LUMBERTON — With a pair of younger players threatening their lead on Sunday afternoon at Pinecrest Country Club, Mark Kinlaw and Jeff Wishart showed that experience matters in the Kiwanis All-American golf tournament.
After carding a first-round 62 on Saturday, Kinlaw and Wishart posted 66 on Sunday to finish at 16-under 128 for a two-stroke victory over a pair of teams in the 40th edition of the event.
For the former champions, this victory was a little bit sweeter.
“It means a lot because we’re getting up in age,” said Wishart, who has won the event five times. “These boys were talking a little junk to me, so we wanted to show them we weren’t done yet.”
Kinlaw and Wishart won the event as a team in 2011. With the latest win, Kinlaw matches Dyrck Fanning for the most Kiwanis titles at seven.
Like Wishart, Kinlaw wanted to show the younger guys they still had some game.
“We’re both 56 years old and were high school classmates, so that kind of makes it neat,” Kinlaw said. “The older you get, the more you appreciate it because you know there’s just not that many more that you can win. It’s a good field and a lot of fun.”
But it wasn’t easy for the seasoned duo. A pair of teams finished two strokes back of Kinlaw and Wishart, with Greg Powell and Clay Hufstetler winning a scorecard playoff to claim the runner-up finish.
A pair of Bladen County boys were the talk around the leaderboard before Kinlaw and Wishart finished up.
Blake Baysden and Dylan Thompson matched a tournament record with a final-round 60 to vault into the championship flight, finishing third. Baysden and Thompson combined for 15 birdies in the round.
Kinlaw and Wishart had no way of knowing what was going on ahead of them on the course, but they started to get nervous after playing the first five holes without a birdie.
“It was a struggle (on Sunday). (On Saturday), we had a good time and good group, cruising along kind of easy,” Wishart said. “(In the final round) we had to work a little bit more. It wasn’t the same. We struggled at the start, but then birdied (Nos.) 6, 7 and 8.”
Settling down over the final nine holes, Kinlaw and Wishart carded their lone bogey on No. 14 before rolling in birdies on two of the next three holes to seal the victory.
“We were pretty solid the whole time. We made some good putts,” Kinlaw said. “Jeff’s putt on No. 15 was a big one and that really helped us. We just did what we had to do.”
Chris Rice and Tray Martin won the first flight, with Brad and Lonail Locklear taking second. Matthew Carter and Michael Chuchaz won third place.
Bruce Mullis and Jeff Brown earned first place in the second flight, with DeLance Locklear and Donnie Beck winning second. Bryan and David Ayers finished third.
Gerald Strickland and Paul Hunt won the third flight, with Danny Lassiter and Eddie Williams earning a runner-up finish. Mark Smaizys and Ray Heasley finished third.
Regular winners of the weekly senior shootout events at Pinecrest and Fairmont, Knocky Thorndyke and Billy Bullock won the fourth flight. Rian Collins and Chris Kinlaw, along with Mike Graham and Randy Lewis tied for second.
Abdul Ghaffar and Justin Winans rounded out the winners by claiming the fifth flight. Don Metzger and Bobby Donovan finished second, with Chris Britt and Brad Martin taking third.
It was another successful tournament in the eyes of Lucky Welsh, who has participated in all 40 of the Kiwanis tourneys. A former president of the Kiwanis Club, Welsh was a part of the tournament’s inception in 1978.
“I think the best memories for me come from when we first started with wanting to do something for the youth,” Welsh said. “We were trying to determine what that might be and how we could raise money. We approached the (Pinecrest) Country Club and started this tournament as a way to do it. It has become the premier golf tournament at Pinecrest.”
Over the past 39 years, the Kiwanis Club of Robeson-Lumberton has done plenty to help children around the county. It’s an effort helped yearly by the club’s annual golf tournament, which raises money that’s given directly back to the community. All proceeds go directly to agencies providing support, guidance and protection to children around the county.
Past funds have been used to provide clothes and shoes to students in need, help pay for counseling of children who suffered the death of a family member, paid for books for second-graders and been used to provide Christmas gifts and scholarships to area youth. Money has also been donated to numerous organizations that help local youth.
Welsh recalls watching Nicky McKeithan and Ray Sessoms win the first Kiwanis title in 1978 — and two more in 1979 and 1980.
But the goal of helping children in the county remains at the center of Welsh’s heart.
“The best thing about it all is the millions of dollars we’ve raised over 40 years for the children of Robeson County That’s what we wanted to do,” he said. “It’s a big success. Thank goodness I’ve been able to play in all 40 of them. It’s been a blessing in my life.”
