By
Tom Johnston, tjohnston@qconline.com
CLINTON, Iowa -- As Dean Cavanaugh drove to Valley Oaks Golf club Sunday
morning, he had a score in mind that he thought might get him back into
contention in the second round of the Valley Oaks Amateur golf tournament.
What the
With Rios struggling from the outset Sunday at the nearly 7,000-yard, par-72
layout, it took Cavanaugh only four holes on his home course to jump to the top
of the leaderboard. From there, his 67 -- the exact
number he envisioned before the round -- was plenty to secure him his second
Valley Oaks Am title in three events.
Cavanaugh, the 2001 Valley Oaks champ and last year's runner-up to tour
Player of the Year Tyler Swanson, won the tourney by seven strokes with a
two-day 140 total. As Rios struggled to an 81 to finish third at 149, Mark Drenth's 2-under 70 moved him to
second at 147. Dave Waugh (76-74--150) was fourth. Again, the course was the
winner as only 10 players shot under 80.
The victory, though, was a bit hollow for Cavanaugh. It came against just 25
competitors in the championship flight with only four of the season's top 20
point-earners on the NCB Am Tour in the field.
``I just wish everybody was here,'' said Cavanaugh, who, with 400 points for
the win, made a nice jump in the points race to eighth. ``It is a shallow
victory, but I still think I would have played as well today; I always seem to,
no matter who is playing here.''
Sunday's championship run took a decided turn early. Both Rios and Cavanaugh
started bogey-birdie. Then Rios, who was seventh in the point race coming into
the event and still jumped to third over the absentee field, tripled the par-4
third hole and bogeyed the par-4 fourth.
``I hit my tee shot out of bounds and three-putted,'' said Rios of his
fateful triple. ``Generally, that's a pretty bad sign. ... You can't control
what everybody else does; you just try to get it back for yourself and you either
do or you don't.''
Rios didn't.
Cavanaugh answered par-birdie and actually had the lead with 14 holes to
play. He slammed the door with four more birdies from that point.
``I just felt momentum and the advantage was toward me,'' said Cavanaugh,
feeling a home-course edge. ``(Rios) was struggling
and not hitting anything on the face. His driver was all over the place and he
just wasn't getting any good breaks. I was hitting the ball solid and knew I
was going to capitalize.''
The biggest difference between Saturday's opening 73 and Sunday's sizzling
67 for Cavanaugh came on the par 5s. Saturday, the champ played the four
longest holes in 2-over and Sunday he was 3-under.
``That helped,'' said Cavanaugh. ``When I was driving out here (Sunday) morning,
I said to myself that I had to be better on the par 5s and I was. That was the
difference.''
That, and getting plenty of help from Rios, who
after Saturday's 68 talked about just renting success at this game and not
owning it. That proved prophetic on Sunday.
``I didn't get off the tee, didn't chip, irons were poor and couldn't
putt,'' said Rios, lamenting his Sunday woes. ``It was going well (Saturday)
and (Sunday) it wasn't.''
Playing with him both days, Cavanaugh felt for his
struggling playing partner.
``That was a totally different guy out there,'' said Cavanaugh of Rios.
-- Senior playoff: Randy Trine beat Darrell Reynolds with a birdie on
the second playoff hole to win the Senior Flight. Both players finished the 36
holes with 152 totals, Trine carding rounds of 75-77 and Reynolds carding two
76s.