Michael Stanley shot a tournament-best 67 in Tuesday’s first round and went on to win the 2003 Army Europe Golf Championships at Kitzingen Golf Club by four strokes.

Stanley, of Naples, Italy, followed with rounds of 77 on Wednesday and 72 on Thursday for a three-day total of 216.

“Having the title as U.S. Armed Forces champion is pretty cool,” said Stanley, a former Marine who is a Department of Defense civilian employee.

“I had my putter working today and after the ninth hole I was able to hit all the greens in regulation. It was a little closer than I thought it would be, but I’m happy it worked out.”

Stanley finished four shots ahead of runner-up James Olson of Bamberg, who shot 75-74-71 — 220.

Kevin Sickinger of Heidelberg had scores of 78-69-76 — 223 to win the age 40-and-over division. Sickinger finished third overall.

Stanley’s opening-round 67 on Tuesday tied the course record and gave him a seven-stroke lead. He was 2-under-par through 14 holes during Wednesday’s second round when he hit three balls out of bounds for a 12 on the par-5 15th.

“Other than that one hole, I thought I had a good day,” Stanley said.

Stephen Thomas, the manager of Kitzingen Golf Course, said the 6,514-yard, par-71 layout was playing shorter than normal because shots were running on the dry fairways.

“The course is Scottish design, more open than most, with running fairways,” Thomas said. “It played very much like a links course this week because of the dry conditions we’re experiencing.”

The event used to be called the USAREUR Championship. This year it was opened to all Department of Defense ID cardholders because of Army deployments to Iraq. It was played in Kitzingen golf courses.

Sixty-six players competed. The tournament was hosted by the 417th Base Support Battalion and sponsored by Rhein BMW Military Car Sales, Titleist and Kraft Foods.

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