2000 Results

Hats off to the Los Angeles Squad as Captain Russ sinks both his putt and Orange County 21-19!

Leave it to the Captain of the Los Angeles Team to prove to be the difference. Russ steps up on hole #18 on Day 2 and drills a 10-foot putt to salvage a tie in his match. That put and subsequent tied match turned out to be the difference in tightly contested competition. Los Angeles survived on the last day to defeat the tough Orange County boys, 21- 19, in the 4th revival of the golf marathon.

Uncanny, Mr. Weather cooperated again and exceeded our expectations as the heat was a fraction below unbearable. Mr. Wind played his part in the competition, but we have all seen worse in this desert. Thus, it was all up to the players to decide this one (or not . . . it’s all perspective).

Does anyone feel like this Ryder Cup went by too fast?? I’m sure that my golf game was left on the airplane and by the time I realized it, Ryder was over. Speaking of airplanes, Los Angeles almost did not make the first tee off time. Five players arrived after midnight on Friday with the newest L.A. player, Harlan, arriving at 2:00 A.M. As a result, the entire LA team was up after 3:00 AM before the Cup began. Did this play a part in their Day 1 showing?? On to the recaps!!

Day 1 started the competition at the TPC at the Canyons. This course has been a long time favorite of the Ryder members. The defending champions from OC sent out one of their newest faces, Lance, with an original Ryder member, Mark, to start the competition. LA countered with their strongest golfer, Eric paired with Wade. Eric was 3 Under at the turn after some spectacular golf. The only problem was that LA was also 3 Down at this point as Mark and Lance took turns knocking down shot after shot for OC. The final result was an easy 6 & 5 victory for OC.

Next up for OC was the team of Norm and Ron. Their opponents were the tandem of Russ and Harlan. This was the match that set the tone for later as Russ found his short game to lead LA and even the competition, 3 & 2.

Match #3 pitted Captain Craig and Ken against Dale and Mel. Dale was coming off a 2-year layoff that had him as a one-day replacement for LA. Even this brief experience was no match for the formidable OC team. Their combined 49 stokes were the largest ever in Ryder history. As a result, LA did not stand a chance as OC took the lead with a 7 & 6 posting.

The final group of Day 1 had Richard and Mitch in one cart versus a tried and true tandem of Tom and Donald. LA tried to recreate some of their old magic with their pairing. However, the magic was gone especially after LA missed a golden opportunity early when both OC members put tee shots into the ravine at #2. When OC pulled off a push hole, the magic has switched sides. Tome and Donald sensed it was not their day and it was true. OC prevailed in a 2 & 1 victory. So the tally after Day 1, OC 6 to LA’s 2.

Day 2 lead the hackers to an old standby, Paiute Golf Resort. Paiute has the distinction of hosting the greatest number of Ryder matches as well as the inaugural competition. The course of choice this time was the Sum Mountain course. LA felt a sense of urency to make the match close. Thus, Tom and Wade were elected to bear the flag of blue against Mark and Ron in Match 5. Tome and Wade jumped out early, but Mark and Ron did not panic. They battled back to force the match to go to 18 at 1 Down. Both teams made par and LA moved 2 points closer.

Mel loved the next match as he got to play with Eric in a scramble format. OC sent out their pride scramble team of Mitch and Craig. Despite receiving 9 strokes and a 2 Up lead after 3 holes, OC was overtaken by LA as Mel and Eric did not bogey a hole and made 3 birdies. The final score showed a 3 & 1 victory for the blue.

Match #7 was the match of the new millennium. Norm and Richard represented the Orange while Captain Russ paired with his brother-in-law, Dale. This was a rare match as LA actually received a stroke from OC. This stoke proved to be crucial as LA used the stroke to win the 6th hole and square the match. From there, OC clawed and scratched their way back to even after going 2 Down through 8. Hole #14 is where the last tally occurred. Thus, it all came down to the 18th hole. Number 18 is a 362-yard dogleg left with water down the left side of the fairway and green. The green is protected by a bunker to the front right and slopes from back to front. On this day, the pin was in the front. After both drives ended in the fairway, OC’s second shot landed on the back fringe creating a long, difficult chip down to the pin. LA could not capitalize as they had to play their third shot from the front bunker. After Russ pushed his bunker shot well beyond the cup, Dale clutched up with an approach landing 10 feet beyond the pin. Norm was able to land his chip to within gimme range. This set up the putt round the Ryder. Dale stepped up to take his turn at tying the match. He missed leaving his captain as the lone possibility. Russ stepped up after what seemed like an eternity and let it rip. The load roar that emanated from the normally stoic Russ emphasized the result. The All Square match earned 1 point for each side.

