Dennis Marchand
It wasn’t the tournament that was planned but, nevertheless, despite threatening weather, both the SaddleBrooke Men’s Golf Association (SMGA) from SaddleBrooke One and the MountainView Preserve Men’s Association (MPMGA) from SaddleBrooke TWO held their annual Ryder Cup tournament on Nov. 19 at the SaddleBrooke/Tucson courses of SaddleBrooke One. Normally they would play day two at the MPMGA course at MountainView. At least that was the plan until Mother Nature stepped in.
The tournament matches the lowest 16 index players of both clubs together in a Ryder Cup-style match. Each team garners points based on matches among the 32 combatants. The format for both days was a nine-hole singles match, with opponents going one-on-one in a match play format that garners the winner one point for his team. The other nine is played in the toughest of all competitive formats, alternate shot. This is a format for a two-man team competition in which each player hits a shot that must then be followed up with his partner playing the results of his shot. There is no room for error.
Day one was a tightly fought competitive round, with the SMGA winning the alternate shot nine by a score of 4.5 to 3.5 (tied matches are a half point). But it was the singles matches that proved to be the difference, as the MPMGA won by a score of 9.5 to 6.5, for a 13 to 11 lead after day one.
That’s when rains came and washed out round two. As they have in the past, if one day is rained out, then only the one full day played counts. The rain did not dampen the spirits of the friendly competition, as everyone gathered for lunch at MountainView to pay off friendly bets and award the trophy to MPMGA for their eighth consecutive win.
High point totals for each team was Doug Swartz for SMGA and Ed Hashim and Dennis Marchand of the MPMGA, gathering two points each for their teams. Congratulations to the MPMGA on their current run of victories.