The team of Bob Aitken/Miller-Monroe, comprised of Aitken, Bill Simon, Ron Kelley and University of Nebraska No. 1 golfer Calvin Freeman, a Humboldt-TR-S graduate, shot 11-under 59 to win the Championship Flight of the fifth annual Community Medical Center Charity Golf Outing held at the Falls City Golf Club.
Other notable “celebrity” players included former Husker and NFL linemen Brenden Stai and Aaron Graham, NU All-American and Kansas City Chief Hall of Famer Neil Smith, and former Husker All-America quarterbacks Tommie Frazier and Steve Taylor.
Freeman, the son of Barb and Randy Freeman, of Table Rock, is a history major at UNL and last spring used up his final year of eligibility. He now has set his sights on joining the professional ranks.
Freeman, a four-time state medalist, graduated from HTRS in 2011, finishing runner-up in Class C State (after losing a playoff) for the second year in a row. In the spring of 2010, as a high school junior, Freeman earned statewide acclaim with a remarkable 7-under-par 64 (33-31) at the Tecumseh Country Club.
After high school, he first went to SCC in Beatrice for two years — earning first team NJCAA All-America honors both seasons. Freeman tied for second at nationals as a sophomore after a sixth-place finish as a freshman. He also won the Region IX and SCC Spring Invite individual titles during his time in junior college.
After transferring to UNL, Freeman quickly made his way to the front of the line for the Huskers, starting 11 tournaments and playing to a 74.9 stroke average in 31 rounds as a junior. At the Desert Shootout in the spring of 2014, Freeman opened with 68 before rounds of 72 and 71 en route to a 5-under-par 211 total, his best 54-hole score of the season. In his very next event, Freeman again fired 68, this time in the final round of the Hawkeye Invitational. The score marked the best by an individual among the 65-player field during the rainy final day. At the Oak Hill Intercollegiate, he was one of four Huskers to finish in the top 10, notching a tie for ninth at 12-over-par 222.
This past spring, Freeman was Nebraska’s top player, leading the team with a 74.94 stroke average and firing a team-best seven subpar rounds of golf. At the Mark Simpson Invite, the college senior opened with another 68, and also earned his best career finish with a tie for 3rd place at 5-under-par. His lowest 54-hole score of the season came at the Denver Desert Shootout, where he fired a one-under-par 215 and finished tied for 32nd.
In May, Freeman nearly advanced to the second of two qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open, shooting 73 at the Omaha Country Club and finishing in a four-way tie for the fifth and final spot. Pro Ryan Vermeer, of Omaha, birdied the first playoff hole to move on.
A couple weeks prior to making his appearance in Falls City, Freeman competed in the Nebraska Match Play Championship at Valentine. After qualifying with the No. 4 seed, Freeman was upset by Timothy Davis of Cozad in the opening round after 21 holes. Earlier this summer, he finished runner-up at the Fremont Invitational, shooting 70-68, four strokes back from champion Carson Schaake, and tied for fifth (with rounds of 73-73) at the Homesteader held at the Beatrice Country Club. He finished just two strokes from a three-man playoff between Lance Lawson, Greg Stanek and Ross Dickson.
Through three events, he is currently 10th in the Nebraska Golf Association point standings. The NGA ranked Freeman as the 15th-best player in Nebraska last winter (the rankings are updated annually on the first day of January).
The team of Dr. David Borg and his wife, Joyce, Matt Simpson and Jim Hoy shot 10-under to finish second, followed by Miller-Monroe (63), Dickey’s BBQ (63), F&M Bank (64) and Dr. Charles James, Jr. (64).
Hullman’s Ford, with Taylor, Ben Hullman, Marty Froeschl and Ron Jordening, finished first in the “A” Flight with a round of 65, winning by handicap over a four-way tie with the Southeast Communications team of Dorothy Towle, Chuck Whitney, Mark Hodge and Bob Ivey, which placed second. The Tanner Shelby Merz Foundation Team was third, followed by the Travis Morgan Team in fourth. Both the Ed and Sandra Hartman and the Richardson County Bank & Trust teams each shot 66; and the Jim Hill’s/Animal Health Center team shot 68.
The Godemann Family/Southeast Nebraska Insurance Agency team of Ted, Todd and Travor Godemann, and Dan Jones, shot 70 to win the “B” Flight, winning by tiebreaker over the American National Bank team of Neil Smith, CMC Administrator Ryan Larsen, Ed Finan and Adrian Breen. The Falls City Journal (Brian and Nikki McKim, Rhonda Harmon and Graham) was third with 71. PTRS/Nachtigal was fourth (72), followed by Sampson Construction (74), Halbert, Dunn & Halbert (74), Julie Rush Team (74) and Cedar Hollow Foods (76).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.