The 2013 Gainey/US Open Championship is open to member/member teams and member/guest teams. Grab your sticks . . . I’m hoping to be back and ready from knee replacement and plan on taking the trophy home personally. Think you can stop me?
Month: May 2013
Non-Men’s Day #1 – May 22, 2013
Golf is a numbers game. I’ve always found it enjoyable to pursue truth via the path of numbers. But analyzing golf statistically is sort of like watching a magic show with all the lights turned off. You’re not real sure of what’s going on right in front of you and you probably wouldn’t believe it even if you could see it. Wednesday’s Kildare Group offers the proof.
Formal “Men’s Day” has been discontinued until fall. It’s the time of year when many members leave the dry heat to return to the land of mosquitoes, humidity and sweat. So of course, the Kildare Group had its biggest turnout ever. Twenty-seven golfers competed as temperatures in Scottsdale broke through the 100° mark.
As you might expect with the more torturous conditions, scores skyrocketed. Hold that thought – there seems to be an error. The average score of the group was approximately
four strokes below the year’s average. Nearly a quarter of the field shot in the seventies – gross. Dave Inman shot even par on the Arroyo nine while Rick May posted a gross 33 on the Lakes nine. There were two eagles and thirty birdies on the day.
Low Net
1. Tom Hansen – 64
2. Jim Mantle – 65
3. Don Coolidge – 66
Low Gross
1. Rick May – 73
2. Joel Temple and Scott Thompson – 76
In the team competition, seven teams played a “Gainey style” modified stableford. Rick May, Mike Hickey, Jim Mantle and Tom Hansen put some distance between them and their nearest competitors amassing 131 points. Eric Nielsen, Don Coolidge and Sandy Wiener’s team finished second with 107 points while Scott Thompson, Jason Sample, Jim Woods and Mike Wentrup took third place with 102 points.
Six net skins paid $60 each and went to Jim Stamatis, Scott Thompson, George Stelmach, Mike Wentrup and Rick May (2). A gross skins pot was split up between Dave Inman, Jim Stamatis, Drew Price, Scott Thompson and Rick May (3).
All in all, it was a great golf day enjoyed by all.
Men’s Day – May 8th
Davey Jones, Captain Hook and John Demetra – each is renown for having treasure at the bottom of the sea. John Demetra, left (shown dressed for golf), approached his errant ball at the corner of the lake on #6 Arroyo Monday. As he contemplated his approach shot, he took his $300 Scotty Cameron putter and gently placed it on the ground. It seems the center of gravity on this valuable putting implement was not located precisely where John had anticipated. Gravity proved the fallacy of his assumption and took the club and caused it to jump into the lake. John’s eyes widened as it quickly sunk into the murky darkness below. Efforts to retrieve the club were futile. As of this writing, it is not known if Scuba John revisited the lake in the darkness and recovered the club nor is it known what the USGA ruling would be in the event that a key club runs away from the bag and jumps of its own free will into a dark and deep body of water.
Speaking of pirates, Wednesday’s Men’s Day was won by the team of Mike Wentrup, Gary Anzalone, Tom Hansen and Howard Jones. When one faltered, another surged and the shipmates ran away from the field beating their closest competitors by five strokes. Dave Inman, Don Coolidge, Marty Howe and Bruce Partridge finished second edging out Ted Akiba, Dale Fitzhenry, Don Roblee and the blind guy on a scorecard playoff.
Dave Inman and Mike Matz split the gross skins pot while the net skins were divided up between Ken Vlah, Howard Jones (2), Dave Inman, Mike Matz, Dale Fitzhenry and Don Coolidge.
Plenty of players went low (as opposed to deep). Joel Temple and Dave Inman both shot 74 while Scott Thompson, Rick May and Gary Anzalone finished close behind. Steve King, Don Coolidge and Joel Temple all turned in net 65s on the day. The course conditions were good. The weather was perfect.
Gus Williams Hits a Homerun
The 2013 Gus Williams Memorial Tournament was a rousing success. Approximately 100 golfers from Arizona and Colorado converged on Gainey Ranch Golf Club to celebrate the memory of Gus and his love of kid’s sports. The Arizona Foundation and Gus Williams Charity received a big boost from this year’s event with a contribution of $11,600.
Playing conditions were great and the team of Rick May, Matt Binzler, Mike Steele and Jimmy Stewart took home first place in a fun day of golf. The real winners of the tournament were the kids of Arizona that will benefit from the contributions to ball fields and sports equipment. These were things that helped Gus grow up to become the leader he was and he was determined to give back to society those things that he received growing up in an orphanage.
A big thank you to all those who played and to those who were unable to play, but that made generous contributions to the charity. Gene Kloeckner, Dan Zinda, Laurence Rosen, Howard Garr and others all chipped it to make the event a great success.
Thanks to Liz McCarty for volunteering the time to take some great pictures of the event. They can be seen at http://gaineyimages.wordpress.com/2013-gus-williams-memorial-tournament/ or by clicking on the “Tournament Pictures” link on the right side of the screen.
Scottsdale Golfer News 