Until a few weeks ago, Nick Willenbrock was much more accustomed to having a lacrosse stick in his hands than a golf club.
As starting goalie for the Regis Jesuit High School lacrosse team, Willenbrock had precious little time to practice golf this year until the lacrosse season was over. And with Regis making it to the state playoff semifinals, that wasn’t until May 16.
But if Willenbrock had a lot of rust on his golf game, he wasn’t letting on over this weekend. He and his dad, Tad, both of Glenmoor Country Club, birdied the last three holes Sunday to win the CGA Father/Son Championship by one stroke at Golf Granby Ranch.
“It’s my first event of the year and I only had a couple of days of practice,” Nick Willenbrock said by phone after Sunday’s victory. “It was nice to pull it together.”
The Willenbrocks (pictured) entered the final round three strokes out of the lead, but their 1-under-par 71 Sunday in the foursome stroke play format was enough to overtake first-day leaders Chris and John Hyten of Silver Spruce Golf Course.
The champions finished the two-day competition with a 4-under-par 140, which was a stroke better than the Hytens (75 Sunday) and 2002 winners Jason and Dan Coffin (74, which included a triple bogey).
Former CGA president Bill Fowler and his son Will took fourth place at 142 after a final-round 74.
Gary and Alex Kephart of Eisenhower Golf Club, winners of a record four Father-Son titles, tied for seventh place at even-par 144.
Sunday marked Tad Willenbrock’s second CGA championship as he won the 2007 CGA Four-Ball with David Williams.
“This feels great,” Tad Willenbrock said. “We played two years ago at Eagle Ranch (finishing seventh) and it was fun to be back. And now that we’re comparable (as players), that makes a difference. It was a lot of fun to play with him before he goes off to college. It was fun. We had a great time.”
Nick Willenbrock, 18, a recent Regis graduate, plans to walk on the golf team at the University of Virginia in a few months. A product of his dad’s coaching on the golf course, Nick was a varsity player for the Regis golf team that won the 5A state title the last two years, though he didn’t personally make the four-man state team those seasons.
Despite Nick’s aptitude at both golf and lacrosse, he said, “I like golf more. It seems to fit me better.”
CGA Father/Son Championship
At Par-72 Golf Granby Ranch in Granby
Tad Willenbrock / Nick Willenbrock 69-71–140
Chris Hyten / John Hyten 66-75–141
Jason Coffin / Dan Coffin 67-74–141
Bill Fowler / Will Fowler 68-74–142
Bruce Hogg / Tyler Hogg 72-71–143
Ken Harris / David Harris 68-75–143
Gary Kephart / Alex Kephart 70-74–144
Randy Rouse / Reid Rouse 69-75–144
Jim Chaldekas / Chase Chaldekas 70-75–145
Chuck Delich / Philip Delich 68-78–146
Dallas Massey / James Massey 71-76–147
Grant Porter / Matt Porter 71-76–147
Jim Maurer / Daniel Maurer 69-78–147
Wes Martin / James F Martin 73-74–147
Sam Solomon / Mitchel Solomon 71-77–148
Nick Tarasiewicz / Rick Tarasiewicz 70-79–149
Steve Dillon / Chris Dillon 73-76–149
David Livingston / Thomas Livingston 71-79–150
Bradley Becker / David Becker 71-81–152
Rob Clever / Robert Ernst Clever 71-81–152
Ben Zimmerman / Paul Zimmerman 75-78–153
Guy Mertz / Nicklaus Mertz 78-76–154
John Scott / John A Scott 71-83–154
Bill Bent / Ryan Bent 78-77–155
Gary Thiret / Tyler Thiret 71-84–155
Gary Mercer / Preston Mercer 76-80–156
Doug Moore / Nick Moore 77-80–157
Gene Mccolley / Zac Mccolley 77-80–157
Don Deere / Ted Deere 76-82–158
Kevin Scott Roxburgh / Clinton R. Roxburgh 73-85–158
Larry Michaels / Greg Michaels 78-81–159
Mark Fowler / Brandon Fowler 78-81–159
Mick Maillot / Sean Maillot 70-89–159
Arnold F Weinstein / Chris Weinstein 77-83–160
Brian Cramer / Arlo Cramer 78-82–160
Rick Rosendahl / Mitch Rosendahl 79-82–161
Bill Berech / Brock Berech 81-83–164
Geoff Nuwash / Norm Nuwash 80-84–164
Jess Whittlef / Scott Whittlef 81-83–164
Ben Hettich / Ryan Hettich 72-93–165
Carl Merkel / Nicholas Merkel 80-86–166
James Steigerwald / Tyler Steigerwald 81-85–166
Jim Zetwick / Ryan Zetwick 83-84–167
Tom J Ptach / Scott Ptach 82-85–167
Matthew Pinkerton / Wade T Pinkerton 80-92–172
Warren Seese / Alex Seese 81-92–173
Dennis Weber / Andrew Weber 78-100–178
Scott Bockenstedt / Steve J Bockenstedt 89-94–183
Tony Sangchompuphen / Pyungsak Sangchompuphen 92-106–198
Chris Bledsoe / Nash Bledsoe 80-WD
