2021 #A4P

The 9th Annual Cider Cup was held on October 23rd/24th at the Cynthiana Country Club and thing kicked off in perfect fall weather conditions. Sunny and mid-50 degree temps.

There were 44 golfers (including alternates/subs) competing this year making it the largest group ever assembled. There were 2 rookies, both on the Blue Team (Ben Dycus and Conor Taylor). The Red also had Jason Works participating for the first time on their team after having played twice for the Blue Team. He agreed to come over if he could ride with Richard Wiglesworth, which wasn’t a problem for us as nobody wants to ride with Richard in his cart with faulty brakes. Luckily, there were no mishaps.

As usual, both coaches had some obstacles to overcome fielding teams of 20 players, but once set, the issues were minimal.

Red Team

Brian Kinsey’s son Alex was getting married on Cider Cup Sunday, preventing him from playing that day.
The Alex Kinsey wedding also affected Kelvin Winkle’s participation in the Sunday afternoon session.
Chris Anderson hurt himself carrying his clubs down to the course on Sunday but was able to play.

Blue Team

They had to deal with a couple of last-minute changes, but nothing they couldn’t handle

We once again were treated to a great breakfast coordinated by the wives of the Blue Team.

Due to elder Sparks’ strategical use of alternates (Jamie Case, Fred Caudill & Charlie Biancke) and players sitting out a session (Fuller, Aldridge & Sparks) to supplement the loss of Kinsey and Winkle on Sunday, each session matched up a bit differently HDCP-wise.

Overall, the Blue Team held led going into 3 sessions:

Scramble - Blue Team held a 7.0 stroke advantage
Alternate Shot – Blue Team held a 10.0 stroke advantage
Chapman – Red Team held a 1.4 stroke advantage
Singles – Blue Team held a 4.7 stroke advantage

The 9 Hole Scramble session was first up. Traditionally, the Blue Team dominates this format, coming in with a 58.7 winning percentage and a 12 ½ point advantage. The session started out with the Blue Team taking 3 of the first 4 matches until Works/Wiglesworth stuck a point on the board for the Red Team to stall the Blue Team’s thunder a bit. Then Case/Aldridge came back from 4 down to Hill/Ogden to win the 3rd Red Point and at the end of the session, both teams were tied at 5 points each. You’d have to go all the way back to the 1st year (2013) to find another tied Scrambles session. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Bolin/Howard upset of Henson/Letcher which really seem to fuel the Red Team’s hopes.

The afternoon matches were 18 Holes of Alternate Shot. The Red Team dominates this portion of the event and in fact it was the only session they won in last years’ drubbing

The session started out Blue with wins from Letcher/Ogden and McCauley/Ammerman to give them a 7-5 lead. But with the Red Team taking 6 of the last 8, the day ended with the Red Team 11 and the Blue Team 9.

As we’ve all said before, it’s a great feeling going to the event on Saturday Night with the lead.

It should be noted here that the following golfers went 2-0-0 for their respective teams on Saturday:

Red Team Blue Team

Eric Case Austin Sparks

Grant Howard Brett Faulkner

Jason Works Hank Whalen

Rees Feeback Stephen McCauley

Richard Wiglesworth

Steve Slade

It should also be noted that the biggest “roar” all day came in Alternate Shot on an incredibly executed shot from the “Dick Weed” on #5 to the green on #9 by Richard Wiglesworth aka “Dick Wiggles” followed by a Jason Works made birdie putt!!! Also, a shout out to Brian Kinsey for his tee shot and clinching Par putt on 17 in front of huge crowd. You’d have had to play with him as much as Kelvin and I to really appreciate just how clutch that was for him. Awesome!!

Once again, the Saturday night event was held in the CCC Cart Barn. It’s amazing the transformation that old barn undergoes! We enjoyed great food from Woodshack BBQ, offerings from Lexington Brewing and the musical stylings of John Daniel Herrington. We also raised a little over $3000 during our silent/live auction and player donations. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

As we arose on Sunday to warmer temperatures, we gathered outside for a short devotional from yours truly about “3 Things I’ve Learned About God from a Golf Ball”. After last years anointment of St. Hank and the subsequent “Beat Down” of my team that followed, no way was I going to let that happen again. Instead, I insulted one my best players by comparing him to Zacchaeus and spurred him on the event greater things on Sunday.

