This year's Men's Invitational would be what I would call a bit of a roller coaster ride from start to finish. In the beginning we were not sure if the event was even going to happen with the June 1st deadline looming we were short about 6 teams of our 24 team minimum. The word got out and our members answered the call. The 24 team limit was reached and the tournament was on! That was the up part. Then the down part when our electricity was taken from us by a blustery storm that came through Thursday night. We awoke on Friday morning with a golf course that looked a bit like a war zone! Here comes another up side of the roller coaster ride. Dave Bowbliss and his grounds crew did an amazing job of getting the golf course playable by our 9:00 am start. Wow! We really appreciate those guys. The rest of the weekend was pretty much up from there. The food and beverage staff are to be commended also with multiple events going on and no power in the kitchen they pulled off a mini miracle by getting all the food out and ready on time for every event. It took a team effort and they got it done. Thanks to Chef Ang and all of her staff! They really worked their tails off. After that Thursday night storm the weather for the weekend was sublime! Well that is enough talk about that how about some tournament results now.
The action started with some sweltering hot weather on Thursday. The first official event of the weekend was the always popular Par 3 tournament. This is the first 5 holes setup with unusual tee locations and various different formats for each hole. We had almost 100% participation in this optional game which might be a record! We paid 7 places with two gross winners cashing in and 5 net places taking home some green. The top dog on the gross side was Dr. Bernie Stanfield and Sherill Britt. They posted an impressive score of 25 but close on their heals was William Rocchi and Dr. Swantkowski with 27 and the second place money.
The net winners were tied for low gross but we can't let these guys win everything can we? The team of Gary Gough and Dick Schwab started their weekend the same way they finished it, with a win! They posted a low low score of 18.1 net which lapped the field and captured that top money spot for the net side of the Par 3. We had four more paying spots in this event with 2nd place won by Dough Turner and Hector Morales. 3rd place was taken by Steve Schwerin and Tom Owen. 4th was occupied by Joel Tew and David Groth. Last but not least in the final and 5th place paying spot in the net division was the team of Eddie Bray and Rex Whitaker. Congratulations to all of our par 3 contestants who managed to play their way into a little prize money!
This year we changed the timing of some of the matches so for the first time we had one match on Thursday afternoon starting at 4:00 pm. The next two days we had two matches on each day with a horse race (shootout) in between the two matches.
 |
| Tom Giving instructions to the two remaining shootout teams. |
The horse race was changed up a bit also with the winners of the front nine taking on the winners of the back nine for a one hole shootout on hole number nine in front of all the participants. The format was alternate shot. This event always has some crazy stuff going on with 12 balls in play on the first hole of the shootout things can get a bit crazy. The two finalist in the horse race were Giff Fisher and Tim Copper against Steve Shwerin and Tom Owen. Steve was the coin toss winner and first to attempt his tee shot. He was seen earlier in the day working feverishly on that 9 wood shot that he planned on utilizing on the 9th tee. He quickly strode to the tee placed his peg in the ground and with a few waggles of the trusty old 9 wood unleashed a mighty blow that nearly cleared the valley of sin on the 9th but rolled back down and remained on the green. This was well done because team Schwerin/Owen was getting half a shot from the Fisher/Copper team so anything on the green would put some pressure on their opponents for sure. Tim Copper was the team member slated to hit for the next shot and took his time
surveying all wind and weather conditions that may effect his shot to the back right hole location on the hole known as Cornerstone. After Tim selected his club he stood to the tee and with what might have been a little bit of adrenaline flew one a little long and onto the back of the green. The Advantage favored team Schwerin for sure. Now it was Giff Fisher's turn to shine. He had quite the daunting task to try to traverse the big slope up onto the back right tier of the green from about 50 feet away. He put a nice stroke on the ball but with a little to much speed on it the ball rolled about 7 feet past the hole. This gave a slight edge to their opponents who had about a 28 foot put from the valley of sin. I heard through the grapevine that Steve's partner Tom is known for his tremendous ability to lag the put near the hole from nearly anywhere on the green. Tom stood over the put and with one mighty blow stuck a dagger into the hearts of his competitors. His putt ended up less than two feet from the hole and all but assured their team the victory.
