Nick Woolard brought his John A. Logan College teammates to his hometown as a tune-up to the upcoming national tournament. It worked out pretty good for one of them.
Hunter York won the 71st Tom Hoover Ozark Invitational with a 5-under-par 66 Saturday and a lot of rain to cancel the second round Sunday at Westwood Hills Country Club.
"I'd rather won it in two days and try to follow up that round," said York, of Decatur, Illinois. "I'd rather it be that way, but you know what, I'll take it."
York's bogey-free round was one shot better than Ron Mangold's 67 while Ryne Fisher and Trent Jones tied for third at 68.
Nearly 5 inches of a rain Saturday night swamped the 6,315-yard course that already had soaked up 3 inches in the days leading up to the tournament. Water was spilling out of the pond and across the No. 1 fairway when York was presented his championship plaque and traveling trophy from tournament director emeritus Tom Hoover.
"It would just be impossible to get everybody around today with the conditions," said Jimmy Vernon, tournament director.
There was a 70 percent chance in the Saturday forecast but not a drop fell while players were on the course and the sun was out for much of the afternoon.
"If you told me today we were going to play 18 holes I would have told you you was crazy," said Mangold who drove from Pocahontas, Arkansas through the rain.
York became the third one-round winner after Nick Brown in 2011 and Danny Green's 1995 win. The tournament has played at least 24 holes in all the other years and has never been cancelled.
"(Hoover) was the one that said 'you can never predict the weather, we just have to wait and see what happens,'" Vernon said. "He nailed it."
The Sunday forecast was on the forefront of players' mindsets Saturday.
"You just don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, that's the problem," said Ben Brumitt who shot 69, tied for fifth.
"There was no playing safe today. It was go for everything and shoot as low as you could today."
York's tee shot into the wind had the right distance but missed the green on No. 10 to the left.
After making the turn at 2-under, York was looking to save par with a chip from below the green and a putt.
"I was telling it to sit at first and then I was telling it to go in," York said.
It did, dropping in for a birdie that was followed by two more over the next three holes to reach 5-under. That stretch also featured a par on the tough No. 11 with his tee shot landing just to the left of the fairway oak and rolling past.
"I did not like that hole," York said. "Don't like the tee shot, don't like the second shot."
York said this spring his wedges were giving him trouble but playing Westwood Hills was a perfect tune-up for nationals because it requires a lot of those shots.
York, Woolard and the Volunteers, ranked 16th in the nation, will be playing at the NJCAA Division I national tournament May 16-19 at Garden City, Kansas.
"I'm hoping that got him going because we'll need it for nationals," said Woolard who shot 73 to tie for 14th.
Pared with Woolard, York opened with three straight pars before a birdie on the par-4 fourth. Another came on the par-4 seventh. After chipping in for birdie on 10, York got up-and-down for par on 11 and landed his tee shot on the par-3 12th within eight feet before sinking the birdie putt.
"It was a weird little putt, it seemed like the green should be going this way but the putt actually went right to the back," York said. "It was weird."
York's birdie on 13 to reach 5-under came after a punch shot from under a tree. That left a 20-footer for birdie that curled in, York said, but he missed a 6-footer for birdie on 14.
Along with Gosa, York was the only player under par for the day not to card a birdie on 18. His 8-iron approach shot landed short of the green before a two-putt par from 15 feet.
Chance Holden of Dexter and Sikeston's Gabe Wheeler were tied with Brumitt at 2-under 69 while Justin Gosa of Germantown, Tennessee was the only other player under par at 70.
Players were able to lift, clean and replace their ball due to the wet conditions but a south wind of 14 to 18 mph with gusts of up to 30 had more impact.
"It was windy and wet, it was tough," said Mangold who placed fifth last year. "It was hard to pull the right club with the wind."
Mangold got to 4-under with a birdie on 18 but missed a pair of 4-foot putt for birdie the previous two holes. Consecutive birdies starting on No. 11 got him to 3-under. After sinking a 12-foot putt for birdie on 11, his tee shot on the par-3 12th landed within 10 feet for another birdie.
He made the turn at 1-under after birdies on both par-5s and a bogey save at No. 5. Trying to hit a hooking pitching wedge from the right rough, Mangold clipped a tree then hit over the green and had to get up-and-down for a bogey.
Jones led the field with six birdies -- one each on the four par-5 holes -- but had three bogeys on is card. He made the turn at 1-under and gained another stroke with a birdie on 12.
"That kind of got the round going," Jones said.
Playing together in the first championship group to tee off, Fisher and Brumitt were tied at 1-under through five holes. Brumitt's tee shot on the 320-yard, par-4 sixth landed within five feet of the hole leading to an eagle.
"One of the best drives we've ever seen," Fisher said. "It looked like it was going in."
Brumitt made the turn at 4-under, a shot better than Gosa, who had four birdies on the front nine. But a three-putt on the tricky 12th and another on 14 dropped Brumitt to 2-under. He missed 16 to the right leading to a bogey but rebounded by missing an eagle putt on 18.
Fisher, meanwhile, surged ahead by playing his final 11 holes 4-under.
"I felt like I was getting lapped so I tried to take it to another gear on the back nine," Fisher said.
His birdies came on Nos. 9, 11, 14 and 18 after a bogey on the par-3 eighth put him 1-over as a 4-iron into the wind fell short of the green.
Holden had five birdies and 10 pars but had consecutive bogeys starting on 16 after getting to 3-under.
Wheeler was also 1-under at the turn and got a birdie on 14 only to give it back on 16.
Gosa started his round birdie-birdie and was 3-under after a birdie on No. 7. He ran into trouble on No. 11 but was 3-under before consecutive birdies starting on 15.
SENIOR DIVISION
Jeff Johnson of Ballwin closed with a birdie following 12 consecutive pars to finish at 1-under 70.
Johnson, who won the Senior Division in 2011 and 2013, ended up winning by two shots over Ben Cantrell, John Shock and Mark Bolhofner, all at 1-over 72. Don Bliss and Jeff Chandler were at 2-over 73.
Johnson got a birdie on the par-5 second hole but his lone bogey came three holes later at the par-4 fifth.