By Richard Skinner, Post staff reporter
It only took Tom Leone one hole in Tuesday's final round of the Northern Kentucky Junior Amateur golf tournament to repeat as champion.
That's because the final round itself at Ft. Mitchell Country Club was actually rained out, forcing a sudden-death playoff between Leone and Ben Luttrell, who were tied for the lead at 76 after Monday's first round.
When the rain finally stopped, Leone and Luttrell began their playoff at around 12:30 p.m. on the fifth hole, a par 5.
Leone reached the green in two, then two-putted for birdie. Luttrell came up short on his second shot, made a poor chip, missed his birdie attempt and tapped in for par.
''A win is a win, but I wanted to play the full 18,'' said Leone, who won last year's tournament at Sugar Bay Golf Course in Warsaw. ''There was a lot of standing water on the course and they told us we could play (the playoff) tomorrow, but Ben and I wanted to play and get it over with.''
Leone, a recent graduate of St. Henry High School who is heading to Northern Kentucky University on a golf scholarship, and Luttrell, who will be a senior at Boone County High School, are good friends.
That made Tuesday's playoff even tougher.
''It would have been nice to have 18 holes decide it, so it's real tough,'' said Luttrell. ''I'm happy for him, but I thought I had figured out what I needed to do. My putting needed a lot of work and I needed to be more aggressive. I was ready.''
Luttrell said he knew there was a likelihood Tuesday's final round would be rained out when he woke up at 6 a.m.
''They had said the day before what would happen if it rained and when I got up I heard it pouring down,'' he said.
Leone actually rallied on the second nine on Monday to finish with a 76. After shooting a 41 on the front nine, he fired a 35 on the back nine.
''When I made the turn (Monday) a lot of kids were talking about a possible rain out on Tuesday and how important (Monday) was, so I knew what I had to do,'' Leone said.
The other boys' age-group champions were John Chambers (15-16), Brian Lewin (13-14), Alex Volpenhein (11-12) and Joey Landrum (10-under). Kristen Schulte won the girls' title.
''I feel like I haven't won it, because it happened so quick,'' said Leone. ''I'm still waiting to play the other 17 holes.''
It was the first junior amateur that was weather-shortened in the tournament's 32-year history.
Publication date: 06-10-98
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