Knight's title 'reel' satisfying

Gary Knight can go back to concentrating on making a movie in St. Charles - and he'll do it with another St. Charles men's city golf tournament championship trophy in hand.

Knight earned his second city title in the past four years Sunday at Pottawatomie Golf Course by topping Brendan Jones 3 and 2 in the championship flight title match.

Knight, who was the 2007 city champion two years after he graduated from St. Charles North, lives in Utah and got into the tournament on a past-champion exemption because he was going to be in town for the next two months working on a film titled "Munger Road."

He needed no celluloid magic to capture the 2010 city golf title after three weekends of competition. Rather, he used a steady, non-spectacular round that featured only 2 birdies - but those came during a 1-under front nine that propelled him to a four-hole lead.

"I felt good about the way I played overall, and I didn't make any mistakes on the greens, and that gave me a lot of confidence going through the round," said Knight, who topped former champion Don Hancock 4-3 on Saturday to reach the final.

Jones dispatched two-time defending champion Brian Charles 2-1 in the semifinal, but his driver was not an ally in the title match.

"I couldn't really keep my drive in the fairway and didn't really make a lot of putts," said Jones, a junior on the Carthage College golf team.

"He was definitely spraying his driver a little more than I did," Knight said of Jones, who hit only one fairway in the round. "It makes a difference, because as this course has matured, the trees keep getting bigger and accuracy becomes more of a premium every year here."

Knight put pressure on Jones by turning a one-hole deficit after the opening three holes into a four-hole lead at the turn. His birdie on the 154-yard, par-3 fourth hole evened the match and set up Knight to take advantage of Jones' toughest stretch - bogies on the next three holes.

After Knight won all three of those holes, he put a stranglehold on the match with his best shot of the day, a 110-yard wedge to within a foot of the hole for a birdie on the difficult par-4 ninth hole.

Knight didn't think his ball striking or club selection was particularly good.

"I have played enough matches to know you cannot panic," said Knight, who played golf at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. "But it is always a little harder for me to select the right club here, because I am so used to playing in Utah, where the air is much thinner."

In other action, David Newland beat Richard Geier 5 and 4 to win A flight; Rich Pechous topped Chris Perozek 9 and 8 to win B flight; Dan Killbride edged Dick Jenkins 1-up after 19 holes to win C flight; Dave Forsell edged Ken Harris 2 and 1 in D flight; Jason Curtis bested Steve Thorne 3 and 2 in E flight; and Ed Murzinski beat Doug Throneberg 6 and 4 in F flight.