No need for talk: Dickerson’s deeds prove worthy [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas]

June 26--There are times when Shawn Savage never seems to stop yapping at his frequent golf partner, J.D. Dickerson. Being longtime buddies from Plainview, Savage can get away with nagging his teammate.

"I'm a pretty hyper person," Savage said. "He puts up with that well. He'll tell me, 'Go sit in the cart. I got this.' "

That certainly applied Friday, when Dickerson supplied much of the scoring in a first-round 63 that gave him and Savage a three-shot lead in the Swinger partnership at Hillcrest Country Club.

"I made everything today," Dickerson said. "I absolutely made everything. I think I missed one putt. Hit it good and rolled it good."

And, in some cases, rolled it just enough. The round started with an eagle, on which Dickerson's wedge spun back to the edge of the cup and fell in -- but not until minutes later when everyone had hit their shots and got up to the green.

"I said, 'come up here and mark your ball,' " Savage said, "and as I said that, his ball falls in."

"You think you've got 3 in the bag, so you fix your divot and go walking down to the ball, and it goes in," Dickerson said. "It's kind of like, 'Oh wow, I made 2.' "

With that, they were off to a 9-under day and a good start to defending the Swinger title they won last year. Tied at 66 are Jason Lindgren and J.B. Luttrell and the unlikely team of Blake Ashcraft and Jon Lummus, who just met the day before the tournament started. The two teams made their way to 6-under in similar fashion, avoiding trouble and making no bogeys.

Still, both had an interesting finish.

Lindgren holed out a birdie from a green-side bunker on the par-3 17th.

Ashcraft and Lummus faced the possibility of their first bogey of the round on the par-4 18th, where both missed the green with wedges from the fairway. Once on, Ashcraft was looking at about 12 feet for par and Lummus about half that.

Ashcraft stepped up and knocked it in.

"It's going to make dinner taste a lot better," Lummus said. "Bogey on 18's never fun. It was a good day, a good start."

Lummus' original partner had to back out early in the week. A mutual friend, two-time Swinger champion Scott Rundell, recommended Ashcraft to his former Midland College contemporary. Good call.

Ashcraft, a 24-year-old Lubbock resident from Tahoka, helped his new partner settle in, birdieing two of the first five holes with a chip and a 30-foot putt. Lummus hit a wedge close on No. 8 and a 15-footer on No. 9 for a 4-under front nine.

"We have very similar personalities," said Lummus, a 31-year-old San Angelo resident. "Neither one of us say a whole lot on the golf course. We both hit it about the same distance. He read the greens for me, so it was actually a pretty good partnership."

Lindgren, a 27-year-old Irving resident, and Luttrell, a 33-year-old from Midland, are former pros who have regained their amateur status. They played both sides in 3-under.

"We just did everything you're supposed to probably and nothing extra," Lindgren said. "We were never in trouble. We were never going to make a bogey, but we missed a lot of birdie putts that we probably could have made to shoot the 62, 63."

[filtered word]her back on the course, a lot of those putts were going down for Dickerson and his partner. He and Savage turned at 30 with Savage having made two mid-range birdie putts and Dickerson a couple of shorter ones. Then Dickerson birdied holes 10, 14 and 15.

By the end, the leaders didn't have much to complain about except a 1-under showing on the par-5s.

"The golf course giveth, and the golf course taketh away," Dickerson said. "It gave some (with the eagle on No. 1), and it took it back on the par-5s. I had a 6 iron on 11 and a 7 iron 16 and don't make birdie. To me, those are kind of tough to deal with."

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AREA GOLF/Red hot Dickerson, Savage take first-round lead in Swinger

