There’s a Gillespie back on top at the City Golf Tournament.
Tim has been trying for 33 years to add to the family haul of five Championship flight titles, all owned by younger brother Troy. Tim even had to go through Troy in the semifinals to make it happen. It was a bittersweet win but the 62-year-old, braces on both knees, was eager to take advantage of his second opportunity in the finals.
“It’s nice,” Tim Gillespie said. “After the match was over yesterday he gave me a hug and said, ‘I love you and hope you win tomorrow.
“It was bad and good,. I felt bad for him because he didn’t hit the shots he normally hits, and that’s because he doesn’t play enough right now. When he starts playing like he did before, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. But he’s 55. He’s got plenty of time to get a Senior (title).”
Tim’s time was now. Advantage was hard won. Neither he nor Chuck Combs were up more than one most of the day, before Combs cracked just a little bit, chunking fairway shots on holes 12 and 13 that let Gillespie leak out to a two-hole lead. That was just enough as Gillespie claimed a 3 and 2 win.
“I think my driver kind of left me on a few holes today,” Gillespie said. “But I got away with the shots.”
On 14, it looked like Gillespie was going to go up three. He figured Combs would be on the green after a strong tee shot and sent a screamer down the cart path that stopped next to the green. But Combs’ miss-hit his second shot, needing four to find the green.
After they both chipped on, Combs asked Gillespie to move the ball marker out of his line. Problem was, when Gillespie went to line up his putt, he never moved the ball marker back to its original location. That gave Combs the win and extended the match.
“It was pretty even,” Combs said. “It was back and forth. I think was two up on the back nine of the first 18, but it never got more than two. It was almost reacting to what the other guy was doing.”
Case in point: on 16, Gillespie’s drive went left under the pines, seemingly giving Combs a chance to nip the deficit. But Gillespie rescued himself with a 5-iron, snapping off a sharp liner that bounced and rolled onto the green from 160 yards out. Meanwhile, Combs found more trouble, as his second shot nicked a tree. Game over.
“This back nine killed me,” Combs said. “I didn’t hit it very well. Even when I hit a good drive, the second shot was terrible.”
There was another first-time winner in the Super Seniors division, where the title match was reduced to 18 holes for the first time. Dan Neubecker needed all 18 to finally put away two-time defending champ Rory Brown.
They were split on the decision, Brown preferring the longer test.
“Only focusing for 18 was good for me, said Neubecker, who hit two great shots on the final hole to settle his ball about six feet from the flag.
“I hit the best drive I hit all day,” he said. Then followed up with a sand wedge from 77 yards out. Brown’s second shot left a 20-footer.
“I couldn’t tell when I hit it,” Neubecker said. “I knew it was right at the pin but not how close it was. It looked like it was pretty close. I couldn’t tell how close Rory was until I drove up. And I fully expected him to make that putt, figuring I’d have to make mind to halve.”
But Brown’s putt skated right of the hole, leaving Neubecker the open door.
“I’m playing the last two months probably the best golf of my golf career,” Neubecker said. “I do work at it pretty hard. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. But it’s been pretty consistent. I’ve been around par or under par the past few months.
“I just had to bring enough today and I barely had enough. We just went back and forth all day long.”
Brown can only wonder if another 18 might have made a difference. After back-to-back 7 and 6 wins in his last two title matches, he was looking to become the first to three-peat in the Super Seniors. Instead, Neubecker won the first two holes and never let Brown get the lead. They were even after 15 and remained so through 16 and 17.
More: All-time City Golf champions
“I told myself, that my goal was to not get behind,” Neubecker said.
Brown was hoping for a bit of divine intervention from his late brother Perry.
“I lost brother on May 8,” Brown said. “I had been taking care of him so I was hoping for a three-peat for him, but it just didn’t work out like I wanted. I’m happy. I wasn’t even playing very good and decided to go ahead and get in and did the best I could.
“I knew it was going to be a sprint and whoever made the last putt would win. And Dan made the last putt.”
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
PHIL TALBOT MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP (36 holes) — [1] Jason Bannister d. [2] Chris Williams, 8 and 6.
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (36 holes) — [2] Tim Gillespie d. [4] Chuck Combs, 3 and 2.
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (18 holes)— [2] Dan Neubecker d. [1] Rory Brown, 1 up.
MEN’S REGULAR — First flight: [3] Robert Wise d. [5] Matt Newman, 3 and 2. Second flight: [8] Chris Stedman d. [2] Andrew Conder, 19 holes. Third flight: [2] Alex Bruce d. [4] Devin Potts, 3 and 2. Fourth flight: [8] Graham Freund d. [7] Bobby Duvall, 4 and 2. Fifth flight: [4] Shaun Arvin d. [2] Ander Sorensen, 3 and 1.
SENIOR REGULAR — First flight: [1] Ross Grimes d. [3] Burke Geene, 2 up. Second flight: [3] Jay Freund d. [5] Drew Antilla, 6 and 5. Third flight: [1] Jon Hunt d. [2] Victor Niezrecki, 4 and 3.
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR — First flight: [1] Mick Renneisen d. [6] John Cantwell, 3 and 1. Second flight: [1] Mark Deal d. [3] Rand McKamey, 2 up.
