By Stan Olenik Editor-Publisher, The Golf Club

The Frostbite Classic at The Bel in Pendleton is either the last event of the winter or the first event of the spring.

The annual tournament is a better predictor of the change of seasons than any ground hog.

If the event would have been played on its original date it would have been winter. Cold windy and especially wet conditions forced a postponement of the tournament for a week.

When the field assembled at Boscobel for the rescheduled tournament it was more like spring.

Still a little cooler and a little more wind, but no rain and plenty of daylight for what this year was the first spring tournament.

At the end of last fall Spartanburg’s Brad Sill was arguably the hottest golfer in the upstate.

He won the Spartanburg County Amateur and the Upstate Am and shared a team title at The Fort before putting the clubs up for the holidays.

At the Frostbite, Sill picked up right where left off at the end of the year and helped his team to a 17-under par first round score of 54.

Sill was joined by Hunter Parks and Stan Sill in the three-man captains choice tournament.

“In the first round the conditions were tougher than today,” said Hunter Parks. “For some reason when the sun went away we heated up and played great,” he added.

In a captains choice tournament only the team score appears on the scorecard, but if individual scores were kept, Stan Sill knew whose score would have been the best.

“Brad made all the shots. He kept us in it when we had some trouble. He is the reason we shot such a great score,” said Sill.

Brad Sill spread the credit for the first round to both of his teammates

“In the first round all three of us played good,” said Brad Sill. “You have to have all three playing well to shoot 17-under. Today (second round) we didn’t play as well. It was a struggle, but we hung on,” he added.

The leaders held a three shot advantage over Chip Faust, Blake Williamson and Graham Farmer going into the second round.

The three-some had been in good position going into the final round of this tournament before, but they finished second in each of the last two tournaments.

With a three shot lead and 11 other teams shooting a 60 or better in the Championship Flight, the leaders could not let up.

“We thought we were in pretty good shape, but making a couple of birdies coming in helped,” said Brad Sill.

Stan Sill rolled in the final birdie on the 18th hole to wrap up the win

The winning team shot a 59 in the second round.

While they felt like the round was a struggle they only lost one shot of their first round lead to win the tournament by two shots.

Two teams made big moves up on the leader board in the second round, but never got closer than two shots to the winning team.

Austin Langdale, Joey Herbert and Chris Miller tied for the low round in the second round. The team carded a 55 to move up and claim the runner-up spot.

The team of Matthew Hopper, Matt Read and Jared Crane matched the runner-ups 55 to jump up into third place.

Flight winners included: First Flight – Joey Patterson, Cole Patterson, and David Ellington Second Flight – Chad Coleman, Tyler Macolly, and Andrew Hewitt. Third Flight – Connor Simpson, Jackson Whitfield, and Will Barnes.

The next early spring tournament is scheduled for the Cherokee National Golf Club in Gaffney. The club will host a Two-Man Texas Scramble on Saturday, March 15th. Call the Cherokee National Golf Shop at 864-489-9417.