The Hickory Corner: It’s ‘Major’ time for hickory

By Brian Giboney, Special to Inside Golf
A few issues ago I promised to keep you apprised of the four hickory majors. The first hickory major of the year – The World Hickory Match Play – was held May 23-25th at the prestigious Philadelphia Cricket Club. In the third place match Jeff Smith of Arkansas and Cliff Martin of California locked horns with Cliff Martin closing out Jeff Smith 5 and 4.

In the championship match it was 2015 world champion Ben Hollerbach of Georgia and 2014 world champion Jeremy Moe of Arkansas in an epic battle. With Hollerbach nursing a one up lead he had Moe stymied on the 15th hole. Moe attempted the risky “stymie chip” but his ball hit Hollerbach’s ball and thus lost the hole for a 2-down deficit with three to play. The match would be decided on the next hole with Hollerbach claiming the years first major with a 3 & 2 win.

The next hickory major is he Swedish Hickory Open will be held in Borås, Sweden on August 6-7th at the Hans Jagenburg Golf Course. Stay tuned to Inside Golf for those results.

Locally there has been a lot of hickory action as well. Durel Billy won the Seattle Old Sticks Championship held at Fairwood Country Club with a stellar hickory round of 78.

There was a fun hickory Ryder Cup type competition held at Highlands Golf Course on April 23rd called The Mojean Cup. It consisted of two seven person teams competing in 3 formats: 2 person scramble, traditional four ball, and singles. In the end it was the Jones Team defeating the Vardon Team 8 1/2 pts to 5 1/2 pts. The Mojean Cup was held in honor of longtime Allenmoore Professional Don Mojean who has helped area golfers for over 45 years and is still going strong at Highlands.

Jim Von Lossow continued his hickory dominance with a pair of 74s to win the Pacific Northwest Championship held at the Salem Golf Club in Salem Oregon on May 14-15. Jim recently sold his modern set of clubs and is now playing hickory exclusively which, by the way, is a symptom of having caught the hickory bug. That mental state of having fun on the golf course with wood shafted golf clubs.

Finally, National Hickory Day was a nationwide success on May 1. Close to 1,000 people (if not more) participated in the hickory event one way or another at courses throughout the country.

The Northeastern part of the country was hard hit with storms and several courses were washed out, but that did not stop hickory golfers from getting together to trade clubs, roll a few replica golf balls on the practice putting green, or invite a friend to hit some hickories on the range for the first time. Be looking to participate next year and join in on the hickory fun.