2017 The Youngs Repeat

The “Youngs” Repeat!

The 5th Annual Cider Cup was played with arguably the most challenging weather we’ve seen. True, the 1st year saw us tee-off at a balmy 38 degrees on Saturday, but Sunday the temps rose into the 60’s. This year, while the temperatures were pleasant, we dealt with gusty winds on Saturday and a steady rain on Sunday. So steady was the rain in fact that a few questioned whether the course was playable, to which we say….poppycock! The men who invented this great game had to putt thru and around sheep shinola, coney holes and goat guano. While it was certainly challenging, some truly good golf was on display and the 2017 Cider Cup matches were able to be completed.

Once again, both teams fielded 16 golfers. The youngsters had Cider Cup Veteran Tyler Gossett back to replace the vacationing JD Ashbrook. Tyler came in sporting a 15.1 HDCP Index, which was almost 4 strokes higher than young Ashbrook and had Sparks’ team licking their chops. Gossett has been a wildcard in these events. Sometimes playing brilliantly, while at other times has looked as if he didn’t know the business end of the club. The year hiatus served Gossett well as he carded 2 points by winning one match and halving 2 others. Austin Sparks was the lone rookie on the Young Team squad this year and obviously was affected by the enormity of the event. The young Sparks did manage to win a point right out of the gate as he paired with Captain McCauley for a Best Ball win over stalwarts Frank Henson and Terry Box. He hit a ball backwards on the #10 tee-box and ran into the buzz saw duo of his father and father-in-law on Sunday morning in alternate shot. After the event, when interviewed by WCYN and reminded that it would be a long year of ribbing from his Dad and Father-In-Law, he responded that “Wish I could have played a bit better, but the team won the Cider Cup and that’s all that matters. Scoreboard.” One other “rookie” for the Young team was the ageless Bob Ammerman who subbed in the scramble event for Chris Miles who had to attend a Saturday afternoon wedding. While the Cider Cup Event has grown, it has evidently not reached the level where people wouldn’t schedule weddings on the weekend of the competition. Maybe soon we will be there, but not today. But back to Bob. The “one event wonder” paired with Rob El-Diablo Ogden to score a ½ point in the scramble portion over the team of Grant Howard/Kelvin Winkle. The legend of El-Diablo continues to grow as Winkle coined the phrase “We got El-Diablo’d. He went on to explain that Rob skulled his ball on #2, hit the flag and it went in.” Lost in this was the fact that evidently Bob played extremely well in his short stint on the course, showing that he’s not as good as he once was, but he’s as good once as he ever was.

The “Olds” went with 3 rookies this year. Facing the loss of Gary Varner who was out of town for wedding. (What is it with these Cider Cup weekend weddings?). Also missing was Brad Marshall who was supposed to have shoulder surgery the day before the event and David McIlvain who couldn’t find room in his closet for more apparel so he had to decline the invitation. New to the team were Rees Feeback, David Mattox and Shain Stephens. These 3 accounted for 5 ½ points which was 5 points more than McIlvain, Marshall and Varner last year. To be fair, Varner pulled a hamstring on day one, Marshall missed Day one due to exploding diarrhea and McIlvain couldn’t overcome the loss of his compadre’s. This year was not without its challenges though for Coach Sparks. Here’s the list of issues coming into the event for his team:

Brian Kinsey hadn’t been able to play for weeks due to back issues and was questionable up until tee-off. He has surgery scheduled for this month and hopefully will be on the mend in no time.
Speaking of back surgery….2 Days before the event, Lee Kendall was confused about the date and said he couldn’t play because he was having back surgery. He had contacted his son-in-law Colin to replace him only to remember a few hours later that his back surgery wasn’t until the following week. Kendall back in, Duffie out.
Biancke developed pleurisy or extremely bad gas on Friday night. Whatever it was, it hampered his swing but you have to give him credit for gutting it out and scoring 1 ½ points for his team.

But maybe the biggest distraction for Sparks was when he walked into the Team room just prior to Tee-Off and there was a shirtless (unless a man sweater counts as clothing) Frank Henson having Amanda cut the sleeves off his shirt. He claims that he can’t play golf in short sleeve shirts that touch his elbow. Henson suffers from T.R.A.S. (T-Rex Arm Syndrome). Because she was rushed, Amanda cut the sleeves a bit jagged. Here’s the picture of Frank in his altered polo.

The Best Ball Format is first up and after Shain Stephens struck a beautiful opening tee shot, things looked promising for the Geezers. Stephens and Lenox went on to halve their match against Works and Gossett, then Ray Sparks and Rees Feeback defeated Johnny Mac Dawson and Chris Miles giving Sparks’ Team a 1 ½ to ½ early lead. The youngsters roared back winning 5 of the remaining 6 matches and halving another. At the end of the session the Youngs defeated the Olds 6 to 2 which was better than last year’s 5 to 3 start.

