The field is waiting for Rennie’s final instructions.
Bob Edelblut
This year’s Bubba Hawkins Tournament was hosted by the MPMGA and the club’s Tournament Director David Cohen asked Rennie Temple if he would volunteer to run the event. I believe that Rennie was truly made an offer that he could not turn down—got the picture? Of course, he accepted and to his credit he assembled a team loaded with experience which included David Cohen, Larry Fox, Kate Pope and Debbie McMullen. Great choices, Rennie!
For the record—the Bubba Hawkins is a world class golf event where the boy invites the girl to be his partner—sort of like Senior Prom. There were only two stipulations: neither could your partner be your spouse nor could it be the same partner you had the prior year. Sounds easy, right? It was and the 40 couples who played enjoyed excellent weather, good fun and laughter and a truly unique golf experience. Did I forget to say that Rennie’s goal was to make the Bubba great again!
There were many moving parts to the tournament’s format. There were 20 foursomes formed that played in a single flight. The men played from the Green Tees and the ladies played from the Yellow. On the par three and par four holes each team recorded its two best net scores. For the par fives the game changed to a two-person Chapman Scramble and the team score was the combined scores of the twosomes. Confused yet? Now you must hear about the Bubba Enhancements or should I say the Rennie Enhancements. On the eighth and thirteenth holes, both par threes, players were required to hole out in a greenside bunker. On the fourth, sixth, twelfth and seventeenth holes players were forced to put through a guardian which happened to be a Dog Patch cutout that had a hole carved out in its base. Many stories have already been told describing the perils created by the guardians and the extreme difficulty of hitting your ball in a trap on purpose. All players faced the same demons but the good news is that fun and laughter prevailed.
Okay, here comes the good stuff and yes, the results have been audited and audited and audited again. I understand! Fourteen of the 20 teams competing finished in the money. Amazing! The team of Paul Zapf, Jackie Kline, Bill Grow and Ann Cahill finished alone in third place only one shot out of first with a score of 124. Great! Yes, two teams tied for first with the winning score of 123. One team had Mick Borm, Jean Cheszek, Pete Baragona and Ann Bershaw as its members and the other had Mike Bershaw, Raylene Peters, Phil Gray and Deb McGeorge as its members. Unbelievable! One can only surmise that these fine players obviously had no difficulty mastering Rennie’s Enhancements! Congratulations to all.
We give a special thanks to all the volunteers who made this day so memorable. It could not have been better. To Dr. Patrick Shaffer, DDS, our longtime friend and sponsor, and to all the Food and Beverage staff at the Bistro we say again, thank you.