The Flying Deuces gathered for their first tournament of the year 2000. Doug Korns, Eric Mickelson, Rich Norris, John Kimball and John Davis were all in attendance. Since the last tournament 566 days had passed. Donuts and drinks were shared during the pre-tournament warm-up. All players agreed to play with a zero handicap. In addition to the usual prize money at stake, everyone agreed to a side skins game of a quarter per person per hole. John Davis rolled up to join the group as all this was being discussed at the beginning of hole one.

Doug and John Davis started knocking themselves out of the running with fours on holes one and two. John Kimball claimed the first skin at hole two with a deuce. John Kimball and Rich Norris matched deuces at holes five and seven, but John scored six skins with deuce on hole eight. Continuing his tear, John claimed a single skin with a deuce on hole nine. Scores after nine: John K - 23, Rich - 25, Doug - 29, Eric and John d - 30. John K has nine skins.

At hole twelve, John Kimball claimed another three skins with a deuce. Everybody deuced hole thirteen. John Kimball scored two more skins on hole fourteen with another deuce. John K's closest competitor, Rich, lost three stokes to John as he went OB on hole sixteen, while John was deucing again. At hole eighteen, Doug nailed a long approach for the only deuce, claiming four skins. After 18 holes, the scores were: John K - 45 ( new course low record by two strokes), Doug and Rich - 54, Eric and John D - 57.

Taking a short break at the half-way point, Rich rewarded everyone with a Millennium Tourney T-shirt, with the names of the 45 previous tournament winners listed on the back.

With John widening lead, the group started focusing on the skins game and taking more chances. Normal hole seven became the starting point at the Oak Grove course, but no one was able to claim any skins. Hole four was designated as the Closest To the Pin hole. Doug and Eric had similar drives and after three walk off measurements, by three different people, it was declared a tie! John Kimball later graced both Eric and Doug with a Tiffany-style glass circle, with a half replica of a disc pole hole, complete with mini-chains.

While we playing the next hole, a Park Ranger drove down the path and inquired about our activities. We were informed that we had to stay on the path or leave. This, not being possible (or fun), we exited Oak Grove park and returned to Golden Oak. Doug was extremely sad as this appeared to be the closing down of this park to any further play in the future.

A never before played set of fourteen holes was then played in the Golden Oak Park. Rich broke through on hole seven with the only deuce to claim his first seven skins. John Kimball had the misfortune of driving into the street on hole eight and by the time he finished that hole, he'd lost two strokes to the field (as if it mattered)! Rich and Eric had the best third nine, with 26 a piece. The Johns both had 28, with Doug another stroke behind at 29.

The make-up holes were pretty long, probably as an attempt to slow John K's torrid pace. Hole ten found Eric and Rich unloading their drives into the street for OB. But hole ten bested all players, as we walked to hole ten with the tee box belonging to the fours! John and Rich matched each other with consecutive deuces on holes eleven and twelve. On the next hole, Eric and Rich did a repeat performance and both tossed their drives into the street. On Hole fourteen, John Kimball, broke through with a deuce to claim his final seven skins. Eric and John K forced a push of the skins on hole fifteen, so that Rich could claim both skins at hole sixteen with a deuce. A flurry of pars pushed the skins for hole seventeen. John and Rich (his 3rd of the nine) both sailed into the street, taking themselves out of contention for the last skins at eighteen. John Davis closed out the last two skins with the only deuce on the last hole.

The scores were tallied, showing John Kimball being the only player under 100 for the day and a ten stroke victory over Rich. Prize money was distributed to John and Rich. Eric collected and figured out the skins payments. The traditional trophy passing to John was made. John showed off some of his flocked Christmas decorations. Post-tournament congratulations and good-byes ensued. Special thanks go out to Rich for the tournament shirts and to John K for his CTP trophies. Everybody's contributions to this event showed there was still lots of spirit and life with the Flying Deuces. This was a particularly fun tournament with the usual trash-talking, pranks (Did John K ever find his smokes?) and an awesome tournament performance by John Kimball (15 deuces and 21 skins in 36 holes). Additional pictures are available for the interested.

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