By Queztel Miller III
Cedar City, Utah - AGA players united last weekend for the the first Fall AGA tournament to date - a tournament devised so recently that the committee has yet to determine a name worthy of it, but have referred to only as the "Fall Classic", with the official name pending. The tournament is bound to bring the Tour's top competitors over the years, as it is held at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course (site of the ILCRICC), a venue that has always attracted massive crowds, tough players, and premier play. The first-ever "Fall Classic" did well to live up to these expectations, despite missing Chris Archibald, a top-ranked player on Tour.
Set as a Saturday 18-hole tournament, in line with the Fall Season of the nearby Utah Shakespearean Festival, the tournament committee grouped three of the tournament favorites together as the first group on the course. Jim Archibald, Edward Archibald, and Thom Archibald got the inaugural event (not to be confused with "The Inaugural" - one of the Tour's 4 Majors) off to a running start, as the three of them were 4 under on the opening hole alone. Birdies from Jim and Edward were bested by Thom's eagle, made after sticking a 4-iron to about 15 feet from behind a tree in the groundhog-infested boonies to the right of the fairway, a common hazard at Cedar Ridge.
After failing to get up-and-down aside the second green, Thom began to make many putts for the rest of the front nine: A 5-footer on 3 for par, a 6-footer on 4 for birdie, a 5-footer on 5 for par, and a 15-footer on 7 for birdie. Pars on 8 and 9 left him 3-under for the day, 5 shots clear of both Jim and Edward.
Thom looked to be running away with the title when he made another putt on number 10 for birdie, until a testy sidehill putt through many feet of fringe left him with his second bogey of the day at number 11. He two-putted 12 for birdie, followed by pars at 13 and 14, then another two-putt birdie at 15. The engraver was already working on the trophy as they walked to the 16th tee, Thom standing at 5-under par and holding a 9 shot lead, but Thom's performance on the next three holes nearly gave the engraver a heart-attack. Thom took a double-bogey on 16 after his drive went out-of-bounds, followed by a three-putt bogey on 17. Another three-putt on 18 left him with a final score of 71, 2-under for the day, and 4 shots clear of Jim, who chalked up another runner-up finish on Tour.
"The greens were kind to me today, until the last 2 holes that is. I felt like it was a mid-season event, even though I haven't played in the last month or so. It was fun out there," laughed Thom after the trophy presentation.
The win marks Thom's third at Cedar Ridge, and may help to fill the void in his resume from missing this year's ILCRICC in July, where he would have had the chance to win three in a row, a feat never before accomplished in AGA Tour history.
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