Shivers, Hughes win Stampede in playoff

Shaun Melville and Jason Staggs showed the way in the LakeRidge Stampede after each of the first two rounds and again at the turn on Sunday.

But just about any Lubbock mid-amateur golf partnership these days isn't over until Brady Shivers has had his say.

Shivers made three eagles in a final-round 64, then birdied the first hole of a playoff to lift him and fellow Seminole resident Kale Hughes to their second Stampede title in four years. Since Shivers began playing Lubbock majors in 2017, he's won eight times.

He and Hughes trailed Staggs and Melville by three strokes at the turn, but Shivers eagled hole No. 2 with a wedge from 134 yards to 5 feet and hit 2-iron, 2-iron in to 20 feet for a tiebreaking eagle on No. 6.

"Brady just went Brady golf on us," Hughes said. "Brady just does what he does in pressure tournaments. As long as I can make some birdies and pars and free him up, he just does what he does — best player in West Texas."

Staggs birdied the last hole in regulation to force the playoff. Standing over a 20-footer, with three dozen spectator carts circling LakeRidge's No. 9 green, the four-time champion from the Rawls Men's Golf Association got a breaking, downhill putt to curl in.

"I hadn't been in that situation in a while," said Staggs, who's three months from turning 50. "It's always good to make it on 18, but it's really good to make it in front of probably the biggest crowd I've been around.

"The whole thing, the atmosphere. You always love the competition, but yeah, that kind of got my juices going."

The writing was on the wall moments later, however, when Shivers sent a wedge to 4 feet on No. 1. After Staggs hit the better approach for his team and made par, Shivers stepped up and drained the birdie to end it. 

Shivers was already planning ahead when Staggs had the putt to tie at 17-under after 54 holes.

"I told Kale, 'He's going to make it. Just prepare your mind. We're going to go into a playoff,' " Shivers said. "You have to tell yourself that. If you tell yourself he's going to miss, you're going to win, then he makes it and you go into a playoff, your mind's not right. … Great putt by him."

Shivers put his tee shot in the fairway. Then with 163 yards to the hole, he pulled a wedge from the bag.

A wedge from 163?

"I had a little adrenaline going," he said, grinning. "I was amped up."

Shivers has won the past five Hillcrest Swinger partnerships, the two Stampedes and this year's Reese Memorial Day Partnership. Next month, he'll team with Thumper Galyean to go for the Lubbock Country Club Par Buster, where he's come close three times but not won.

Melville and Staggs, both once serious golfers who no longer play as much as they used to, shot 67. Melville played professionally from 2006 to 2011, but said Sunday, "You could tell that I don't play golf hardly at all, and it definitely showed today."

Being back in contention on a Sunday, though, was riveting.

"It felt good," Melville said. "It's been 11 years since I played professional golf. Just having that feeling of, 'Hey, you have a chance to win a golf tournament,' and getting all those nerves coming back. We just came up short."

Staggs, a Monterey graduate, and Melville, a Frenship grad, were 18-hole co-leaders with a 68 on Friday, then shot a second-round 64 to lead by two going into Sunday. It appeared they might go wire to wire after three consecutive birdies on holes 18, 1 and 2 took them to 16-under.

But Shivers and Hughes, playing in the group ahead, were ready for game on. Going eagle-birdie on holes 2 and 3 moved them to 15-under, and when Staggs and Melville took bogey at the par-3 No. 4, it was tied.

"I told Kale on our 14th hole, I think we were tied for the lead or one back," Shivers said, "and I said, 'How much fun is this?' We've got hundreds of people following us and our wives are here. 

"That makes it really special. Our wives don't get to come to a lot of golf tournaments because of our kids, but our wives got to be here and to see us win is really cool."

THE STAMPEDE

at LakeRidge Country Club

Par: 72-72-72-216. Yardage: 6,641

Sunday's Final Results

Championship flight: 1. Kale Hughes-Brady Shivers, 69-66-64-199 (won playoff on first hole); 2. Shaun Melville-Jason Staggs, 68-64-67-199; 3. (tie) Jack Vanderburg-Wes Artac, 71-69-63-203; Cody King-Michael Pruitt, 68-66-69-203; 5. Marc Gilmour-Chris Farah, 71-69-67-207; 6. Shawn Savage-Robert De La Cruz, 72-67-69-208; 7. Blake Ashcraft-Ryan Rogers, 70-73-67-210; 8. (tie) Beau Burgess-Ty Houtchens, 70-75-67-212; Jordan Sutherland-Mason Couch, 70-79-73-212; Michael Cervantes-Travis Reid, 72-72-68-212; 11. Roque Baecker-Dale Akridge, 76-69-69-214; 12. Ramiro Rodriguez-Ryan Pollard, 72-68-78-218; 13. Miles Seybert-Will Wilkerson, 73-72-75-220.

