Younger Inman is CVCC champ
By: Justin Feil – Assistant Sports Editor
It’s not a typo on the Men’s Club Championship plaque at the Cherry Valley Country Club.
John Inman, not his two-time champion and perennial-finalist father, Mark, captured the recent Men’s Championship Flight with a 1-up win over John Williams.
"It’s something I’ve always wanted to do," Inman said. "It’s just another accomplishment that I can write down, like qualifying for a USGA tournament. This is another thing I’ve always wanted to do. I think it’s special that my name will be up in the clubhouse the rest of my life."
The 19-year-old Princeton Day School graduate used a hot putter to close out one of his most significant wins. He withstood every challenge from Williams to earn his first career CVCC title in his first finals appearance.
"It was 36 holes," Inman said. "John Williams, he just hangs in there when you play him. We both had our bad holes where we missed short putts or something. It was a close match all the way. It was all square going into 17. I won 17 and we tied at 18."
The Inmans were on opposite sides of the draw, but there was no all-Inman final this time. Mark qualified for the championship flight, but was knocked off early in his quest for a third crown.
"I would have had to play him in the finals," said John, who faced his dad in a Better Ball tournament when he was 14. "I’ve always wanted to play him. All the pressure would be on him. I could say he has more experience."
The elder Inman has spent this summer helping John work on his game. It has paid off for Inman, who played only sparingly during the academic year while focusing on his freshman-year courses at the University of Arizona, where he is studying aerospace engineering. The club championship was a big finish as he returns to Arizona.
"I never made it past the first round before," Inman said. "I always did well in the qualifier, but for some reason never made it past the first round. I’ve played in it the last five years, and it never worked out for me. Once I got going into match play, I got in a groove and started playing a little better.
"I was putting very well," he added. "The first couple matches, I was hitting the ball well and putting all right. What really saved me the last two matches, it’s the putting. The guys I played would tell you that I wasn’t hitting the ball that great, but I putted very well, which helped me out in the long run."
Tim Seitter and Bob Foxx were semifinalists in the men’s championship flight. Donna Cortina defeated another PDS graduate, Kathryn Batchelor, for the ladies championship flight. Linda Kosek beat Liz Nadler to win the Ladies’ A Flight; Steve Donahue defeated George Mulheron for the Men’s A Flight. Steven Karanikolas beat Uday Kunte in the Men’s C Flight final. Dan Burns and Jim Hamilton’s B Flight final was postponed due to an injury.
Inman is hoping to build off his strong summer and hopes to defend his title next year.
"I’m planning on trying to get on the course a little more this year, especially before the rates go up," he said. "When I first went out there, I was trying to fit in and make friends. Now I have a good friend I can play golf with. I’m going to try to play a lot in the first couple months back at school."
Inman sees the potential to come back even better than he did this year. There is good weather and fine courses to play in Arizona.
"The nice thing about out there is I can go to the range with a muscle T-shirt and bang balls all day," Inman said. "I probably only played four or five times all school year. It’s tough to even have time to go to a range, but I have fun with what I do out there. I try to chip and putt. My short game always comes back to me.
"I’m more trying to work on my swing and trying to get something I can repeat when I come back to play tournaments. I try to keep my swing going and build it a little bit so it’s a little better than last year. This year, I hit the ball better. I think it did help that I hit balls throughout the whole winter. Before I always played hockey and took three or four months off."
He returned to finish 42nd out of 124 in the Rhode Island Amateur and qualified for the Patterson Cup with a 72 at Trenton Country Club. He was taking on players who had more time year round on the course.
"It’s a long shot for me to win those tournaments," Inman said, "but if I get my swing going, I’m definitely in contention."
John Inman showed that as everything came together as he captured his first Men’s Championship Flight at the CVCC.
"It’s nice," Inman said. "It’s an accomplishment for me to have my name up on the board."

