May 24, 2012 Results
Well, this day started out very good with a gentle breeze out of the south that helped cool things down for the 97 players that showed up at Gateway. Little did we know that the gentle breeze would turn into a gentle cyclone about half way through the round. What made the wind so bad for golf was not that it was in your face, or at your back, but a cross wind that did all kinds of damage to any ball that was hit high and just slightly off center. Many a good shot drifted off the fairway into the tall stuff nullifying what should’ve been a dandy result.
The wind was so bad that our foursome witnessed something we’d never seen before. Bob Stephenson was teeing off on #11 when on his actual downswing, I swear, the ball literally rolled off the tee, caused by a sudden gust of wind. Now you would expect that he’d have whiffed on that shot, ala Kevin Na a couple of weeks ago on the pro tour. Or pulled a Tiger Woods and stopped his swing, but Bob Stephenson has such powers of concentration that he actually hit that ball, and hit it pretty darn good. I still can’t believe that. How in the world did you do that Bob?
Gateway National recovered remarkably from the disaster of last summer. If you remember correctly we last played this course on September 22 last year and it was in horrible shape. The sod was actually loose, coming up in large chunks with just the slightest nudging. And the tee boxes were almost non-existant, the sod all but missing. The course now looks pristine compared to the September condition. Also, just a few weeks ago it took the brunt of a huge hail storm with large stones putting craters in the greens. You can still see some of the damage but it looks like ball marks that people didn’t do the greatest job of repairing. I suspect the greens will recover completely in just a few more weeks.
Results:
Alone in first with a -7. was the Ron Muse foursome of Jerry White, Frank Vien, and Gene Erard. Knowing Mr. Muse’s penchant for hitting a nice soft draw I’m sure this squad played just about all their shots from the fairway. Very nice shooting guys.
one team was second place at a -6. The Paul Rivard, Steve Dierker and Ernie South team managed to defeat the wind and post this fine score.
Two teams were tied for thrid place , at -5, The Don Bartoni, Ted Isringhaus, Dale Bruce and Bob Pahmeier team tied the John Dierker, Darryl Rue, Ted Schuessler and Dave Buesse team.
Five teams finished fourth at -4, 1. The Joe Cernich team. 2. The Charlie Pope team. 3. The Art Soble team. 4. The Joe McDaniels team. 5. The Tom Murphy team.
Six teams finished fifth at -3, 1. The Don Giarraffa team. 2. The Walter Smith team. 3. The Ed de la Peña team. 4. The Doug Nolte team. 5. The Mike Rutherford team. 6. The Bob Foeller team.
Four teams finished sixth at -2, 1. The Randy Pratt team. 2. The Joe Goines team. 3. The Phil Hess team. 4. The Paul Pals team.
one team finished seventh at -1, 1. The John Prather team.
One team kissed their sisters for an even par on the day. 1. The Jeff Delaplain team.
Two teams finished with a +1 for the day. 1. The Lou Pessoni team. 2. The Doug Torrie team
One team finished with a +2 for the day. 1. The Dan Ottoline team.
One team finished with a +3 for the day. 1. The Dee Ridenhour team
Awards;
Closest to the pins for the day; Hole #4 Joe Mullins Hole#7 Jerry Mullen Hole#12 Charley Wilson Hole#14 Unknown (I’m sure I’ll hear about this) Hole#17 Joe Cernich
Skins: Hole #5 The Paul Rivard team Hole#7 The Lou Pessoni team