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Behm puts poor start behind him to capture fourth city championship

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Janesville Men’s City Golf Tournament

Matt Behm was the only player to finish under par for the tournament.

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In the past, it might’ve been different.

In the past, Matt Behm’s temper might’ve been as hot as the sweltering weather, his face as red as a poolside partier sans sunscreen, and his golf game compromised by his memory.

Behm entered Sunday’s final round of the Janesville Men’s City Golf Tournament at the Janesville Country Club with a three-shot lead over defending champion Sam Van Galder and ended it the exact same way to capture his fourth Championship Flight title.

In between, however, Behm lost every bit of his second-round lead.

Actually, to be exact, every bit of that lead was gone by the time Behm and Van Galder teed off on the second hole.

That was because Behm missed his drive badly to the right on the par-5 first to make double bogey, while Van Galder was busy making birdie to quickly tie for the lead on his home course.

In the past, one bad hole might’ve affected Behm for the next 17.

“It’s definitely something that three, four years ago would’ve affected me, and I still woulda been cussin’ myself out for another, probably, hole or two,” Behm admitted about that first hole. “It’s one of those things, you just gotta regroup (and) know what you can do.

“This game’s funny. One time you know what you’re doing, the next time you look like an idiot.”

Behm certainly didn’t look like an idiot by the end of the round when he was adding this year’s city championship to go with the ones he captured in 2003, ’06 and ’09.

Behm was the only player to finish under par for the tournament, carding an even-par 72 on Sunday for a three-round total of 2-under 213. Van Galder, the champion in ’07 and last year, matched Behm’s 72 on Sunday to finish at 1-over 216.

Aaron Rondon, who pulled off arguably Sunday’s best shot when he holed out a chip shot for birdie on the par-3 16th from behind a tree 15 yards left of the green, placed third at 9-over 224.

Michael Oellerich was a shot back of Rondon for fourth place with a 225, while seven-time champion Chris Pastore took fifth at 228.

By Sunday, the championship wasn’t really attainable for anyone other than Behm and Van Galder, and it seemed like a toss-up after the first hole.

But Van Galder quickly fell a shot back again when his par putt on the second did a horseshoe around the cup and spilled out.

“It was like literally one of the worst lip-outs I’ve ever seen,” Van Galder said. “There’s nothing you can do about that.”

Behm, meanwhile, steadied himself quickly after the opening double bogey to birdie Nos. 3, 6 and 8. The big swing came when Van Galder blocked his tee shot with an iron on the par-4 8th, hit his second shot too firm and over the green and made a double bogey himself.

Not long after blowing his three-shot lead, Behm suddenly found himself with a five-shot advantage.

“The last two years, I’ve really tried to leave bad holes behind, and that’s the key to not letting it snowball your round,” said Behm, who recently tied for 13th in the State Amateur. “I just tried to leave it behind and stick to my gameplan.”

That gameplan showcases superior course management, as Behm took few chances the rest of the round.

He matched a Van Galder birdie with a slippery birdie putt of his own on the par-3 10th and put the tournament away on the 14th when he stuffed a gap wedge from 112 yards out to within four feet and coaxed in the birdie putt for a six-shot lead over Van Galder, who bogeyed the hole from the fairway.

It was just another unfortunate mistake for Van Galder, who made a couple too many to keep pace with Behm, despite equaling Behm’s five birdies for the round.

“I made plenty of birdies to win this thing today,” Van Galder said.

Also on Sunday, Jimmy Mead captured the First Flight title with a 232, Jim Crawford was the Second Flight champion at 238, Jeff Adams won the Third Flight title with a 241 and Warren Voyce claimed the Net Flight championship.

Men’s City Tournament at Janesville Country Club

Final Results

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT

213—Matt Behm, 71-70-72

216—Sam Van Galder, 74-70-72

224—Aaron Rondon, 76-72-74

225—Michael Oellerich, 73-73-79

228—Chris Pastore, 76-76-76

232—Rob Ackerman, 77-80-75; Aaron Coffey, 77-75-80; Ryan Coffey, 76-75-81; Greg Ruef, 78-74-80

233—Charlie Roherty, 78-76-79

234—Jordan Brovick, 81-78-75; Doug Sheridan, 76-76-82

235—Sean Halverson, 79-75-81

236—Mark Thomsen, 79-70-87

237—Jay Fox, 76-81-80

238—Braddy Bohlman, 81-74-83

239—Ryne Clatworthy, 78-76-85

240—Bob Kennedy, 79-72-89

243—Jake Downing, 79-77-87; Jeff Farrell, 82-86-79; Evan Diece, 82-79-86

248—Michael Kletzien, 84-83-81; Blair Schmeiser, 82-79-87

255—Mike Reid, 82-82-91

257—Jon Phillips, 87-87-83

260—David DiStefano, 85-87-88

263—Taylor Johnson, 84-89-90

270—Chris Koppa, 89-89-92.

