Jim Donat
This year’s event was changed slightly with the intent to complete the tournament before everyone moved north for the summer. No longer would there be matches between flights to determine an overall winner. This allowed for better payouts, a shorter timeframe and the elimination of matches between teams with very different handicaps. In years past this event would take months to complete as we battled mother nature and players with their busy schedules had difficulty synching up their calendars.
The field was split into five flights with two flights playing from the purple tees on MV and the mixed tees on the Preserve. The other three flights played from the green tees on both courses. There was a total of 37 teams that played a total of 47 matches. The first round was played on January 21 on the MountainView golf course followed by a second round on the 24th at the Preserve. Winners of the first match stayed in the winner’s bracket while the losing team moved to the consolation bracket where they could still be compensated for their efforts. The successful bracket winners had to win these first two matches as well as a third flight champion match. Most matches were completed within two weeks of the tournament start with the final match taking place on February 18 during a very inhospitably cold and windy day. Last year’s event took almost two months to complete, so the goal of shrinking the timeline was met.
Winning Flight 1 were Larry Sandoval and Rich Gann 5&4 over Kevin Nordhill and Matt Kambic. During the tournament Rich played great, shooting a 68 during one of the matches. Winning Flight 2 was Doug Stewart and Tom Winch 3&2 over Jim Donat and Alan Manskur. This was the match played on the cold day of February 18. These two Wisconsinites were unfazed by the weather with Doug shooting a 75. Rumor was they were eating cheese curds to stay warm. The third flight was won by Hovan and Nelson beating Kunnen and Steines. This match went into overtime taking 19 holes. The fourth flight was won by Edelblut and Bershaw beating Meyer and Olson. This match also took 19 holes to complete. It seems Bob has been using his newfound free time not having to write these articles to work on his golf game. And last but not least, Flight 5 was won by Hammer and Knoll 3&1 over Westra and Breedlove.
There were many close hard-fought matches with five of them going into extra holes, the longest match went 22 holes. Thanks to all the players and the tournament director Don Erickson and Matt Kambic for a great tournament.