Three New Victors Crowned at Sunnyside

There can be only one. Or two. Okay, three. There are three new victors at Sunnyside Golf & Country Club.

After 36 holes of golf on Aug. 24 and 25, Sunnyside crowned several new club champions. Previous men's champion, Joel Smith, took a respectable third this season, behind Jake Hughes in second and Ed Hopfauf in first. Hopfauf took the best gross score with a 153, edging out Hughes who shot a 155 and Smith's 159.

This is not Hopfauf's first time as club champion. "I was fortunate to win in 2016. I know that the Club has a lot of better players than me, but not this weekend," he explained. "There are guys that can hit it farther than I can, but I stayed consistent."

In fact, in 2016 when he won the men's title, his wife Shelley won the women's championship, making it the first, and only so far, time a husband and wife had been named champions the same year. "He's just happy to have a parking spot," laughed S. Hopfauf, speaking of the coveted perk that accompanies the title.

Since he has been known to use the parking spot she had been awarded, there may have been some relief on the reigning champ for serveral years, S. Hopfauf's part that he won, because over on the women's side of the board Lindsey Peterson unseated the reigning women's champion by a 10-stroke margin, 160 to 170. Deb Swanson rounded out the top three with a gross score of 189.

"I haven't played competitively for some time so it was fun to get back to that intense, hold-it-together-for-36-holes, make-confident-swings-all-day type of play," said Peterson. "It was a fun two days, great competition, well ran and I'm glad to have finished strong on the last day to win."

Two youth golfers joined the tournament this year, making this the first time the club has named a junior champion. Riley Smith took home bragging rights for his gross score of 201, though Eli Feezel edged him out for the better net score with his 154.

Kerry Kingsley nabbed the best net score on the women's board with a 129, denying Peterson the claim by seven strokes. On the men's side, Mike Johnson and Rod Archambeault tied for third place net with 138 each and Karl Krause took second with his 129. "Seth Ingram shot lights out both days," exclaimed Andy Newton about the men's net champion. "He's an up-and-coming star!"

Not everyone was in the running to be the best of the best, but even those golfers enjoyed the weekend. "Club chipper is a blast, had fun pairings both days," said Kevin Schindler while lamenting his performance. "The beer was cold but the golf was colder."

Even with that sad cold play, Schindler and others were not ready to give up the game after official play ended. Golfers finished tournament play by mid-afternoon both Saturday and Sunday, and with hours of sunlight and good weather left, they drew names and hit the fairways again for impromptu derbies.

Club manager Andy Newton was happy with the weekend, "We had a great turnout for a fantastic tournament. Both days filled with great scores and fun times."