2002 TOWNSEND CUP

This year the tournament was moved forward one week to try to take advantage of better weather and longer days. It did however, conflict with the Superbowl and the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics but it didn't stop the Townsend Cup activity - we just played through. I was lucky this year to drive down with Bill Wagner where we stayed one night in Primm NV and the second night in Laughlin NV. We played the Primm Valley Lakes course on Friday morning to get a golf tune-up. I guess the course conditions prepared us for the fact that the Francisco Grande Course would not be in the best of conditions. John told us that they had a longer than normal summer causing the Bermuda grass to crowd out the rye grass preventing the normal growing cycle and conditions. But conditions aside, the normal tournament give and take occurred and we were off and running on Saturday night. The Townsend Cup teams were previously decided, the patriotic hats distributed, the skins money collected, and the Calcutta teams drawn.

The Sunday morning games began with a Tim Marcovich special - Two Man - 9 Holes "The 39 Game" with drawn teams competing in this first Townsend Cup event. It is a modified Stapleford system and I was fortunate that my partner, Brian Brown rolled in a 20-foot putt on the ninth hole for a Tim Marcovich Blue Team win. The Townsend cup competition was very close all week being all tied prior to the Friday 27 hole single matches. I was matched against Kelly Cramer and I guess my gamesmanship (Reminding him that it would be bad to lose to a guy 20 years older with a bad back and heart decease.) worked only to motivate Kelly and play his best shooting a 39 on the second nine to go 5 up on me. The match was over in three more holes with Kelly winning 7 and 6. Good play Kelly. The rest of my teammates fared about the same with the White Team winning under Jim Chambers leadership.

While playing in our warm-up match, Bill Wagner told me about one of his golfing buddies in Washington State calling a final long putt after a number of bad shots "Whipped Cream on Dog Poop". I witnessed such a display on the 4th hole where Mike Anderson landed in the left greenside bunker on his second shot. The next shot onto the green only to roll into the right greenside bunker. The next shot onto the green into the left greenside bunker. The next shot onto the green only to roll into the right greenside bunker again. The next shot onto the green into the left greenside bunker again. The next shot onto the green to be followed by making the putt for a seven. You can imagine Mike's talk as he was going through all this. All of his shots were good shots but bad luck and a bad hole situation bit him where there was no margin for error.

The tournament was played in good weather and as usual was a lot of fun. I personally don't like the format where players are penalized for good play by being forced to play from the blue tees. I played from the blue tees twice without ever breaking par with my net score the whole week. It is difficult for these players to win day money for best low nets and closest to the pin and long drive. If winning money on these competitions were important to me, I wouldn't go to the tournament. What is important to me is the fun and interaction with friends that make life to the less serious. Who could ever forget our dinner with Ed Saxon or trying to putt or drive with Jamie Sprouse providing visualizations? Jerry Heller found that his game had deteriorated to the point where he couldn't even hit the lake when throwing the putter after missing an 18-inch putt on 15. We also found out that a little authority can be dangerous when allowing individuals to be the "Judge" just because they had the low net score.

Karl Reid