HEAD OF THE CLASS

Donna Smalldon remains at the head of the class and retains family bragging rights at Briarwood Country Club.

The Sun City West resident extended a club record with her fourth overall title and second in three years at the annual two-day Briarwood Niners tournament.

"We're going to have to move to a bigger house to put all of her trophies in there," said Bob Smalldon, Donna's husband of 59 years. "The Smalldon men don't win any trophies.

"We spend all of our time training the women."

It has been a rare occasion when someone other than a Smalldon has won the Briarwood Niners championship.

Smalldon won her previous titles in 2001, 2002 and 2006. Her daughter-in-law, Ruth, won the Briarwood Niners championship in 2004 and 2005 before switching from the nine-hole to the 18-hole women's golf group.

"I like to kid that I had to kick her out of the nine-hole group before I could win another title," said Donna Smalldon, who posted a 2-stroke win over Barbara Huntley at this year's tournament.

Smalldon battled chipping woes to overcome a 1-shot deficit after the first day of play.

"I'm the world's worst chipper," Smalldon said. "I can drive and hit the ball from the fairway, but put a puddle of water in front of me, and the ball goes in there."

Smalldon learned to golf from her husband. She has played a variety of sports with her husband and three sons.

"I knew Donna when she was a kid and she was 90 percent tomboy," Bob Smalldon recalled. "She was good at badminton, tennis and water skiing. And her best sport may have been bowling."

Smalldon has flirted with bowling perfection, rolling a 299 game many years ago. However, back pain now keeps her off the bowling lanes.

"My back won't take bowling any more," Smalldon said. "When you're 75, you don't know if you're going to wake up each day."