The 6th Annual Dragon Ridge Open Recap

For the 6th year in a row, the Dragon Ridge Open has filled up. This course, designed by Gary Braman, is as Beautiful as it is Challenging! I have met very few people who dislike this course and many I talk with say it’s in their top five. The unique terrain, basket placements, and beauty make it one of the best venues on the tour!

I would like to thank the City of Camdenton and Park Director Travis Brock for their continued dedication and support of this event. They continue to fund this event and are always helpful when things are needed. Another big shout out to the volunteers that are instrumental in making this course look good, baskets moved, water put out, and much more: Gary Braman (nice new signs!), River Flagg, Triston Stark, JC Vest, and Ben Viles. The course looked better than ever. I speak for all when I say we appreciate your efforts!

I’m confident in saying that we had the BEST weather ever for this event. The 1st round actually started off cool and finished off nearly perfect. The second round high temperature reached the low 80’s which was perfect for golf. There was little to no wind. The weather/Mother Nature could not be used as an excuse this year.

At the end of the event we had a raffle and did a Ring of Fire for an Innova Traveler basket. Alexis Kerman won the Ring of Fire that went well with her FPO win. Justin Gray took home the Innova Discatcher Sport basket (the big ticket item) in the Raffle. It was neat being able to do a Ring of Fire again thanks to no Covid Protocol.

There were 9 divisions represented this year.

Box Scores & Highlights:

MA3 Division: despite a slow start shooting 5 off the 1st round leader (Justin Crawford), Mason Myers shot a great 2nd round to finish on top with a 117. Justin finished 2nd only one stroke off. Austin McBee finished 3rd at 121.

MA2 Division: Joshua Horne shot the hot round 57. This was enough to win shooting a 112 total holding off Matt Williams’ 114 and Scott Hayden’s 118.

MA50+ Division: Thad Nelson tied the hot round with Tom Butler and cruised to the win shooting a total of 117. Darrin Dodson and Brad Hilton tied for 2nd at 122.

FA40+ Division. Mary Abbott took home the win shooting 132 and Tina Gilltrap took 2nd with a 145.

MA40+ Division: Dylan Gilltrap (110 score) was able to hold off Michael Cory (111 score) by only a stick. Todd Bushatz shot a 113 that was good enough for 3rd.

FA2 Division: There were 2 ladies who had quite a battle. Kassidy Dalton was able to come back from a 2 stroke deficit to win by 1 shooting a 138. Merideth Bushatz finished 2nd with a very strong showing (139).

MA1 Division: Alex Raven, Josh Jarvis, and Brandon Luebberring had quite the rollercoaster ride. Their round one scores ranged from 54-58, but all ended up in a dead 3 way tie at 113. Josh bowed out first on hole 1, and it was Brandon who finished the victor in the playoff.

FPO Division: Alexis Kerman (part of Mizzou’s Collegiate Championship Team) pulled off the win shooting a 125. Brandy Monnahan of Lebanon finished with a 131 2nd place. Esmeralda Dodson, in her first Open tourney, finished 3rd only 1 off 2nd with a 132. Mariah Flagg, in her first tourney back in a few years shot a 140.

MPO Division: This was quite a battle at the top! In the first round, Dallas Whittle and David Savage shot the hot rounds with a pair of 50’s Local hero River Flagg was only one off that pace. In round two River caught Savage to tie at 102. In the play off River had a high left putt from 25’ that didn’t stick. Savage took the “W” with a 12 foot park job and an easy tap in. Dallas only missed the play off by one.

Congratulations to all you above and to all that cashed. Thanks again for playing in this fun event. We hope to see you all in Lebanon for the 13th Annual Jared Hilton Memorial on June 10th.