Presidents flight: 1. Jake Salyer-Stephen Pouria, 65-70-67-202; 2. Craig Grossman-Wade McClintock, 66-71-70-207; 3. Gerry Diaz-Alex Woodward, 72-70-66-208; 4. Brent English-Tyler Sturdivant, 68-72-69-209; 5. (tie) Erick Willcoxon-Bubba Jennings, 73-70-69-212; Bobby Brown-Kraig Lancaster, 71-70-71-212; Brad Smith-Travis Smith, 72-71-69-212; 8. Tyler DeHay-Jason Byrd, 72-69-73-214; 9. Jeremy Jackson-Bill Ashley, 71-70-74-215; 10. Tracy Witherspoon-Scott Caswell, 72-72-73-217.

First flight: 1. (tie) Brad Pitts-Dean Teykl, 73-74-70-217; Daniel Leake-Eric Eberhardt, 74-71-72-217; 3. (tie) Jeremy Whitefield-Chantz Curry, 71-77-72-220; Josh Fairbanks-Russell Brown, 74-76-70-220; 5. Doug Brown-Tyler Brown, 70-76-75-221; 6. (tie) Blake Baucum-Russ Rowan, 79-74-71-224; Kyle Motheral-Brian Lewis, 72-78-74-224; Dale Jakeway-Brad Holcomb, 74-70-80-224; 9. Joe Sexton-Mike Cox, 79-73-73-225.

Second flight: 1. Justin Bennett-Jeff Roper, 67-77-73-217; 2. Dale Ancell-Mike Zaccardo, 73-74-71-218; 3. (tie) Paul Slaughter-Derrick Bush, 73-74-73-220; Chance Cook-Landon Hinson, 72-78-70-220; Jared Swopes-Steve Gooch, 76-70-74-220; Aaron Kennemur-Alex Huggins, 70-75-75-220; 7. J.D. Jones-Chris Woodard, 72-77-73-222; Kevin Kilmer-Ryan Brown, 79-69-74-222.

Third flight: 1. Davis Tucker-Joe Medrano, 72-74-71-217; Tommy Potts-John Willeford, 77-72-71-220; 3. Sterling Swack-Gary Wilson, 80-78-70-228; 4. (tie) Ben Jaime-Glenn Baldwin, 77-76-76-229; Don Humphreys-Steve O'Brien, 77-72-80-229; 6. Gary Branch-Greg Duran, 79-72-80-231; 7. Jason Moore-Brian Kimberly, 79-78-75-232.

Fourth flight: 1. (tie) Chad Tarver-Rice Nippert, 77-75-74-226; Charles Downing-Daniel Gibson, 77-76-73-226; 3. Rowdy Hartman-Rollie Sheppard, 76-80-75-231; 4. (tie) Cameron Lust-Charley Sanders, 84-82-73-239; Orval Jackson-John Carson, 81-79-79-239; 6. (tie) Marc Vittitow-Robert Vittitow, 78-84-79-241; Shelby Brake-Chris Kemp, 88-77-76-241.

Fifth flight: 1. Rhett Graham-Josh Putman, 74-73-76-223; 2. David Dupont-Steve Campbell, 76-75-77-228; 3. (tie) Todd Phillips-Lee Lisemby, 81-77-72-230; Alan Cunningham-Kirk Corbin, 80-78-72-230; 5. Bradley Madison-Ryan Kennerly, 76-83-73-232; 6. David Spriggs-partner, 77-79-77-233; 7. (tie) Jimmy Holland-Coby Schoenig, 82-80-75-237; Ken Ellis-Donny Tucker, 83-76-78-237; Morris Rushing-Terry Hutton, 79-78-80-237.

Sixth flight: 1. Chris Kerr-Nick Bowe, 77-74-79-230; 2. Toby Taylor-Clay Taylor, 79-78-79-236; 3. Walt Cathey-Mark Luna, 81-79-77-237; 4. (tie) Pat Ables-Douglas Heinrich, 82-80-82-244; Javier Estrello-Michael Stevens, 80-80-84-224; 6. Ken Lackey-Rex Thomas, 84-80-83-247; 7. Robert Bichard-Jason Pace, 78-84-86-248.