Spargrove leads Seniors’ Classic after first day

ZANESVILLE, Ohio —The 53rd Annual Zanesville Senior Classic kicked off on Tuesday at the Zanesville Country Club. The 36-hole event features 74 golfers aged 55-and-up, from three different states — including two from Florida.

The course conditions were not ideal on the first day after the heavy rains that Zanesville received throughout Monday. The course was wet and soggy as many eyes were on defending champion and 7-time winner Jim Spargrove, whose a member at ZCC. Spargrove had a rough front nine with three three-putts; he bogied five holes on the day total but managed to shoot a 1-under 71 to place himself atop the leaderboard. Among Spargrove’s foursome was Al Christopher, former football coach at Muskingum University and former event winner.

Now while Spargrove received a lot of the attention from fellow golfers on Tuesday, there were a couple first timers out there including Mike Bubenchik. His daughter was a golfer at John Glenn High School– he turned 55 just one day after last year’s tournament and was unable to compete. Bubenchik, also a member at the club, had the lowest handicap on the course at 2– other than Spargrove who is a “scratch” golfer. Bubenchik was also paired with another former event winner in John Dinan. CR Pratt, a 5-handicap, was another first timer out on the course Tuesday afternoon. Both he and Bubenchik shot 5-over 77’s to stay within striking distance heading into day two on Wednesday.

The format remains the same on Wednesday; play will begin with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. again. Players are competing for overall champion and runner-up, as well as gross score and net champions and runner-ups in 5 age groups (55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-and-older).

Jeff Spires of Circleville currently sits in 2nd place, two behind Spargrove. While John Cooper of Zanesville, who shot 74, remains three back. Craig Baker, Mike Wren, Craig Baldwin and Harold Talbert are all tied for fourth, after 76’s, and Al Christopher, Bill Stewart, Greg Merritt and Mike Milby joined Bubenchik and Pratt with 77’s on the afternoon.