LMGA Thursday play continued with the 1st round of the 3-day B-A Cup tournament. Play continued to use the Club and LMGA Corona Virus social distancing rules. Individual Foursome tee times, and special beverage and food handling procedures at the 19th hole were again the order of the day.
As a reminder, the tournament this year will be played over three days (Oct 8, 14, and 15). Each team will play each other team while Tee times will start each day at 8AM. Beverages & lunch will follow play all 3 days. Each team will start with the points earned during the 9-month season. Teams can win up to 10 points on Day 1 and Day 2, and up to 20 points on Day 3. This should ensure that every team is in it on Day 3. Overflow players can earn ¼ point for their team by scoring at least 32 Stableford points. Participants may play any or all the 3 days but must register for each day separately through the web site. Additional details have been provided via e-mail and on a separate web posting.
In today’s first round, 1st place Deer Creek (entering with 6 points) played 4th place Marshwood (1.5 points) while 2nd place Palmetto (5.5 points) played 3rd place Oakridge (5 points). The game was 4-Ball match play where 2-man teams selected one net best ball on every hole.
Both matches were runaways. Deer Creek beat Marshwood 8 to 4.5. Now comes the fun where John Bellucci gets to use his highly proprietary rocket-scientist formulas. Converting these results into a 10-point match and adding in .25 points for 1 Deer Creek player shooting 32 or better in the Stableford Overflow group resulted in Deer Creek earning 6.55 points to Marshwood’s 3.7 points. In the Oakridge-Palmetto match, Oakridge won it by a score of 7 to 4. Adding in .75 points for 3 Oakridge players earning Overflow points resulted in Oakridge earning 7.15 points to Palmetto’s 3.6 points.
So, continuing with Bellucci math, the results of the 1st day of tournament play has Deer Creek in first place with 12.55 points but Oakridge has moved up into 2nd place with 12.15 points. Palmetto slipped down to third place with 9.1 points while Marshwood continued to linger in fourth place with 5.2 points. But there are 30 points still to be won in the next 2 days of tournament play, so every team is still in the hunt to win the championship. And if your head is still spinning from Bellucci math, the scoreboards are attached which have additional detail!
The 19th hole was most appreciated by all the players as lunch was served to supplement our usual weekly beverages. The main course was hamburgers and brats with sides of coleslaw, potato salad, and chips. A great big “thank you” to the Catering staff at the Catering Barn next to the Woodshed for a very enjoyable meal. And let’s not forget a special SHOUT OUT for Kelly Bouchillon and Eddie Ambrose for their continued sponsorship of the B-A Cup.
As always, a special thanks goes to the LMGA folks who made this event a huge success while ensuring everyone stayed safe and followed all the Corona Virus guidelines. Thank you, President Frank Schepis, for overall organization; Gary Howard for pinch-hitting for Tom Seipel and Steve Voss in supplying our beverages; Don Snyder for serving as our bartender; and John Bellucci, Steve Skipper, and Mike Munro for continuing to keep us organized despite many last-minute changes.
Moving forward to next week’s rounds, Day 2 of the 2020 BA Cup Tournament will be at Oakridge on Wednesday the 14th. The game will be match-play Modified Alternate Shot with two-man teams where both players hit drives, the team selects one drive, and then plays alternate shot into the hole. Day 3 will be at Deer Creek on Thursday the 15th. The game will be Individual net score match play against 1 opponent.
So, sign up now and come out for the 2020 Bouchillon - Ambrose Cup Championship Tournament. Hope to see y’all next Wednesday and Thursday.