****The following was sent over the PwPtour egroups list on August 21, 2000:****
Well, sorry for taking sooo long to put out the results for this, but I was really working hard on Firestone. Thanks to Chip and Jeff for their patience.
Anyways, here are the results (I'll leave the final score for the bottom for suspense):
Both players started off the first 18 with a birdie. Kissel followed up with a birdie on the second to go one up, but bogied the third to go back to all square. The next three holes were halved, but Kissel's birdie at 7 along with Hughes' bogies at 7 and 8 gave Kissel a 2 up lead after 8. Three more halves after that, and then Hughes birdied 13 to go only one down. Hughes then birdied 15 to send the match back to all square. They swapped birdies on 16, but then Hughes bogied 17. After they both parred the 18th, the match finished with Kissel one up through the first 18.
The second 18 started with both players birdieing the first. They then halved two and three with pars, and the fourth with bogies. Hughes birdied the 5th to send the match to all square. They halved the sixth with double bogies, and then the 7th and 8th with pars. Hughes then birdied 9 to take his first lead in the match, however he gave it back with a bogey at 10. After both players bogied the 11th, the match was all square with seven holes to play. Kissel then went on a bit of tear, birdieing the 12th and 13th to go 2 up with only 5 to play. They halved the 14th and 15th with pars. The match ended on the 16th, when Kissel birdied the hole and Hughes birdied it. This gave Kissel a 3 up lead with 2 to go.
Congratulations to Jeff Kissel, our 2000 JNSE Match Play Champion!! Also, congratulations to Chip on a good showing in the finals. Also, thanks to all players who participated, I couldn't have held the tournament with out you. Also, thanks for your patience in waiting for the final scores. Jeff joins Bob Leore as past champions of this event. Good job.
See you next year...
****The following was sent over the PwPtour egroups list on July 30, 2000:****
Sorry for the delay in announcing the results of the semi-finals, but both of the semi-final matches were very close, and we now have two finalists. Here are the results of the two matches:
CHIP HUGHES (1) def. RANDY MUZNY (7) - 3 and 2. The first 18 holes of this match were very back and forth. Hughes got a 2 up lead after birdieing the 7th, then halved four consecutive holes. Hughes then finished the first round rather poorly, losing holes 14, 15, 16, and 18, including a pair of triple bogies. This gave Muzny a 2 up lead going into the second 18. The second 18 was a completely different story. Hughes started off by winning holes 2 through 5 to go from 2 down to 2 up. Muzny was never really able to recover after the poor start. He was able to get back to only 1 down after a par at the 10th, but a bogey at 13 sent him to two down. Both players bogied 14, and double bogied 15 to keep the match at 2 up in favour of Hughes. Muzny bogied the 16th against Hughes' par to finish the match, with Hughes the victor.
JEFF KISSEL (3) def. BOB LEORE (4) - 2 and 1. This was a very even match. The first 18 holes were back and forth. Leore took a one hole lead after birdieing the second, but Kissel countered with a birdie at #3 to send the match back to all square. Kissel then birdied the 7th to go one up. Leore then birdied the 11th to send the match back to all square. Leore then birdied 13, and Kissel bogied 15 to give Leore a 2 up lead. Kissel then birdied 18 to hold Leore's lead to 1 up after 18 holes. Leore got his lead back to 2 up with an eagle on the opening hole of the second 18. He then bogied the next four holes. However, Kissel doubled the 4th, but pars on 3 and 5 gave Leore a 1 up lead. Kissel then added an eagle of his own at the 7th to send the match back to all square. The match went between Kissel being one up, or the match being all sqaure. At the 15th, Leore bogied to give Kissel a 1 up lead. Both players parred the 16th, but then Leore doubled the 17th, sending Kissel to 2 up, and ending the match.
So, two exciting semi-finals, and we now have two finalists, Chip Hughes, the first seed, and Jeff Kissel, the third seed. They will play a 36 hole final, at Tom Allinder's Olympic Club under tough conditions (dry, with winds at 16 and 21). There is no deadline for these rounds, but I am leaving for vacation on Saturday, so if you would like the results before then, try to get the .res files to me by Wednesday.
Good luck to the two finalists!!!
****The following was sent over the PwPtour egroups list on July 17, 2000:****
Well, all the results are in for the quarterfinals of the 2nd Annual JNSE Match Play Championship. Three of the four matches were won by a pretty wide margin, and the fourth went to the last hole, and produced an upset. Here's a brief run-through of the matches:
CHIP HUGHES (1) def. MIKE CLARK (8) - 5 and 4. The first two holes were tied with pars, but Hughes won the third with a bogey against Clark's triple bogey. Hughes' birdie on the 4th hole gave him a 2 up lead, and pars on #6 and #7 were good for wins, to move him up to 4 up. After winning the 9th, Hughes was already 5 up. However, Hughes bogey on #10 and Clark's birdie on #11 reduced Hughes' lead to three. However, Clark's comeback was halted by two bogies on #12 and #13, causing the match to go back to 5 up in Hughes' favour. When they halved the 14th with pars, the match was over.
