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The fifth annual Johnson City Open Championship Golf Tournament was held this past week-end at The Legends Golf course in Kingsland. Forty five golfers from the Johnson City area participated in the event. Founders of the event felt that it would be a great way for local residents to get to know who in JC actually plays the game since they do not have a local course to gather and play. The format for the tournament was a medalist or low-ball type format.

Several sponsors volunteered to donate prizes for the contest. Cattleman’s Bank donated all the golf balls which were given away as prizes in the long drive and closest to the pin contest held during the tournament. Whittington’s Beef Jerky donated some jerky gift packs toward these awards also. The participants in the event wish to give an official thank-you for their generous contributions and thoughtfulness.

The winners of the long drive contests were: Neal Sharp, Brent Harris, Jerry Krabe, Zac Johnson, Randy Rutherford and Susan Whittington. The winners of the closest to the pin contests were James Deal, Jack Harvey and David Dockery.

The tournament was broken down into three different flights. In the first flight, Zac Johnson shot a one over par 73 to take the low medalists honors for the whole tournament. Winning second place was Mike Kelley and in third place was Randy Rutherford.

In the second flight, Bobby Morris took first place with Ken Neely winning second and Jack Harvey winning third. In the third flight, Bobby Fenton was the winner with Jerry Krabe and Randy Hambright coming in second and third respectively. Susan Whittington took top honors in the ladies championship division of the tournament.

In the team division of the tournament, the pair of Matt McKennis and Zac Johnson took first place. Winning second was the team of Bobby Morris and Will Stokes. Winning third place was the team of Brent Harris and Randy Rutherford.

Participants not previously mentioned in this article were: Eddie Ortiz, Dustin Ortiz, David McIlvain, Dustin Harvey, Jason Kelley, Mike Preston, Tim Ivey, Shane McNeil, Louis Gerland, Johnny Trevino, Sam Whittington, Matt Pletcher, Rodney Topper, Ray Weeks, Jake Bacon, Bobby Humphrey, Casey Buaas, Bart Broadwater, Jeff Deleon, Jonathan Norman, Greg Wessels, Bob Keith, Joe Stewart, Jason Cones, and Galon George.

Next years event will be held around the 2nd week in June and organizers of the tournament will be talking to officials at Vaaler Creek Golf Club in Blanco to see if the event can be held there for the 2010 tournament. Anyone interested in being put on the mailing list for the 2010 tournament should contact Randy Rutherford at 868-2003.