Tournament Director Steve Melnyk and his champion son Dalton
In a normal year, the Timuquana Cup is a special week for
Dalton Melnyk. His father
Steve Melnyk, a longtime Timuquana member and past U.S. and British Amateur champion, chairs the tournament committee, and both father and son compete in their respective divisions.
Dalton, like his father a former player for the Florida Gators men's golf team, doesn't play in many national mid-amateur events but he does make sure to circle Timuquana Cup week on his calendar every year.
The Atlanta, Ga., resident has played in the Timuquana Cup nearly every year since its founding in 2012, with several top-10 finishes, but until this year he hasn't contended down the stretch. In 2019, the last time the tournament was played, he entered the final round in third, three shots behind the lead, but faded to a tie for seventh.
But this week he broke through, taking control of the tournament with an opening-round 5-under 67 and never looking back on the way to a four-shot victory. In so doing he joins his father as Timuquana champions; Steve has won three super senior titles.
"It feels very satisfying," the new champion said to Sean Fairholm of Global Golf Post. "It's a crescendo to my experience at this event. It's the event my dad runs, it's where I grew up ... it has a lot of sentimentality. I've always wanted to win it."
Dalton rode six birdies and an eagle to his 67, and added four more birdies and another eagle on the way to a 70 in round two. His lead went from three to six heading into the final round, and a solid 74 was all he needed to coast to the win.
Tyler McKeever, also of Atlanta, finished second with a 1 under total, while
Brian Blanchard (Tempe, Ariz.) was third at even par.
Keith Guest (Athens, Ga.) and
Tony Grillo (Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) tied for fourth at 1 over par.
The defending champion,
David Denham of Athens, Ga., finished in a three-way tie for sixth at 2 over.
SENIOR DIVISION
In the Senior Division, it was a three-way battle between two U.S. Senior Amateur champions and the No. 1 player in the
AmateurGolf.com Senior Ranking.
Doug Hanzel (Savannah, Ga.), the defending champion and 2013 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, shot a pair of 67s to lead reigning U.S. Senior champion
Bob Royak (Alpharetta, Ga.) and No. 1
Gene Elliott (W. Des Moines, Iowa) by three shots heading into the final round.
Playing together in the final round, the heavyweight threesome found themselves tied at the turn after an uncharacteristically slow start by Hanzel. Royak would fall back with back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13, and when Hanzel birdied the par-4 12th he had regained the lead.
Hanzel followed with a birdie on the par-5 15th, which Elliott matched, but a bogey on the par-3 16th put Elliott two back with two to play, and despite a bogey on the 17th, Hanzel was able to see out the win by one stroke. It was Hanzel's fourth Timuquana Cup senior title, having first won in 2015 and 2016.
Hanzel finished with a 74 and an 8-under 208 total, one ahead of Elliott (72) and two ahead of Royak (73).
Billy Mitchell (Atlanta, Ga.) and
John Wright (Fairhope, Ala.) tied for fourth at 4 under, four shots back.
SUPER SENIOR DIVISION
Jim Pearson, who won the Senior title the last time the tournament was played in 2019, edged Scott Sheftall in a playoff for the Super Senior division title after both players had 5-over 221 totals. Phil Pavoni was third at 9 over.
The tournament committee chairman Steve Melnyk was denied another Super Senior title, settling instead for a tied-sixth finish. Still, he was the most delighted player in the field not to win on Sunday, as he got to witness his son lift the overall Timuquana Cup trophy for the first time.
ABOUT THE
Timuquana Cup
Invitational tournament with a field
consisting
of 40 of the top Mid Amateur players in the
country, together with 20 of the top
Senior
Amateurs and 18 more Super Senior amateurs .
The theme of the event will be a
"Gathering of
Friends" with a small, select field
dedicated to
those individuals whose passion is
amateur
golf. The Timuquana Cup will be a
celebration
of amateur golf.
The tournament chairman is Steve Melnyk,
and
USGA Rules Official Tom Dudley will be in
charge of course set up and the rules of
competition. One of the highlights of this
year's event will be a cocktail cruise on the
St.
Johns River departing from the Timuquana
Country Club dock and housing will be
available
for many competitors in members' homes.
View Complete Tournament Information