Pete Allen, Southport, NC and Don Donatoni, West Chester, PA
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. – During the final round of the 40th Ed Tutwiler Tournament on Wednesday at The Reserve Golf Club, a handful of teams were hoping for a window of opportunity to emerge. The day three modified alternate shot format certainly adds a level of stress to both partners, however, tournament leaders Pete Allen, of Southport, NC, and Don Donatoni, of West Chester, PA, perfectly executed their gameplan of hitting fairways and greens.
“We’ve both been playing well and we’re both ‘in play’ kinds of guys,” said Allen. “Now that we’re 75, we knew we would be tough to beat since he’s long and we’re both consistent, so that makes for a tough team in each of the formats.”
When the scores were totaled at the end, Allen and Donatoni found themselves at 23-under for the tournament, and a wire-to-wire victory over the runner-up duo of Jack Kearney, of Peachtree City, GA, and Pat Youngs, of San Antonio, TX, who finished at 18-under overall. Kearney and Youngs had the low-round of Tuesday’s scramble format with an impressive 13-under 59.
Allen and Donatoni claimed medalist honors on day one with an 8-under 64 during Four-Ball stroke play, with Donatoni catching fire during the middle of that round with six birdies in eight holes.
“To be honest, I came here with three putters, and I found my putting stroke in the hotel room on Sunday,” said Donatoni. “I made just about everything I looked at on Monday, and then Tuesday was the opposite and Pete picked me up bigtime.”
They stayed hot in the scramble format, and posted an 11-under 61 to tie for third in that portion, and slept on a two-stroke lead over John Brellenthin, of Dallas, TX, and Tim Peterson, of Forest Lake, MN.
On Wednesday, Allen and Donatoni tied for medalist in the alternate shot format at 4-under 68. They shared day three medalist honors with Walker Taylor, of Wrightsville Beach, NC, and Brian Hepler, of Wilmington, NC, as well as Duff Wagner, of Greenville, SC, and Yancey Johnson, of Simpsonville, NC. Taylor and Hepler finished in third at 17-under, while Wagner and Johnson tied for fifth.
Donatoni added, “We joked around that I was Secretariat on Monday and he turned into Man ‘O War on Tuesday. Today we just kept it going by staying in play and we’re thrilled to come away with the win against a strong field.”
Finishing in fourth place was Doug Hanzel, of Savannah, GA, and Buzz Fly, of Memphis, TN, at 16-under.
After shooting 12-under 60 in the scramble on Tuesday, Brellenthin and Peterson finished in a tie for fifth at 15-under overall. Also tied for fifth place was the team of Stevie Cannady, of Pooler, GA, and Steve Humphrey, of Ocala, FL, at 15-under.
With the win, Allen claims his first title to go along with numerous runner-ups in what he estimates to be close to 80 Society of Seniors events over the past 20 years.
Allen and Donatoni added, “We owe a big thanks to McConnell Golf and the whole staff here at The Reserve. The greens were just fabulous and everyone treated us great throughout the tournament.”
Congratulations to Terry Cullen, of Jonesboro, GA, on his hole-in-one on Monday, and to Dan Levinson, of New York, NY, on his hole-in-one on Tuesday.
Special thanks to the membership and entire staff at The Reserve Golf Club and to McConnell Golf for their generous hospitality in hosting the event.
About the event: The 40th Ed Tutwiler Two-Man Tournament featured three stroke play formats. Day one was traditional Four-Ball Stroke Play. Day two was Two-Man Scramble, and day three was Pinehurst Foursomes, where both players tee off, then play each others second shot, then pick and alternate until the ball is holed.
Event GGID: 25SOS3
