22 Aug 2021 at 13:06 | Published by: PatPenguin | Views: 28662 | News search

Larry McLaughlin - winner  (Photo by Aaron Kaminski (O Street))

Ocean City, NJ – High 70s (F), partly cloudy and with a slight breeze is about the best conditions one could hope for during a tournament on the Jersey Shore and Larry McLaughlin from Pennsylvania made the most of those conditions over his two rounds at the 3rd O-Street $1,000 tournament. This year’s tournament was at Tee Time Golf, a 55 year-old course that has 15 moving obstacles to challenge and frustrate putters. It featured the largest field in the three-year history of the tournament with 49 players teeing it up to challenge the obstacles.

On that obstacle laden 19-hole course, where you would need a little luck for some aces to drop and to keep you out of trouble, McLaughlin putted rounds of 32 & 33 for an impressive 65 and a one-shot victory over Anna Wallace. It was difficult for McLaughlin to stay ahead of Wallace, 3rd place in last year’s tournament, who shot a course-record tying 31 (for the 19 of 20 holes) in her second round and ended the tournament with the most aces title. Directly behind Wallace was her fiancée Justin Seymour who survived a 3-hole playoff against Mark “The Highlighter” Novicki for 3rd place. They both putted a 67 for their two rounds and Seymour grabbed victory in the playoff on the final hole with an ace. The fifth and final paying place also saw a three-way playoff between William Fitzgerald, Robert DeStasio and Rudy Reel. Their playoff would go beyond the three designated holes and Reel would win it on the fourth hole with an ace.

Aaron Kaminski, president of the sponsoring O-Street Mini Golf Association, had this to say about the tournament play and winner: “Tee Time Golf is a course where anyone can do well, regardless of your professional background. Though many of the holes are easy aces, there are some that could make or break your game. We weren’t surprised that the Northern-east players were going to be strong, placing three in the Top 5. Very excited for Anna Wallace, winning the women’s division for the second year in a row, winning the most holes in one, and being one stroke off the winner. I was especially proud of Larry on winning this year. Larry had an amazing season during the 2021 OGA Tour (O-Street Mini Golf’s Summer League) and most deserving of his win. Larry is just an overall amazing athlete and the more mini golf he plays, the better he keeps getting. The professional mini golf world better watch out for this kid!”

With her overall finish, Wallace also took the top spot in the women’s division over Lisa Cimino, who putted a 72. The top three was rounded out by Mandy Ranslow and Becky Trofa who both carded a 74.

Kaminski wrapped up his thoughts on the tournament as follows, “We raised $470 between the tournament and our summer league games for our local humane society. We had players compete from eight different states, coming as far as Minnesota. Competition was fierce with reigning champ Pat Sheridan defending his title as well as Justin Seymour, our first champion from 2019. Our goal every year is not to make money, but to spread the word about professional miniature golf. Though our tournament is geared towards pros, we try and accommodate as many amateurs, especially those that have never knew about pro mini golf. This year, like the years in the past, consist of a great balance of novice and professional players and we like to continue that for the future. The more people participating and having fun, the better it is for the sport. We can’t thank everyone enough for participating and the staff and owners of Tee Time Golf for hosting us this year.”

You can find more about O-Street and the full results of the tournament in the links below.

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