at Hillcrest Country Club

Par 72; Yardage: 7,010

Friday's First Round

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT

J.D. Dickerson-Shawn Savage 63

Blake Ashcraft-Jon Lummus 66

Jason Lindgren-J.B. Luttrell 66

Barrett Gray-John Cardinal 67

Bubba Bailey-Lane Branum 67

Scott Rundell-David Bolen 68

Ross Tyler-Ronnie Angeley 68

Cody King-Shawn Reeves 68

Sam Hansard-Junior Ashmore 68

Bill Ashley-Ramiro Rodriquez 69

Bobby Gee-John Cook 70

Ryan Rogers-Jeff Cooper 71

Ben Greene-Darrin Yates 73

Richard Scully-Kevin Davis 73

PRESIDENTS FLIGHT

Tracy Witherspoon-Scott Tilson 65

Josh White-Bryston Jiminez 66

Randy Richardson-Rick Doggett 68

Brad Ralston-Steven Watters 68

Erick Willcoxon-Curtis Hogan 69

Bud Arnett-Lance Wright 69

Steve Jefferies-Bill Gulley 69

Tyler McDougal-Taylor Morrow 69

Bryan Howard-Sean Howard 69

Rob Francis-Clay Simpson 70

Cole Bynum-Ron Rogers 71

Kurt Bowen-Mark Meador 71

Shon Ross-John Carson 72

Joe Luck-Craig Wallace 75

FIRST FLIGHT

Bill McNamara-Bob Ricks 69

Richard Jennings-David Jennings 70

Daniel Klein-Hunter Payne 70

Tommy Reece-Jim Ferrell 71

Tommy Wilson-Dave Butler 71

Tate Newsom-Kelsey Blundell 72

Mike Lance-Luke Anderson 72

Bubba Atchley-John Crocker 72

Mark Featherston-Tom Lankford 72

Mike Earl-Joe Baxter 72

Ronnie Hughes-Steve Willis 74

Greg Shaw-Randy Carroll 75

Dean Teykl-Nick Raffaele 75

Danny Mayfield-Don Price 76

Shawn Brown-Brian Shofner 78

Mike Richardson-Dane Richardson 78

SECOND FLIGHT

Walt Norris-Joe Anthony 66

Conway Clary-David Brotherton 68

Sonny Garza-Anthony Canchola 70

Ken Patterson-Mark Decker 72

Steve Kennedy-Jonathan Stephens 72

Shane Savage-Lanny Savage 72

Orval Jackson-Monte McLean 72

Randy Hudman-Al Benson 73

Marty Faubus-Craig Morgan 73

Chad Garlington-Ross Ward 73

Robby Brown-Russell Brown 74

Scott Sonnenberg-John Paul Belew 74

Ken Beebe-Kyle Beebe 75

Freddie Keith-Darrell Jay 76

Marc McDougal-Joel Swan 78

Robert McComb-Randy Noble 78

THIRD FLIGHT

James Kinsey-Billy Smartt 71

Mark Andersen-Brad Woodward 73

Lyndall Couch-Steve Lee 75

Greg Duran-Aaron Collins 75

Cory Wisdom-Todd Phillips 75

Charlie Longbotham-Carl Wilson 75

Trent Bartlett-WL Bartlett 76

E.B. Dixon-Brett Dixon 76

Nathan Black-Tony Pasek 76

Rusty Cagle-Heath Shelton 76

Victor Salazar-Cade Pierce 77

Lane Luce-Keith Peel 78

Tom Kesterson-Spencer Carley 79

Danny Bownds-Shane Bownds 80

Tarek Bitar-Chase Clark 86

Landry Odom-Derrek Hughes 86

FOURTH FLIGHT

Brad Hudson-Scott Bell 70

Haffis Bannire-Jaun Donminguez 71

Matt Bullen-Danny Scott 72

Rob Dean-Randy Norman 73

Vann Francis-Jack Darnell 75

Mark Thompson-Chris Cole 76

Norman Allen-Brad Holcomb 76

Jack Strong-Glen Robertson 76

T.C. Spruiell-David Todd 76

Gene Tew-Jim McNulty 77

Woody Adair-Sonny Rowan 77

Richard Whittenburg-Paul Beane 77

Mike Bowman-Jared Robertson 77

Rick Olson-Greg Boerner 77

Donnie Tucker-Donald Spoon 78

Mike Zaccardo-James McKee 84

FIFTH FLIGHT

Scott McBride-Jeff Whillock 76

Rick Black-Perry McAlister 76

Robin Roberts-Weston Taylor 76

Jason Davis-Jaime Garibay 76

Mike Gaskins-Brad Barnhill 77

Morris Wilcox-Corey Flores 78

Johnny Palmer-Scott Pate 79

Skeeter Bingham-Shawn Bingham 79

Bill Williams-Jeff Smith 80

Russ Awtry-Rusty Touchstone 81

Mike Wicks-Mike Terrell 81

Casey Rowland-Shawn Bentley 81

Allen Bownds-Tommy Hines 83

Clark Kelcy-Rein Ellis 83

Carter Wiechmann-Charlie Stewart 84

Shayne Palmour-Sam Garcia 85

SIXTH FLIGHT

Don Seale-Jim Boop 75

BJ Hackler-Jerry McLean 77

Dennis Dodd-Oscar Delgado 78

Ray Thomas-Dan Fry 78

BJ Smartt-Mark Tucker 78

Joe Pierce-Ron Mathis 80

Harry Stuart-Tony Crumpton 80

Johnnie Stone-James Stone 81

Jeff Griffith-John Griffith 81

Tom Delavan-Tom Ferguson 82

Jett Lott-Larry Newsom 82

Raymond Castro-Bubba Cline 82

Nick Becker-Rob Stokes 86

Stan Fry-Kirk Williams 88

Brent Murray-Dustin Stone 89

David Leake-Greg McAlister 94

---

TODAY'S TEE TIMES

No. 1 TEE

First Flight

7:30 a.m.: Brown-Shofner, Richardson-Richardson. 7:37 a.m.: Tekyl-Raffaele, Mayfield-Price. 7:45 a.m.: Shaw-Carroll, Hughes-Willis. 7:52 a.m.: Newsom-Blundell, Earl-Baxter. 8 a.m.: Atchley-Crocker, Featherston-Lankford. 8:07 a.m.: Reece-Ferrell, Lance-Anderson. 8:15 a.m.: Wilson-Butler, Jennings-Jennings. 8:22 a.m.: McNamara-Ricks, Klein-Payne.

