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Newcomers take Bar Fly title

Mike Rice, left, and Devin Darrah hold the Harry and Larry Cup as champions of the 39th annual Bar Fly Open golf tournament held Tuesday at the Lake Placid Resort’s Links Course. The pair finished with a 9-under par. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

LAKE PLACID — The dog days of summer have certainly come and gone, but it was a great day for the dogs on Tuesday as the 39th annual Bar Fly Open golf tournament took place at the Lake Placid Resorts Links Course.

The two-person scramble is a traditional September fundraiser for the Tri-Lakes Humane Society, and this year, a pair of newcomers at the tournament came out on top.

On a sunny, warm day that provided perfect conditions for a round of golf, Saranac Lakers Devin Darrah and Mike Rice posted an impressive 9-under par 62 to win by five strokes.

“We’ve heard about it and wanted to play in it,” Rice said. “It went well. We were striking the ball well the whole time. We knew it right off the bat, but we couldn’t finish as well as we wanted. We did leave a lot out there. The first two holes, we missed two, two-footers for birdie.”

“On the way here, we were like ‘Wow. This tournament is 39 years old,” Rice added. “It feels cool. It looks like we have to come back here next year.”

Katie Hale, left, and Linda Friedlander won the women’s title with a 78. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Darrah and Rice played a bogey-free round that included seven birdies and an eagle two on the course’s par-4, 322-yard 17th hole.

“We shot well, it was a beautiful day,” Darrah said. “We could have been better, but we can’t complain. We hit the ball and made putts. That’s the thing — you have to make putts out there. Really, we just came to support the Humane Society and swing the club. We really didn’t care about the score and we did well. We just wanted to come out and play some golf and that was it.”

Seven of the 46 teams in the tournament recorded below-par rounds. The team of Rhett Colby and Joe Jesmer finished runner-up with a 4-under par 67, and Don Mortensen and Mike Hollrock placed third at 3-under.

Linda Freidlander and Katie Hale won the women’s title with a 78.

There were four men’s closest-to-the-pin contests and Tom Varden won two, and Rice and George Gregory won one each. Rice and Tom Rath also took first in the men’s long drive on the 15th and fifth holes, and Hale won the women’s long-drive title on the 13th hole.

Larry Pickreign Jr. escapes from a bunker while his dad Larry watches from behind during Tuesday’s 39th annual Bar Fly Open golf tournament. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Shelly Greene won the women’s closest-to-the-pin competition on the ninth hole.

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