Last week, Shillito offered some solid proof that his practice is paying dividends. The 25-year-old from Kettering won the City Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Community Golf Course.
Shillito trailed Billy Sutterlin by five strokes and Chris Hayes by three going into the final round, and things didn’t look good for him when he was 3-over-par after five holes.
Then he birdied seven of the last 13 holes on the Outside course to post a 6-under 67 and win the 72-hole competition with a 2-under score of 282. Sutterlin shot 76 to finish second at 286 and Hayes was third at 287 after carding a 74.
“I had a good day out there,” Shillito said. “I stayed out of trouble and things went my way.”
Shillito shot 72, 65, 78 and 67. The 65 in the second round came on the Dales (Inside) course and was the low round of the tournament.
This was Shillito’s second strong showing of the summer. In June he advanced to the final of the City Match Play Championship at Madden Golf Course before losing a 3 and 2 decision to Steve Block.
Shillito played on the golf team at Chaminade Julienne High School for two years before transferring to Alter and switching to football. While attending college, he worked three summers at Community, keeping the carts in order and “picking” the driving range.
“I really liked the environment there,” he said.
These days he lives near the golf course and keeps his game sharp by sometimes playing a quick round of golf in the morning before working downtown at Eagle Registration, a family business.
With two young children at home and classes to attend at Wright State University, where he is a part-time student, Shillito has no visions of playing any more golf than he does now, but he is hoping to enter some Miami Valley Golf Association events next summer.
Moraine supports caddies
Twenty-nine present and former caddies at Moraine Country Club will be attending college this fall on scholarships resulting from their work on the golf course.
Ten have full Evans Scholarships from the Western Golf Association and will be at Miami University or Ohio State. The other 19 are receiving financial aid directly from the Moraine scholarship program to attend schools of their choice.
Brent Sipe, head golf professional at Moraine, supervises the caddie program.
NCR CC invites military
NCR Country Club is inviting current and retired service men and women to play golf at its two courses on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 5. All proceeds will benefit the Folds of Honor Foundation, which provides scholarships to spouses and dependent children of service members disabled or killed in military service.
Military personnel and retirees can call the NCR pro shop at (937) 643-6940 any day except Monday to reserve tee times, which begin at 12:30 p.m. The greens fee is $55 per person. NCR also is holding a Patriot Golf Day Pro-Am benefiting Folds of Honor on Oct. 13.
Connelly ‘baptizes’ tee
Playing in the Men’s Guest Stag at Moraine on Wednesday, Aug. 26, Rob Connelly became the first golfer to make a hole-in-one from the new upper tee on the 15th hole — a 158-yard par 3. He used a 6-iron.
The elevated teeing ground was put into use for the first time during the recent Ohio Amateur tournament. It had been used many years ago when the green was in a different location and was resurrected when course superintendent Jason Mahl’s maintenance crew cleared weeds from the area and built a new surface.
Senior Metro deadline
Monday is the deadline to enter the 2009 Senior Metropolitan Championship, which will be held Sept. 10-11 at Brown’s Run Country Club.
Entries can be submitted to the Miami Valley Golf Association online at info@miamivalleygolf.org.
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