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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 1, 2005 Grants Pass� Johnna Nealy tees off during Wednesday�s qualifying for the Southern Oregon Golf Tournament. Nealy went on to card a 73 and earn women�s medalist honors. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Nealy serves notice as medalist Grants Pass native tops women’s division, with Tommy Smith medalist among the men and Pam Hubbard senior women’s medalist By TIM TROWER Mail Tribune Tommy Smith had a swing that escaped him, however briefly, to be concerned with. Johnna Nealy fretted, however slightly, about a few longish putts she couldn’t get to fall. But neither of the former Southern Oregon Golf Tournament champions had near as much on their minds en route to medalist honors as did Amanda Nealy at Rogue Valley Country Club Wednesday. Smith, a three-time champion who is playing his first Southern Oregon since winning his second straight title in 2000, birdied two of the final three holes to finish at 2-under-par 70 and claim the top qualifying spot in the men’s division. Johnna Nealy, Amanda’s sister and the 2001 winner, toured the reconfigured inside course in even-par 73, edging Abby Fowler by one stroke as the women’s top qualifier. Advertisement Pam Hubbard, who claimed three senior women’s crowns from 1998-2000, was medalist in that division with an 83. They join two other medalists, Marshall Holman in junior-senior men and Keith Valk in senior men, both of whom qualified on Tuesday. Match play in all divisions begins today. The finals are Monday. Wednesday’s play was for women and out-of-town men, and Amanda Nealy, herself a two-time champion, could be forgiven if her thoughts were elsewhere. Specifically, with Louisiana and those coping with the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Last year, Nealy moved to Baton Rouge, La., which is 60 miles west of New Orleans. "At the time I left, it was in the gulf, and they expected it to stay out there," she said. "It didn’t." Baton Rouge was spared the brunt of the force, said Nealy, getting high winds that knocked over trees and took out power lines, but her area didn’t experience massive flooding. She did, however, fly out of New Orleans and left her car at the airport. "It didn’t have its floaties on," the Grants Pass native said with a grin-and-bear-it shrug. "Maybe I parked in a high spot." The 2000 and 1992 champion didn’t have her best round, coming in at 86, but she didn’t blame it on recent events because "there’s nothing I can do about it." Johnna Nealy played in the same group as her sister and earned the No. 2 seed, the same as all the leading qualifiers. Defending champions are back in every division and are awarded the top seeds. The women were the only ones to play the inside course, which is without the third hole. The par 4 was rebuilt over the summer and didn’t grow in in time for the tournament, so the first and second holes were used a third time to complete 18 holes. That suited Johnna Nealy just fine. Her two birdies came on the second hole, which is relatively short but has a diabolical green that seems to slope from every angle, often severely. "I may not have liked it before, but I do now," said Nealy, who finished her round with an impressive birdie there. Her drive up the right side of the fairway left her about 60 yards out, and she lofted a wedge to the back of the green, using its contour to feed the ball 30 feet down to the hole. She drained a four- footer from below the cup. "My play was solid today," said Nealy, who eagled the 14th hole, a par 4 that was made into a par 5 as the women played it a second time around. "I putted the ball well. I didn’t make as many longer ones as I wanted, but I made a lot of five-footers, so that was good. I felt good about my swing." Nealy completed her collegiate eligibility this past spring at the University of Oregon, qualifying for the NCAA tournament as an individual. She has two more terms of school and hasn’t decided if she’ll pursue a professional career. Qualifying for the Futures Tour is in January. The birdie on the last hole was just enough to hold off Fowler, playing in the group ahead. Fowler birdied the 17th hole after hitting a nifty approach shot to 18 feet below the hole. But when her able birdie attempt from 20 feet below the hole at No. 18 ran just past, the stage was set for Nealy’s big finish. Smith’s finish on the outside course wasn’t too shabby, either, enabling him to emerge from a star-studded lineup. He played in the same group as defending champion Brooks