“C” Puts the Hurt on “OW”
Oct. 23, 2017 – Twenty-four hickory players teed it up in the second annual COW Cup match between the team from California (C) and the team from Oregon and Washington (OW) at the beautiful and challenging Centennial Golf Club in Medford, Ore. on Oct. 21-22. The competition was played straight up, with no handicaps, and no quarter given.
Under threatening skies, the matches commenced with a Chapman format on Day 1. The Oregon/Washington players, mudders that they are and seeking any advantage it could against a strong California team, secretly hoped for rain. Surely, the surfer dudes (and dudette) would melt under the wet stuff from up above. Alas, the predicted rain never came, and California jumped out to a 4-2 lead.
Day 2 was a concurrent Singles/Fourball matches with a whopping 18 points at stake and plenty of time for the OW players to mount a charge. California Team Captain Steve Henneuse threw up a 73 against OW Team Captain’s Jim von Lossow’s 75, and the puddle jumpers from the Northwest slipped further behind. But then things got interesting as the team of Glenn Thatcher and Martin Pool gained three points against the juggernaut team of Erik Beer and Dana Niehaus to even up the score at 6-6.
But slowly, inexorably, the might of the “C” team asserted itself as match after match came in on the side of California, that is, until the last. The final match between the two ladies in the field, Roberta Robbins of OW, and Stacy Brown of C, proved to be a doozy, as back and forth it went, coming down to the last hole with Robbins finally prevailing by the narrowest margin: 1 up. Final score: California 14 ½ Oregon-Washington 9 ½.
Plaudits go to the following players who won all three points for their respective teams: Steve Henneuse ( C ), Chuck McCollum ( C ), John Sweeney ( C ), Ray Tokareff ( C ), and Martin Pool (OW).
The two teams wish to thank the gracious hosts Steve and Cindy Wilt of Medford who invited us to their lovely home for a Saturday night bash. We also wish to thank the Centennial Golf Club and the local newspaper Medford Mail Tribune who provided this coverage:
http://www.mailtribune.com/news/20171021/hickory-golfers-bring-out-their-niblicks-and-cleeks
And many thanks to the folks of Medford who came out to watch our matches and expressed their interest in joining us the next time.
More photos at: https://www.facebook.com/NWHickoryPlayers/