Soon after the devotion, we headed out only to be halted by several stop and go downpours that dumped almost an inch of rain on the golf course. The delay only had me wondering if we would suffer a similar fate to last year in the Chapman Format when the Blue team won 7 of 10 matches and thus pretty much sealed the Red Teams’ fate. When played resumed at 11:45 AM and the Blue Team winning 4 of the first 6, I was hoping that we could muster 2 wins out of the remaining 4 to be tied headed into singles. We won 3.

Headed into the Singles with a 2-point lead and perfect weather, we readied ourselves for the battle.

Little did we know that the 2020 Cider Cup would come down to the 48th match before being decided.

As the matches finished one by one and without the use of Golf Gamebook to keep us updated, there were people all over the course trying to get a sense of how things stood. I was on information overload and had an uneasy feeling that this thing was coming down to the wire. If you look below, after Letcher and Rus pointed, the score was 24-22 Red Team with 4 matches to play. The Red Team needed 1 ½ points and the Blue Team needed 3 ½ points. Now it sounded all good except for the fact that each of those matches were up in the air and my last communication had Lenox down to Austin, Weston and Grants’ matches were too close to call and I had no clue what was going on with Scott Bolin and Joe Henson….no offense to my man Bolin, but it was Joe Henson who’s won everything so you can understand my concern.

As it turned out though, the Red Team took care of business winning 3 ½ points of the final 4 available and we had won our 4th Cider Cup and 2nd in the last 3 years.

When you think that we played 50 matches and it came down to the 48th to decide it….that’s awesome!

As we look forward to the 10th Edition of the Cider Cup next year, you can see how it’s grown in popularity and players that have participated.

Some stats from the event:

14 of the 20 Singles matches went to the final hole.
Steve Slade went 4-0-0.
Grant Howard went 3-0-1
Jimmy Fuller went 3-0-0.
Jamie Case went 2-0-0.
Austin Sparks, Brett Faulkner, Chris Anderson, Eric Case, Kevin Letcher, Richard Wiglesworth, Rees Feeback, Rus Whalen and Stephen McCauley all secured 3 points.

The Cider Cup now stands at 5 wins for the Blue Team and 4 Wins for the Red Team.

(I still think we need to come up with better team names?)

My hat is off to the Blue Team. You guys played great we were fortunate to come out on top. You certainly made it tougher than I would’ve wanted.

To my team, congratulations. You played your butts off to overcome my ineptness at getting any points for us. Thank you!!!!

Special thanks to:

Grant Howard and Billy Eals for their work getting the course in shape.
Joe and Emily Ammerman for opening their front porch to us on Thursday night for the “Pairings Party”.
Amanda Aldridge and staff – awesome as always.
Brian Kinsey, Annie Lubicky and Lexington Brewing for their support.
Our wives, friends and families for their support in allowing us to act like kids for a few days and chase the little ball around.
Tiffani Sparks, Madison Case, Emily Ammerman, Brandi Dawson, Shelly Hall, Sara Meeks and the untold others that provided an incredible Saturday morning breakfast event.
To the Cider Cup Rookies. Thanks for playing. I hope the experience was all you hoped it would be and you’re looking forward to next year as much as the rest of us.
Your generosity. We raised a little over $3000 which will put this over $33K! Unbelievable!!!
Finally, I want to thank all you for playing. It is without question my favorite golf event of the year. It’s invigorating and so intense. We grind over every tee shot, pitch, chip and putt. When the last putt drops I am always mentally and physically exhausted, totally spent in bed by 9:00 PM …..and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Please check the website at www.cidercup.com as I will be adding stats, info and pics in the coming days.

I’ll leave you with this closing verse – Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost

Unlike that lost golf ball that we give up on, God never gives up on us. He’s always seeking and wants to put us in His golf bag (Heaven).

God Bless all of you and again, thanks for being a part of this.

I can’t wait for the 2022 Cider Cup!!!!

Ray Sparks