don Ward tied last weeks winner John Raymond for 4th at 3 under par. On course prizes went to Villerot, Raymond, David Martin and Ned Loving. In world ranking news, all three players with a shot at the #1 spot tied for 16th! As a result Gregg Nothdurft holds on to top spot for another week. The win is Jeff Pasz's 3rd on Tour, his previous 2 being Majors. It was the first career playoff for both Jeff's.

Jeff Graunke did get a consolation in accepting the charity check for Leader Dogs for the Blind of $540.

John Raymond managed his string just a little bit better than the field at the Strokes on a Rope and overtook David Martin on the last hole for a regulation tie. Raymond then held his nerve for pars in the playoff and a 1 shot final hole victory. Martin was on track for only the second Blue Ribbon in the event's history, awarded to 3 time winners. But Raymond played the last 3 holes under par (the only player in the field to manage it) with a birdie on the par 3 17th to overtake Martin. The win is Raymond's 3rd in his 100th start on Tour. It was also Raymond's first playoff for a 1-0 record, while Martin falls to 4-4 in playoff appearances. Two time defending champ Jeff Klipa and Jeff Pasz tied for 3rd. Klipa missed retaining the #1 World Ranking by 1 shot as Gregg Nothdurft's 6th place was good enough to edge decimal points ahead of Klipa, and return to where he started the season in the World Rankings. Jeff Cubel and Kevin Gregoire took the on course prizes and Rod 'Tuna' Theunissen earned the Skins Game invitation.

David Hansen took his 2nd Memorial title in 3 years, this time with this year's top rookie Gregg Paddison, who becomes the Tour's 20th player to make a Major his first win. The pair started on the 10th hole and played their 'front' nine with 4 birdies and added 5 on the course's front 9 including 4 in a row to pull away from the pack. Their 8 under 64 tied the event record set in 2015 by the defending champs Chuck Withey and Chris Cooley, and matched the following year by current World #1 Jeff Klipa and former #1 Mike Prieskorn. John Raymond and Helen Puffenberger finished 2nd with a 6 under 66. Eric Birkle and Joe Robar teamed for 3rd at 67 -5, and Ned Loving and Jeff Pasz were 4th at 4 under par 68. Paddison's effort vaults him into the Top 50 of the Tour World Rankings after only 8 events, moving to 44th. For Hansen it is his 3 Tour win and 2nd Major in 31 starts. Paddison moves to #2 on the Money List. And in the fight for World #1 Jeff Kipa and Gregg Nothdurft fought to a draw on the course and Klipa remains #1 by decimals.

Helen Puffenberger took a convincing win at Cherry Creek Golf Club Saturday. She went out in 30 and birdied the turn with 5 in a row from 8 to 12 to pull out to an insurmountable lead. She hit 11 fairways and 9 greens in a 9 birdie - 1 eagle round. Her 8 under par 64 matched Gary Thomas' course and tournament records from 2017. Jeff Graunke birdied the 18th hole to secure 2nd place at 5 under par. Gregg Nothdurft, Bill Gordon and Eric Birkle all tied for 3rd at 4 under par. On course prizes went to Corey McCue and Graunke. Barb Hoelzle earned the 2nd invitation to the East Skins Game. Helen's win is her 4th on Tour in 79 starts.

For the third time in four years Gregg Nothdurft finished regulation play in 1st place, taking his 2nd Title in that stretch. Sunday Gregg tamed a wet track for a convincing 6 under par 66 and a four shot victory. Corey McCue and the ever competitive Rich Dunmore tied for 2nd at 2 under par. Chuck Withey, Joe Robar and top rookie Gregg Paddison all tied for 4th place. On course prizes went to Nothdurft and Tom Moran. Notably McCue and Gary Thomas notched their 50th starts on Tour. Nothdurft finished with a birdie and 2 eagles over the last 5 holes to break from the pack. The win is Gregg's 7th in 104 Tour starts. After the weekend's events Rich Dunmore takes over the Money lead and Jeff Klipa holds on to the #1 World Ranking but has Gregg Nothdurft nipping at his heals.
In the Animal House featured event, the Zoo Animal Putt Off, Corey McCue took home the prize on the 1st overtime hole after giving way to a regulation tie with Joe Robar. Dan Gubachy and Willi Hesse took home participation awards.
Corey master putter

Zoo Animal Corey McCue wins putt off.

