SPRINGFIELD — Dr. Scott Wilke, of the Northside Soft Tissue Center, returned to the Memorial last week for the second straight year, providing chiropractic care and massage therapy for golfers all week. His first patient was none other than Jack Nicklaus, who gave Wilke an indication at the end of the tournament that he should prepare to work the Memorial for years to come.
Wilke thanked Nicklaus for having him and another Springfield massage therapist, Jeremy Blanton, at the tournament.
“I hope you’ll have us back next year,” Wilke said. “It’s been a pleasure.”
“Quite the contrary,” Nicklaus said. “You’ll have trouble getting rid of us.”
It was a memorable week for Wilke, who first got his foot in the pro golf world by working the LPGA’s Wendy’s Championship, which came to an end in 2006. He also has worked and will continue to work at the Nationwide Tour event in Columbus.
Last year, Wilke made such an impression on Erik Compton at the Memorial that Compton ended up inviting him to the U.S. Open to be his personal massage therapist. Again this year, he got an invitation to the U.S. Open from PGA veterans Davis Love III and Matt Kuchar, but as of Wednesday, he had not heard back from them about whether they had secured a credential for him.
“If I don’t get the call, that means their health issues are not bothering them,” Wilke said, “and they’re ready to go compete. If they call me and they’re going out of their way to get me in, that’s somewhat of an indication that they’ve got some ongoing issues.”
Public Links qualifier
Nicholas Scott, of Union, Ohio, won the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship qualifier at Springfield Country Club on Thursday, firing rounds of 69 and 71 to win by five strokes. Scott, who will play at Kent State next season, will compete in the Public Links Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Course Resort in Oregon beginning June 27.
Ohio Am qualifiers
Springfield’s Chuck Parsons is among the local golfers who have qualified for the 2011 Ohio Amateur, which will be held July 11-15 at NCR Country Club in Dayton. Parsons shot 77, tying for 18th at the qualifier at Springfield Country Club on May 23.
A number of Wittenberg golfers also qualified: David Wetterich, Ricky Boerner, Craig Osterbrock, Tyler Yaple and Alex Andrews. Wittenberg assistant coach Andy Bonar qualified as well.
Ohio Mid Am
Two Cable residents, William Courant and John Millice, will compete in the Ohio Mid Amateur at Barrington Golf Club in Aurora beginning Monday.
City Am deadline
The 30th annual Springfield Women’s City Amateur will be held June 25-26 at Snyder Park. The registration deadline is June 21 at noon.
Entries for the women’s City Am, the Junior Open (June 30), the men’s City Am (July 9-10 and July 16-17) and the Clark County Match Play Championship (Aug. 6-7, Aug. 13-14) are available at snyderparkgc.com or at reidparkgolf.com.
Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or djablonski@coxohio.com.
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