Blue Wins Cup To Extend Streak To Three

October 3, 1999

The Blue team fought tough weather and a forfeit to win its third straight Concord Cup, 15-10. While Red stayed tough during the team rounds, it withered in the cold during the pairs matchups, and failed without drama to get the cup back on Sund ay.

A pre-event trade and a rules change gave Red some hope coming in. Low-handicapper Lou Boudreau was moved to Red, while high-handicapper Tim Seelig joined the Blue squad; and the four-ball round was handicapped for the first time. But while Red had its hopes raised, starting Sunday morning within one point, Blue was too tough during the pairs matches.

After five straight years of sunny weather, the cup was due for rain and cold. And it was the earliest ever schedule that broke the string. Saturday's competition was filled with rain that affected play throughout, although never enough to soak the players. The handicapping of the best ball brought some new combinations, but not many dramatic matches. Jeff Hackett and Bob Ligon, who would both go 3-0 in this Cup, including two matches as a team, easily beat Jamie and Lou Boudreau. Mark Smith helped Mike Walters continue his domination of Mike LaMarra, ham and handicapping their way to a two-over best ball through 16. The Ed and Art show gave Red a little hope by beating the usual Blue stalwarts Bill LaMar ra and Charlie Shoop 5&3. The rapidly improving Dave Marcinkowski helped Steve Shoop reverse his recent trend, easily beating Brad Juday and Mark Williams. Dennis Hackett Sr. (the Blue team's Hal Sutton) and Blue captain Brett Smith pasted Ron George Sr. and Dennis Hackett Jr.

The only dramatic match, in fact the only match to reach 17, was the match between Cup rookie Tim Seelig and perennial cup struggler Ron George against Jon DeAngelis and AC Shoop. Posted as 9-5 underdogs, the blue pair was led by Seelig in the early holes, and moved to dormie with its seventh straight par on the 15th hole. But Jon DeAngelis wouldn't give up. With Red down 3-2, DeAngelis knew the point was important. He hit a great approach shot to 16 for a gimme birdie, then sunk a clutch downhill 8-foot putt on 17 to win the hole. Blue prevailed on 18 as Ron George hit a strong two-iron to pin-high right of the green and then got up and down to win 2 up. Blue went to the afternoon as expected, up 4-2.

In the past, the alternate shot has been the round where the better team prevailed. Red entered the afternoon knowing that it had to play tough, or risk falling way behind. In 1998, Red lost the alternate shot 5-1, and needed to come out stronger this year.

Captain Frank George set some strong pairs to try to assure a few points. The marquee matchup was Steve Shoop and Dennis Hackett Jr. against the perennially strong pair Charlie Shoop and Brett Smith. Red also put out the strong team of Mike LaMarra and Jon DeAngelis, and Ed Smith and Lou Boudreau, but these two teams lost easily. After Frank and Jamie Grace went out and got an early point, bad news started pouring in for Red. As the day wore on, Blue finished up three wins, lost one, and led in the other two matches. With Blue up 7 to 3, Ron George Sr. and AC Shoop fell behind two holes when Brad Juday and Bill LaMarra parred the twelfth hole.

With a par at 13 and a bogey at 14, they evened the match. Then AC Shoop hit a solid tee shot to the tight 15th, and George made a 25 foot putt for birdie, and Red led the match. AC hit the 16th green as well, setting up another birdie for Red.

Meanwhile, the marquee matchup was definitely entertaining. The third hole featured a whiff by captain Smith, and was halved with double bogey. Red had a ball stay in the tree on the 5th, and never found it, taking a double to lose. By the 11th hole, the blue pair had opened up a two hole lead, as Red saw another crucial point at risk. But the Red pair made its second straight par-five birdie on the demanding 12th hole, and then parred the 13th to even the match. On 14, Red bogeyed to go one-down again, but regrouped and won the hole back on 17. Going to the difficult eighteenth one down, Blue did not give up, and put Dennis Hackett under pressure to make par. Hackett rolled in a fifteen foot putt, and Red gained its fourth point. Red had made a 38 on the back nine under difficult pressure, and Steve Shoop had gone 2-0 for the first time in his Concord Cup history.

Meanwhile, Juday and LaMarra had forced the "four grandpas" match to the 18th with a par at the short 17th. Under the pressure of the gallery, Red gutted it out on 18, as Juday faltered with a short chip shot. Red had managed to even the score during the alternate shot, and stayed within two points of Blue going into Sunday.

For the first time, the captains set the pairings up in the Ryder Cup fashion, by determining numbers for each player and letting the pairings fall where they may. Except for two, including a captain's match, the pairings were random, but the results seemed like more than coincidence. LaMarra and George father-son matches were both set. The Shoop brothers were set to continue their rivalry. Art and Brad were to rematch their 1996 match. And Jon DeAngelis was once again asked to be a giant-killer, facing Mike Walters.

Blue started this 46 degree Sunday on a bad note. Mark Williams was a no-show, claiming a John Daly-like problem. The captains scrambled to determine an alternative approach, and decided to forfeit one point for Blue, and set Ron George to face Ron George Sr., and with the same ball, play a separate match against AC Shoop. Thus this Concord Cup would have 25 points, but Blue would start Sunday with only a one-point lead.

In the strange circumstances, George fared well, and finished with the only 4-0 cup record ever recorded. Bob Ligon achieved his second pasting, drubbing Jamie 7&5. By the time the groups gathered around the 14th hole area, Blue had already gotten to 10 points, needing only 12 1/2 to retain the cup. Jeff Hackett birdied the 12th, 14th, and 15th holes to beat the 0-3 Lou Boudreau, 4&3. Boudreau had managed to reach the back nine at even, and with three strokes looked good, but the Jazzy birdies beat Lou on two stroke holes. Dennis Hackett Sr. easily handled "Airtouch" Eddie, who saw his Concord Cup record drop from 5-1 to 6-3. Blue now had 12 points before Red had gotten its first point of the day. Mike LaMarra broke the slam possibility with a 4&3 victory over his dad, finished with a six foot putt on 15. Meanwhile, captain Frank George gave Red a little hope by outlasting Brett Smith on the 18th hole to win 1 up. As David Best finished off Dennis Hackett Jr. at 18, Blue had retained the cup. Jon DeAngelis, who'd played much better than his 1-2 record indicated, hit a beautiful 5-iron to 15 feet at 18, and beat Walters, who was exhausted from giving strokes to Jon on nine straight holes.

Dave Marcinkowski extended his strong Cup record to 6-3 with another win over Mark Smith. Meanwhile Charlie Shoop easily won his match over brother Steve and Brad Juday beat Art in the marquee ugly match of the day, 4&2.

There was no doubt that the teams had evened up. Had Red won some of the matches in which it was favored, it would have won the cup. But Blue once again rose to the occasion and played the better golf.

The newly minted Concord Cup embarked on a trip to Atlanta, to reside in a special place in the home of Brett Smith, and to return again next October.