AGA Star Goes Low in Weekly Event

by Quetzel Miller III

Provo, Utah - The East Bay Men's Association of Provo, UT, is full of fierce competitors, from former professionals to numerous past state amateur winners. Every Wednesday during the summer months, they battle the late evening swarms of mosquitos, and each other, for a large purse of golf shop credit through different entertaining formats. Frequently, the winners of the weekly nine-hole event are from the same group of 5 to 10 people, and the occasional no-name will win a skin or two. This week, however, was different.

Thom Archibald, current AGA standout player, shot a career low score on Wednesday night, winning the gross division of this week's Gross/Net format by an unheard of 3 shots.

"It was a different day out there today. I haven't been playing much lately, but things just really went as good as they could, and I left nothing out there. Plus, it helps that I got a few good bumps on the greens to roll many putts in" said Thom.

The evening round began with Jim Archibald and Thom paired together on the par-5 16th. After Thom curled in a 15-footer for birdie on 16, he followed with a par on 17, and another birdie on 18. After narrowly missing a 10-foot birdie attempt on number 10, Thom saved par from 12 feet on 11. A lengthy eagle putt was made at 12, after which a much shorter one was narrowly missed at 13, leaving a tap-in birdie to get to 5 under for the day. Finishing up on 14 and 15, Thom played conservatively enough to get 2-putt pars on each, and left the back nine that day with a solid 5-under 31. His score secured him first place gross, as well as a skin for his eagle on number 12.

Thom has been away from the AGA TOUR scene as of late, missing the 2009 ILCRICC in July, at which he would have been able to vie for Back-to-Back-to-Back victories, something never before done in any AGA TOUR Major. He has had recent success in practice rounds, though, scoring under par at Riverside Golf Course's front nine in San Antonio, followed by 2 consecutive 69's in late August at East Bay prior to starting back to school at BYU the next week. He also competed in an informal gathering of AGA players in Logan, Utah to compete in the 2009 "Back to yer Roots" Invitational, which he won by one shot over Jim Archibald. The tournament is expected to pick up visibility in the coming years as members of the TOUR return to the place where, nearly 30 years ago, the Archibald Golf Association was founded.