RANDY MUZNY (7) def. JOEL FERCHOFF (2) - 1 up. The only match in the quarterfinals that played the 18th hole produced the only upset. Ferchoff never held the lead in this match. Muzny started by birdieing the first hole, and Ferchoff's bogey on #2 gave Muzny a quick 2 up advantage. However, Ferchoff came back with an eagle on #3 and a birdie on #4 to bring the match back to all square. Both players birdied the 5th, and then they traded bogies on #6 and #7. When Ferchoff double bogied the 9th, Muzny took a one hole lead. It remained that way until Muzny bogied the 12th to send the match back to all square. Ferchoff made another double bogey on #14 to go one down, but got it back with a birdie on #16. Both made pars on #17 to send the match all square to the 18th. Ferchoff made a solid par, but Muzny made only his second birdie on the day to win the match one up.
JEFF KISSEL (3) def. FRED HANSER (6) - 4 and 3. Hanser made a birdie on the first hole, but Kissel came back with a birdie on the 2nd. Hanser's bogey on #3, coupled with Kissel's birdie on #4 caused the match to go 2 up in Kissel's favour. Kissel bogied the 7th to go back to 1 up, but then won the 8th with a birdie, and won the 9th with a bogey (Hanser made double) to take a 3 up lead at the turn. Hanser birdied the 12th to only be 2 down, but two bogies on #13 and #14 caused Kissel to be 4 up with only four to play. Both players parred the 15th, so the match was over.
BOB LEORE (4) def. DAVID SMITH (5) - 7 and 6. This was a surpisingly lopsided match. Smith birdied the first to go one up, but bogied the 2nd to give it back. Leore birdied #3 to go one up, and it stayed that way after four. Then Leore went on a tear, winning the next six holes in a row, with birdies on #5, #7, and an eagle on #8. Smith made bogies on #6, #8, #9, and #10. Now, Leore had taken a commanding 7 up lead with only 8 holes left. Smith was able to get one back when Leore bogied the 11th, but he gave that advantage right back, bogeying the 12th, to finish the match.
So, now we're down to four contestants: Chip Hughes (1), Jeff Kissel (3), Bob Leore (4), and Randy Muzny (7). The semi-finals are 36 holes of match play, and will be played on Joe Blankenship's Kiawah Island. The .ky files are available here. The remaining players will have to pay for myself being eliminated (just kidding), as the conditions are brutally difficult (dry conditions, with winds of 23 and 29). My goal is to have no rounds under par. In case of a tie, there will be a 9 hole playoff using the front nine. I will notify any tied players if this happens. The rounds are due by Monday, July 24th, but I'd appreciate it if you will get your rounds to me before that.
Also, I've decided that the finals will be played at the Olympic Club.
The semi-final matches are:
Chip Hughes (1) vs. Randy Muzny (7). Judged by the seedings, this match looks like it could be a blowout. However, Muzny pulled off a huge upset, knocking off the second seeded Ferchoff. Hughes had a fairly easy win over Clark. Can Muzny pull off another upset win, or will Hughes continue through to the Olympic Club?
Jeff Kissel (3) vs. Bob Leore (4). Kissel is probably the hottest player in the JNSE world right now, winning the last three PwP events, and shooting a great 67 at Shinnecock Hills in his quarterfinal match. However, Leore is a threat in every tournament he plays in, and has won everytime he's played the PwP Tour this year. Leore shot an amazing 64 at Shinnecock Hills for his quarterfinal match. This should be an exciting match between two great JNSE players. However, only one of them will go to the Olympic Club for the finals, and it will be the one who can best tame Kiawah Island.
Good luck to the four remaining players. Please get your results to me ASAP. Also, thanks to everybody who has participated in this tournament.
****The following was sent over the PwPtour egroups list on July 8, 2000:****
After two weeks of qualifying, we finally start the actual match play portion of the event today. Before I get to that, I'd just like to provide a brief run-through of the qualifying.
Chip Hughes finished the second round eagle-birdie-birdie to shoot a 66 for round two, the best score of the qualifying by two strokes. Coupled with his opening round of 69, he shot 135 (-9), the best score by two strokes to win the qualifying tournament, and be seeded first for the match play.
The tournament seedings look like this:
Round one of the match play actually took place already. The top seven seeds all got byes into the quarterfinals, while the 8th seed, Mike Clark, and the 9th seed, Ben Wicks had the only first round match at the Preserve. It was an exciting match that went right down to the last hole.
