Forty Ozarks Juniors compete in Pitch, Chip & Putt Qualifier

Several area junior golfers took a step Monday night toward competing at the prestigious Highland Springs Country Club, as they advanced in the fourth annual Ozarks Junior Pitch, Chip & Putt Championship presented by the Missouri Golf Association.

Held at the Betty Allison Family Golf Center on the Oscar Blom Course in Springfield, the event was a fundraiser for the PGA Korn Ferry Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper.

Forty youths took part in the competition, which featured scoring in each category. The top three in each division then advanced to the finals, set for 6 p.m. on  Monday, July 18 at Highland Springs Country Club.

“This was another success,” said Taylor Frederich, Director of Operations for the PCCC. “We’re competing against a lot of activities, but we saw tonight that the future of the game looks promising. We had kids from golf backgrounds and others who are just curious about the sport, and that’s a win. We just want to show them what fun the game can be.”

Results are below:

Girls 6-8: Parkinson Harper (32), Wilmott Sydnee (28)

Boys 6-8: Solomon Fronce (48), Cam Martin (44), Breck Herion (40)

Girls 9-11: Riley Bennett (42), Keighan Mann (38), Taylor Mann (18)

Boys 9-11: Max Albers (58), Connor Bailey (54), Will Hatcher (54)

Girls 12-14: Lin Phoebe (60), Delaney Daniels (58), Allison Keller (56)

Boys 12-14: Tyler Davis (70), Wyatt Retasket (52), Chase Simons (44)

Congratulations to winners of Cardinals Care Pro-Am

Cooperstown inductee Ted Simmons and former World Series winner Josh Kinney entertained golfers, and team sponsored by the Shriners Hospital Dads took top honors as the Cardinals Care Pro-Am proved to be a success again on Monday at Millwood Golf & Country Club.

The event was a fundraiser for the PGA Korn Ferry Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, whose pros play July 21-24 at Highland Springs Country Club.

A first-round draft pick in 1967, Simmons played 21 seasons in the big-leagues, including 13 with the Cardinals from 1968 to 1980. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2020, although the global pandemic delayed the official ceremony until last September.

Overall, the catcher had 2,456 hits, which included 248 home runs and 483 doubles. He also had 1,389 RBI, second-most among catchers all-time, behind the Yankees’ Yogi Berra. Additionally, his hit total is second among catchers only to the Rangers/Marlins’ Ivan Rodriguez. Simmons was an eight-time All-Star, six with St. Louis, and finished in the Top 20 of MVP voting seven times.

Simmons later served as the Director of Player Development in the Cardinals organization from 1988 to 1991 before becoming General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992.

Kinney was the first Double-A Springfield Cardinal to reach the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was the was closer on Springfield’s inaugural 2005 club and then made his big-league the next July. He went on to earn a postseason roster spot and recorded 19 outs in the playoffs as the Cardinals won their first World Series since 1982. Overall, he spent five seasons in the big leagues of a 14-season professional baseball career.

Results

Shriners Hospital Dads (54) – Jason Springer, Justin Fraker, John Fuchs,  Ben Woodbury

Bar-S-Foods (55) – Scott Kelley, Eric Judd, Darren Petrus, David Horsey

Nabisco (56) – Kevin Huff, Mark Sievers, Jeff Thomas, Doug Bobe