Ron Hiestand strung together 3 finishing birdies to overtake and tie Rich Dunmore at the Sparty Classic. Ron then ground out a tough win in the first playoff of this Tour season to take his 4th Tour title in 78 starts. Both ended regulation with 6 under par 66 scores, 3 shots ahead of 3rd place Joe Brandenburg. Kevin Gregoire continued his hot play and tied Ned Loving for 4th at 1 under par. On course prizes went to Gregg Nothdurft and Gregoire while the Skins Game invite was earned by Jeff Graunke.
Winner

Ron Hiestand sinks the winner!

Rich Dunmore closed with birdie birdie eagle finish to come from behind and take the new Tin Cup. Dunmore finished 3 under par and slid past Gregg Nothdurft and Rick Floyd who finished at 2 under. Rookie Don Ward showed he is going to be a force this season by taking 4th. Dunmore took his 14th Tour win in 226 starts and extended his Tour leading consecutive annual win streak to 9 years. On course prize went to Jeff Pasz. Seth Erskine took fewest putts prize while Bob Delorey had the high gross score. And Steve Villerot earned the first invitation to the Skins Game. 2019 marks the first year the Tin Cup is sponsored by Kathy Kowalczyk of Kowality Golf. We thank Kathy for her support!

Donation

New sponsor Kathy Kowalczyk shows off the funds raised for the Tin Cup charity, Common Ground Mobile Medical.

Kevin Gregoire tore thru his back nine at Hudson Mills with 7 birdies and a 30 to take the Chelsea Classic at Hudson Mills Metropark Course. 10 birdies overall gave him a 3 under par 68 and a 2 shot margin over Corey McCue and Dan Gubachy. McCue had 5 birdies and Gubachy 6 on his home course. John Raymond, Helen Puffenberger and Barb Hoelzle all tied for 4th. On course prizes went to McCue and Barb Hoelzle. The win is Kevin's 2nd on Tour. After starting on 18, his back nine began with a birdie on the 9th and finished with 5 in a row to fly into first.

Winner's check presented by Co-Sponsor Mike Fox

Chuck Withey hit 11 greens on his way to a 3 shot, 4 under par, win at the Pine View Classic on a blustery and, at the end, very wet day. Rookie Gregg Paddison made 5 birdies in his first official event to take 2nd at 1 under par. Kevin Gregoire took 3rd at 2 over par and 2017 winner Corey McCue, Greg Kline and Rick Floyd all tied for 4th at 3 over par. It was Kline's 98th top 4 finish and Floyd's 1st. The win is Chuck's 8th in 131 starts and his 41st top 4 finish. For the second week in a row, the player not playing ascends to World #1 as Jeff Klipa claims the spot for the first time.
Special thanks to our new sponsor and charity, Rollin' with the Homies. The bike riding fundraising team collected $450 to fight MS.
Big donation

Tyler Floyd picked up right where he left off last season with a stellar round at the Sweet Sixteen. Floyd made 6 birdies and 1 eagle and tossed his only two bogeys to post an 8 under par, 5 shot victory. Tim Markel tied Mike Geisser for 2nd at 3 under par. And Nic Duff tied Mike Prieskorn for 4th at 2 under par. Markel tied Floyd with 31 putts total on the day. The win is Tyler's 2nd in only 13 starts, his other coming at last fall's Western Championship. Gregg Nothdurft notched his 100th Tour start, but relinquished the number one ranking back to Corey McCue after enjoying it for the winter.

April 7, 2019 Livonia
With temps approaching 70 degrees, Q-School 2 gave 6 rookies another score for their book. In addition, Mark Winn returns to the Tour for the first time since 2015. Don Ward was again the rookie medalist, topping his Saturday score by 1 with an 80 at Whispering Willows. For the Vets, John Raymond turned in a second straight strong round, topping Tyler Floyd by 2 with a 2 over par 72. The 'winter soldiers' Chuck Withey and Chris Cooley finished T-3.

The weather cooperated for a great Qualifier on Saturday at Fox Creek. The rookie class of 2019 qualified 8 players on day one. Welcome to Don Ward, Greg Paddison, Melek Kayser, Glenn Stockdale, Doug Bell, Mike Fox, Rod Theunissen and Jeff Cubel. Medalist for the day went to Ward with a fine 81 for the round. For the Veterans, Corey McCue's winter workouts paid off with a medalist winning 1 under par 70. He outlasted one of the 'winter warriors' Chris Cooley who shot 1 over 72.