Clark parred the first and third to win those holes, but his bogey on #2 lost that hole. When Wicks birdied the 4th and 5th holes, Wicks took a one hole lead. Clark's birdie on #7 got the match back to all square, and Wicks took a double bogey on #8 to give Mike a one hole lead. However, Clark gave that back with a double bogey of his own on the 9th to send the match to the back nine all square.
Both players parred the 10th and 11th. Clark bogied the 12th, but Wicks bogied the 13th. Two more pars by each player on the 14th and the 15th kept the match at all square. Clark birdied the 16th to go one up, but bogied the 17th to send the match all square to the 18th. Unfortunately, Wicks double bogied the last hole against Clark's par, so Clark wins the match 1 up to advance to the quarterfinals.
Now, we finally get to start the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal matches are 18 hole matches, which will be played at Shinnecock Hills. You must use this version of Shinnecock Hills, which was edited by Bob Leore. You must also use this .ky file. The course is dry, and the wind has picked up, so par should be a great score. In case of a tie after 18 holes, I will notify the players, and they will play a sudden death playoff, using the same .ky file.
Here are the quarterfinal matches:
CHIP HUGHES (1) VS. MIKE CLARK (8)
JOEL FERCHOFF (2) VS. RANDY MUZNY (7)
JEFF KISSEL (3) VS. FRED HANSER (6)
BOB LEORE (4) VS. DAVID SMITH (5)
The 18 holes .res file is due to me by Saturday, July 15th, but try to get them to me as soon as you can. If for some reason, you cannot play your round by then, please email me ASAP to tell me.
****The following was sent over the JNSE egroups list on June 22, 2000:****
Welcome to the Second Annual JNSE Match Play Championship. While the basic format should be the same as last year's championship, there are a few changes that will be made, mostly in hope of avoiding having this tournament run three months like last year's.
First, some history. Last year, I held the first JNSE Match Play Championship. The qualifying took place at Gene Rodriguez' fantasy course, Afton Mountains. We had thirteen players play in that, and all qualified for the tournament. The first two rounds of the actual match play were played at Brian Silvernail's rendition of Cypress Point. Three players got first round byes, and after two rounds, the four players left were myself, Bob Leore, Mel Reierson, and Mike Clark. The semi-finals were 36 holes in tough conditions at Oakmont. Myself and Bob Leore won our matches to go the finals. The finals were 36 holes in even tougher conditions at Oakland Hills. After 36 holes, me and Bob were still tied, but 18 more holes gave Bob the championship, winning the playoff 3 and 1.
I plan for this year's tournament to have pretty much the same format, with 36 holes of qualifying at a fantasy course (this year's will be The Preserve by Brian Silvernail), then the first two rounds of 18 holes each at the same course. The semi-finals and finals will both be 36 holes, and will be played at two different real life courses.
I've decided to start the qualifying without taking entries this year. So, if you want to play, just play the two rounds using the .ky files, and send them to me at [email protected]. I don't know how many people I'll get, but I'm hoping to get somewhere between 12 and 16. If I get less than 12, then there will only be three rounds.
The 36 holes of qualifying will take place at Brian Silvernail's fantasy course, The Preserve. It's a fun, but difficult fantasy course, located in Africa. Qualifying is medal play scoring, that will determine the seedings throughout the tournament. Qualifying is important because a) it end up determining whether or not you play in the match play or not, b) if you finish better in the qualifying, you'll have weaker opponents in your earlier matches. QUALIFYING ROUNDS ARE DUE TO ME ([email protected]) BY JULY 5th!
As for the next rounds, I haven't made a final decision on courses, and that is because I want your input. I want all three to be real life courses, and I've made a list of five that I'd like to see:
1) Kiawah Island (Ocean course). At 7400+ yards, it 's a very tough course. It hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup, and birdies are very difficult to get here.
2) The Belfry. Great match play course that hosted the 1993 Ryder Cup. Includes the drivable par 4 10th.
3) The Country Club. Hosted last year's Ryder Cup, as well as the 1988 U. S. Open. Very hilly course, that is quite unique.
4) Olympic Club. Hosted the 1998 U. S. Open. Very, very difficult course with tight fairways, and small grees. Par is always a great score here.
5) Shinnecock Hills. Hosted the 1995 U. S. Open. American linksland course that I've always wanted to try in competition.
Those are my five choices (which I've got narrow down to three). When you email me your qualifying rounds, please tell me which of these courses you'd like to see, or even throw in a choice or two of your own. I will listen to any input, however, I won't guarantee that your course will be used.
Once again, qualifying is due on JULY 5th!!!