FIRST FLIGHT

232—Jimmy Mead, 78-74-80

234—Kevin Riley, 81-76-77

235—Al Herbst, 84-76-76

236—Jordan Gagg, 75-76-85

239—Gary Polglaze Jr., 77-77-85; Steve Schutz, 77-74-88

242—Shannon Dooley, 80-80-82

243—Matt Kempfer, 78-76-89

244—King Clark, 79-76-89

246—Gary Merk, 76-82-88

251—Gary Neumueller, 76-81-94

252—Curt Goodwick, 84-83-85; Chad Sullivan, 81-81-90

255—Benjamin DeWitt, 84-82-89

257—Rick Berry, 89-86-82

259—Terry Kletzien, 89-76-94

260—Jeff Hesse, 90-80-90

261—Dave DeGarmo, 85-84-92

262—Jake Hassinger, 93-77-92

275—Jamie Orr, 87-96-92

SECOND FLIGHT

238—Jim Crawford, 80-77-81

243—Dave Diece, 81-78-84

244—Scott Shadel, 82-77-85

247—Rtyan Hutchinson, 78-82-87

249—Steve Caya, 81-85-83

250—Jon Moldenhauer, 82-84-84

251—Bryan Thoson, 84-79-88

252—Eric Hoium, 86-85-81; Ryan Luebke, 87-78-87

253—Bob Compton, 89-78-86

254—Shawn Gagg, 84-82-88

255—Joel Bailey, 84-85-86

259—Steve Gelbach, 83-84-92

260—David Bitter, 84-87-89

261—Joe Nemeth, 90-85-86; Aaron Story, 85-82-94

263—Steve Anderson, 81-91-91

265—Jim Barfield, 88-87-90; Adam Unterbrunner, 88-81-96.

THIRD FLIGHT

241—Jeff Adams, 83-75-83

244—Nolan Moran, 80-82-82

250—Steven Thurner, 81-78-91

252—Todd Sitter, 84-84-84; Greg Galvan, 82-82-88

253—Ned Moser, 82-83-88

254—Scott Schroeder, 83-76-95

255—Dan Hermanson, 84-83-88

257—Tim Millis, 83-83-91

258—Eric Scherdell, 87-88-83; Brian Garey, 85-83-90

260—Mo Khan, 90-82-88

262—Michael Reid, 89-83-90; Efren Blanca, 86-85-91

264—Kevin Mickelson, 83-85-96

267—Greg Mullen, 88-85-94

268—Jacob Bandi, 91-82-95

269—Brad Schumacher, 87-92-90; Dean Hendrickson, 89-88-92; Jace Fenton, 91-87-91; Jeff DeGarmo, 85-84-100

270—Jose Perez, 90-81-99

272—Mike Schoeder, 92-87-93; Paul Schieldt, 93-86-93

279—Wayne Hansen, 100-91-88

282—Paul Burkholder, 91-91-100; Mark Bestul, 91-92-99; Matt Ruppe, 88-96-98

288—Keith Trembula, 94-98-96

291—Josh Guertin, 97-95-99

292—Andrew Coulter, 90-99-103

293—Nathan Punzel, 97-97-99

NET FLIGHT

196—Warren Voyce, 61-65-70

208—Chad Flanders, 76-63-69

210—George Pritchet, 57-69-84

213—Ronald Johnson, 71-64-78

215—Dennis Raabe, 67-69-79

216—Bob Sarow, 67-71-78

217—Lee Braem, 69-69-79

218—Tom Fenton, 76-68-74

219—Matt DeWitt, 73-74-72

221—Joe Slatter, 76-65-80

223—Steve Weiss, 71-74-78; Jeff Luebke, 67-74-82

225—Scott Erickson, 72-71-82

226—Doug Whitescarver, 75-72-79; Dave Langowski, 72-76-78

229—Ron Pumilia, 72-71-86

230—Phil Borkenhagern, 73-83-74

231—Richard Moore, 69-76-86

234—Andrew Gregg, 77-78-79

246—Jacob Wampole, 93-75-78

249—Matt Runde, 73-80-96

251—Greg Fiedler, 81-78-92

258—Lon Haenel, 86-81-91

282—John Hutchinson, 88-102-92