Kevin Smith’s 67 round Sunday gave him a five-shot win over his dad Lee and Jeffrey Davis to capture his first Club Championship in the Championship Flight.
It tied his best round on the Club’s revamped course and allowed Kevin – in a sense – to join his family.
Brother Brian won the last two and Lee the one before that. And last year, Kevin just missed a playoff that Brian won over Lee.
“I took a bit of friendly grief. A little bit of a hard time – the only Smith who hadn’t won one. That’s not the case anymore. It’s good to ‘join’ the family I was already part of, but looking in from the outside in this aspect,” Kevin said.
But his win was not a sure thing after a first-round 80 on Saturday – marred by an 11 on #6.
“I tried to remind myself there was a lot of golf left and I could turn it around,” Kevin said.
He turned it around Sunday – a red-hot eight under after a birdie on #15.
“I didn’t know where I stood after 15 holes. I didn’t look at scores. I thought to look at the turn, then decided to just play,” he said, feeling he was making up ground and in the mix.
“I was just trying to hit the shot ahead of me,” Kevin added.
He then three-putted 16 and 17, hit an approach left of #18 green which led to a third-straight bogey.
But those first 15 holes gave him a big cushion – even if he didn’t know it at the time.
Kevin birdied holes 2, 4 and 5 to shoot a 33 on the front.
Kevin’s normal fade or cut off the tee isn’t the right shape for #11, but he put the ball in the middle of the fairway and hit a 5-iron from just inside 200 yards to the middle of the green. He dropped about a 20-foot putt for eagle, then birdied 12, 14 and 15.
“I hit a lot of greens and gave myself some pretty good looks in the 10-to-25-foot range and I kinda got hot with the putter,” Kevin said.

Blue Flight
Clif Alexander won the Blue Flight Gross by two shots over Butch Wisehart and three over Jesse Cotton, who won the Blue Flight Net and one of the coveted parking spots.
“I’ve had my eye on that spot for awhile,” Cotton said.
The 7-handicapper shot 80-77, which he didn’t think would be enough.
“I was pleased with the second day,” Cotton said, getting birdies on 9, 11 and 15. On both par 5s he hit “pretty good pitch shots,” holing a 15-footer on #11 and a 12-footer on #15.
He shot the last ten holes in one-over par