2022 -- Badman is Still a Bad Man

Free at last....Braun now has
broken free and is the leading winner
in tournament history with nine cups.

For the second year in a row, Ron Braun, the “Badman from Motown”, won a Catless Arbuckle Tournament; this time in Northern California on three East Bay courses: Corica North and South in Alameda and Metropolitan Golf Links in Oakland.

After a middling start, Braun finished Day One at Corica South with a commanding lead by firing a solid 44 on the back nine. He followed it up the next day on Metropolitan, after another rough start,  with a splendid 42 on the back that featured pars on the two most challenging holes - 14 and 17; each highlighted by superb approaches over water.  Observers agreed Braun’s shot on 17; a seven wood from 150 yards was one of the great shots in Arbuckle history. Under pressure; shunning the easy layup; Braun nailed it.

 “He’s a grinder” noted second-place finisher Stanley Pesick. “He kept his composure after a miserable front nine and really brought it coming home.” Indeed Pesick had closed within a single stroke after the ninth on his way to a score of 88 - which was the best gross score of all three (well, two and a half) days. But it wasn’t enough. By the end of the day, Braun had retained his lead and cruised to an easy win on the final nine. Pesick had some reason to feel good about the event though because he had the best gross score over the entire 45 holes.

Pyrrhic Victory

Peter Straus, finished a distant third owing mostly to a dreadful Day Two at Metro where nothing went right. Straus took little solace in that he had low gross on both the first day at Metro and the last half day at Corica North. The second-day horror show did him in and thus his first and third days were the very essence of a pyrrhic victory.

As always, a fine time was had by all. Here's hoping 2023 brings a return of everyone's favorite Cat to the proceedings.

Nine years before we ate at Brotzeit Lokal
in Oakland, this happened...