Stevinson Ranch
9th Event of 2004 Season
Saturday, May 29, 2004

Jeff Day fist pumps Ron Gallagher upon draining a 45-foot birdie putt at #7. Ron later drained a 60 footer on #10. Amid high winds, Ron's net 74 proved to be the days' best score.

Jeff Day was putting on his shoes while leaning on his car in the Stevinson Ranch Golf course parking lot when a course assistant approached to deliver the golf cart. Jeff asked of him, "Do you think it's going to get windy today?", adding (aside) "I think that might have been my best joke of the day." It was. By 9:30am the winds were already howling. They grew stronger in the afternoon and high winds made for high scores. Net 74 was the winning score in the day's single flight. Ron Gallagher turned in the impressive net 74.

Stevinson Ranch is probably the farthest we'll travel for a single day tournament, but it's a terrific course and worth the drive. The record low turnout (20 participants) was probably due also to the Memorial Day holiday, which fell on the following Monday.

Lots of different records were set at Stevinson. It ties itself for the farthest distance (110 miles) to a one day event. It breaks the record for smallest field (20) at a one day event. It also sets a recent record for largest field (19) in a single flight and the largest purse ($125, through 5th place) for an event. (Since our minimum for flight size was increased to permit larger purses we had to group everyone into one flight. This made for prizes through 5th place.)

Cal Bears Advance to NCAA Championships at Homestead in Hot Spring, Virginia

Steve Desimone was in Virginia with the Men's Team from May 28th to June 4th. They had flown early to get some practice rounds in on the championship course Sunday and Monday may 30 and 31st. Steve's normal foursome was there without him. The NCAA Championship didn't begin until Tuesday June 1st, but the team headed out on Friday, May 28th to adjust to the three time zone change from West to East Coast. There was little news from Virginia. In his absence Jim Peretti was at the helm with regards to handling the scoring and paying the pro shop for our tournament. Walburg generally is preoccupied with photography.

Having placed 7th of 27 teams at the Western Regionals (after regionals the top 10 teams advance), the Cal Men's team headed to the NCAA Division I Men's Championship, which took place three days following our event at Stevinson Ranch. Members were asking Robert about his dad all day, "Where are they playing? When do they start?" Robert fielded these anxious questions to the best of his ability. Here are the details:

107th NCAA Division I Men's Championship
Tuesday June 1, 2004 - Friday June 4, 2004
The Cascades @ The Homestead, Hot Springs, VA
(hosted by Virginia Tech)
Jeff Hood led the Bears with a 5-under round on day one. They held the team lead outright after Day 1 and Day 2. At the end of the third round they were in third place, 8-stokes behind UCLA. On the final day amid rain and strong winds the Bears posted the day's only sub par team score (-1) and won the 2004 NCAA Championship by 6 strokes!

The "Savannah Rule"

The thing that was the most annoying about Stevinson Ranch was the "Savannah Rule". As stated on the back of the score card, "Savannah Rule - Any ball hit or lost in tall Savannah grasses, should be dropped to nearest short rough with one stroke penalty."

Then there was a question about whether or not one had the option of hitting out from the Savannah grass if one could find their ball. By the score card there seemed to be no room for interpretation. The use of the word "should" sounded fairly restrictive. During play we generally were taking the drops even though the ball was often very playable within the Savannah grass. There was savannah grasses along many fairways which had no red stakes, which made it confusing. At the pro shop the head pro said that one could play the ball from anywhere and needn't take the drop.

Too bad the score card wasn't properly worded, stating something like, "Savannah Rule - Any ball hit or lost in tall Savannah grasses, may be dropped to nearest short rough with one stroke penalty." If we play there again, we'll know better.

Gusty Conditions

On the back nine large dust storms swirled over the fields adjacent to the holes. At the clubhouse people were exhausted. Wind is exhausting, and scoring suffers. Many holes were two to three clubs different.

Interestingly, the winds were also high in Virginia. Indeed, a few days later the Bears posted their leading round. The weather was somewhat of a factor for the bears played early on the first day and were finished prior to the high winds which were evident in the afternoon.

