By
Victoria Sun
Post
staff reporter
Confidence
isn't a problem for Sy Mandle and Robert Clarke.
The two don't lack a sense of humor, either.
Moments after Mandle and Clarke turned in a 7-under-par 65 in the
final round of the Northern Kentucky Two-Man Championship on Tuesday
at Boone Links Golf Club to win the inaugural event, they discussed
their hypothetical chances on the PGA Tour.
"If we could play a two-man scramble, we could be on the tour,"
both said while laughing.
"I'd take my chances," Clarke said. "I think I'd play Tiger, me
and you (paired up). A two-ball scramble against him. Yea, I would."
"I don't know if I want a steady diet of him," Mandle wisely
interjected.
As if on cue, Clarke quipped, "He may not want a steady diet of
us."
Neither did the rest of the field of the event conceived by
Northern Kentucky Golf Association president Gary Herfel.
Mandle and Clarke's two-day total was 11-under 132 while NKGA
vice president Bob Leach Sr. and NKGA tournament director Bob
Schultz finished second with 136. Leach and Schultz also picked up
glass trophies for winning low net, senior gross and senior net.
"I tripled my collection," Schultz chuckled of taking home all
the hardware.
The secret behind Mandle and Clarke's success in Tuesday's
scramble was teamwork.
"For a scramble, our games mesh pretty good," Mandle said. "What
he does good is my weak spot. What I do best is his weakness."
Despite three bogeys, the duo had eight birdies and an eagle-2 on
the 309-yard 18th, where Mandle chipped in from 50 feet.
"Rob drove it real good today off the tee," Mandle said. "He hit
the driver good and I hit mine bad. He didn't putt too good and I
made all the putts. In between we kind of took turn hitting good
shots."
Clarke, last year's Northern Kentucky Amateur champion, told
Mandle they needed to start playing better after they were just 1
under through six holes.
They entered the day with a three-stroke lead over Leach and
Schultz who were tied with Brandon Kramer and John Melmle and Herfel
and Randy Fritschie at 1-under 70.
"Going to No. 7, I said to him, 'We need to make some birdies
here,' because it started to rain and all you heard was it was going
to really pour," Clarke said. "I talked to Gary Herfel last night
and he said we're going to play nine holes if it starts to pour.
"So I told Sy we needed to do something because if it starts
raining, we had a little bit of a cushion, but we would have given
it away."
They didn't give away the victory, but weren't too happy with the
bogeys on Nos. 2, 4 and 12.
"We made three bogeys which in a two-man scramble, we should
never make any, that was kind of unusual," Mandle said.
Both golfers hope the field will grow once more people find out
about it.
Herfel said the NKGA will consider holding the tournament in
August or September to avoid any possible weather delays.
"May is just questionable," Herfel said. "You take the Memorial
on the PGA Tour and it's in Columbus and they've had rain as long as
I can remember.
"I think in August we'll have a better turnout."
