Don Pennington wins match play championship over Jared Beard.
Well we got though it and had minor fallout from the heat… a couple of guys dropped out of some of Saturdays rounds , but overall we had good finish.
From comments I have heard from you all I think this format was well received, and if we continue to get good feedback… we gotta give it another shot.
We had some pretty exciting competition, with a couple of flights coming down to the 5th match, to see who was going to be a winner. One thing I know, and you all agreed, we have to try and get 6 players in each flight and avoid having to play the golf course…. It sucks and makes it tough to play and score well.
Another thing I noticed is that for some players this was their first experience with playing a match play format…. And there is some learning and that comes with playing it more. This is really so different from medal play….The PGA Players love it but it makes for poor TV, so that’s why you don’t see it more than once a year. There is a lot of gamesmanship involved…. Plenty of stories about Sammy Snead, he would give his opponents almost all their putts some as long as 12 feet…. For the first 4 or 5 holes, then he wouldn’t give them any even if they were 1 foot away…. He really got into their heads.
The shoot-out was really pretty exciting and we had a display of some really good golf….and we had a nice crowd of about 15 players following the action, and offering cheers and encouragement, and drinking some beer. Don Pennington was the winner, he won it on the 6th hole with a par net birdie and Jason Beard who finished 2nd lipped his putt of about 20 feet.
A recap of the shoot-out: Flt winners I Jared Beard, II Don Pennington, III Brian Williams, IV Julian Reville, V Marcus Dudley, VI Tom Haddad
Hole # 1 everyone was in pretty good shape, but Marcus Dudley hit his drive left in the area of the trees and had trouble getting up and down and finished with a 6 net 5 and was high score and was eliminated. Both Jason Beard and Brian Williams birdied the hole.
Hole #2 par 5….. Brian Williams had trouble with his 2nd shot putting it in woods on right, but made a great recovery to lie off the green on right in the rough where he was in 3, but had a poor chip which ended up in front trap he wound up with a 7 net 6 and was high score and eliminated.
Hole # 3 par 3… Beard is only one on the green…. Other three players short of trap on right…. Revile gets up and down for a 3 net 2…. Pennington and Haddad tied for high with a 3…. We had a chip off and it was won by Pennington …. Haddad is dropped.
Hole # 4 par 4 # 1 handicap hole on front…. Reville’s drive went to left of fairway, leaving him a long shot to green. He was short and wound up in creek…. Got in for a 6 net 5 and was high score and dropped.
Hole # 5 par 4 downhill….. Beard’s drive goes left and is about 50 yards from green…. Penning ton is in the fairway and gets on edge of green in 2 chips to about 2 ½ feet. Beards chip is short next shot puts him on green in 3, first put leaves him about 4 feet.. he 2 putts for a 5 …… Pennington missed his putt and were tied at 5…
Hole # 6… par 4 penning ton gets a stroke… both good drives Pennington is on in 2 about 20 feet and he 2 putts for a 4 net 3. Beard is on in 2 about 14 feet and lips out his birdie putt ….. Pennington is winner.
Really good play by both, Beard in the shoot-out had birdie’s on #1, 3 & 4… not bad for pressure play.
The Columbia tour next event is sat 8/20 at SPRING VALLEY let me know if your playing thanks.