Newsom, who toured the course in several under par but didn’t register an official score. Also in their foursome were Ryan Schaefer, who shot 73 despite watching several putts agonizingly lip out, and Justin Wise, who was another two shots back. Smith arrived from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., in time to play in the Medford City Championships last weekend at Cedar Links. After struggling through an erratic first round there, he played a solid, even-par round on Day 2. "I felt like it was a lot better than that," he said. "At least I knew where the ball was going. Same thing today. It got away from me in the middle part of the round, and I hit a couple of squirrelly shots. But I got it back and have a swing I can stick with for the rest of the week." Birdies at one and 11 got him to 2 under, but a tee shot to the left of the par-3 13th led to bogey, and he three-putted No. 15 to drop back to even. Birdies at 16 and 18 — where he carved an approach from the right tree line to within 18 inches of the hole — cemented medalist honors. He moved past Glen Clark, who shot 72 on Tuesday. "I’m where I kind of wanted to be," said Smith. "I knew I didn’t have the game to go real low, but now it’s match play, which is a totally different game because you’re always in the moment. A lot of guys make six, seven birdies without even thinking about it. In stroke play, you wouldn’t do that. It’s a totally different mind-set." Wednesday’s Qualifying Results REGULAR MEN Tommy Smith 70, Ryan Schaefer 73, Brian Hay 74, Gred Englund 75, Ryan Hawkins 75, Jimmy White 75, Justin Wise 75, Doug Luther 76, David Kaplan 77, Raef Lillesve 77, R. Geoff Shand 77, Mike Finnell 78, Paul Johnson 78, Don Gorman 79, David Luther 79, Larry Millter 79, Jim Stone 79, Geoff Loomis 80, Scott Moore 80, Sonny O’Grady 80, Mike Spiegel 80, Jon Ausland 81, Brooks Gard 81, Derek Schweitzer 81, Mark Binegar 82, Travis Brink 82, Ted Stark 82, Scott Swendiman 82, Travis Boersma 83, Kevin Clugage 83, Matt Hill 83, Darrell Hunt 83, Aaron Pulver 83, B.E. Smith 83, Andy Moffatt 84, Daryn Clark 86, Andy Lytle 87, Brian Maxwell 87, Gary Sterton 94, BJ Boeck 88, Jon Stark 88, Jack Adair 89, Ron Harle 89, Ken Harle 89, Andy Luther 90, Mike Gorman 91, Scott Olson 91, Grant Hayes 92, Tim Gallagher 94, Jim Hauck 94, Scott Sterton 94, Rob Hauck 95, Tom Jones 95, Matt Van Sant 95, Joe Mahar 95, Ken Lindbloom 96, JP Moore 96, Derek Lillesve 97, Jim Stormo 98, George Parsons 100, Lynn Knight 102, JUNIOR-SENIORS Billy Crenshaw 76, Ramiro Garcia 76, Eric Doolen 77, Gary Loeb 77, Mike McCann 77, Terry Faulkner 78, Joel Jessel 79, George Swendiman 79, Steve Wood 87, Ted Decker 80, Rick McCabe 80, Vaughn Schneider 80, Scott Mayfield 82, Brian Odell 82, Warren Wagner 83, Frank Holminski 84, Tim Hornecker 84, Gregg Rupert 87, Dave Dunwoodie 89, Roger Peck 89, Steve Skinner 89, Gary Wood 89, Glen Kilroy 91, Jim Mulhall 91, Bill Muir 92, Kevin Aguirre 93, Chuck Carnese 93, Steve Warrington 93, Mark Fwver 94, Joel Riley 94, Michael Diehl 102, Mike Snyder 103, SENIOR MEN Scott Louis 74, Jack Peat 75, Alan Petersen 79, Terry Newsom 80, Frank Clugage 81, Kirk Straw 81, George Mack 82, Wendall Towe 82, Bob Bassett 83, John Ferris 83, Brent Orrico 84, Don Rose 84, Mike Brown 85, David Mansfield 85, Ken Phipps 85, T.A. Watson 87, Mike Morris 88, Pete Puljan 88, Howard Tomlinson 88, Jay Gosselin 89, Fuzz Primasing 90, Harvey Myers 91, Jerry Bailey 92, Frank Johnson 92, Robert Lehrkind 93, Jerry Camp 94, David Twedell 94, Dan Leary 95, John Rowan 96, Ralph Perry 97, Ron Van Vleet 98, Ken Gilmore 99, Howard Phearson 99, Richard Mitchell 100, Scott Milne 101, Ted Hughes 104, John Herbert 113 REGULAR WOMEN Johnna Nealy 73, Abby Fowler 74, Trina Rasmussen 77, Jennifer Ausland 85, Josie Nealy 85, Amanda Nealy 86, Molly Nealy 89, Kelly Loeb 92, Mo McFadden 92, Alison Myers 94, Kathy Pauck 94, Calista Crenshaw 95, Judy Johnson 95, Heidi Kaplan 100, Deb Stuart 101, Annette Holman 105, Jocelyn Mitchell 111, Shelley Barry 112, Barb Stormo 112, Jennifer Finnell 114 SENIOR WOMEN Pam Hubbard 83, Nancy Breitenstein 85, Pamela Faurote 88, Jan Hughes 90, Barb Pinkham 91, Janet Stark 91, Gail Jantzer 92, Jerry McCann 96, Gail Jones 95, Judy Entinger 97, Maggie Kilroy 97, Karen Loui 98, Nancy McDonald 100, Marcia Skinner 100, Pam Turnipseed 100, Janice Crenshaw 101, Coral Edwards 101, Paula Cracraft 102, Lynda Weinhold 104, Becky Barry 111, Alice Petrich 111, Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail Nealy serves notice as medalist ">[email protected] . 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