It is finals time….
After a season of rain-outs, keeping Bridget well past her bed time, friendly chats with the Tanner Valley rangers, its time for us to take a look at our final match-ups.
The match-ups were all over the place. Some subs, some hot teams and some there to hopefully make a mess of it for the leaders. One thing that stood out when entering the scores this week? Holes 7, 8 and 9 nearly all golfers created seperation on these last three holes and won.
Let’s see this on the first match-up
Devin vs. DJ - Devin EAGLES #7, then Par-Par to finish (+10 pts), DJ finishes Bogey-Par-Par (+5) - Devin wins match by 5 pts
Kirkby vs. Joe - Bill goes Par-Bogey-Bogey (+4), Joe goes Bogey-Bogey-Triple (+2) - Bill wins match by 4 pts
Haberern vs. Prucha - Andrew finishes Bogey-Par-Double (+3), Prucha finishes Double-Bogey-Triple (+1) - Haberern wins the match by +2 pts
Steve vs. Mott - Steve finishes Par-Par-Bogey (+5), Mott finishes Double-Bogey-Bogey (+2) - Steve wins match by 3 pts
The first round of match ups were nearly a cleans sweep with the team of Devin-Bill John (Prucha as sub)-Steve-Kirkby winning 8-2.
The second match-up? Where do we even start. The season leaders of Kane-Jon Carroll-Paul Daniels-Thayer were heavy favorites to steam-roll the team in fourth place of IT Nerd-El Commish-Mooney and Mike Boo-urns. With Kane on vacation, the Kane-IT Nerd matchup had to wait. However, just like in the first match, the holes of 7, 8, and 9 were the deciding factors. We’ll start with Flight 4 match-up and work our way up.
While you all are reading the below, I want you all to keep one thing in mind: Gimmies. Giving a guy a putt for a bogey even after you are in with a better score. Letting someone avoid the dread double-par with them still 6-8 feet away. The IT Nerd says it all the time: If there’s a point on the line, make them putt it to protect your teammates.
While Fig struggled most of the round, he did just enough to finish Triple-Par-Double. Boo-urns finished with a Bogey-Double-Par. One the #9 Green, Fig missed an very short putt to earn that Double Bogey and not finish with a Bogey on #9. That miss meant a tie for the match (both at -4 pts) and not a win for Fig.
In the Flight 3 match, Paul Daniels had a terrible start (2 pts on 6 holes, -6 vs. quota). Mooney had a enough good start (8 pts on 6 holes, -3 vs. quota). However, 7, 8, 9 reared their heads and flipped this match on its head. While Mooney finished Par-Double Par-Double Bogey (+1 pt), Paul Daniels finished Par-Par-Par (+6). That left Paul right on his quota and Mooney just two shy of his. So very close!!
Flight 2 was again one to watch. Would early-season Chris Donegan make an appearance or would be in in-form Chris Donegan of the last few weeks? Could El Commish withstand the inevitable “1 birdie per round but then lots of double bogeys” from Jon Carroll? I’ll let you guess where the divisions occurred! Both golfers struggled on the first 6 with Jon being on 5 pts (-7 vs. quota), Chris at 4 pts (-9 vs. quota). El Commish finishes strong enough with a Par-Bogey-Par. However, Jon got his birdie on #7 and closed out with a Bogey-Par to match Chris. At the end, Jon was bale to fully meet his quota with Chris finishing -4 vs. quota.
Then it came to the final pairing, played on Monday afternoon. With Jon winning by 4 and Paul winning by 2, the first place team had two wins and a draw (5 pts). The fourth place team only had one draw (1 pt). AT BEST, the fourth place team could land a draw by having the IT Nerd win his match by at least 7 pts. Anything less than that, the first place team would take the match.
The match had ups and downs with one golfer playing well, while the other wasn’t. First the IT Nerd struggled, then Kane, then a birdie make on #6 from the IT Nerd made it Kane -8, IT Nerd -3 (needing +7 and at +5!). Again, 7, 8, 9 proved the difference. An incredible tee shot from Kane, excellent chip left Kane a 8 footer for birdie that just misses and taps in for par. IT Nerd three putts for a bogey! Both golfers bogey #8 after bad chips, so it’s not looking good for the IT Nerd. While Kane struggled to finish the round with a double bogey, the IT Nerd couldn’t make the 20 ft birdie putt to win it and settled for the par. Final Score, IT Nerd +1, Kane -5 (Net of +6).
In the end, it finishes first place team with 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss and a net quota score of -9. Fourth place team with 1 win, 1 draw, 2 losses and a net quota score of -9. With a chopped team point, the first place team has 6 pts, fourth place team with 4 pts. One point somewhere is what made the difference: A par that didn’t drop, a bogey that just missed….or maybe giving your opponent that bogey putt or saving them from the indignity of a double par. It mattered here and is why the first place team is going to the finals! SURVIVE AND ADVANCE!
SEE YOU ALL AT THE FINALS!
Week 18 Dan Kane 15 VS 17 Devin Carrigan Jon Carroll 13 VS 10 Bill John Paul Daniels 9 VS 11 Steve Donegan Brian Thayer 7 VS 8 Bill Kirkby
Dan Kane 15 5 4 7 5 6 3 4 4 6 44.0 -5.0 Mike Carroll 14 7 5 5 4 4 2 5 4 4 40.0 1.0 Bill Kirkby 7 6 4 7 6 4 3 4 4 5 43.0 4.0 Joe Donegan 8 8 5 6 7 4 3 5 4 7 49.0 0.0 Drew Prucha 11 7 6 6 5 4 5 6 4 7 50.0 -6.0 Andrew Haberern 12 6 4 8 5 6 4 5 3 6 47.0 -4.0 Steve Donegan 10 5 4 6 5 6 4 4 3 5 42.0 2.0 Sean Mott 11 5 5 6 5 4 3 6 4 5 43.0 0.0 Devin Carrigan 17 5 4 6 4 3 3 2 3 4 34.0 6.0 DJ Mahar 13 6 4 6 5 4 3 5 3 4 40.0 1.0 Jon Carroll 12 6 4 7 6 4 5 3 4 4 43.0 0.0 Chris Donegan 13 6 6 7 5 5 4 4 4 4 45.0 -4.0 Brian Thayer 8 7 4 7 6 7 5 7 3 6 52.0 -4.0 Mike Burns 10 7 5 9 6 5 4 5 5 4 50.0 -4.0 Paul Daniels 8 6 6 7 8 5 4 4 3 4 47.0 0.0 John Mooney 11 6 4 7 5 4 3 4 6 6 45.0 -2.0
3 Dan Kane -5 0 6 3 Jon Carroll 0 2 3 Paul Daniels 0 2 3 Brian Thayer -4 1 5 DJ Mahar 1 0 2 5 Andrew Haberern -4 2 5 Sean Mott 0 0 5 Joe Donegan 0 0 X 7 Mike Carroll 1 2 4 7 Chris Donegan -4 0 7 John Mooney -2 0 7 Mike Burns -4 1 8 Devin Carrigan 6 2 8 8 Drew Prucha -6 0 X 8 Steve Donegan 2 2 8 Bill Kirkby 4 2
