Team Tama captured the team championship for the third straight year in the All-Japan Interservice Golf Tournament, played June 8-9 at the Tama Hills Golf Course in Tokyo's western suburbs. Members of Team Tama are three-time Captains Flight champion Chong Delisi, Timothy Fearney, Patrick Bowman, Christopher Swope, Ryan Christensen, First Flight champion Dale Bergman, John Shone, Hector Cavazos, Andrew Roddan, Hugh Montgomery-Jones, Kelly Cook, Anthony Melici, Manuel Campo, Archie Obiacoro, Patrick Roberts, Houjston Clark, Byron Wrenn, men's Senior Flight champion Troy Oliver, Todd Eddy, Nelson Lofton, Nelson Fisher, Briian Pritchett, Tommy Palmer, Greg Holladay, Yoko Loftin and Jenna Witmer. (Tama Hills Golf Club)
Chong Delisi continues to make Tama Hills Golf Course and the All-Japan interservice golf tournament his own. The 54-year-old civilian working for U.S. Forces Japan at Yokota Air Base captured the top-tier Captain’s Flight for the third straight year and led Team Tama to its third consecutive team championship.
The tournament was played Saturday-Sunday on Tama Hills’ 6,436-yard, par-72 course, using a modified Stableford scoring system.
All told, 114 golfers from throughout Japan and Okinawa participated.
“I think the first time was very special; it was something new,” Delisi said of his three-year win streak. “But winning three times is also something special. Nothing is easy.”
Delisi outpointed Craig Mills of Okinawa’s Team Banyan Tree 71-70. Coming in third was Timothy Fearney of Team Tama, with 66 points. Delisi is a Honolulu native who’s been playing golf on and off since he was 14.
“The long par-3s and the hard greens,” Delisi said of the difficulty of playing Tama Hills. Some over the years have referred to the course as “Heartbreak Hills” because of the course’s slopes and long holes.
- Team Tama’s Dale Bergman shared the First Flight title with Kubasaki High School golfer Matthew Burn, with 73 apiece. Burn played for Team Taiyo of Okinawa. His Taiyo teammate Timothy Lafser was third with 72.
- Aaron Parkinson of Misawa Air Base’s Team Gosser won the Second Flight with 73 points.
- Team Atsugi’s Leon Hatcher and Andrew Good shared the runner-up spot with 72 points.
- William Mead of Team Banyan Tree took the Third Flight with 74 points.
- Teammate Kallan Smith shared second place with Team Zama’s Scott Warner, each with 72 points.
- Atsugi’s Hiroki Mori captured the Fourth Flight with 75 points.
- Sharing runner-up honors were Team Tama’s Manuel Campo and Team Zama’s David Smith, each with 69 points.
- The men’s Fifth Flight went to Jason Senders of Team Zama with 78 points. Next was Mark Dean of Team Atsugi (74) and Team Tama’s Byron Wrenn (70).
- Wrenn’s Team Tama teammate and fellow Yokota High School faculty member Troy Oliver won the men’s Senior Flight with 76 points. Team Zama’s Dale Jorgenson was second with 75 and Team Tama’s Todd Eddy took third with 73.
- The Women’s Flight was won by Team Zama’s Mona Okubo in a runaway. She had 75 points, while second-place Yuka Garnto-Mori had 66 and Team Tama’s Yoko Lofton had 64.
