June 3 to June 9, 2001

Daily Reports

 
Saturday, June 9, 2001

Afternoon

A three-way tie for first place led to a sudden death playoff for Ralph Gemoets, Scott Gates and Ryan Murphy. 
All three leaders hit big drives Down #1 and lined up for their second shots. Scott Gates defined his game for the day and stuck a three-wood second shot about a foot away from the cup and tapped in the putt for an eagle - leaving Murphy and Gemoets to share second place.
Brian Kortan, former two-time Hilton champion went into the round leading the professional flight. Kortan was 8-under after 15 holes, but lost his lead with a double bogie on number 16. The tough double-dog-leg hole put his lead to rest. His final score of 70 left him out of contention for the win. 
Scott Gates, winner of the 2001 Hilton Open Tournament, after receiving his winners check from Tournament chairman, Holm Bursum III
His partner, Ryan Murphy, fired an amazing 5-under par score of 67 to catch the leader. Ralph Gemoets of El Paso and Scott Gates of Albuquerque both shot 68 to overtake Kortan.

Miguel Griego, former AAA high school champ and SHS graduate, continued to lead the championship scratch-amateur portion of the Hilton Open golf tournament. Griego finished today's portion of the tournament shooting a score of 75. He completed the three-day tournament with a two-over par scoreof 218, twelve strokes better 		       
(l to r) Ryan Murphy, Ralph Gemoets and Scott Gates
than his nearest competitor Ian Medlock, a member of the UNM golf team. Derrick Hunter, Jeff Foreman and JR Garcia rounded out the winning places.

 

Brian Kortan off the #10 tee

Miguel Griego, Budweiser Championship flight winner

 

Saturday, June 9, 2001
Morning
The culmination of hard work, friendly visits, countless volunteers and best of all excellent golf occurred today with the last day of Hilton Week.
The first events to come to an end were the completion of the third round for five of the seven Hilton amateur flights. Some of our predicted winners were overtaken by the competition. Two local golfers, George Lujan and Richard Mann pulled away from their competitors to be named winner in their respective flights. Other flight winners were Gary Schinagel of Albuquerque, Bill Harlan of Dallas and Paul Christianson of Yucaipa, CA. All winners, with the exception of Christianson ended with under-par net scores.
Richard Mann, winner of the Coca Cola Flight
Christianson’s flight was actually delayed for lightening last night. Once
the air’s static level was down, the lead group had a fifteen-minute window
to complete two holes.
One of the more interesting events of Hilton week also took place today, the
annual Elfego Baca Shoot. The one-hole tournament played from the top of
Socorro’s “M” Mountain was led by two former champions, Mike Stanley and Johnny Gonzales of Socorro with
Gary Schinagel, winner of  the Tripp's Inc. Flight
George Lujan, winner of the Viva Motors Flight

Bill Harlan, winner of the Supermart Flight		 a final score of 19 strokes (which included two lost balls for each of them). Rounding out the field were Darryl Cases with 22 strokes, Gary Gladysz with 30 strokes and Thom Guengerich with 57 strokes. Included with the participants were a reporter and camera crew from
The Golf Channel. 

Elfego Baca coordinators, Dennis Hunter and Anita Cates, did another great job of organizing players, scorekeepers, medical teams and volunteers to pull off the longest hole in golf once again.

Paul Christianson, winner of the Security Title Flight
Elfego Baca shoot, players and scorekeepers
Richard Griego and Keith Gottlieb share 1st Place in the First State Bank Flight

Manuel Anaya		 Friday, June 7, 2001

A beautiful sunrise greeted the lower handicappers and professionals Friday morning, and day number two of the Conrad Hilton tournament had arrived.

Richard, “Chick” Griego fired up a five-over 77 score to pull into the lead for the First State Bank flight. Griego’s net score for the two days is a one-under par 143. He gets stronger the deeper he goes into a tournament, so he should be tough to catch.

Miguel, Richard’s nephew, was par for the course today, his score of 72 left plenty of distance between him and his nearest competitor in the Budweiser sponsored championship flight. Miguel has been paired to play with the professionals on Saturday. His total score of 143 puts him in seventh place with the pros.

 Two-time Hilton Champion Brian Kortan fired a score of 71 to put him at the top of the Dain Rauscher Inc. professional flight. Despite his lead, the competition is nipping at his heals. Eight men are within four shots of his lead. Kortan, however, has proven that he can blow the competition away if need be.
Richard Endean of New Zealand (our only international entrant) and nephew James Napier
A large gallery is expected to pay close attention to the final three groups tomorrow.

The wind will be blowing on Saturday and the temperature is expected to rise. Stay tuned for tomorrow afternoon!
 

Welcome to the 2001 Conrad Hilton Open

Thursday, June 7, 2001

The first day of Socorro’s Hilton Open Tournament kicked off today at the New Mexico Tech golf course. 

Today’s low net amateur was James Napier of Albuquerque.  Napier is a 1992 graduate of Socorro High School. 

Not surprisingly, Miguel Griego shot a one-under par gross score of 71 to lead the Open’s amateur championship flight.  Griego is far and away ahead of his field.  His nearest competitor is Danny Jurado of El Paso, Texas with a 75.

Scott Gates of Albuquerque, NM leads this year’s professional flight with an amazing 5-under par score of 67.  Not bad for a guy who was almost late to the tee.

