Week 17 Update

[dc]I[/dc]ncredibly the 2011 GCCGL season is just about over. That was a very fast 17 weeks. We had one rain-out, great weather most of the season and better than tremendous, dare I say, stupendous attendance with an unprecedented level of participation from our long list of substitutes. Oh and by the way, we had perfect attendance once again. Thank you all!

The week 17 blog is always one of the more enjoyable ones for me to post because it is where we normally break down the numerous, sometimes outrageous, standings scenarios available even if most of them are highly unlikely. It still gives teams a glimmer of hope. It also is the time to reflect on what’s happened throughout the season and highlight some of the individual achievements. So here we go.

The final team event is set for this Thursday. It is a traditional Best-Ball scramble on the back nine of the Pioneer. YOU MUST USE at least one drive from each team member during your round. Good “drive” management can make or break you during this event. I encourage all full-time members to make every effort to be there, if not, please get a sub no better than 3 strokes of your own handicap. The point distribution will be:

20 points – 1st
15 points – 2nd
10 points – 3rd
05 points – 4th
00 points – 5th

The Handi-Capped, led by Big Donkey, has what some would consider a comfortable lead at this stage of the season (15.5 points) over the 2nd place team Sphincter Says What? It really should be 11 points BUT I digress. The magic number that each team must be within is 20 points in order to have a shot at the Championship. The Cletard Rollers are 23.5 points out of 1st so the only two teams that can win the 2011 GCCGL Championship are The Handi-Capped and Sphincter Says What?

Scenarios
If Handi-Capped finishes in one of the top 3 spots (alone or tied), they win. If Sphincter wins outright and Handi-Capped finishes tied for 4th or worst, then Sphincter wins. Remember, there is a runner-up prize for 2nd place and (25%) of the pot. Lot’s of possibilities here. The Cletard Rollers are 8 points behind Sphincter and would need to finish 2 complete spots ahead of Sphincter in order to move into 2nd place. Once possibility is for The Cletard Rollers to win the scramble outright and for Sphincter to finish tied for 2nd with 3 teams or more, then the Cletard Rollers would finish 2nd. Or if they finish 2nd outright and Sphincter finishes 4th or worse, then the Cletard Rollers would jump into the 2nd place spot. On the flip side, all Spincter needs to do is tie with the CletardRollers or finish either one spot behind alone or tied with one other team and they clinch 2nd place. My head is starting to hurt. The Heywoods are 10.5 points behind BUT have to jump over two teams instead of one so their chances of finishing in the money are drastically reduced, but it is still possible. There are too many possibilities the obvious is to win the scramble outright and hope that the Cletard Rollers and Sphincter finish 4th and 5th or worse. Another more likely scenario is for the Heywoods to win outright, have the Handicapped or Gunga Galunga finish 2nd outright and hope for a tie for third (with either the remaining 1,2 or 3 teams). As for Gunga Galunga, their only chance for 2nd is for them to win the scramble outright and for the rest of the league to get stuck in traffic and not make it to the golf course. I could not think of one scenario that would have them catapulting into 2nd place. Then again, I’m not smart enough to figure all this stuff out.

Noteables
Big Donkey has won the Points title for the 2nd year in a row with 83.5 points. If not for The Politician winning $2 more than him (they are on the same team), then he might have had a chance to claim a 2nd straight triple crown (Championship, Money and Points). Oh so close. Either way, another great season from our resident pro. Also, I’m not sure if anyone noticed, but there was very little complaining coming out of the big guy this season. What gives? The Politician (Bedell) was the runaway match play winner this season with 10 wins. He wound up with 3 losses and one tie to finish at a .750% winning pct. clip. A dream season for sure. Has he peaked? We’ll see next season, but the way he was hitting those ropes off the tee the other night, he may have his eye on moving up to the very exclusive (A/B) status in the next year or two. Our super-sub award goes to Jennifer Dominik who subbed 14 times, won 4 matches and grabbed a total of 57 points for those who called upon her. Great job everyone!

T.W.I.G. (This week in Golf)
Sphincter Says What? rebounded this week to grab 21.5 points to give them an outside shot the championship on the final week. They were led by KK (Kreyling) who took an impressive 7 points and shot par (35 gross). Nice. Gunga Galunga took 20 points and are desperately trying to climb out of the cellar (9 points out of 4th). They were led by Number 2 (Meyer) who managed 6.5 points this week. Rounding up the bottom three, the Handi-Capped and the Heywoods each grabbed 20 points while the Cletard Rollers pulled in 17.5. Really close matches this past week. After all that has been written and argued about regarding the HC system, it sure seems like it is working (for the most part).

The match of the week was arguably between two commissioners (Almeida vs Bloomhuff). Even though Cletus burst into my work area, talking major smack and then proceeded to call me a loser in an email sent to the entire league, I’m taking the high road on this one. It was a great match, we actually had the same exact score on each hole up until I missed a putt on the 6th. Then, just when Cletus thought he had gained a stroke on me by collecting a birdie on #8 with a nice long putt, I then matched him with a long putt of my own for bird to split the hole. As usual it came down to the last hole and I wound up winning another close match (6-4). Nice round Cletus, it was a pleasure.

We are going to attempt to do something new and exciting in regards to the GCCGL trophy award starting this season. The thought is instead of getting the little individual trophies for the 1st place team, we purchase a cup similar to the one pictured above. We would then engrave the names of the championship winners and the year they won on the cup each year. We would go back as far as we can and engrave all the names of all the champions throughout the GCCGL history in order and display the cup on the trophy shelf near the GCC cafeteria. How cool would that be? Personally, I like this idea but it doesn’t matter what I think. What do you think? See this week’s poll and make your opinion heard.

The low net winners were Kurt Kreying (A/B) with a low net of 28 and Matt Bedell (C/D) with a low net of 33. Great round guys and congratulations. We tee off on the back nine this week. The order will reflect the order in the standings. Cletus, you are off the hook this week. The tee off order is:

5:32 – The Handi-Capped
5:40 – Sphincter Says What?
5:48 – Cletard Rollers
5:56 – Heywoods
6:04 – Gunga Galunga

Good luck to all, hope to see you on the course and as always, hit ’em straight!

George Almeida, GCCGL Co-Commissioner