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Tom Butterfield Lyle Ambs Champion

Story By Gary Kalahar, JTV Sports 

Jackson, Mich – Time marches on, and so does Steve Maddalena.

The ageless 57-year-old  showed yet again Sunday that he is not ready to give way to the younger set when it’s time to win a golf tournament.

Hard to believe, but there was a line missing from Maddalena’s resume that has now been added as he captured the Lyle Ambs Memorial at Sharp Park Golf Course. Maddalena defeated Jake Butterfield, a sophomore on the golf team at Olivet Nazarene University, 5 and 3 in the championship match of the 16-player match play tournament.

Maddalena’s 26 victories in Jackson’s major tournaments have spanned an amazing 35 years – he broke through with the City Championship in 1983 – but this was his first in the Lyle Ambs. It was just his fourth appearance in the tournament, which until 2010 was open only to public course players. He is the tournament’s oldest winner, and he joins Mike Brockie, Mark Kurzynowski and Pete Walz as the only players to earn Jackson’s version of the Grand Slam with victories in all six of the local tournaments.

The championship came just days after Maddalena posted what might have appeared to be a disappointing 83-78 to miss qualifying for match play in the Michigan Amateur at Egypt Valley. Maddalena was not discouraged.

“I didn’t play that badly there,” he said. “I got a bad draw as far as the weather. A actually hit the ball well, but I didn’t putt or chip very well. There were a lot of holes where I should have got up and down, and didn’t.”

Maddalena was also a bit more comfortable at Sharp Park.

“It’s hard to find greens that (run) as fast as (Egypt Valley),” he said. “That takes some adjustment. And it’s nice to play a golf course that’s 6,200 yards rather than 7,100. That’s a big difference.”

A shorter course allows Maddalena’s consistent ball-striking to negate the distance advantage he sometimes surrenders to younger foes.

“I can equalize it if I can get to most of the par-5s in two,” he said, “even if I’m hitting a 3-wood or a rescue and he’s hitting an iron.”

Maddalena never trailed against Butterfield, just a year removed from being an all-state golfer at Concord High School and a semifinalist in the City Championship in 2015.

Maddalena won the opening hole with a birdie and lost the second with a bogey – his only one of the round. He hit every green in regulation the rest of the way, adding birdies on Nos. 6, 10, 14 and 15 and winning two holes with pars. Butterfield kept the match going with a birdie of his own on the 14th but it ended on the 15th.

To reach the final, Maddalena went 20 holes in the semifinals to oust two-time defending champion Mike Brockie, ending Brockie’s bid to become the first player to win the season’s first three tournaments. Maddalena drained a 40-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to end the seesaw match.

Brockie was 3 up after six holes before Maddalena won Nos. 7 and 8 with birdies. Maddalena leveled the match on No. 12, and they did not halve a hole the rest of the way. Maddalena won the 18th to extend the match, and they both birdied the first extra hole.

“We didn’t play well for stretches, but we did make it exciting,” Maddalena said.

Maddalena started the tournament with a 4-and-3 victory over Matt Farhat and a 3-and-2 triumph over Mike Boldt.

Dave Kendall Golf Academy
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