Koesters wins Open’s Senior Pro title
The combination of near perfect golf weather and a whirlwind second round paved the way for Dan Koesters to win his second consecutive Seniors Professional division championship at the Socorro Open on Tuesday at the New Mexico Tech Golf Course.
Jonathan Miller/El Defensor Chieftain: 2102 Socorro Open Seniors Professional Champion Dan Koesters puts from the green on the second hole at New Mexico Tech Golf Course on Tuesday morning. Koesters won his second consecutive championship.
Koesters, the head pro at the New Mexico State Golf Course, rebounded from a nearly disastrous start to come back and shoot a tournament best 67 on day two of the tourney, giving him a total score of 137.
Koesters went into Tuesday’s championship round just one shot off of the lead, but Koesters hit his first two shots from the first tee box out of bounds. He rebounded in good fashion, though, and at the end of the day he finished three strokes ahead of second place finisher Mark Pelletier.
Pellitier was alone atop the leaderboard after Monday’s round when he shot a four-under-par 69, but his score of 71 on Tuesday wasn’t quite enough to keep pace with the 2011 open winner.
“I like this golf course,” Koesters said. “It’s fun, the greens are perfect, and we got two days of absolutely the best weather Socorro has ever seen.”
Aside from the favorable weather conditions, Koesters had with him the advantage of experience. He’s played the course at Tech several times, and knows that it demands a specific style of golf.
“You have to play a lot of shots,” he said. “That’s what makes this golf course super challenging. You have to figure out how you’re going to play it and you stick to your game plan.”
Behind Koesters in first and Pelletier in second place, Tom Storey finished in third with a total score of 141, and Carlton Blewett came in fourth with a two-round total of 143. Socorro’s Russ Moore finished the tourney with scores of 72 and 80, giving him a tournament total of 152.
Competitors in the Seniors Amateur division also competed on Monday and Tuesday. Bill Boykin grabbed first place in Flight 1 with a tournament total of 141, while in Flight 2, David Wilson finished two strokes ahead of Jim Preussner to earn the victory.
Flight 3 was all but dominated by Joe Montoya, as he finished 12 strokes ahead of the closest competitor with a 15 under par total of 129.
The 2012 Socorro Open will continue today at 9 a.m. when the Open Pro-Am gets under way, and the professional and amateur championships will run from Thursday to Saturday.