Anthony Melle used a little help from his friends to win the 59th annual Oilfield Technical Society (OTS) Golf Tournament at TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club this past weekend.
“Usually there are four or five of us in it that compete against each other and we’re all good friends,” said Melle, about his championship flight partners Brennan Grube, Nolan Rohatyn and Brandon Frank. “We had fun and everyone pushes each other and if a guy makes a bad shot you try and pick him up for the next shot. There is nothing but compliments out there.”
Melle shot a 69 (3-under) in the 18-hole championship flight on Sunday, which was four shots ahead of second-place finisher Rohatyn. Clark Dreidger and Jason Fenwick came in third and fourth by each shooting a round of 74 (2-over).
“It’s windy conditions, but the course is in great shape,” said Melle, who captured his first OTS championship trophy two years ago. “I played solid. I hit safe shots when I had to hit safe shots and I had my putter going today.”
Rob Peloquin took the first flight with a score of 76 (4-over), Scott Boyes captured the second flight thanks to a round of 80 (8-over) and last year’s OTS champion Mike Ross took the honours in the third flight with a score of 74. Barry McFayden, 80, Kohlen Fedyk, 79 (7-over), Morgan Burden, 86 (14-over), Bert Coleman, 86, and Brad Dutton, 84 (12-over), won the fourth to eighth flights, respectively.
Grube won the Rusty Duce Memorial Award by shooting a 70 (2-under) in the 18-hole qualifying round on Friday and Saturday, while Melle captured the Harry Meraw Memorial Award with a score of 71 (1-under) in the qualifying round. A total of 246 golfers competed in this year’s tournament.
Rohatyn, who won the OTS championship in 2009 and 2013, said Melle started off the championship flight by hitting four straight birdies giving him a score of 4-under to start the round compared to his score of 2-under after four holes. He said that hot start coupled with his great play over the next 14 holes just made him impossible to catch.
Melle said his best shot of the round came on Hole 15 when he played the par-5 by hitting an iron down the middle before knocking a wedge onto the green. He said the instinct was to hit it with a driver considering the windy conditions, but his partners told him to go with the iron setting him up for the birdie.
“Playing with these guys, it just makes it easier,” he said. “You think you’re out there on a normal Sunday just playing for fun.”
