Craig Mertz wins 2009 Bill Franey Open and Wyatt Haukap cards hole in one!

Craig Mertz of Carroll shot a 27 hole total of two under par 106 to win the 4th Annual Bill Franey Open at the Raccoon Valley Golf Course in Jefferson on Sunday by one stroke over Scott Quandt of Mt. Carmel. Mertz also won the inaugural Bill Franey Open in 2006. Defending champion Wade Pettitt and 2007 champion Mike Eckerman were not in the field this year.
The tournament named after Bill Franey, father of Mike Franey of Carroll who passed away in May of 2006 attracted 24 Carroll golfers in the 56 player field. The tournament was formerly known as the Al Hoy Memorial where Bill Franey served as the tournament director for 25 years. In 2006 the Board of Directors of the golf course renamed the tournament the Bill Franey Open. Proceeds from the tournament support a scholarship given annually to a student training to be an electric lineman at Northwest Community College in Sheldon. Franey was a lineman for the Midland Power Coop in Jefferson for 31 years and served as line superintendent for another 10 years.
All golfers played 18 holes then the low 16 players qualified for a final championship nine. Adam Pick won the final nine medalist honors with a 2 under par 34.
Other Carroll golfers in the championship flight included Adam Pick 110, Pat “Spanky” Vollstedt 110, Kevin Vollstedt, formerly from Manning 114, Joe Pick 115, Lonny Lehrkamp 115, Andy Bernholtz 115, Steve “Cuda” Quandt 116 and Wyatt Haukap with a 117. Haukap recorded a hole in one on hole #5.
Terry Ruchti was second in the first flight with a 79. Others in the first flight were Steve Sinnard 81, Paul Tigges 81, Tom Duff 82, former Carroll resident John Dukes 83, Tom Dentlinger 84 and Andy Reiman 84. Dave Nelson was 4th in the second flight with an 87. Other scores in the 2nd flight were Bruce Pettitt 87, Jay Drees 89, Joe Hinners 89 and Mike Franey 90. Mike McDermott won the third flight with a 92 and Steve “Hans” Auen was second with a 92. Others in the 3rd flight were former Carroll resident Mark Cuddy 93, Jason Scranton 101 and Tom Snyder 110.

A big thanks to the Carroll girls for coming over and supporting all the golfers!