A message from Director of Golf, Nate Laird.
Thank you to all participants in this year's Messner Cup!
It was a successful event with 50 teams - a record number - and perfect weather conditions for all three days. Brandon and his staff had the course in the best shape I can ever remember. I hope everyone had as much fun participating as we did running it for you!
Wednesday afternoon started our festivities with the practice round. We had 43 teams join us this year for an afternoon of golf, with three teams rising above the others to hit double digits. Tying for first place at -11 were the teams of Eric Arnold/Cody Beierman and Darryl McCabe/Bob Haedt. Falling just one shot short, and taking third at -10, was Mickey Mattison and Brian Angileri. It took a superb score of -7 to crack the top 10 and place.
All teams started Thursday morning with aspirations of becoming this year's Champions. Three rounds of matches saw some good, some bad, and some ugly. While not teams were eliminated from fulfilling their dreams of winning this year, there were some that needed to do more work than others. Thursday night brought a much-needed break for players after 27 holes.
Continuing the Fun
While some teams decided to call it a night, most decided to hang out on the patio for some laughs and skills competition. We decided to test each players' skill putting (130' slippery downhill big breaker on #18), sand game (40-yard bunker shot from #18 to the practice green), and wedge game (90 yard shot from the Bocce Ball Court to a tucked pin on #9). Each player had three attempts to outduel each other for closest to the pin. Chris Day took home two challenges, making the putt, and sticking the wedge shot to 12'. Ron Mixon won the sand game challenge, knocking it to 6'.
Friday morning brought a new day, and the final two matches. After the hard-fought morning matches, we were left with 9 Flight Winners, and two Wild Card teams, heading to the shootout.
August National - Ryan Arnold and Jeff Williams 31.5 points
Ryan and Jeff dropped their first match 4-6, but never lost a match the rest of the way out. They secured their flight victory by ending the last match with an 8-2 win.
Pinehurst - Jerry Klobucar and Sam Klobucar 31.5 points
The Father-Son duo were about as consistent as you could be. They won 6.5 points in each of their three matches Thursday, and 6 points in both of their matches Friday.
Baltusrol - Mike Patch and Bob Edwards 31 points
Mike and Bob jumped out front on Thursday, winning all three matches, and collecting 20 points. They cruised to the flight win Friday with a halve, and win, in matches four and five.
Pebble Beach - Darryl McCabe and Bob Haedt 32 points
Darryl and Bob parlayed their practice round win into a flight victory. They kept the high level of play by only winning less than 6.5 points once in five matches.
Shinnecock - Chuck Reitzell and Chip Reitzell 30 points
The other Father-Son duo were in complete control of their first four matches. They had enough cushion to win the flight, despite losing their final match 4-6.
Whistling Straits - Bill Sullivan and Dave Arnold 33 points
Bill and Dave had some work to do on Friday after only winning one match of Thursday. They were able to do just that and more, dominating their final two matches, winning 17 points.
Crooked Stick - Joey Knueppel and Sean Knott 31.5 points
Joey and Sean won their first match 8-2, leading to a dominate day one ending with 21 points. They were able to put it on cruise control on day one to win their flight.
Erin Hills - Eric Arnold and Cody Beierman 29 points
Eric and Cody felt the practice round hangover by only winning one match Thursday and needing to make up huge ground on Friday. They were able to take care of business on Friday, winning 15 points to take the flight by a 1/2 point.
Doral - Jim Stringham and Jeremiah Jessen 32 points
Jim and Jeremiah had no first timers jitters. They went out and won their first four matches earning 27 points in the process.
Wild Card Teams - John Bottorff/Foster Martin 30.5 points and Scott Weiser/Rick Curia 29 points
Both teams were able to capture big wins (8-2 and 7-3) in the final matches to secure their spot in the shootout.
The Shootout
The shootout is an alternate shoot format, where one team member starts the odd holes, and the other member tees off the even holes. The first leg of the shootout saw teams split into two groups, each playing one hole. Only three teams from each group were moving on to the second leg. The teams of Arnold/Williams, Patch/Edwards, and Weiser/Curia were able to par hole #9 to advance, while eliminating Klobucar/Klobucar and McCabe/Haedt. Team Reitzell/Reitzell, Knueppel/Knott, and Stringham/Jessen were all able to birdie or par hole #1, turning the teams of Sullivan/Arnold, Arnold/Beierman, and Bottorff/Martin into spectators.
The remaining six teams all headed to hole #6 to begin the second leg of the shootout. From this point on, we eliminated one team each hole. The team of Mike Patch and Bob Edwards were the odd team out on hole #6, making a bogey and being eliminated.
Our second hole played, #7, saw the only chip off of the shootout. The team of Jim Stringham and Jeremiah Jessen just did not have enough and came up short to be eliminated in the chip off. The final four (Weiser/Curia, Arnold Williams, Reitzell/Reitzell, Knuepel/Knott) set off to tangle with the difficult 16th hole. The team of Ryan Arnold and Jeff Williams were unable to get up and down from short of the green, making bogey, and being eliminated in fourth place.
Hole #17 was crushing to the team of Joey Knueppel and Sean Knott. A poor tee shot, bad breaks, and bad lies caused them to concede the hole and finish in third place.
The Final Moments...
The final two teams left standing, Scott Weiser/Rick Curia, and Chuck Reitzell/Chip Reitzell, went to hole #18 to battle it out for the chance to be called champions. Weiser and Curia had ice in their veins, splitting the fairway with their tee shot, hitting their second 25' behind the pin, and barely missing their birdie putt, leaving a tap in for par.
Reitzell and Reitzell went a little more non-traditional, leaving their tee shot right off the fairway. They found a window on their second shot, which left them just short of the green. After a good chip shot, they ended up with an 8' par put to extend the shootout. That putt came up 1 inch short, leaving them with a bogey, and a second-place finish.
Congratulations to our 2023 Messner Cup Champions, Scott Weiser and Rick Curia!
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