Joe Deraney goes wire-to-wire at Lupton Invitational

OOLTEWAH, TN (May 29, 2016) -- Joe Deraney won the Mid-Am division at the Lupton Invitational today, posting a final round of 1-under 71, that gave him a wire-to-wire win at 4-under 212 total at The Honors Course. The Lexington, Kentucky resident -- who lost in a playoff to Charles Waddell here last year -- took a 3-shot lead into the final round. Deraney's only rough patch came early, when he bogeyed the 4th and 5th holes. "I righted the ship by making an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 6th hole," said Deraney. "Then I birdied the hard par-4 7th, and it was smooth sailing after that." Finishing behind Deraney in a tie for second place at 3-over 219 was last year's champion Charles Waddell of Chicago (75), and Kenny Cook of Indiana (73). The lowest round of the day was a 69 by Craig Smith of Tennessee -- that round moved him well up the leaderboard into a tie for 11th. SENIOR/SUPER-SENIOR Both the Senior and Super-Senior flights are played using Stableford scoring. Doug Hanzel of Georgia finished strong with 39 points to win by five over Jack Hall. It was Hanzel's third Lupton Senior title. Michael Mercier and Paul Simson finished another two shots back, in a tie for third. In the Super-Senior (age 65+) incoming Honors Course president Gary Chazen won a narrow one point victory over Ted Smith by birdieing the 18th holes, giving him 38 Stableford points in the final round. That was the best round by anyone in the flight, on any day.