National Amputee Champion Seeks Success At NJSGA Events
Kenny Bontz of Jumping Brook is the type of golfer who lets nothing stop him, not even the fact that he is an amputee golfer who lost his left leg due to a rare type of cancer.
But 2014 was his year and 2015 might even be better.
This past October, Bontz accomplished a long-time goal of winning the National Amputee Championship - by five shots. Previous to that, he captained a U.S. Team that traveled to Japan for the inaugural World Disabled Golf Championships.
Earlier in 2014, Bontz finished third at the inaugural World Cup of Disabled Golf in South Africa. He said he was at par or below about 20 times last golf season.
While doing all of this, Bontz, 45, managed to get his handicap down to a plus-one. He has won three club championships at Jumping Brook.
“I had a pretty good year,” laughed Bontz, who will be testing himself in four NJSGA Championships – the 57th Pre-Senior at Hawk Pointe, May 6-7; the 114th Amateur at Morris County, June 2-4, the 95th Open, at Rockaway River, July 14-16, and the 32nd Mid-Amateur at Arcola, Sept. 8-10.
His best finish in a state event came in 2010 when he qualified for the Mid-Amateur to reach the Round of 16. His goals now are to at least make the cut at all State events in which he participates.
“I really want to do well in state events. I’ve been working hard and next week I’ll be going to see my teacher, Brent Studer, at Metedeconk National. When I won the National Amputee, my confidence went through thr roof, especially with the numbers I was shooting.
“My eventual goal is to get on the Champions Tour,” said Bontz, who lives adjacent to the Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club in Farmingdale.
Bontz, who owns both printing and landscaping companies, was five under for three days at the National Amputee Championship that took place the difficult Signature at West Neck course in Virginia Beach. He shot a 73 on the final day at the Arnold Palmer-designed venue.
The trip to Japan helped promote golf as a sport for the Paralympics – Olympics for the handicapped.
That U.S. team placed second in the World Disabled Golf Championship, losing in a playoff to Sweden. Bontz himself was third in the individual competition.
“These international tournaments are very important to show the level of competition as country's play against one another,” Bontz said. “I was honored to be selected captain.”
In 2006, Bontz made the decision to have his left leg amputated just above the knee, ending a 17-year battle with the malady (Ewing’s sarcoma), a type of cancer that had plagued him since he was 19 years old.
Bontz is starting a new venture called “Moving Forward,” with three other amputee golfers – Chad Pfeifer, 32, a decorated member of the military, who is attempting to make history in becoming the first amputee to compete on the PGA TOUR, Adam Benza, 27, of Hellertown, Pa., a below-the-knee amputee and scratch golfer, and Kelly Valentine, 43, of Erie, Pa., who lost an arm in an auto accident but won the 2014 ParaLong Drive World Championship.
Pfeifer, of Scottsdale, Az., recently made it to the late stages of Golf Channel’s series, Big Break, The Palm Beaches, Fla.
“We want to help people with physical disabilities get off the couch. We say don’t let it hold you back. So many people are missing a limb, an eye, have a bad back. We tell them golf is not hard on your body. Get out and play,” said Bontz, who hopes to conduct a “Moving Forward” clinic at Galloping Hill Golf Course in Kenilworth.
