Ken Bass Wins Second Club Championship Of The Season after 19 holes

On a late Sunday afternoon the stage was set for a battle in the pines!  I know that seems a little dramatic but it was quite a match for the finals in the Men's Gross Match Play Championship.  The participants were former champion Steve Dougherty and Ken Bass.  They both made their way to the championship stage by defeating some very worthy opponents.

Steve made his way by taking down the always tough Ron Coffman by a margin of 4 & 3.  His next opponent in the semi finals was Steve Ahlfeld who can work that baby fade to perfection.  That match ended on the 18th hole with Dougherty coming away with a 1 up victory.

Ken's road was a little longer as he did not have a first round bye.  Patrick Butler was Ken's first opponent and the match ended with a 7&6 win for Ken.  In the quarterfinal match Bass took on long hitting John Doster.  Ken was on his game here and the match was finished after 16 holes with a 4 & 2 win for KB.  The next notch on Ken's belt was the 2012 Champion Bruce Chalas who is no stranger to tournament play.  Ken was able to send Bruce packing with a 3 & 2 victory.

So the final match was set with both players hungry for another championship.  The match began with Dougherty taking the first hole with a birdie then the opponents went on a streak of 6 holes without either side winning a hole.  Ken finally broke through with a birdie on the 8th getting the match back to all square.  Steve took the 1 up lead again with a birdie on the 10th but Bass struck back with victories on both 11 and 12 to take the lead away.  The guys went another long streak of 4 holes without either side claiming a hole.  Steve with a nice birdie on the 17th got the match back to all square with only one hole to play.  This is what match play is all about.  The whole championship coming down to just one hole.  Both Ken and Steve made par on the 18th so the had to go extra holes where Ken was able to secure the 2013 Gross Match Play Championship with par on the difficult fist hole.

Congratulations to both players for a great tournament and to Ken for his second Championship of the year!

MGA Results 10/19/2013

We had yet another cloudy day for golf today, which seems to be the norm lately. We had 13 guys show up for the festivities. Today's format was the usual three suspects of Beat the Pro, Stableford, and Skins. The fourth game was evens and odds(take you even holes on the front and odds on the back nine).

The stableford game was dominated by Bill Womble who bested his quota by eight points. He left the competition in the dust with his closest opponent being David Sundman & Dale Mitchell who bested their quotas by 3 points. Mark Watson was the only other player to beat his quota doing so by one point. These players also beat the pro who didn't have his best game today.

The skins game was also taken by Bill Womble who took home 4 skins. David Sundman took second again winning 3 skins. Andy Summers and Ed Bernard tied for 3rd with 2 skins apiece. The skins game was rounded out by John Doster, Mark Watson, and Dale Mitchell who all had one skin.

In the Evens & Odds game Andy Summers took home the gross side firing a little 33 and besting Paul Courneya by 4 shots. On the net side of things Dale Mitchell dominated with a 31. Bill Womble and Steve Points tied for second with net 33's.

Thanks to all the guys who came out today. We hope to see you all again next time.

Best,

Hunter

MGA Results 10/12/13

What a wonderful day we had for golf here at National and the golf didn't disappoint. We had 11 guys show up for the fun. The format was the usual suspects of Beat the Pro, Skins, Stableford, and the new game today was one net ball of the four player team.

The Stableford game was dominated by Pat Butcher and Jack Maisano who both bested their quota by seven points. They were closely followed by David Sundman who bested his quota by five points. Ed Bernard who was the big money winner on the day bested his quota by four points. Although there were some great scores out there no one managed to beat the pro as he had a great day on the links throwing in a eagle (that he called) on 8.

The skins game was taken by Ed Bernard who took home four skins. Nipping at his heels was Jack Maisano who took home two skins. Dave Dunn and David Sundman each took home one skin to round out the skins game.

The team game was a runaway with the team of Ed Bernard, Buzz Baughard, Ron Murray, and Dave Hall shooting a 57. It was a total team effort with everyone making birdies and even an eagle. In second the team of John Ramsey, Jack Maisano, Dave Dunn, and Pat Butcher fired a 59.

Great playing to all the guys who came out! We hope to see you all again next time.

Best,

Hunter

2013 Men's Club Championship Results

No weather delays down her in Pinehurst for our Club Championship.  The guys were putting on some layers of sunscreen to keep off all the rays of sunshine coming down.  The Championship was stroke play over 36 holes with both Gross and Net champions crowned.  We had 20 players competing for the two coveted invitations to the Champions Dinner (net winner and gross winner).

Day one action started with threesomes going out starting at 9:40 and a little twist this year with all participants playing the same set of tees.  We did modify the locations a bit and the scores showed it on day one.  We only had one player with a sub par round.  William Rocchi was the day one Gross leader with a tidy little 71.  He had a two shot lead over Ken Bass and a three shot lead over former Champion Steve Dougherty.  In the net side of things the day one leader was Giff Fisher with a 71 but lots of people hot on his tail.

Day two had a real battle going with Rocchi and Dougherty making the turn all locked and Ken Bass lurking only one shot back.  With all three players making birdie on the 10th hole it looked to be quite the dog fight on the final nine holes.  Rocchi took a one shot lead over Dougherty and a two shot lead over Bass after the 13th.  That is where Ken stepped on the gas and ate up the final five holes playing them in two under par.    That was good enough for a two shot victory over day one leader and

2012 Champion William Rocchi.  Congratulations to Ken for his first National Golf Club Men's Club Championship.

The Net division we had a bit of the Roberto De Vicenzo event happen.  If you are not familiar with that  story it was when Mr. De Vicenzo signed for an incorrect score on his card at the 1968 Masters that resulted in him finishing one shot back instead of tied for the Championship.  Mr. Bernard who was awarded the Championship discovered that he had signed for an incorrect score on his Saturday round.  The difference in the two was that Mr. Bernard signed for a lower score not a higher one so the result was a disqualification penalty.  This resulted in the second place finisher Giff Fisher being awarded the Net Championship.  Giff put together two very nice rounds with a net 71 on day one and a net 70 on day two.  Congratulations to Giff for what is another in a long line of Championships he has won over his illustrious career.

Thanks to all of the players for making this a great tournament.  I really appreciate you taking the time to play in this event!

Best,

Dave

Steve Ahlfeld sends one to the 5th green on the final day.

Day One Leader and 2012 Champion William Rocchi hits one to about 10 feet on the 4th green.

2013 Champion Ken Bass attempts a birdie put on the difficult 4th.

Rocky from 10 ft again

Multi Year Champion Steve Dougherty vying for birdie on the fourth.

Ken Bass firing one down the line.

Another great shot from Doughety

2013 Net Champion Ed Bernard hits another one down the middle on the 5th

Peter Vanica with a nice balanced finish on his way to shooting a very impressive even par 72 on the final day.

William Rocchi putting on a clinic on how to hit it straight!

Club Champ Ken Bass tee's off the 1st hole.

Dave Dunn stares one down on the 6th as Jack Maisano looks on.

Alan Curtis showing good form on the 6th as Dave Harper tries to figure out his phone.

Dave Harper a.k.a. Moe Norman shows everyone how to get it done!

Rick Knight (spouse to 2013 Club Champion Tricia Knight) tries his best.

Jim Blank hits from his comfort zone right on to the green on the 5th hole.