The final scramble match had Ken and Lance going up against Harlan and Donald. OC led by as much as 3 Up, but Harlan’s putter soon warmed up. Harlan carried Donald to three consecutive holes starting on 10 with the last being the turning point of the match. Number 12 was an OC stroke hole that LA stole with a par and that created the momentum for a 2 & 1 LA victory. So after Day 2, LA erase the 6 point OC lead to go into Day 3 with a slim 2 point lead, 9-7.

The Final Round was played at a new Ryder course. The Las Vegas National Golf Course was a long course to finish up this competition. It was all going to come down to this day as Mark led off for the third consecutive day drawing Tom from the boys in blue. This match come down to the Par 5 18th hole. Tom dumped 2 shots into the lake with Mark securing a par and a 1 Up victory.

Lance met Wade in match #10. In what was billed as the battle of Hawaii, the resident beat up the transplant. Lance used his consistent game to ear down Wade and posted a 5 & 4 victory.

Normally, the two victories in the first two matches would have put LA in a tremendous bind. However, LA received outstanding performances from its next two players. Mel met Mitch in Match 11 while Eric met Norm in Match 12. Mel outlasted and outsurvived Mitch in a battle of attrition. Winning a hole with a bogey was commonplace in this match as this was over after the 14th hole. The result showed a 6 & 4 LA victory. Eric’s match was even more one-sided. Norm could only manage to take one hole throughout play. He ran up against the buzzsaw. Eric prevailed in a 7 & 6 tally.

By virtue of their wipeouts, LA has posted their victories before OC’s first two. This had a calming effect on LA knowing that they had two in the bag. Moving on, Richard was matched against Harlan. Harlan kept his hot streak going proving that LA’s best move was stealing him from the OC side. Richard’s game temporarily abandoned him in this match as Harlan cruised to a 6 & 5 victory.

Old time rivals, Ken and Donald squared off. Heading into this match, each person had taken one individual match from the other. Ken put his advantage to good use, but needed little as he posted an easy 2 & 1 victory. You knew it was over when Ken stole a non-stoke hole to stomp on Donald’s throat.

The clincher for LA was left to none other than its captain. Russ faced Ron in Match 15. Ron had to spot Russ a stroke during this match. They were all square after 5, then Russ ran off with 5 of the next 6 holes starting with the stroke hole. Ron gallantly rebounded by taking holes 12 through 14 to close the gap, but finally succumbed on hole 15 for a 4 & 2 loss. With these 3 points, LA had racked up the tying victory.

In a lopsided affair, Craig faced Dale in what OC hoped surmounted into a crucial match. OC hoped that other factors held for this match to be decisive. Luckily for LA, they did not need this match as Craig raced out to a 7 Up lead after 9 holes. Dale slightly recovered from the shell shocking to win holes 12 & 13, but Craig had built too large a lead. Final tally showed a one-sided 5 & 4 OC victory.

Thus, the 2000 Ryder Cup was over with a 21 – 19 LA victory. This victory evened up the overall victories at 2 apiece for both teams. As always, the golf and gambling were tolerable for the long weekend, although LA probably enjoyed the ride home a little bit more this year. I did not hear of any big winners this year other than Harlan’s undefeated golf tourney. We are going to have to work on the gambling aspect on both sides of the county lines. There should be at least one of us who walks away with a Royal or something similar each year. With the way most of us golf, we want to have something else to talk about.

So we look forward to the next year of golf and to see who will triumph in the 5th year tiebreaker. With the addition/renewal of the four golfers, it should be our biggest and brightest Ryder Cup!! Good luck to all in the coming year and practice hard for the next renewal.