He is followed close behind by Farmington, NM pro, Gary Blevins who shot a 68.

Local hero J.C. Bacon, an SHS grad and Fort Mojave, AZ professional, Brian Kortan (the winner for the last two Hilton’s), and Ryan Murphy round out the leaderboard with 3-under scores of 67 each.

Despite windy conditions, the competition promises to be fierce for the next two days.

  

Members of the first place team, David Braxton, Samuel Atencio, and
Louis Esquivel

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

The official start of the 42nd Annual Hilton Open began today with the Professional-Amateur pairing.  Each professional is paired with three amateurs of varying handicaps to complete the four-person team.  The record-sized field was full with twenty-five teams this year.

Sun Country Professional David Braxton lapped the entire field today with an 8-under par score of 64. He was only one shot off the course record set previously by Mike Sauer. David did have the chance for an even lower score, as he was 7-under through 12 holes…if he keeps it up, the rest of the field will be hard-pressed to catch him during the three-day Hilton Professional Tournament on Thursday through Saturday. 


In addition to his personal performance, Braxton’s team also finished first today with a team score of 25-under for 119. They weren’t even close to contention by the rest of the field. Local amateur Samuel Atencio also helped the winning team. Atencio fired a 6-over par 78, which was also good enough to put him in third place in the low gross competition.

Nineteen year-old Miguel Griego, former Socorro Warrior AAA state champion and currently attending college in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shot 73 to come in first as the low gross amateur. Griego will also compete during the regular Hilton Open as in the scratch Championship Flight. Good luck trying to catch him.
Miguel Greigo shot 73 for the day for the low gross amateur score

Phyllis Ebell, Wednesday's low net amateur

Phyllis Ebell blistered the field with an 11-under 61 in the net competition, she swears she is not sandbagging (just kidding), she is simply extremely lucky congratulations Phyllis!

Stay tuned for tomorrows first round…judging from the competitive play demonstrated during today’s Pro Am, it is bound to be exciting!

 
    
Tuesday June 5, 2001
Tuesday's Senior Professional Tournament proved to be an exciting event which ended with a "three"-peat by former Senior Hilton Champion Joe Huber. With calmer winds and kinder weather, scores were lower but the competition was fierce. Starting the day in the number one spot was Robert Gaona of Tucson followed close behind 
by Joe Huber, who was one shot off the lead. Huber managed to sink three birdie's to capture the lead from Gaona. Gaona proved to be a worthy opponent and finished the round one under. Paired with his 4-under performance on Monday, Gaona walked away with the title of runner-up.
Joe Huber is quite used to having his name appear on the Hilton Senior Professional Tournament trophy. He has captured the title of champion for the past two years.

Joe Huber wins for the 3rd time
 in a row

Bob Basham and Russ Moore
 present $1700 check to Robert
 Gaona, 2nd place
Amateur, Ben Smith from Roswell NM jumped well ahead of his field to capture the title of Hilton Senior Amateur Champion for 2001. 

This was the first senior amateur tournament held during the annual Hilton Open tournament. Smith earned the inaugural titleof champion with three shots ahead of his nearest competitor, Bob Dosher of Sandia Park NM. Rounding out the winning places were Dan Peck, Bill Boykin and Bob Walley, all of Albuquerque.
   
Monday, June 4, 2001
Forty-two senior professionals and ten senior amateurs teed it up today, Monday, June 5th at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course in hopes of capturing the title as the Hilton Senior Champion. However, Mother Nature had her own agenda. 

During the first day of this annual event, the course reared its ugly head. With the exception of the top five finishers, the remainder of the field posted scores above par. 

The slick postage-stamp sized greens combined withcontinued breezy conditions claimed many a victim today. Robert V. Gaono of Tucson won the battle with nature to post a 4-under par score of 68. He was followed close by Joe Huber of Phoenix, who has won the senior division the past two years, and Tom Storey of Las Vegas NV with scores of 69. Bob Phillips of Phoenix and John Long of Henderson NV are also close to the lead with scores of 70 and 71 respectively. Ben Smith of Roswell, New Mexico leads the amateur division with a score of 76. 

Tuesday's final round promises to be an exciting battle amongst the area's top senior golfers. 
   
Sunday, June 3, 2001

On a hot and breezy day ripe for scoring, 16 teams of senior professionals and senior amateurs converged at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course for the annual Hilton Senior/Senior ProAm to kick off Hilton week. Participants traveled from all over the Southwest and the country to compete in this year's event. In addition to all the wonderful Sun Country professionals in the Southwest, this year's Senior events featured player from around the country. The participant who has traveled the furthest (so far) is Bob Jeroff who traveled from Montana.

This year's top prize went to the team of Gene Torres, a professional from Las Vegas, New Mexico; Bob Wolfe, a pro from Sun City, Arizona; and two local Socorro amateurs BJ Bjorklund and Larry Seifkes.

The Hilton Open has become a tradition for many golfers. This year, Oren Martin and brother Jack, both professionals from Oklahoma City, OK made their annual journey to Socorro to participate in the event. They have enjoyed the tournament together for over a decade.

The Hilton Senior Tournament will commence on Monday, with tee times beginning at 9:00 AM and will continue through Tuesday, June 5th. 42 Senior Professionals and 10 scratch Senior Amateurs will compete for a shot at the top prize.