Cleveland Stars Claim 9 of top 14 Spots at Portland Open

Downes fires closing 68 to finish solo 3^rd

July 3^rd by Dom Dastoli

            Portland, ME-For the third consecutive state open, the final leaderboard had an undeniable Cleveland Golf Tour flavor to it. Although Ryan Dillon of Aiken, SC out dueled Eli Zackheim to lay claim to the $8,500 winner’s check, the final round produced an exciting finish and some exceptional rounds by the likes of Billy Downes, who jumped over several players with his closing 68, and Jim West, who fired back to back 67’s to conclude the tournament in solo 9^th place.

            Overnight co-leader Eli Zackheim got his round off to an auspicious start with an opening birdie to take the early lead at 11-under par. A double bogey and a bogey a few holes later derailed his early momentum and left him chasing for the remainder of the round. “I just never established any momentum,” said Zackheim, who will head to next week’s Passaconaway Open on the heels of three consecutive top 10 finishes dating back to early June’s Atkinson Open.

            One shot behind Downes, Ryan Ouelette and Eli Zackheim completed play tied for 4^th place at 10-under par with Noah Zelnik, whose round was a tale of two nines. After driving into a hazard on the second hole on the way to a double, he failed to convert any putts en route to a front nine of 3-over par.

At wit’s end, he then decided to putt cross handed for the back nine. Incredibly, this change resulted in birdies on 10, 12, 13, and 14 to put him right back into contention. Following near misses on 15 and 16, he birdied 16 then missed from eight feet on 18 in his bid for a 29.

Not only did his stellar back nine improve his standing in this tournament, but it could serve as a catapult to an impressive run of high finishes for the rest of the summer schedule. “I feel very goof about the rest of the summer knowing I can do that on the back nine on the final day

            Jim West finished one shot further back of that trio at 9-under with a 4-under par final round that only got him half way to his target number. “I figured if I could shoot 8-under, I would have a chance.” As it turned out, he was right, as he finished exactly four shots behind Dillon. He has now recorded back to back top ten finishes due in large part to a more cooperative flat stick. “My putting is a thousand times better,” said an enthused West.

            West was not the only one making noise on this final day as Jerry Courville finished in a flurry with a 5-under par 66 to tie Corey Harris and David Cummings for 14^th place.