Team Wong wins 2015 Ronin Ryder Cup! Sweeps best of three series.
Post date: Jun 12, 2015 1:49:2 AM
Year XIX is in the books. Team Wong wins the Singles event to defeat Team Matsukiyo 64.5 - 55.5 in the final round at Bear's Best.
Day 1 Siena, Better Ball/FourBall - Team Wong gets off to a good start to take the lead 13 - 11 (won 6, lost 5, tied 1)
Day 2 Aliante, Scramble - Team Matsukiyo rebounds to tie score at 24 - 24 (won 6, lost 5, tied 1)
Day 3 Bear's Best, Singles - Team Wong wins Singles event 40.5 - 31.5 (won 12, lost 9, tied 3) and the tournament 64.5 - 55.5.
Captains Irvin Matsukiyo and Wyman Wong
Team Blue won the first two of three tournaments with the current team, so new teams will be formed for next year.
The Ronin Ryder Cup welcomed seven new members this year to bring the participating membership to 48. New white caps were issued with player names so we could tell who was who. Special thanks to Victor Vannukul for getting the caps and to Pat Smith for designing the logo.
The weather during the tournament was great. Sunny, but not too warm. Starting the rounds early helped with the heat, but getting up at 4:45 am was tough.
As always, the matches were competitive and fun. Some pre-tournament trash-talk email helped get things started right away.
After the Singles matches on Monday, the teams were presented with Ronin Ryder Cup t-shirts designed by Glenn Morinishi's son Cory. Team Wong received the red t-shirts with 'Champions' boldly written across the back. Team Matsukiyo was presented with the gunmetal grey t-shirts. Thanks to Glenn and Cory for putting that together. The logo on the shirt was also used on the hats.
The 2015 RRC Series of Poker Tournament was held on Sunday at Binions Hotel and Casino. About 28-34 players participated in the 6th year of this event. Pat Smith once again arranged a fantastic poker tournament. Thanks to Patti Hashimoto and Glenn and Cory Morinishi for providing some additional incentives this year. Patti Hashimoto created gift bags for the final table contestants and for the first player(s) out this year. Glenn and Cory had special t-shirts created for the players that cashed in the tournament.
There were a few RRC firsts this year.
Due to the size of the group, matchups were scheduled between the captains and the president instead our normal evening meeting. The team meetings were blended in with the team lunches and match-ups presented to the players. This changed worked pretty well this year and gave players more time for other activities.
The first hole-in-one in Ryder Cup history was made by Eric Takanishi on the 115 yard hole 17 at Siena, his first hole of the day. It is also his first ever hole-in-one (hard to believe).
Katie T became the first woman to play in the RRC Series of Poker. She had a very memorable tournament as she took out her brother. Rumor has it that she also schooled a veteran poker player (Tom).
Congratulations to both winning captain Wyman and captain Irvin for leading their teams to another great Ronin Ryder Cup tournament! Leading the Orange and Blue teams in the tournaments 20th year as captains will be Wes Leung and Richard Pitpit.