SMGA Ryder Cup Champions: Top left to right: Dick Modos, Bob Koerner, Tom Shephard, Terry Edwards, Warren Stephens, Virgil Maynard and Mike Finn; bottom: Peter Wright, Chris Toney, Art Wieda, JR Salladay, Beaver Simpson, Andy Higgins, Gus Pachis, Tony Califra and Bill Clarkin; missing from photo is John Alton.
On September 4 and 5, sixteen SMGA members squared off against sixteen MV/P members for the annual Ryder Cup Challenge.
The format for the Ryder Cup is similar to the biennial Ryder Cup between the U.S. PGA and the European PGA teams. Instead of stroke play every match is match play where holes are won or lost and points are gained for the team. Winners get one point and for ties each player gets a half point. With 16 players on each team, there were 16 total points available each day. Each day’s scores were tallied and posted.
On Thursday, September 4 the tournament was held at the Preserve Golf Course. The first nine was alternate shot team matches and the second nine was better ball team matches. SMGA bested the MV/P teams by a total score of 9 to 7. It was unusual for the SMGA teams to do so well on the first day as it was held on the Preserve Course, not our home course.
On Friday, September 5 the venue changed to SaddleBrooke the SaddleBrooke and Tucson nines. The format was individual match play between the 16 players from both sides. The MV/P teams improved their performances from the day before tying the SMGA teams with a total score of 8 to 8. In the past, the MV/P teams have done worse on the SaddleBrooke courses than on their home Preserve Course.
The final score of SMGA 17 and MV/P 15 meant that the SMGA retained the coveted Ryder Cup for the third straight year!
Congratulations to the SMGA team of Andy Higgins, Beaver Simpson, J.R. Salladay, John Alton, Bob Koerner, Dick Modos, Peter Wright, Mike Finn, Warren Stephens, Tom Shephard, Tony Califra, Bill Clarkin, Terry Edwards, Art Wieda, Virgil Maynard and Chris Toney. Gus Pachis, SMGA Special Events Chair, was team coordinator.