Kris Mikkelsen masters Lupton Memorial

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo While Tim Jackson watches, Kris Mikkelsen hits a tee shot Sunday in the Lupton Invitational golf tournament at the Honors Course.

Kris Mikkelsen posed for pictures holding the Lupton Memorial trophy last year.

He did so again on Sunday with an addition.

Mikkelsen sat his eight-week son in the championship cup for pictures beside the 18th green at The Honors Course after he defended his title in the mid-amateur division of the Lupton Memorial Invitational.

"That will be a picture that we can look at 20 years from and just smile," said Mikkelsen, who wore a pink shirt for the final round again. "I'm pretty surprised that I played well given everything that's been going on since Holt was born."

Mikkelsen shot a final-round 2-under-par 70 for a 54-hole total of 2-under 214.

Third-round leader Andrew Lawson shot a final-round 78 for a 1-over total to finish tied for second with first-round leader Tyler McKeever and Honors Course member Tim Jackson at three strokes behind Mikkelsen.

Doug Hanzel won the senior division with 111 Stableford points to beat Brady Exber, Paul Simson and Chattanoogan Neil Spitalny by just one. Doug Marsh won the super-senior division by nine with 116 points.

"I worked my way down the leaderboard today," said Lawson, who began Sunday at 5 under in the mid-amateur division. "Our group [the final threesome] struggled all day and nobody played well. We all got sucked into bogey vortex."

Mikkelsen birdied the par-5 No. 2 and turned at 1 under par. He added a birdie on No. 11 and another at No. 15 at the same time Jackson made a bogey resulting in a three-shot lead for Mikkelsen.

"That was a pivotal hole for us," Mikkelsen said. "But we weren't sure how the guys behind us were doing."

They couldn't do anything to threaten Mikkelsen, who had a bogey on 17th hole and could have headed to the 18th tee with a one-shot lead if Jackson made a birdie putt.

Hanzel, who won the senior division, also came out of the next-to-last group. He scored 38 points on Sunday -- the equivalent of shooting 2-under -- to come from four points off Exber's second-round lead to win.

Hanzel became the first golfer to win the Lupton Invitational as a mid-amateur (in 2008) and a senior.

"It's unique," said Hanzel, who turned 55 in February. "My thought after I saw the standard-bearers was to make par on 18 and force the guys behind me to birdie."

He made it difficult on himself after mis-reading the birdie putt and forcing himself to make a curling 8-footer for par. Simson and Exber barely missed birdies on the last. Only Spitalny birdied the final hole and he did so by chipping in.

"That was dramatic," Spitalny said. "When we came off 17 I knew I had to make an eagle, so I was out of it and Paul and Brady had to make a birdie to force a playoff."

They didn't. Hanzel won the senior trophy.

Mikkelsen sat his son in the mid-am trophy.