Lucky Friday the 13th

Herb Kranze

Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky and great day for the Jeff Shields—Charles Schwab fifth annual Senior Men’s Putting Tournament. The namesake of the tournament, Jeff Shields, presented a check to Steve Tepper from the American Diabetes Association for $1,600. Joe Fiorito presented a $900 check to Cynthia Holmes from the Parkinson’s Foundation. The following also received donations: Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Ricki Rarick Junior Golf Program and SaddleBrooke Senior Villages. The total amount contributed exceeded $5,000 for the first time.

Jack Porteous, the president of the Putters group, gave special thanks and recognition top Harlan Hobbs for his dedication to making the event a continuing success. Because of his leadership and vision the Putter’s group receives significant financial support from the major sponsors: Charles Schwab Company, Sonora Investment Management, Pride Mechanical Heating, The Long Companies, and Cleere Law Offices, P.C.

During the five-year event history, more local sponsors have stepped up to help with the efforts. Over the five years history of the event, nearly $18,000 has been donated to local and national causes and organizations. The Putters have consistently given to organizations that have a local face. To that end, Steve Tepper of the American Diabetes Association as well as Cynthia Holmes from the Parkinson’s Foundation were in attendance.

The team from Robson Ranch in Casa Grande traveled the farthest to compete. The remaining 17 teams were from the area surrounding Tucson. All teams shared in a great luncheon in SaddleBrooke One’s dining room. The competing team members participated in a raffle for 40 items, worth $4,000 of merchandise contributed by local businesses in the Tucson area that included rounds of golf, oil changes, services for golf carts, pet services, and restaurant certificates.

SaddleBrooke men pulled out the brooms for a sweep of the top five team scores. In first place was SB Men’s Putters number 1 consisting of Larry Kraber, Al Storey, Cliff Huggins, and Jim Jevne. The second-place team was SaddleBrooke Men’s GA number 2: Gary Running, Larry Byrd, Greg Tarr, and Marvin Swafford. Third place was captured by Preserve Men’s G.A. Bruce Fink, Larry Fox, Bill Webster, and Warren Tiahrt. Fourth place belonged to SaddleBrooke Men’s GA number 1: Peter Wright, Al Knudtson, Fred Pilster, and Terry Edwards. Completing the sweep of the cash winners was SaddleBrooke Men’s 9ers: Bob Kuhnau, Don Symanski, Paul Belanger, and Bill Hanna.

The low score was 36 putts and was recorded by Joe Engelhardt, Villas. That was decided by a tie breaker with Gary Running, SaddleBrooke Men’s GA finishing second. The next three places, with 39 putts, also were decided by a tie breaker and the winners were Jim Jevne, SB Men’s Putters No. 1, Al Knudtson, SaddleBrooke Men’s GA, Paul Belanger, SaddleBrooke Men’s 9ers.

If you would like to share the fellowship, civic mindedness, and just plain fun, please come to the SaddleBrooke One putting green on any Thursday morning and join us. Golf experience is not required, and expertise is not expected.