10:29 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 12, 2006

By BILL NICHOLS / The Dallas Morning News

Coppell's Mark Lindberg and Arlington's Bob Neal won the mid-amateur division of the Friedman Cup on Saturday at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind. Lindberg is playing in this week's Trans-Mississippi Championship at Dallas' Brook Hollow Golf Club.

With all three rounds in the 60s, they finished at 13-under 203, one stroke shy of the tournament record. Neal made a hole in one, leading to a 6-under 66. Lindberg, the 2005 club champion at Dallas National, and Neal also were second at the amateurgolf .com Two Man Links Championship on April 26 at Bandon Dunes.

The Friedman Cup, usually held in October, is one of the premier four-ball invitational events in the country for mid-amateurs and senior amateurs.

While his opponents were playing practice rounds for this week's U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Bremerton, Wash., Keller's Matt Spicer was flying an F-18 Hornet. He was with his Marine Corps unit on a two-week detachment when he got the call saying he made the field.

Spicer was the first alternate after losing a four-man playoff for three spots at sectional qualifying. He flew from Key West to Miami, boarded a plane to Las Vegas and finally landed in Seattle at 3 a.m. Monday. A high school friend, Matt Maser, flew from Michigan to Dallas, picked up Spicer's clubs and then flew to Seattle, landing at 2:30 a.m. The two met at 3:30 a.m., and then slept for about three hours.

Without a practice round, Spicer shot 3-over 75 Monday, but then struggled with his putter on Tuesday and shot 80 and failed to advance to match play. It was his first time in four attempts to make the field.

"This championship was fantastic for me," Spicer, 38, said in a story on the U.S. Golf Association's Web site. "The experience was worth it. I wouldn't have missed it for anything."

Rosie Kartalis made a hole in one on the 115-yard No. 8 at Prestonwood Country Club's Hills Course on June 19. Two days later, Kartalis aced the 149-yard No. 13 at Prestonwood's Creek Course. ... Deadline to enter the FINA NTPGA Seniors' Championship at Fort Worth's Ridglea Country Club is 5 p.m. Friday. Online entries for the event on Wednesday and Thursday will be accepted at www.ntpga.com. ... The American Heart Association raised $189,000 from its "Swing Fore Heart" Golf Classic, $64,000 more than last year. The AHA's goal was $150,000. Proceeds from the June 8 tournament at The Tribute Golf Club in The Colony benefit research and education on heart disease. ... Mansfield's Brittany Beckett shot rounds of 85-87 to finish 15th in the girls' 16-18 division at the Callaway Golf PGA Junior Series event Friday in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. ... Last week was big for Plano-based Adams Golf and Nike's Research and Development crew in Fort Worth. Trevor Immelman won the Cialis Western Open using Nike irons and fairway metals and the Adams Idea Pro hybrid. Five of the top 10 were Nike players. Adams ranked second in the hybrid count. At the U.S. Senior Open, winner Allen Doyle and runner-up Tom Watson used Adams clubs. Doyle played a prototype set of Idea Pro hybrids and forged irons, the RPM Dual driver and Puglielli wedge.