October 8, 2000

For a while, it looked like Red might ask to hold the Concord Cup in January.  Somehow, it snowed on October 7, not enough snow to stick, but enough so that a putted ball needed to do a little plowing on the way to the hole and left a track behind.  The snow was brief but the cold was not.  Both Saturday and Sunday saw temperatures in the mid-30s at tee-time, climbing slowly only as high as the mid-40s.  A Red lead has been as rare as an early October snow, but it turned out that Red fared well in the chill, only to falter in the balmy high-40s that Sunday afternoon brought.

Captain Ed Smith whined so often and so long about the weakness of his team that many Red showed up a little upset with their captain.  Maybe Ed meant to light a little fire, so that at least one team was hot on Saturday morning.  Red got off to a quick start.  Jamie Grace and Ron George Sr. (2&0 on Saturday)  won easily over the solid Dennis Hackett Sr. and Bill Lamarra, but this was the only quick match.  The remaining early matches all went to the 17th or 18th holes.  Tom Bres and Ed Smith, one of the slowest and best teams in Concord Cup history,  came to the 13th five-up, looking for a pasting against David Best and Ron George.  But Blue won the next five holes, forcing the match to 18, only to lose with a better ball SEVEN. 

Dennis Hackett and Steve Shoop won solidly over rivals Brett Smith and Charlie Shoop.  The match saw bogeys only on the first, ninth, and seventeenth, interesting since the 1st and 17th played as the easiest holes on the course.  Red nabbed its fourth point when Dave Marcinkowski (who went 3 and 0) and Jon DeAngelis beat Brad Juday and Bob Ligon by winning the last two holes.

So Red led 4-2 after the freezing morning.  Ed Smith's whining led to a rule change for the alternate shot, which Blue has traditionally dominated.  So for the first time, the alternate shot was handicapped in the afternoon.  Not many strokes were given, but all the matches went to at least the 16th hole, so the matchups were close.  In a big upset for Red, Captain Smith and Dennis Hackett turned back two of Blue's strongest players, Jeff Hackett and Dennis Sr. 2&1.  AC Shoop made a clutch 6-footer at 17 to clinch a 2&1 victory for Red.  Mike Walters and Brad Juday, the other 4-0 team, won a key match against Bres and Shoop 2 up, even after a dramatic up and down for Red on the 17th.  When the snow cleared, Red had managed to halve the alternate shot portion, and went home Saturday with a 7-5 lead.

The weather warmed very slightly on Sunday, but Red kept the momentum up early.  Red won four of the first five complete matches, as Dave Marcinkowski led the way with a pasting of Blue captain Mark Smith.  Steve Shoop (2&1) and Jon DeAngelis posted easy wins -- in the early matches, only DH Sr. and Mike Walters won for the blue. In another key match for Red, AC Shoop came to the 17th hole tied with Tim Seelig after giving up a four hole lead. He flew his tee shot at the left trees, but got a lucky bounce, as the ball stayed an inch in-bounds.  With a very deft chip to ten inches, he stole the hole from Seelig, and wet on to win 2 up.

Blue was down 11-7, and Red clearly had a chance to close out the cup easily.  Needing 1 1/2 points, Red had Jamie Grace up 2 at the 13th, Ron George Sr. tied at the 10th, Dennis Hackett even through 11, Brett Smith down 1 at the 11th, and Art up one over brad playing 13.  Only Frank George's point looked lost, as Frank trailed by five at the 9th.

As Jamie closed out Bob Ligon, Red needed to find one more half point.  But Bill Lamarra won 11, 12, and 13 with solid playing, finishing up his match over Ron Sr. 4&3.  And Brett Smith won fourteen with a birdie, fifteen with a par, and parred sixteen to close out Mike Lamarra 3&2.  Blue continued its comeback as Brad Juday took the lead with a bogey at 14 and bogeyed his way out to a victory over Tom Bres 2&1.  Jeff Hackett parred 12, birdied 13 and parred 15 and 16 to win 4&2 over brother Dennis.   

Now every match was over with the score at 12-11 Red, except Frank George had fought back to even his match with Charlie Shoop, winning the first five holes of the back nine..  Charlie had gained a one-hole lead back at 16, and the two players came to 18 with Charile one up.  Shoop would need to win or halve the 18th hole so that Blue could get its 12th point and keep the cup.  But he was giving away a stroke.

Photo Story of Final Match

Both players hit right, but George was forced to intentionally hit to the ninth fairway after being blocked by a tree.   Shoop hit his ball just right of the green, but after George hit his third shot just right of the tall evergreen, Shoop chili-dipped his first pitch under the intense pressure of the gallery.  He hit his fourth shot to six feet.  If George could get up and down, Red would win the cop.  George's pitch from the right of the green checked up, leaving him 25 feet.  His putt to win the cup stopped just short.   With intense pressure nearly getting to him, Charlie needed to can the six-footer to get the tie and keep the cup, and calmly sank it.