Myrtle_News

Myrtle Beach Golf Trip 2003

Headline News

May 17th: John Hits a New Low:
Saturday's round at Willbrook saw John shoot the low score of the week with an 11 over par 83 for 39 points. Meanwhile Chuck's 7 points lead was relinquished as Mark shot 34 points to Chuck's 26. Mark now leads by 1 point. Dean, who is only 3 points behind the lead has played his last game and flies out tonight, reducing the initial 7 to only 5. (Seeya Dean, good to get to know ya). Rich has decided to hang around rather than return home early and still toys with the idea that he may be able play later in the week.

May 16th: Ace Boy Wooly gets his first HOLE-IN-ONE:
An eight iron, 132 yards, a noodle golf ball, Rich as group photographer, and great golf course, the perfect ingredients for a hole-in-one, oh yeah and you need a Wooly. You just never know when it's your time and today it was Wooly's day. At the 17th hole at Caledonia (our 8th hole), Mark casually took aim unaware what was in store. The ball carried its way onto the green and with just one bounce, 2 feet in front of the pin, the ball disappeared down the hole . Well Done Mark, Congrats from all the group.

May 15th: TRUELY BLUE - Rich goes down and out:
Day 3 was "day off" day and Rich, Mike, Mark and John had arranged to play True Blue, a premier rated course. It had been raining all morning and we delayed our tee time until it eased off. We started the first hole in drizzle, which had stopped by the time we reached the green. The course was very wet and playing long and hard. We all had triples on the first, followed by doubles on the second and a mixed bag on the short par 3 3rd. On the 4th hole, a long par 5 that bends around a lake, Rich pulled his tee shot down a slope onto a beach that boarders the lake. "I'm going down to gator country" Rich cried, as he abruptly disappeared down towards the lake. Although it seemed to us that Rich had found the gator he had spent all holiday trying to avoid, he had actually slipped on the wet log steps, fallen about six feet down the steps, and end with both his thumps up his arse. Now Rich may or may not be accustomed to having things penetrate his posterior, however, his thumbs were apparently not. Rich reappeared still smiling, maybe having enjoyed the experience, but unaware of the seriousness of his injury. Half a hole later, it was beginning to dawn on him, after several badly hit shots, (nothing unusual there) and a couple of kicks, Rich declared that he couldn't even hold the club. Mark who was out of sorts with his game, was quick to suggest that we go in, and we did. Later that evening Rich returned from the hospital, left wrist in plaster and done for the tour.

May 19th: Mike faces the Tiger straight in the Eye.
With only one day to go after today, you could say this was "moving day". At the top of the leaderboard was Wooly and Chuck seperated by 1 point, Mike was a further 6 points back, Nick was 9 points adrift and John 11 behind. If either Mike, Nick or John were going to be in contention on the final day then today was the day they needed to make a move. Playing probably the toughest course of the tour there was always the possibility that someone could shoot a really bad score. Mark, who almost drove the first hole, a 313 par 4, started steadily with a par for 3 points, however, after a string of bad holes he made the turn having scored just 8 points. Meanwhile his playing partner, Chuck, continued to play his steady game and made the turn in 18 points and was now leading Wooly by 9 points, Mike also went out in 18 points and was now 3 points ahead of Wooly and 5 behind Chuck, whilst Nick and John made some ground on Mark with 15 and 14 points respectively.
The greens at Tiger's Eye have been likened to warped plywood, and I can't think of a better analogy. There were no straight putts to be found. Mike's front nine of 8 over included three 3 putts and a 4 putt.
The second 9 saw as much a change around in the leaderboard as the first 9. Wooly set his sights on trying to regain his lead over Chuck and put together a solid back 9 of 17 points for a total of 25 points, Chuck on the otherhand realising he now had a huge lead managed to self destruct, finishing the back nine with only 9 points for a total of 27 points and a 1 shot lead over Mark. Mike, playing in the second group was unaware of Chuck's collapse and after taking a triple at the tenth for 0 points, played the last 8 holes in 1 under par which included 2 birdies, 1 bogey and a ball in the water. In that stretch he hit 6 of the 8 greens in regulation, and hit both par 5's with a drive and an iron, although one of them included a drive into the water. That 8 hole stretch was worth 24 points and gave Mike a total score of 42 points, a gain of 17 points over Wooly and 15 points over Chuck. Going into the final round, another tough course at Heathland, Mike now has a 10 point lead over Chuck and 11 points over Mark. Nick and John will need to go really low tomorrow as they are trailing by 17 and 20 points respectively, however, after todays change around in socres its obvious that anything can happen.

May 20th: Nick Saves His Best to Last
On the last day of the tournament we were playing Heathland at the Legends. Heathland is a Scottish style links course with pot bunkers and deep natural grasses. We were playing off the championship tees as the slope was only 127 compared to 117 for the green. However, unknown to us the back tees had some long carries which proved too much for Chuck and his 130 yard 5 iron and his ability to hold his temper. After only one or 2 holes he was all but done for. Meanwhile Nick was taking a real liking to the course and had finally found his form shooting a very impressive 23 points on the back nine, 5 under his handicap. As for the tournament, Mike went into the day with a 10 point lead over Chuck and an 11 point lead over Mark. With such a lead Mike would have to play poorly and Mark well if he was to relinquish his lead. He managed not to be put off by Chucks outbursts and egged on by Nicks strong play, Mike shot a solid 86 for 36 points. Mark, who did not like the style of the course but still played fairly well with 30 points whilst John had 31 enough to overtake Chuck