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Women claim flight titles at LCC Saturday

By John RittenhouseFour other women joined club champion Paula Lammert as flight champions during the 54th version of the Women’s Club Tournament played at the Luverne Country Club Saturday.Carmen Stratton, Joan Kindt, Lorna Bryan and Amy Vande Voort all gained top honors in their respective flights.Stratton posted a three-shot win in the tournament’s president’s flight.With a 51 during the first nine holes of play, Stratton was tied with Wendy Evink heading into the final round. The leaders sported three-shot advantages over Sue Pearson and Susan Schneekloth, who turned in 54-stroke efforts in the opening round.Evink made bogey on the par-4 10th hole to gain a one-shot edge over Stratton, who drew even with Evink after converting a par on the 12th hole.Stratton proceeded to finish the final round by recording six consecutive bogeys, while Evink slipped out of contention by taking two triple-bogeys and two double-bogeys over the final six holes.Stratton finished the day with a 51-47-98, which was three strokes better than Pearson’s 101. Pearson converted one birdie and one par during a 47-stroke effort in the final round.Schneekloth (54-58-102) moved into third place in the flight’s standings.After turning in an impressive first round, Kindt emerged as a three-stroke winner in the first flight.Kindt carded a 44 on the front nine, giving her a two-shot lead over Faye DeBoer (46) and five-stroke cushions over Heidi Sehr and Melissa Sterrett (49s).DeBoer trimmed Kindt’s lead to one stroke and Sterrett trailed by two after both players carded par-3s on the 12th hole.Unfortunately for the challengers, they both penciled one nine on the cards during the next two holes to enable Kindt to open a five-shot lead with four holes left to play.DeBoer did trim the difference to two strokes with two holes remaining before matching Kindt’s efforts on the final two holes to place second.Kindt finished play with a 44-50-94. DeBoer tallied a 46-51-97.Sehr, who trailed Kindt by two strokes after 13 holes of play, placed third with a 49-49-98.Things couldn’t have been closer in the third flight, which featured three players (Bryan, Pat Rieck and JoAnne Fodness) completing their rounds with 102s.With a 50, Rieck led Bryan and Fodness (51s) by one shot when the first round was complete.The contest remained close during the second round, with Bryan trailing Rieck by two shots and Fodness by one as they prepared to play the 18th hole.Bryan made par on the 18th, her second par of the final round, to pull even with Fodness and Rieck. Fodness made a bogey and Rieck a double-bogey on the final hole.The tie was broken based on the players’ performances on the handicap holes. Bryan, who shot a pair of 51s, finished first. Rieck placed second with a 50-52 and Fodness third with two 51s.Missy Verbrugge shot a flight-low 48 during the second round, finishing one shot off the pace with her 103.A late rally by Vande Voort gave her the title of the third flight.Marla Van Dyk shot a 52 in the first round to lead Deone Hemme (53) by one stroke, Becky Eeten (55) by three and Vande Voort (56) by four.Vande Voort still trailed Van Dyk by four shots with six holes remaining, but she pulled to within one shot of the leader by making bogey on the 15th hole and moved in front by two shots by outscoring Van Dyk 7-10 on the par-5 17th hole.Van Dyk did make a bogey on the 18th hole to trim Vande Voort’s winning margin to one stroke.Vande Voort won the flight with a 56-51-107, Van Dyk placed second with a 52-56-108 and Eeten placed third with her 55-54-109.

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