MGA Results 11/23/13

We a nice fall like day for golf for Men's Day. The temperature was on the cool side with some cloud cover and a slight breeze, which made for some tough scoring conditions. We had 13 players come out for the fun. The formats were skins, stableford, beat the pro, and best 17(where you throw out your worst score.) 

The skins leader was Tom Keane who took home four skins all of which came on the last two holes. I guess he put the motto "it's better to be late than never" to good use. He was closely followed by Pat Molamphy who captured two skins.

In the Net division of the best 17 game Jim Blank fired a little 67 to dominate. He was followed by Pat Molamphy who shot a 68. 

The Gross division of the best 17 was captured by Steve Ahlfeld who shot a 71 to best Ron Coffman by a single stroke. 

No one beat their stableford quota points so all that money will be carried over to next week. So make sure you join us then with a large sum of cash on the line.  This means no one beat the ol' Pro either. 

We hope to see you all again next week. 

Best,

Hunter 

Eddie Bray Captures his first Men's Net Match Play Club Championship!

It took some time to get all the matches in but the 2013 Men's Net Match Play Club Championship is finally in the books with a new champion this year in Eddie Bray.  Eddie is no stranger to the champions circle as he has won multiple member guest titles and two man match play events but this is his first individual Club Championship at National.

Mr. Bray had no easy road to the finish with his bracket having a plethora of former champions waiting to vanquish any foe who dared challenge them.  In Eddies first match he faced Peter Mamuzic.  The match was finished after the 15th hole with a 4 & 3 victory for our Champion.  The next victim on Eddies list was the always tough Ron Murray.  Ron has quite a reputation of taking down even the toughest of competition in the heat of battle but to no avail as Eddie was unshakeable in his 5 & 4 victory over the worthy opponent.  Steve Dougherty who has too many Club Championships to count was the next opponent for Eddie and this turned out to be the toughest match.  This quarterfinal match went farther than any other match in the Championship for Eddie.  After the 16th hole Eddie was the confirmed winner with a 3&2 margin.  On to the semi-finals to meet one of our newest members Jamie Ledford.  Eddie did not seem very welcoming as he dispatched Jamie after the 13th hole with a 6&5 victory.

The finals were set with Jeff Huber waiting to see if Eddie Bray could keep the streak alive.  Well Eddie did not disappoint.  He drained a long birdie putt up the slope on the 2nd hole to draw first blood.  Eddie won the 3rd to go 2 up then Jeff stuck it close on the 4th for a well deserved birdie but Eddie stuck the dagger in by halving him with a nice shot of his own.  After wins on the 5th and 6th holes it was not looking good for Jeff but he was definitely not going to give up.  Huber claimed the 7th to take the match to 3 down but Bray was able to get it up and down from 50 yards away to go back to 4 up after the 8th.  One more hole for Bray on the 9th gave him a 5 up
after nine holes lead and he was what I would call "In the drivers seat" from then on.  Eddie increased his lead to six up and held it through the 13th hole which is where the fat lady started singing for Huber.  Congratulations to both players for making it all the way to the finals and to our 2013 Men's Net Match Play Club Champion Eddie Bray for a job well done!

MGA Closing Day for 2013

What an awesome day we had for our final official Men's Day of the year.  The temperature was in the mid 70's and the sun was shining.  Just a typical fall day in the Carolina's.  We had 14 players show up to try and take home the cash.  The formats were skins, stableford, beat the pro and an individual low net / low gross game.

In the Low Net/Low Gross game we had Steve Ahlfeld come out on top for the sole paying spot in the Gross portion of that game.  He put together a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde round with 35 going out and 41 coming in but it was still good enough to beat the next player by 6 shots.  Good work Steve.

The net side of that game was dominated by Ron Murray who lapped the field with a very low score of 66.  He was red hot out of the gates by going 8 under for the first 8 holes then cooled off a bit towards the end.  In the second place spot we had a tie at even par 72 with John Masotti and Mark Watson.  The last paying spot had Dick "the Terminator" Tilley scraping in a few dollars with a net 73.  Nice work guys!

The Skin leader was Rick Knight with 4 skins and the top Stableford point spot was tied with John Masotti and Ron Murray occupying that position.

We had a slew of people besting the pro so check out the results sheet below to see if you made the cut.

Thanks to everyone for making the time to compete today.  Thanks also to the MGA for providing lunch for our champion golfers.

Best,

Dave

2013 Battle at Bears Valley Results

What a weekend for golf our contestants had for the 4th annual Battle at Bears Valley.  The temps in the morning were a little cool but the sun was out and we had very little wind so the scoring conditions were excellent.  This year the Front 9 Fellas were the defending champions so they only needed 20 points to retain their bragging rights for another year.  The format for the golf was 4 separate 9 hole matches with the first 3 being two man team matches and the final 9 hole matches were singles matches.

The first match got underway at 9:00 am Saturday morning with the Front 9 Fellas playing on their home turf (the front 9).  The format for the first match was captains choice and the F9F were hot out of the starters block.  Despite Dr. Stokes holing out from the fairway on the 3rd hole their side could only muster 3 of the 8 points available giving the F9F the early lead.  The second match of the day was played on the Back 9 Boys turf with the teams competing in the always challenging Alternate Shot.  It was a bit of a bloodbath on the back nine with the FNF taking it to the B9B in their own back yards.  They took 6 1/2 of the 8 points and had a day one lead of 11 1/2 to 4 1/2.

Day two started the boys out with another stellar breakfast buffet because we all know everything goes smoother with lots of bacon!  The 3rd match was better ball format and the blue team looked a little nervous to me having to make up 7 points to get things tied up.  They were only able to muster two points in match three extending the lead for the F9F to eleven points which meant they only needed 2 1/2 points to retain and 3 points to win.  You never know what is going to happen though with 16 points available in the singles matches anything is possible.  Unfortunately for the blue team the inevitable came about with the posting of the Jeff Huber vs. Guy Spears match.  The F9F accumulated 20 1/2 points and officially won the 2013 Battle at Bears Valley.  The final result was 24 to 16 with the B9B at least getting a moral victory winning 9 and tying one of the singles matches.  Congrats to the Front 9 Fellas for a job well done.

Thanks to everyone for playing in this years Battle.  We appreciate all the players taking the time to participate as I know the demands of today's busy world have on everyone's time.

Best

Dave

Red Team! Front 9 Fellas defend their title.
Back Row from left to right:  Pat Butcher, Mark Watson, Dave Haper, Steve Ahlfeld & John Masotti.
Front row from left to right: Richard Hemming, Rick Finnin, Jim Blank, Ken Bass, Dave Dunn, Dick Tilley, Steve Dougherty, & Andy Summers.
Not pictured because they bailed on me to early:  Jeff Huber, Doug Turner & Tom Boals Jr.

Sven Tilly stripes one up onto the 18th on the final day of action.

Richard Hemming putting on a bit of a putting clinic for Birdie Bill Fitzgerald and Dave "the Dunner" Dunn

Steve Dougherty splashing one out of the bunker on 16 as everyone looks on in awe of his excellent golfing ability.

Buzz "A.T." Baughard showing off his 8th grade arms while Dr. Summers drains a nice birdie putt in the background.

Dick Tilley hoping to pick up a few short game pointers from Mark Watson on the 14th.

That is some smooth action by Guy Spears.

T.P.  Firing up the troops.