The 2019 edition of the Riverside Country Club Classic was an outlier. It was a rare instance where Derek Thorne and Evan Fries – along with teammate Chad Richman – didn’t find their names at the top of the leaderboard when the event concluded.
The 2020 RCC Classic, however, was a return to the norm.
Thorne, Fires and Richman carded a two-day total of 108 to win the three-man, scramble-style tournament held of the weekend by three strokes. After shooting a 56 on Saturday, a mark that placed the trio in a three-way tie for third, the team ran away from all challengers on Sunday, posting a mark of 52, the lowest 18-hole total for any team of the entire tournament.
The trio of Correll, Oshner and Holloway, which led after day one with a score of 54, finished with a 57 on day two and wound up in second with a score of 111. Blake Schlarb, Chase Tolson and Austin Norris tied for third with Hamilton, Hamilton and Newman – both teams finishing at 112.
Thorne, Fries and Richman won the title at the RCC Classic in 2018 before missing the podium last year. For Thorne and Fries, who routinely team at tournaments, it was the second win in a row this season after the duo claimed first place at the Coaches Tournament at the RCC a few weeks ago.
Other flight winners at the RCC Classic included Wyant, Weaver and Bunnell, first in the B flight at 115; Brinkley, Brinkley and Klaver and Jennings, Morgan and Morgan, tied for first in the C flight at 125; Stahl, Triplett and Chamberlin and Gardner, Morehead and Brinkley, tied for first in the D flight at 132; and Treadwell, Wray and Vandevender and Rosenbaum, Rosenbaum and Rosenbaum, tied for first in the E flight at 137.