Just call Jason Bannister ‘The Terminator.’
“He’s like a machine out there,” said the vanquished Chris Williams, who was on the receiving end of an 8 and 6 whipping by the 21-year-old senior at Southern Indiana in the Men’s Championship match at the 96th annual Bloomington City Golf Tournament on a hot Sunday afternoon at Cascades.
Bannister’s been like clockwork since the California native showed up at the tourney in 2022. Twelve matches, 12 wins. He is the first three-peat winner since Troy Gillespie from 1999-2001 and only the fourth to do it since the tourney’s inception in 1929. There’s Bob Cook (1951-53) and Phil Talbott’s incredible run of nine in a row from 1935-43. And that’s it.
Seniors and Super Seniors: City Golf: First-time winners celebrate Senior, Super Senior titles
“It feels good,” said Bannister, who teamed up with Lance Ringler as his caddie again this year. “It’s always cool to put your name in the history books.
“But the game plan was just the same. Just be very disciplined, hit a lot of shots in the fairway and then hit them on the greens so I had a look (at birdie). We were reading the greens really, really well today. The speed on some of the longer putts was just fractionally off but I feel like we did a really good job inside of 15 feet getting the speed down. Having Lance on the bag was huge.”
Bannister played 30 holes in 10-under par, giving Williams the same feeling he had after his 10 and 9 loss in the 2009 final.
“I think he had one or two errant shots the whole day,” Williams said. “He was just unconscious out there. That’s really, really hard to beat. I’ve been in that situation before, I played Kyle Perry years ago and it was the same thing. It reminded me a lot of that.
“He putted amazing and hit great wedge shots and he put the ball in play and I didn’t. That was the key. My tee shots put me in a lot of trouble and I didn’t have enough in the tank.”
Bannister up early
Bannister had a 3-up lead after the first 18 of their 36-hole final.
“That first 18, I was all over the place off the tee,” Williams said. “He put himself in great positions. He hits that little hybrid iron off the tee. He doesn’t really need to hit driver except on a few holes. Like a machine. It’s hard to put it in words other than that. He was automatic.”
As the second 18 began, Williams found the bunker on the par-3 fifth and left his chip short. On No. 6, Bannister drove the green and while Williams needed a strong approach to give himself a chance to halve the hole. But his putt lipped out putting him six down.
Williams got one back on No. 7 when Bannister’s drive went under a tree, forcing a punch out. But Bannister took one back on 8 with a curling 20 footer and when Williams’ chip was short on 9, Bannister was 7-up and rolling to the finish.
“Chris is a great player and we had a heck of a time out here,” Bannister said. “I knew it was going to be a good match and we made a lot of birdies between the two of us. I just got hot at the right time, got a lead, he fought back and I got hot again.”
Bannister had more openings as Ringler guided him through the touch and feel shots so important at Cascades.
For both of them, all it took was just one shot just a bit off target and Bannister or Williams had the opening he needed to win a hole.
More: All-time City Golf champions
“That’s how it should be in the championship match,” Bannister said. “Both us should have to be on our games. If I hit a poor tee shot, he takes advantage and vis-a-versa. That’s the story of how today went. There was a sort of make-or-break shot on every hole.
“For a championship match, I think it was a pretty good one.”
“For what happened I’m pleased,” the 41-year-old three-time champ said. “I’m very happy to go this far. I love the tournament. It’s fun knowing I can still compete. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough today, but as long as I’m able to I’ll play in it every year. I love it.”
Hall of fame adds 2
The City Golf Tournament Hall of Fame added two new members in Fred Walls and Richard Mabry.
Mabry was a seven-time City finalist, three in the Seniors and four in the Super Seniors, winning a title in each division.
Walls won three straight Junior titles from 1934-36 and made the ’38 finals. Only Sean Toddy (four) won more Junior titles.
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
PHIL TALBOT MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP (36 holes) — [1] Jason Bannister d. [2] Chris Williams, 8 and 6.
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (36 holes) — [2] Tim Gillespie d. [4] Chuck Combs, 3 and 2.
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (18 holes)— [2] Dan Neubecker d. [1] Rory Brown, 1 up.
MEN’S REGULAR — First flight: [3] Robert Wise d. [5] Matt Newman, 3 and 2. Second flight: [8] Chris Stedman d. [2] Andrew Conder, 19 holes. Third flight: [2] Alex Bruce d. [4] Devin Potts, 3 and 2. Fourth flight: [8] Graham Freund d. [7] Bobby Duvall, 4 and 2. Fifth flight: [4] Shaun Arvin d….
