Jim Grosjean
Here I sit in late March wondering what happened to Spring? I guess that happened back in January, because it sure seems like summer started in the last week of February. The balmy weather hasn’t affected the intrepid golfers of the MPMGA. We’ve been sweating through our usual varied and interesting Thursday tournaments without fail.
On March 12, we played in a two-man better ball, mixed tee event. It’s sometimes fun, sometimes daunting to play from an unfamiliar set of tees, and often surprising when you play well. Gary Colella and Egan Hicks were the most surprised of all, as they won the first flight with a tournament best score of 10 under par. All the other winning teams scored between seven and nine under par. Rick Cole and Peter Valen; Bob Barnard and Chris Nelson; Doug Johnson and Mike Healy; and Matt Franc and Richard Brumm were the other flight winners. I wonder if any of them will change their preferred tees as a result of their success?
The MPMGA held a four-man par three event on March 19. The best three net scores on each hole were recorded, which seemed like a good format for me. I could afford to foul up a hole and rely on my partner’s good play to cover my mistakes. Unfortunately, my partners got tired of bailing me out, so we had double bogies that counted. Flight 1 winners were Rick Cole, Don Erickson, Dennis Marchand, and Dan Schroeder at 10 under par. Jim Hardwick, Chuck Kelsey, Bob Osebold, and Jim Van Sistine won the second flight with a score of 14 under par. I thought the only way to get to 14 under would be to play 36 or more holes, but they were somehow able to birdie 14 out of 18. Perhaps there were some eagles involved.
While the MPMGA was finishing the par three tournament, the Mountainview Collegiate Women’s Tournament was getting underway with their practice round. Luckily, the men had vacated the Preserve before any of the collegiate women could witness the atrocities that had previously occurred. The Mountainview Collegiate is a tradition in SaddleBrooke TWO and an event that the whole community gets behind. The teams are hosted in Saddlebrooke homes and in my opinion, that’s a treat for everyone involved. I only wish that some of their impressive golf abilities would have rubbed off on me. The tournament itself was won by the team from Iowa State, closely followed by Texas Tech. Denisa Vodickova of Texas Tech was the individual medalist with a score of nine under par! Kudos to Jo Helms and Lori Hill and their legion of volunteers for making this event successful year after year. I’m already looking forward to next year’s tournament. I was lucky to host a player from San Diego State University. The entire team and coaches were wonderful young women who represented their university in the best possible way. Go Aztecs!