Their was a glimmer of hope still though with a chance at par from 7 feet away and an unlikely miss from team Schwerin, team Fisher could still come out on top. Tim asks his partner Giff for a read and then stands over the put. Tim puts a pure stroke on it and from two feet away from the hole it looked likely that it was going to hit dead center but at the last minute the putt rolled right off the edge of the hole and that was all she wrote. Giff Fisher and Tim Copper being the gentlemen that they are conceded the put to their opponents which gave Steve Shwerin and Tom Owen the horse race victory. Congratulations to both teams for making it to the final.
Now we have had our appetizer here is the main course. The results of the tournament! We had four flights this year, They were the Jack Nicklaus Flight, Arnold Palmer Flight, Gene Sarazen Flight and the Sam Snead Flight. This years overall winner came out of the Gene Sarazen Flight by a team that never lost a match! The team of Gary Gough and Dick Schwab. Anyone who knows this Gary Gough guy knows he does not get nervous. I was reminded of this many times during the shootout and he obviously proved this fact by his performance this weekend. This team dominated everyone in their flight. They started off with a 6 1/2 to 3 1/2 victory over last years overall champion Rick Knight and David Nibert and finished with a 9 to 3 thrashing of former Champion Doug Turner and Hector Morales to take the overall trophy by 2 points over the Sam Snead Flight champion of Joel Tew & David Groth. Congratulations to Team Gough & Schwab for being this years Men's Invitational overall Champions!
 |
| 2013 Men's Invitational Overall Champions Gary Gough & Dick Schwab |
Jack Nicklaus Flight
This flight had all the heavy hitters and could have made up a pretty nice clinic with all the doctors present here. The top dog in this flight was Dr. Bernie Stanfield and Sherill Britt. These guys started with a nice gross victory in the Par 3 contest and just kept on winning. They like our overall champions, never lost a match. This dynamic duo finished up with a total of 35 points which was 3 points shy of the overall champions. Congratulations to Bernie & Sherill.
Arnold Palmer Flight
This flight was not lacking any championship caliber players with multiple past Club Champions lurking here and there but we all know there can be only one winner and that was Fabian Alzamora and Michael Rogers. This team had a bit of a rocky start with a tie in their fist match and a 4 to 7 loss in the second. They had their first victory in match #3 with a 6 to 4 win. Then team Alzamora/Rogers put their foot on the gas and racked up a 7 1/2 to 3 1/2 victory and put an exclemation point on their win with a 9 1/2 to 2 1/2 drubbing of their final victim. This gave them a total of 32 points and a narrow victory over the plethora of quality teams in the Palmer flight. Nice work Fabian and Michael!
Sam Snead Flight
This flight like many of the others was full of the type of players willing to step on you while you are down and give no mercy even if you beg for it. The team giving the least amount of mercy turned out to be our second overall point getter with 36 total points. Joel Tew and David Groth had only one blemish on their tournament record this weekend coming in the third match with a loss of 3 to 8 to second place finishers Mark Watson & Phil Blanton who may have been distracted by the groupies following them around the course. This team broke through the finish line in style with a 9 1/2 to 2 1/2 point victory in their final match which sealed the deal. Well done Joel and David!
The ride had to end sooner or later right? I want to thank everyone who played in this year's Men's Invitational. It definitely does not happen without your participation and this is one of the most fun events during our year. We hope to see you all back next year.
Best,
Dave
 |
| The final results! |
 |
| Tournament players getting all the kinks out before competition starts. |
 |
| Mark Watson practices his downhill lies. |
 |
| Pre Match Speech from Tom Parsons |
 |
| Big John Guyton attempts his par put on the difficult 14th hole |
 |
| Early morning prior to the final day. |
 |
| Getting that 9th green ready for competition. |
 |
| David Nibert tends to the flag while his partner Rick Knight attempts a shot from off the green in the shootout |
 |
| Players gathering before matches begin. |
 |
| the gallery starts to get restless before the final hole of the shootout |
 |
| Giff Fisher with a long attempt from the back of the green on the sudden death shootout. |
