Caylor victorious at The Classic, Collett takes home Senior Division crown
Unique scoring formats can either create drama and entertainment or suck the life out of an event. In the case of The Classic at Elmwood Country Club, the drama and entertainment were present in spades for the climax of the 2021 edition Sunday afternoon.
The Classic, an Iowa Golf Association additional point event, utilizes Stableford scoring — a unique system in which the scores are calculated by points based on the number of strokes per hole, rather than traditional scoring from stroke play.
Photo courtesy of Noah Rohlfing, Marshalltown Times-Republican
The format encourages aggressive play and taking risks for chances at birdies, with four points for a birdie, two for a par and one for a bogey. Eagles are worth eight points. Two players mastered the format in the open division Sunday — Carson Caylor (pictured left) of Urbandale and Nate McCoy of Ankeny. The duo were in the final group, with McCoy holding a slim lead for most of the round after being the first-round leader in treacherous conditions Saturday with a score of 40.
Winds gusted near 50 miles per hour Saturday, but on Sunday the weather was perfect, with warm temperatures and winds at 10-20 miles per hour. Caylor took advantage of the better conditions to birdie the final two holes and take home the win in the open division, draining a birdie putt on the 18th to finish with 79 points — one more than McCoy’s 78.
Caylor trailed by five points with five holes to play. He chipped away at McCoy’s lead with pars on holes 14, 15 and 16, but still trailed by three. The birdie at 17 cut it to one. And when faced with a 15-to-20 footer for the win, Caylor didn’t take any chances and produced a finish to remember.
Photo courtesy of Noah Rohlfing, Marshalltown Times-Republican
In the senior bracket, Jeff Collett (pictured right) of Ottumwa took home the Championship Flight with a wire-to-wire win. After topping the leaderboard in round one with a score of 35, he shot a 33 and was comfortably in control of proceedings throughout. Not even a double-bogey 6 on the final hole had an impact on Collett’s win.
The changing conditions played a part, Collett said, as did his approach to the different format.
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Noah Rohlfing of the Marshalltown Times-Republican