The afternoon Scramble matches last year were an absolute disaster for the “Olds” as they were pounded 7 – 1. Not wanting to repeat that, Sparks agonized and consulted over his Scramble Pairings hoping to right the ship. While his team did better than the previous year by scoring 2 ½ points, McCauley’s team scored 5 ½ to take an 11 ½ to 4 ½ lead into Sunday. This was a bit better than the 12-4 lead last year, but not much.

One of the interesting aspects of Saturday was that 13 out of 16 matches went to the final hole. Five of those 13 wound up being halved. One in particular was tough to swallow as Jason Works poured in an improbable Eagle on the final hole to “take the pork-chop” out of Lenox and Stephens mouth. Had this match and the 4 others gone to Team Sparks, the score would’ve been 9-7 going into Sunday.

As we readied for the Saturday evening festivities, our frowns turned upside down when we saw that the cart-barn had been transformed into a magical environment. I haven’t spoken to one person that wasn’t thoroughly impressed. The décor, the food truck, the band and firepits put this event as maybe the best of all of them? Not to take away from the Prizing House, but we already knew what a great place it was. What we didn’t know was what the cart-barn would look like. You’ve heard that you can’t make a purse out of a sow’s ear, but I would think all would agree that theory was disproven Saturday Night. It was a great time.

Sunday morning began with rain and a “Happy Gilmore themed” devotional and prayer led by Brad Allison. Not sure how many people could combine Happy Gilmore and the parable of the prodigal son into a meaningful lesson, but Brad certainly did.

Because of the rain, we did something we’ve never done and had a shotgun start for the Alternate Shot matches. The “Olds” were optimistic because in 4 years they had only lost Alternate Shot once and the same with the Singles. In fact, they had out-pointed the Youngsters 37-25 in the two formats. McCauley’s team responded with a 4 ½ to 3 ½ rare win in Alternate Shot putting Sparks’ Team at a 16 – 8 deficit and with 16 points remaining, the old codgers would have to win the Singles session 12 ½ to 3 ½ to win back the cup. Much like the rain that continued to steadily fall, so did the hopes of the senior citizens. While Sparks’ team fought back with a 9-7 win in the Singles, it was too little and too late and McCauley’s Team retained the Cup with a 23-17 victory. Although the outcome was never really in much jeopardy, the matches were close. As previously mentioned, 13 of the 16 Saturday matches went to the final hole and several more as well on Sunday. Looking at the stats (which you can see on cidercup.com), there were 15 players that scored at least 2 ½ points for their respective teams this year and 12 of them were on the young team. Hard to overcome that many stellar performances.

The Cider Cup now stands at 3 wins for McCauley’s Team and 2 Wins for Team Sparks. I know I speak for most of you when I say that I absolutely love this event and “win or lose it’s the best golf tournament of the year for me.”

Thanks to:

Mike Lenox and Grant Howard for their work getting the course in shape.
Rob Ogden for raking bunkers Saturday morning.
Amanda and Dawson – unbelievable job by them.
All of those who helped in transforming the cart-barn. That was a monumental surprise.
The Auction – thanks to those that donated items and those that purchased them. After the cart-barn dust settles we will have raised more than $4000.00 this year, bringing our 5-year total to well over $16,000.
Brad Allison for the devotion and prayer.
Our wives, friends and families for allowing us to spend a few days chasing around a little white ball acting like we’re playing in the greatest golfing event in the world…(which it is).
To the players. The Cider Cup would not be what it has become without your participation, enthusiasm and passion.
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.
Thanks to the Young Team for allowing my son to be a part of this. It meant a lot to me for him to participate.
As always, thanks to Stephen McCauley for everything he does for the event. As I’ve said before, he is the “straw that stirs the drink”. He’s constantly going above and beyond with everything he does for the Cider Cup. Without him, this event would not be what it is….so thank you Stephen and congratulations to you and your team.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that Bill Meeks went unbeaten and untied and became only the 2nd player to do so along with Joe Henson last year. Did I mention how much I loathe Bill Meeks once he steps on the golf course? Great guy off the course, but his love for inappropriate rap music and skill at golf really bother me. Great family though and from what I hear, a heck of a karaoke singer.

As I second guess my pairings and look forward to 2018, I’ll leave you with this quote that I used last year:

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.”

Arnold Palmer

I never thought that this little event we dreamed up 5 years ago would turn into what it has. We have helped a lot of people, become lifelong friends and had a lot of fun.

Congratulations to Stephen’s team, you played well and deserve the Cup, but know that we will work even harder to get it back.

May God Bless you and your families and yes, even Bill Meeks.

Looking forward to 2018.

Ray Sparks