Father's Day Golf Tourney at The Resort
Last updated 6/29/2018 at 10am
It wasn’t exactly on Father’s Day Saturday June 16, but it was a tournament nonetheless at the Borrego Springs Resort. It coincided with the 2018 U.S. Open, a Major tourney in its 3rd day at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course in New York under charitably brutal conditions.
The winds blew golf balls hither and yon, and when a player did land on the green, chances were that it also went quickly off and down into a deep well. Tough up and down from there.
Out at the Resort, two-dozen players didn’t have those problems. And several players shot very good scores, both gross and net. Glen Clark shot a gross 3-under par 68, and club pro Charles Delorey made a good showing by shooting par. By way of contrast, I shot a gross of five over, over my handicap, that is! But at least I bested my two playing partners Joe Gamulin and John Peterson. It was a hollow victory, to be sure.
Net scoring separated the men from the boys, with Art Avilas and Resort GM Joe Bann each shooting a net 65. There was also a gross/net skins game, and when all the holes were individually tallied, Avilas, Delorey, and James Banken rang the winning gross skins bell with the most on a single hole with 3, 4, and 3 skins, respectively. For net skins, Joe Bann won 3 to Al Johnson’s 2 net skins. The skins game shows how they can pile up when no one wins a hole outright for 3 or holes.
After the match, it was time to see how the pros were doing at the Open. The match concluded on Sunday (the real Father’s Day) with Brooks Koepka winning his second straight Open with a score of 1-over par.
But it was the near-immortal Phil Mickelson finishing at 16 over par, also my gross score, that spoke volumes, shortened to “Phil and I tied!” Of course, that run down the green after his umpteenth putt to catch up with and hit his ball before it slid into oblivion, knowing it would invoke a 2-stroke penalty, was the jaw-dropping highlight of the Open. My highlight was a single birdie.
One curious statistical cluster for the Open: The winner, Brooks Keopka, went +1 for the 4-day tourney; Tommy Fleetwood in 2nd place at +2; Dustin Johnson in 3rd place at +3; Patrick Reed in 4th place at +4; Tony Finau in 5th place at +5; and four players tied for 6th place at +6. Doomsdayers, psychics, and numerologists will drive us all crazy with that one.
Once again, fun and sport combined for a fine day out on the course at the Resort, and kudos to tourney organizer Charles Deloray and Joe Bann. Hopefully there will be another Resort tourney scheduled on Saturday or Sunday, July 21 or 22, during the British Open.
We’ll keep everyone apprised.
