Steamboat course hosts 1st 'rez golf' tourney
(Times photo - Paul Natonabah)
Ambrose Ben of Low Mountain, Ariz., watches his shot from the rough at the 1st hole during the Wagon Trail to Lonesome Pine golf tournament July 10 in Steamboat, Ariz.
Navajo Times
STEAMBOAT, Ariz., July 23, 2010
(Times photo - Paul Natonabah)
Ron George uses body language but the ball stops at the edge of the cup at the 8th hole during the Wagon Trail to Lonesome Pine golf tournament July 10 in Steamboat, Ariz.
Twelve golfers in two-man teams took on the 9-hole course, which was a surprise for co-founder Joe Benally.
Michael Thompson and Marcus Tulley from St. Michaels, Ariz., won the tournament by one stroke, 63 to 64.
"I had a lot of fun out there," Thompson said. "It was the first time playing that course. It's something really different and it's something you don't see out here.
"I didn't know what to expect, but after looking at the scorecard, I've never seen a course with a lot of par-3s," he said. "It was very different from playing on grass, but it's very difficult on dirt."
Thompson said he heard about the tournament at the "last minute" when his teammate Tulley called him.
"Yeah, I would play it again," Thompson said.
Thompson and Tulley edged out Lionel and Tom Bedonie of Pinon, Ariz. Third place was the team of Ambrose and Marvis Ben of Blue Gap, Ariz., who finished with a 65.
Thompson and Tulley took home a $200 prize, while the Badonis won $150 and the Bens won $100.
Thompson, who hit the ball 292 yards on the 6th hole, won the longest drive prize. Marvis Ben won the "Closest to the Pin" award by placing his ball 4' 2" from the third hole.
"It's pretty tough compared to a real golf course," Tom Bedonie said. "On a real golf course, you could read the greens easily, but here it was tough."
The course is open to the public and co-founder Freddie Yazzie has noticed an increase in people interested in playing on it.
"A lot more people are coming out and just playing in the evenings," he said. "They say rez golf is different from other courses, because it's more challenging."
According to Donald Benally, co-founder with his brother Joe Benally and Yazzie, people were calling to get information on the course before the tournament.
"They said they seen the story on the Internet. Then we got calls from Japan," Donald said. "They wanted more information on the course. They were pretty excited about it. We even got a call from a radio station from Phoenix and they wanted to do a story on it."
The trio said they may host another event in September.
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