Left to right: Al Bolty, Bruce Fink and David Cohen
Bob Edelblut
This year’s Member-Member Stroke Play Tournament was held on May 18 and 19. Forty two-man teams signed up for the event and all were sure that they had a reasonable shot at victory. The players were grouped into five flights. Each flight held eight teams and all teams within a flight competed from the same set of tees. Special Event Chairman David Cohen added a few wrinkles to the tournament’s format this year. At the Preserve on day one the format was a traditional Net Best Stableford match. It was at MountainView on day two where a really interesting Modified Chapman game was chosen. Two separate deviations were made to a standard Chapman. First, on par fours and par fives, each partner hit his tee shot then partners hit each other’s second shots. From this point partners scrambled in rather than play alternate shots to finish the hole. Welcome to the Chapman Scramble. The second deviation took place on all par threes where each partner hit his own tee shot. The team then chose which ball they wanted to play and then scrambled in to finish the hole. Yes, the game was well received. Thanks again, David.
Okay, here comes the good stuff and the really good stuff. Remember that I said earlier that all teams thought they had a reasonable shot at victory. On day one two teams were tied for the lead with a net score of 61. There were thirteen other teams that were within three shots of the leaders. Every flight had at least one team in that group. See what I mean—fantastic golf, gentlemen. On day two the play just got better and better! Twenty one teams produced scores equal to or better than the net score posted by the day one leaders. Again, every flight had several teams in this group and the low net for the day was 55. Unbelievable! This year’s Overall Champions coming from Flight 1 are Bruce Fink and Al Bolty with a combined score of 120. They bested the team of Bob Eder and Bob Ogle, also from Flight 1, and the team of Colin Barnard and Jean Gonneville by a single shot. Again, congratulations for your super performances. Congratulations are also in order for all who won their flights: Flight 2 winners are Dan Nordhill and Don Erickson with a score of 123; Flight 3 winners are John Bidegain and Ted Knapp with a score of 123; Flight 4 winners are Bill Webster and Leo Croteau with a score of 124 and Flight 5 winners are Colin Barnard and Jean Gonneville with a score of 121. Great play, gentlemen!