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Eleventh-hour team wins Cadillac By DON HUNT For a team that was put together at the last minute, Bill Bednar, Dave Shinn, Mike Fischer and Jim McLean didn't fare too badly at the Cadillac Invitational Golf Tournament on Monday. In fact, the foursome shot a sizzling 16-under par 56 to win the scramble event - a fund-raiser for the National Kidney Foundation - at Rogue Valley Country Club. And in the process, they earned a trip to the national finals at Pebble Beach, Calif., next January. None of the four planned to play in the event until tournament director Tim Mort called Fischer last week to say he was short a couple of teams. Fischer said he'd do what he could, only to learn that Bednar was in Oklahoma attending the U.S. Open and McLean was in Eastern Oregon fly-fishing. Bednar made it back in plenty of time, but McLean didn't arrive in Medford until 6:40 a.m. Monday after catching a flight from Portland and barely made it to the first tee on time. But no one seemed frazzled by the last-minute arrangement. The foursome, which started on the 16th hole, birdied its first three holes and then eagled its next offering - the 525-yard, par-5 No. 1 hole - when Bednar hit back-to-back shots with his driver to reach the green and McLean followed by sinking a 6-foot putt. "We were 5 under after four holes and saying, hey, let's keep this up," said Bednar, a 7-handicapper who hammered long, accurate drives throughout. "We knew we had to be leading at that point." The team birdied its next two holes and finished the day with 14 birdies, one eagle and three pars to put a death grip on the other 49 teams. The team of John Anhorn, Scott Reed, Jim Botsford and Jerry Eklund finished second with a 58. Three teams tied for third with 60s: the foursome of Dave Schoenmann, Steve Watkins, Bill Batzer and Eric Schuler; the quartet of Bob Marshall, Steve Woods, Frank Phillips and Dan Brandenburg; and the squad of Dick Russell, Ed Jolly, Rick Soued and Pat Viking. While Bednar continually hit strong drives, Shinn stroked accurate approach shots and McLean went wild with his putter, the highlight a 35-footer for birdie on No. 11. "He told us how that putt was going to break, and how he was going to hit it, and then he knocked it right in the cup," said Fischer, who did nothing spectacular but was steady. Shinn nearly topped that effort two holes later when he narrowly missed nailing a hole-in-one on the 175-yard 13th. "It was just our day," Fisher said. The teams couldn't have more than one player with a handicap under 10 and the total handicap for each team couldn't exceed 43. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.