Second Flight

8:30 a.m.: McDougal-Swan, McComb-Noble. 8:37 a.m.: Keith-Jay, Beebe-Beebe. 8:45 a.m.: Brown-Brown, Sonnenberg-Belew. 8:52 a.m.: Garlington-Ward, Hudman-Benson. 9 a.m.: Patterson-Decker, Faubus-Morgan. 9:07 a.m.: Jackson-McLean, L.Savage-S.Savage. 9:15 a.m.: Garza-Canchola, Kennedy-Stephens. 9:22 a.m.: Clary-Brotherton, Norris-Anthony.

Fifth Flight

12:30 p.m.: Wiechmann-Stewart, Palmour-Garcia. 12:37 p.m.: Bownds-Hines, Kelcy-Ellis. 12:45 p.m.: Wicks-Terrell, Rowland-Bentley. 12:52 p.m.: Awtry-Touchstone, Williams-Smith. 1 p.m.: Palmer-Pate, Bingham-Bingham. 1:07 p.m.: Wilcox-Flores, Gaskins-Barnhill. 1:15 p.m.: McBride-Whillock, Roberts-Taylor. 1:22 p.m.: Davis-Garibay, Black-McAlister.

Sixth Flight

1:30 p.m.: Murray-Stone, Leake-McAlister. 1:37 p.m.: Becker-Stokes, Fry-Williams. 1:45 p.m.: Delavan-Ferguson, Castro-Cline. 1:52 p.m.: Lott-Newsom, Stone-Stone. 2 p.m.: Griffith-Griffith, Pierce-Mathis. 2:07 p.m.: Thomas-Fry, Stuart-Crumpton. 2:15 p.m.: Doss-Delgado, Smart-Tucker. 2:22 p.m.: Seale-Boop, Hackler-McLean.

NO. 10 TEE

Championship Flight

7:30 a.m.: Gee-Cook, Greene-Yates. 7:37 a.m.: Scully-Davis, Rogers-Cooper. 7:45 a.m.: Ashley-Rodriguez, Rundell-Bolen. 7:52 a.m.: Tyler-Angeley, King-Reeves. 8 a.m.: Hansard-Ashmore, Bailey-Branum. 8:07 a.m.: Ashcraft-Lummus, Gray-Cardinal. 8:15 a.m.: Dickerson-Savage, Lindgren-Luttrell.

8:37 a.m.: Luck-Wallace, Ross-Carson. 8:45 a.m.: Bynum-Rogers, Bowen-Meador. 8:52 a.m.: Francis-Simpson, Howard-Howard. 9 a.m.: Willcoxon-Hogan, Arnett-Wright. 9:07 a.m.: Jefferies-Gulley, McDougal-Morrow. 9:15 a.m.: Richardson-Doggett, Ralston-Watters. 9:22 a.m.: Witherspoon-Tilson, White-Jimenez.

Third Flight

12:30 p.m.: Odom-Hughes, Bitar-Clark. 12:37 p.m.: Bownds-Bownds, Kesterson-Carley. 12:45 p.m.: Luce-Peel, Salazar-Pierce. 12:52 p.m.: Black-Pasek, Cagle-Shelton. 1 p.m.: Dixon-Dixon, Bartlett-Bartlett. 1:07 p.m.: Couch-Lee, WIsdom-Phillips. 1:15 p.m.: Duran-Collins, Longbotham-Wilson. 1:22 p.m.: Kinsey-Smart, Anderson-Woodward.

Fourth Flight

1:30 p.m.: Tucker-Spoon, Zaccardo-McKee. 1:37 p.m.: Adair-Rowan, Whittenburg-Beane. 1:45 p.m.: Bowman-Robertson, Olson-Boerner. 1:52 p.m.: Thompson-Cole, Tew-McNulty. 2 p.m.: Strong-Robertson, Spruiell-Todd. 2:07 p.m.: Francis-Darnell, Allen-Holcomb. 2:15 p.m.: Bullen-Scott, Dean-Norman. 2:22 p.m.: Banire-Dominguez, Hudson-Bell.

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