In a 36-hole stroke play tournament, it was basically the first nine holes that helped determine the winner.
Corey Richmond shot a 7-under 29 on the front nine on Saturday and came away victorious for the title at the 27th Annual Laurel Oaks Classic played at Laurel Oaks Golf Course over the weekend. The West Union and Northern Kentucky grad finished with a two-day score of 131, good for 13-under par.
The 29 guided Richmond to an 11-under 61 on Saturday and followed it up with a two-under 70 on Sunday to win the tournament by five strokes over Tyler Lippert.
Lippert didn’t make it easy on Richmond though, tying him on two separate occasions on the final nine holes, but Richmond finished his final six holes at 4-under while Lippert was 1-over.
Play was halted for over an hour on Sunday due to a rain delay which brought torrential downpour, stalling the leaders after five holes of play.
Lippert’s front nine at 5-under with a first day 68 put him at 9-under for the tournament and a stroke off of Richmond after the front nine, who didn’t fare as well on Sunday on the front, coming in at 1-over and a one-stroke lead over Lippert.
“The rain delay didn’t really help. I was playing good to start off and then came out and was a little sluggish and made three bogeys. After that I finished three under the last five and got going,” Richmond said.
After bogeys on 11 and 12 for Richmond, Lippert drained his birdie putt on the Par 3 12th to even things up at 9-under, cutting what once was a seven-stroke deficit to start the day to a dead heat.
Richmond quickly regained the lead on 13 with a birdie, but that was short lived after a birdie on 14 for Lippert for the two to be tied once again, this time at 10-under. Richmond was fortunate with his tee shot on 14, half the ball sitting above the water in a pond, the other half below water. Richmond took his shoes off to hit his approach that ended up coming just short of the green. He was unable to get up and down for birdie, Lippert tapping in his birdie to tie things up.
Much like he did on 13, Richmond responded to the pressure with birdies on 16, 17 and 18 to close out the tournament. Lippert’s bogeys on 15 and 16 stalled his momentum, Richmond building his lead back to three strokes after 16.
“It’s good to be back in that state of competitiveness from college and stuff so that helped,” Richmond said, who played his golf at NKU with the Norse. “Going in I thought I knew I needed to finish near even on the day and win it. I’m just happy the way I finished.”
Richmond closed out in style with a birdie on 18 to take home the tournament.
It’s been a successful summer for Richmond, winning two-man tournaments at Fleming County’s golf course and Laurel Oaks and a second-place finish at The Firecracker at Kenton Station a couple weeks prior.
“I’ve just been playing a lot more golf than I normally do. That’s about it. Just getting out there and practicing and doing that kind of stuff,” Richmond said. “It’s my first individual win in a while. I’ve never won The Firecracker or this, so first individual win in a while.”
Tad Barton finished in a three-way tie for third with Troy Grooms and Mark Moore at 7-under to round out the top five. Barton got within two strokes on the final nine Sunday, but couldn’t get much going on the back nine and finished with a 71 on Sunday. Moore fired the low round of the day in the championship flight on Sunday with a 67.
Kevin Lawson and Luke Fuller tied for first and won the first flight, both carding low rounds of the day with 6-under 66’s. Lawson and Fuller finished the tournament at 4-under. Logan McIntosh finished in third at 3-under.
Rex Schalch took home the second flight by playing even par on Sunday and finishing six-over for the tournament. Gary Bower finished second at 7-over while Coy Cummins and Denver Shoemaker came in third at 8-over.
Laurel Oaks Classic
Scoring
Par 72
36-hole stroke play tournament
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
NAME; SCORE (TO PAR)
Corey Richmond — 61-70 (-11)
Tyler Lippert — 68-68 (-8)
Tad Barton — 66-71 (-7)
Troy Grooms — 69-68 (-7)
Mark Moore — 70-67 (-7)
Jackson Frame — 69-72 (-3)
Don Pollard — 69-72 (-3)
Rick Harmon — 71-70 (-3)
Ryan Hines — 71-70 (-3)
Shawn Armstrong — 68-75 (-1)
Darron Hampton — 70-73 (-1)
Jake O’Mara — 70-75 (+1)
Seth Tracy — 68-83 (+7)
Bill O’Mara — 71-80 (+7)
Bobby Kearney — 69-WD (WD)
1ST FLIGHT
NAME; SCORE (TO PAR)
Kevin Lawson — 74-66 (-4)
Luke Fuller — 74-66 (-4)
Logan McIntosh — 72-69 (-3)
Dane Fritz — 72-71 (-1)
Deron Feldhaus — 73-70 (-1)
Kyle Burchette — 74-70 (E)
B.J. Knox — 72-73 (+1)
Bryan Walton — 74-73 (+3)
Kevin Clark — 74-73 (+3)
Daulton Schalch — 75-73 (+4)
Nick Bogess — 76-74 (+6)
Chandler Clark — 74-76 (+6)
Mike Kennedy — 74-77 (+7)
Paul Grayson — 73-WD (WD)
2ND FLIGHT
NAME; SCORE (TO PAR)
Rex Schalch — 78-72 (+6)
Gary Bower — 78-73 (+7)
Coy Cummins — 78-74 (+8)
Denver Shoemaker — 81-71 (+8)
Phillip Grayson — 80-73 (+9)
Shawn Barton — 82-71 (+9)
Bobby Reed — 78-76 (+10)
Lee Amiott — 81-73 (+10)
Dave Holcomb — 79-77 (+12)
JR McElroy — 81-78 (+12)
Ronnie Garland — 82-78 (+16)
Perry Wyrick — 80-81 (+17)
Pat Webb — 88-73 (+17)
Bobby Crawford — 82-80 (+18)
Jeremy Florence — 89-78 (+23)
Jody McCarty — 89-84 (+29)
Justin McBee — 78-WD (WD)
Levi Kearney — 88-WD (WD)
