Flynn had good company. Just below that headline was one about Jesse Owens qualifying in two events for the U.S. Olympic team. Right below that another banner headline told of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean getting beaned and suffering a concussion.
Flynn’s triumph still generates pride in his grandson Kevin Flynn, and it made his victory at the Dayton Senior Championship on Aug. 5 at Community Golf Club mean that much more. Flynn, 58, of Springboro, shot a final-round 64 and then beat Alfred DuPuy in a playoff to add another trophy to his family’s collection.
Kevin received his grandfather’s 1936 trophy about 10 years ago from former Dayton Daily News sports writer and longtime golf writer Bucky Albers.
“The 64 is great, but having a championship along with my grandfather is the biggest thing,” Flynn said Wednesday. That’s what matters to me. I know I’ll probably never (shoot 64) again.”
Flynn shot a 74 in the first round and trailed DuPuy by five shots.
“My goal was to try to shoot even par or better each day,” Flynn said. “The first day I was playing good. I just doubled 17. Otherwise, I would have probably shot 72. I was a little disappointed in that.”
Flynn shot a 1-under 34 on the front nine in the second round and then a 6-under 30 on the back nine. He birdied Nos. 10, 16, 17 and 18 and had an eagle on the par-5 No. 14.
“On that one, I was about 100 yards out, and it landed about a foot from the hole and spun left into the hole,” Flynn said. “It just kind of hit the right spot. That’s the one that spurred me on.”
Flynn won the playoff on the first hole. He said he felt bad for DuPuy, who shot 69 in both rounds and played good enough to win and would have won with his score in almost any other tournament.
“The whole day, I was just firing at the pins,” Flynn said.
Flynn works as a financial advisor but takes the summer off and works on his game. He estimates he has played 80 rounds this year.
Even with his grandpa’s connection to the game, Flynn didn’t pick it up until his 30s. Then he became a regular participant in the Dayton city tournaments. He won the stroke play and match play titles in 2008 at Community.
Jim Flynn, a 1927 Fairview High School graduate, won the city amateur when he was 27. He was inducted into the Dayton Golf Hall of Fame in 1984. He owned Jim Flynn’s Sporting Goods for 56 years until it closed in 1987. Golf legend Sam Snead used to drop by the store several times a year, Jim Sr. told the Dayton Daily News in 1983.
“I used to go down there as a little kid,” Kevin said, “and hit balls in the big net on the third floor of the store.”
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