Southern Highlands Members Win Prestigious Event at Winged Foot
Some courses have more cache than others and one of those layouts is the historic Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, New York. The course, which opened in 1921, has been the host site for multiple major championships including the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open. The list of champions includes names like Tommy Armour, Ryan Moore, Bobby Jones and Betsy Rawls. — By Brian Hurlburt.
Now Southern Highlands Golf Club and SNGA members Shane Sigsbee and Kenny Ebalo will be listed among them forever. The duo recently won the annual Anderson Memorial, one of the world’s premier four-ball tournaments that has been played since 1933.
Sigsbee and Ebalo closed out Brett Boner and Steve Woodard of Carolina Golf Club 3 & 2 in the final match to claim the championship.
“The first thing that comes to mind is how cool of an honor it is to be on the wall at Winged Foot,” Ebalo said. “Every champion since 1933 is printed on the wall in the grill room and now Shane and I are on it, too, representing Southern Highlands. Also, the Southern Highlands staff and membership were amazing all week sending us messages as the whole club was watching. We were the top seed and never trailed in any of our four matches, and always got off to a great start with a birdie on the first hole each time.”
The tournament, referred to as Winged Foot’s “other” major, featured 92 two-player teams from 30 states and five countries. The event is named in honor John G. Anderson, a founding member of Winged Foot.
Las Vegas resident Butch Harmon is closely aligned with Winged Foot as his father was the club professional at the course from 1945-1978. Butch’s brother, Billy, was the keynote speaker this year and won a club championship at the course 50 years ago. Butch operates his school of golf at Rio Secco in Henderson.
Ebalo and Sigsbee have played together on the local tournament schedule and have had success. In 2014, they won the Boulder City Team Championship. Ebalo also was the SNGA player of the year in 2014.