2018 – Week 16
Pressure. That’s the word of the day. The 2018 GCCGL Pot Luck event may very well turn out to be the turning point of the season. There was a ton of movement once again this past week. This is becoming a common theme this season. Last week, 16.5 points separated the top three teams and after the Pot Luck event, only 9 points separate them. The 2018 GCCGL season will be remembered for volatility. We’ve had three teams continually trade positions all season long up until a few weeks ago when Donkey’s Disciples seemingly took control behind their star D Player, Captain Obvious who’s been carrying that team on his back all season. However, the pressure of leading the league in points and wins may be getting to Ollie as he lost his match play round and the rest of his team couldn’t pick him up. You want proof that Captain Obvious may be feeling the pressure? Take a look at the picture below.
click for larger view
This is a picture of Ollie’s bag on the green on the second par 3 (hole #5). The bag….is on….the green. That’s almost as bad as driving your cart right up to your ball on the green, getting out and putting. Personally, I’ve never witnessed this before. Sure, many of us will place our bags “close” just off the green on the rough. That’s a whole lot different than taking your bag off your shoulder and just dropping it on the green. On a par 3 you have to walk up to the green through the fairway, rough or cart path. Why not just leave your bag at one of those places and take your putter on the green? I know Ollie has been getting a lot of ink lately and I promised myself that I would not mention any more Ollie-isms for the next couple of weeks but I couldn’t let this one slide. It has to be the pressure of carrying his team all season and then taking the first 10-0 in league history. Maybe this is the beginning of the “Skunking Curse”. Is it all downhill from here? Is Donkey’s Disciples a one-man team? Are all their hopes and dreams pinned on a strong finish from Captain Obvious? We’ll find out in the next four weeks.
It was another interesting Pot Luck event. Once again, despite all the grumbling regarding the inflated handicaps, the Pot Luck proved that, on average, the HC system really does work. Here are the statistics from this year’s Pot Luck event.
There were 12 matches but only 11 of them were A/B vs C/D. There was one MP that posed two subs against each other with similar handicaps. So, of the 11 match play rounds, the record was 5-5-1. You can’t get any more even than that! The Pot Luck event is the only event of the season that doesn’t pit one team versus another team. This is the one week where if the stars align just right, one team can have a HUGE week. This happened to team Putter Face. They average an astonishing 7.125 points per member and took 28.5 points this week. They were led by their captain, Lip Gloss, who managed 8 points. This coupled with Donkey’s Disciples 18.5 points have tightened up the standing considerably.
Meanwhile, The Process, who was left for dead last week after Syndrome’s card collected a whopping 0 points, made a significant move back into the mix by taking 25 points. They were led by, you guessed it, Syndrome who redeemed his card and led his team with 7.5 points thus moving The Process within 15.5 points of first place. One can only wonder where this team might be right now if Syndrome hadn’t gone on his little European vacation.
The Hackstreet Boys dropped into third place but are still only 9 points out of first place. They managed 21 points and were led by The Politician who earned 8 points this week. This team continues to hang around. Remember, this was the commissioner’s office’s “sleeper pick” of the year.
Four weeks left and two special events (Battlegolf and Best Ball Scramble. Anything can happen. Has Putter Face finally hit their groove? Will the Hackstreet Boys sneak up on everyone and propel to the top? Or has Donkey’s Disciples reliance on their D Player finally caught up with them and is this the beginning of the end to their 2018 GCCGL championship dreams. Stay tuned.
The low net winners were Snoodles and Squirts (A/B) with a low net 30 and who else, Captain Hairy (C/D) with another low net in the twenties (29)! Great rounds everyone and congratulations! We move to the Pioneer back this week. We hope to see you on the course and as always, hit ‘em straight!
George Almeida – GCCGL co-commissioner