April 1, 2019
No Fooling! The registration is open for our season opener, the Sweet Sixteen at Blackheath. This year the late Easter Holiday messed with the schedule a bit. So we decided to take it easy on you and only count 16 of your holes in the first event of the year! We have several rookies auditioning at Q-School this weekend and a few returning grizzled vets who are looking to hobble up to those Senior Tees this year. The deadline for declaring that choice for the 57 and plus year-olds is today. And a little love to the flat bellies out there. Bring your game boys. The old guys will be hitting wedges into the greens this year! Let's rock this!

I cannot believe it is already March 5^th and at the same time Spring cannot get here soon enough. I have played a bunch of winter golf here in Michigan and my streak continues. I’ve gotten to 48 months with at least 1 round per month in Michigan. Yes, a couple of days were a little Chilly but a small price to pay.

This week the Golf Show will be at Suburban Show Place in Novi. The Mulligan Tour will have a booth at the show (Booth 415). If you are at the show stop by and say hi.

This year we have added Senior Tees for any player 57 as of June 1^st can play the Senior Tees. Please realize that for most tournaments we are playing from the White Tees and there is no forward Men’s tee box, so in those cases everyone plays the same tees. Those Tournaments we play at a tee box farther back a senior will play the next forward tee box. In simple terms when we are playing the Blue Tees the Seniors will play the White tees. All those who are 57 or qualify for the Senior Tees have to elect to be a senior and play the senior tees. The selection has to be made by April 1^st and you will be playing the Senior Tees for the entire year. If you elect to play the Senior Tees you will automatically be placed at the forward tees for all events. The only exception to this rule is the Senior Open where all players are playing the most forward tee box.

With the increase in popularity of the Commissioners Cup we have decided to expand the teams to 10 players each. As before the Commissioner is 1 of the players and then the next 7 players will be same as before and come from the top 15 of players in the division money list. The last 2 players will now be Commissioners pick but the player they choose must meet one of the following requirements.

If you haven’t played in the Commissioners Cup, it is a Ryder Cup style event held over 3 days (Friday-Sunday). I’ve been fortunate enough to play in 4 so far. It is a fun event played on a challenging course and an opportunity to socialize with other members.

In case you haven’t heard the USGA and R&A have made changes to the Rules of Golf. The most common ones that effect the Mulligan Tour will be the looking for lost balls and the flag stick. The rules have changed to giving players only 3 minutes to look for a lost ball. The key to the 3-minute rule for the MT is that we want to limit the search to just 2 players in a foursome and the other 2 players head over to hit their shots. Once they have hit their shots the person looking for ball must stop looking and take their drop. Trust me 3 minutes will go by quickly.

Regarding the Flag Stick, the rules now allow a player to leave the flag stick in while putting. Each player will be given the opportunity to leave the flag stick in the hole during their putts. What we would recommend is that when you are on the green let the other players know if you are planning on leaving the flag stick in so as a foursome can make sure to keep the flag close by to keep pace of play from slowing down on the green.

Pace of Play - is a problem that effects all levels of golf from the Pros to Amateurs. We continue to look for ways to improve our pace of play so that each group will complete their round at 4.5 hours per round. To keep this in the fore front of everyone’s mind each week after that weekends tournament we will post the time each group took to play their round. The key is to get the round complete in 4.5 hours or less. The second rule is to not to fall out of position with the group ahead of you. Out of position would be a full hole behind (Obviously on a Par 3 you have to wait for the green to clear). On Par 4 and Par 5 your group shouldn’t fall a full hole behind and if you are, you need to pick up your pace to catch up.

Over the last year Current has been making changes to their app and platform. For many the changes have made it difficult if not impossible to use. I would like for us as a tour to move away from the Current platform but we will continue to let members utilize Current if they so choose. However, with the noted problems I’ve set Mulligan Tour up with two other payment options besides sending checks. The two new options are Zelle and PayPal. Below is how you can find me and the Mulligan Tour on each one.

Finally, during the year we are looking into changing the handicap system so that it will be 5 of 8 instead of the current 3 of 6. We believe this will smooth out the peaks and valleys for all members and help improve the competitive balance. As we review the process we will keep the members informed.

Here is a link to the 2019 Application. If you pay your annual membership dues by March 18 the dues are $100. After March 18, the membership dues are $120. You can email me the application or mail them to our PO Box