By SKIP VAUGHN
Redstone Rocket
DECATUR, Ala. — Rick Cooper has had a banner year on the golf course.
The retired command sergeant major is the 2021 men’s club champion at the Links. He won the title by scoring a 1-over 73 at the club championship tournament Sept. 18. The tournament was shortened to one day because of rain.
Donna Lowen shot 74 to win the women’s club championship.
“I probably shot one of my best rounds at Redstone that day,” Cooper said. “And it was like catching lightning in a bottle. I had my best round when the better players didn’t have their best day because there were a lot of players much better than me out there.”
Cooper, 61, from Bellevue, Nebraska, retired from the Army in 2012 after 31 years. He works in the space management office for the Garrison.
“It’s been a good year for me,” he said. “I had a hole-in-one in April and I won the club championship. So it was a real good year for golf.
“Even though it was rain-shortened but I don’t make the rules,” he added laughing.
He and his wife of 31 years, Mary, reside in Huntsville. This is his first club championship.
Lowen, 53, from Hays, is a perennial champion at the Links. She won the Redstone women’s club championship in 2019, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013 and 2012, and the post women’s senior championship in 2019 and 2018. She played golf for the University of Kansas from 1986-90.
“I’m happy to win, even though I feel like I could’ve played better,” Lowen said. “My mom was my secret mojo and I was sad not being able to call her for my pep talk before we teed off. I wanted to play well and win for her. I had to pull myself together a few times while playing.
“Considering there was a lot of rain as well as some muddy and wet conditions, the course was in good condition.”