If you only have a casual familiarity with golf then you may think that shooting
at or below par is, well, par for the course. After all on television, the pros
routinely go low.
On the PGA tour, pars are the norm;
birdies are a frequent occurrence. Yet, according to the United States Golf
Association, the average golfer usually shoots 100 or 28 over par.
It turns out par is what an
expert golfer should score on any given
hole.
So par is a terrific score; birdies (one less than par) are a cause for
celebration; and eagles (two less than par) are a miracle. In
retrospect, last month’s British Open was won when golf’s newest
wunderkind, Rory McIlroy sensationally eagled
two of the last four holes in the second of four rounds. The last two rounds,
while fiercely contested were a coronation.
Later in July, in McIlroy-like fashion,
Peter
Straus secured his second Arbuckle Cup victory in three years by scoring two
crucial birdies late in each tournament round to secure the coveted cup. The
tournament was contested in Ann Arbor Michigan over two tough tracks: Radrick
Farms, a University of Michigan course and Leslie Park, a highly regarded
municipal course.
Straus overcame a stiff challenge from the Little Cat,
Rick Last as the two least decorated of the four Arbucklers waged a furious battle over the 36 holes of the tournament. Early on Last and Straus had
pulled away from their more decorated competition
, Ron Braun and
Stan Pesick
and never looked back. By day two, it had become virtually a match play event,
but the tourney may have been decided on the last hole of day one, the 9
th
at Radrick Farms (the competitors had reversed the nines, playing the back nine
first)
.
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| Cat teeing off at Radrick #8. |
Last had been playing a terrific round of golf. As a 29 handicapper, he knew
if he could break 100 then that would be the equivalent of shooting at or below
par. Heading into the 9
th, he had a commanding four stroke lead over
Straus (a 19 handicapper) and was even farther ahead of the other two. Had the
Cat just been able to play level with Straus then he would have started the
last day with a commanding and probably insurmountable 14 stroke lead, but it
was not meant to be.
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| View from 9th green at Radrick Farms |
For whatever reason -- weariness, law of averages, golf gods -- the stuff
that had been working for Rick just stopped. He was struggling out there ---
meanwhile Straus had split the fairway with his drive and was waiting up on the
green after his second shoot landed about 20 feet from the pin. More good
fortune awaited Straus, because Pesick’s ball had come to rest a few feet
farther from the hole.
So Straus was able to “go to school” on Pesick’s
putt. Seeing how the ball broke on the green was all he needed to hit his birdie
putt just right – when all was said and done, Last had staggered in with a
snowman – an 8 – and Straus picked up 5 strokes in a single hole. Heading into
the final round, he would only trail by 9, not 14. (Since the difference in their
handicaps is ten, it was clearly well within reach).
The next round Straus picked up where
he had left off. He chipped in for par on the first hole and parred the next
two. The pressure was clearly on Last, but remarkably, he did not wilt. His
game stood up. Heading into the turn, after nine holes, Last was still ahead by
four strokes.
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| View from 10th green, Leslie Park |
Straus picked up two on the tough tenth hole, but the eleventh, a
shortish par five with a “blind” second shot to a green guarded by sand on the
left and woods on the right was another turning point.
Last hit the best drive of the tournament, a towering 240 yard bomb over the
hill. It came to rest a mere 185 yards from the green. His next shot left him
maybe five yards off the green, so he had a legitimate chance at an eagle. But
it was not meant to be as his eagle chip ran just wide of the hole. Straus dodged
a bullet when Last missed the comeback birdie putt.
Each player ended up parring the hole.
And so it went. Straus was playing consistent golf – splitting fairways and
making routine putts for pars and easy tap-in bogies. Last was scrambling; following
funky shots with one minor miracle after another. The two were cart-mates and
were having a great time as Last was doing a marvelous impression of the legendary
Spanish scrambler, the late Seve Ballesteros.
They came to the seventeenth at Leslie Park
with Straus now up by two. Yet trouble lurked. The seventeenth is a par three,
125 yards, over a pond. Plus by then, the wind had picked up and was blowing directly
in the competitors’ faces.
Pesick played first and hit his best shot of the week; a perfect 8 iron that
came to rest just three feet right of the hole. Nearly a hole in one! Straus
played next. Hit it short, he’s wet and the door would have been wide open.
Straus’ ball though did not take a bath; it plunked down two feet to the left
of the hole! An even better shot.
After the match Straus reflected, “Given the circumstances, I would have to say
that shot was probably the best of my life. It feels real good”.
So the pressure was now squarely on Last. The fairy tale ending of course
would have been splitting the difference and finding the cup – it was not meant
to be. Last did, however, hit a fine shot coming to rest about twenty feet to
the right. Unfortunately he missed his putts and ended up with a four; Straus’
tap-in birdie made the last hole a bit anti-climatic and the Cup was his.
A quick word about Pesick and Braun. Neither could get their games going. Surprisingly
defending champion Pesick’s yips returned (though he did manage to get them
under control and shot a fine 42 on the last nine, including his birdie at 17).
Braun, even more surprisingly, lost his
putting stroke. He was hitting his drives and fairway shots with great conviction
and effectiveness, but Arbuckle’s “boss of the moss” could not sink a putt to
save his life. Golf, as anyone who has ever played can attest, is an enigma wrapped
in a riddle.
Overall, as always, a fine time was had by all. Good sportsmanship reigned. Temporary
Commissioner Braun did a fine job picking the courses, lodging and eateries and
Arbuckle XVII, like its predecessors was a huge success. See you in 2015.
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| 8th at Radrick Farms |
