PALM CITY, Fla. (Feb. 19,
2012) -- Two teams that never made bogey
until late in the final round were the winners
Sunday in their respective divisions of the
International Four-Ball golf tournament at The
Fox Club.
In the mid-amateur division for players 25-54
being contested for the 56th time, Ryan
Abbate of Fort Lauderdale and Jon Veneziano
of Mount Dora won by just a shot despite a 13
under par 58 on Saturday. They closed with 70
for 195 with bogeys at the ninth and 11th
holes and a double bogey at the par-3 15th.
That was largely due to the finish by their
playing partners, baseball Hall of Famer Mike
Schmidt and Gary Nicklaus, a member of golf’s
first family, both from Jupiter. At the par-5
18th, Schmidt made seven and Nicklaus had
six. They closed on 68-196.
In the 21st senior division competition, 55-
older, Rick Woulfe of Fort Lauderdale and Pat
Tallent of Vienna, Va., played 48 holes before
finishing with bogeys at the 13th and 17th
holes. They had four birdies for 69-198,
winning by two.
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Rick Woulfe
Senior Champion
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“I’ve played here a lot over the years but I’ve
never played in this wind,” 20-25 miles per
hour out of the south-southwest, Woulfe said.
“The wind this time of year is usually north-
northeast. As a result, our play was very
erratic.”
“We battled a tough wind,” acknowledged
Abbate, winner of the Florida State Amateur in
2005 at Bear Lakes in West Palm Beach. “We
just had to grind it out. Plus, it was hard to
come back mentally from a round like we had
Saturday. We were both there on every hole,”
in the better ball format. “ Today, we both hit
the ball well but did not get the same results.”
The 58, which pulled them from two behind
Friday to a lead of three heading into the final
round, included eagles at the par-5 eighth and
18th holes and nine birdies.
In the senior division, the runnersup, West and
Boles won the title in 2004, while Lutz and
Lange, who were third, were the two-time
defending champions.
It was the first time the players on either
winning team had paired up in competition.