EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Something interesting always happens during the Evansville Men’s City Golf Tournament. This year’s event was no exception.
A total of 173 golfers competed for 63 spots during Saturday’s qualifying round. It marks the most entrants for the tournament since 2008 and the first time two courses were required since 2016.
There were low scores at the two sites — Fendrich and Helfrich Hills. Plenty of suspense with an 8-man playoff (which could have been 10). Even drama for the final spot in the main event. It’s all a day in the life of city golf qualifying.
Mitchell Johnson and Matthew Godsey paced the field at 6-under 64. Johnson, an Evansville North High School grad, tallied an impressive 10 birdies including four straight to end the day.
Godsey, a junior at Brescia University in Owensboro, overcame a bogey on his first hole – the par-4 10th – to play flawless golf the rest of the day. Godsey finished with seven birdies.
“My main goal was to make the cut,” said Godsey. “As soon as I started getting it rolling, I wanted to see how low I could go. It just all came together on one day. I’ve been practicing a lot to get on the skill level I want to be at.”
One player, James Schroeder, has been intertwined with this tournament and one of the qualifier’s two sites — Helfrich Hills Golf Club, a course that opened in 1923 and was designed by architect Tom Bendelow — for years.
Schroeder won the Dan Scism Scholarship in 1995. When he was 14, his family moved across from the Michael D. Helfrich House which is located behind the 10th green.
Nothing in his mind topped this year. His round only played a small part in it. Schroeder claimed the final qualifying spot from the Helfrich group with a par in a one-hole playoff against Stephen Smith.
His caddie? His 10-year-old son Will. His oldest, Zach, had the second-lowest round at Helfrich to also qualify.
“I love this tournament and never qualified,” said James Schroeder. “This year, my boys played for the first time. (To qualify) is such a blessing, but it probably means more because of them.”
Zach Schroeder, a rising junior at nearby Mater Dei, was one of the few to find success at Helfrich. He posted a 4-over 75 with three birdies to finish one shot behind Tyler Raben for the low round. His younger brother Matthew, an incoming freshman, shot an 87 to miss the cut by only four shots.
“Zach shot a great score,” said his father. “He was a four-putt away…
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