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55 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, September 10, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend August 7, 2004 Golfer is starting to make name for himself By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune He has been called crafty, which would be a nice nickname for a guy named Croft. But you usually don’t pin nicknames on someone until you come to know them. There’s the dilemma. Tim Croft seems no more a part of area golf than Seals and Croft. So you can imagine the double takes when the workmanlike Croft posted a 1-up victory in the Cedar Links Men’s Club Tournament over three-time champion Bret Breeze. Advertisement Breeze didn’t know what, or rather who, hit him. Nicest guy, says Breeze. Plays steady, mistake-free golf. But nametags would have come in handy. Normally, says Breeze, you recognize the people you play against in such tournaments. Not so in the case of Croft, who grew up in Sams Valley, became a Professional Golf Association apprentice while working at Oak Knoll Golf Course in Ashland, then sought golf nirvana in Palm Springs, Calif., in the late 1980s. He never made it to the minitours, as he hoped, but he nudged his handicap toward zero before the real world — a family and work in the valet and limousine business — rearranged his priorities. Croft, 45, and his wife now live with their four children in Central Point, where the former Crater High student returned seven years ago, and he’s just now sharpening his competitive edge again. "I joined my friends and played in a few scramble tournaments," says Croft, now a concrete finisher, "but I really hadn’t gotten into it real solid until about a year ago." He’s competed in very few own-ball tournaments, but he’s playing to about a 2 handicap and is eager to compete in the City Championships and, for the first time, the Southern Oregon Golf Tournament. In three matches at Cedar Links, he was a combined even par. He next faces Rick Dimick, a 3 and 2 semifinal winner over Steve Wood. They will play their 36-hole title match next weekend. Breeze represented a measuring stick for Croft. "That’s exactly the way I was looking at it," says Croft. "Going into it, I thought this would really tell me how I stack up in the Southern Oregon. Bret is usually a favorite, and I’ve played a few other guys at Cedar Links who are real good players and have made names for themselves around the valley and played right with them." Staying with Breeze was one thing. Winning was something else. "I didn’t show it," says Croft, "but I was really excited. He started out slow. I was just lucky I got a little lead on him." Breeze considered two holes turning points. On the par-4 third hole, he drove the green and had a 20-foot putt for eagle, while Croft drove to the left of the green and chipped to within 10 feet. Breeze ran his putt 3 feet past the hole and missed the comebacker, taking par, and Croft made birdie. Down 2 going to the par-5 15th, Breeze had only a 7-iron to the green on his second shot but airmailed it and wound up halving the hole with a par. He birdied No. 16 to get to 1-down, but each parred out from there. Croft thought the difficult 12th hole, which he birdied, was critical because it gave him a 3-up lead. While Breeze was bombing tee shots, particularly on the back side, Croft often went with fairway woods or long irons to keep out of trouble, play for position and have full irons into the green. "I play smart, I will say that," says Croft. Breeze was impressed with his steady-as-rain play: In addition to fairways and greens, Croft made most every putt inside 10 feet. "I think he’s going to be competitive in the Southern Oregon," says Breeze. "When you keep parring guys to death and mix in a birdie or two, you can beat some good players." THIS WAS A STINGING defeat if ever there was one. Ed Istel, who moved here from Chicago a few years ago, returned to the Midwest to play in a member-guest tournament last weekend. The format called for five best-ball matches of nine holes each. After Istel and his host, Thomas Hofbauer, went 3-0 on Friday to lead the tournament, their fortunes changed the following day. On the par-5 eighth hole in their first match, Istel tried to lay up on his third shot but hit into a tree — and, apparently, into a wasp nest. "There were thousands of them," says Istel, whose ball fell straight down. "They were coming and attacking the guy standing there." The "guy" was one of their opponents. His second shot had landed by the same tree but behind a bush, leaving him no shot whatsoever. However, with the wasps having taken over the area, the opponent — a USGA rules official — deemed it a "dangerous situation." He ruled that both he and Istel should move, without penalty, to the other side of the fairway and hit from the rough, no closer to the hole. He had good reason to skedaddle. Some wasps had already gotten under his shirt. "He got stung a couple of times," says Istel. "He had his shirt off and was running out in the fairway. It was kind of funny." The opponent benefited by the move, gaining a clear shot, which he stuffed close to the hole and turned into a birdie for a 1-up lead. He then sank a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole to close out the match. "Getting stung didn’t seem to bother him too much," says Istel. IN CHECKING ON the aforementioned "dangerous situation" ruling, I came across a helpful Web site — http://golf.about.com — others might find useful. Have a local golf story idea? Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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