"Monkey"

This was the tournament in which Aaron and Jeff Day began using the term "monkey" as an adverb, adjective, verb, and noun. It began with something as simple as, "I'm gonna monkey this 8 iron over that tree," but eventually snowballed into sentences like, "I'm going to monkey my monkey to the monkey and monkey myself a monkey," with the appropriate response being "monkey." (OK, well you had to be there, it was funny though,  honestly)

Lasik

Aaron Walburg was hoping the first round with his post-Lasik eyes would be a good one. Tiger Woods underwent Lasik back in 1999 and proceeded to win the Tiger Slam the following year. Aaron's surgery went well, providing him 20/15 vision, however he still hasn't had time to work on his game, which has deteriorated. He failed to break 100 at Stevinson Ranch, and has only broken that barrier once this year. More on Aaron's lasik experience...

Robert Desimone and Mark Steppan on the driving range. Stevinson Ranch has excellent practice facilities.

Robert is on break from his first year at college.

Dave Webb placed 4th. Normally 4th place doesn't pay, but with the large flight 4th place paid out $15. Dave was actually in a three-way tie for 3rd place. Steve Hong won the tiebreaker placing 3rd, with Dave Wherritt at 5th winning $10.

Robert, Mark, Steve Obana, and Jeff Day. Jeff had already made his funniest comment of the day. Now he was all business. Jeff is on the heels of GOY leader Jim Peretti.

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Ed Louie looked majestic on the range, but on the course he was just average sized.

Todd Podoll is on our four person Associate Club Championship squad, and he's also been chasing Peretti in the GOY race.

Speak of the devil, Jim Peretti on the first tee. Jim earned par on the opening hole and played steady for most of the round. His 83 gross was second only to Dave Webb's 81. Jim's net 77 missed the playoff for third place by a single stroke.

Steve Obana with a gesture of angst on the opening hole. The angst was a shadowing of things to come, for the 10 on this hole took Steve out of this clam bake early.

Mei-Mei Hong and Husband Dexter hitting balls on the blustery driving range. Dexter outperformed his wife today.

Here Dexter makes this short putt for a 7 on the 11th hole. Dexter placed third, winning a three way tiebreaker. Remarkably, Dexter's back nine score (net 37) wasn't very exceptional, but on a day where net 74 wins an 18 player flight a net 37 is alright.

Ted Goode sinks a short putt for bogey on #12.

Robert shows good form with his drive at #1.

Vaughn Kezirian on #1. Playing in Robert's foursome brought out Vaughn's competitive juices, for he out-dueled the upstart youth and turned in an 84 (net 75), which also earned him a 2nd place finish. Vaughn's game was solid amidst the blustery conditions.

Mark Steppan would doubtless prefer no record of this day existed, for he turned in an unusually large number (by Mark's standards). At least he looked good out there.

Dave Wherritt with a very solid drive at #1.Dave joined the club a few yeas ago and everyone thought, "Yep, just another hacker like me." But Dave has game, sometimes. Or at least occasionally he has game.

Dave drained a 12 footer for par at #1. In fact, everyone in that group drained long putts on the first hole. It was quite a shocker coming from that motley foursome. Nevertheless it was enjoyable watching from the fairway, anticipating draining a long putt myself. But the foursome had evidently depleted the green of all magical properties before they were through.

2003 Golfer of the Year Kelly Alvarez looked impressive, that is until the 18th hole. He nevertheless carded a score. Kelly's the kind of golfer who is able to card a score on every hole, even if he has to stay up all night doing it.

Daniel Gee was playing as a guest. Daniel handily won the Blind Bogey flight. It helps if you're the only person in the flight.

Daniel follows suit with his foursome a drains a long putt on #1.

Daniel watches his lag putt at #10. Not too shabby...

Tom Furtado on #1. Tom played well overall. He had three rough holes on the front nine, however. Had he simply taken pars on 2 of those three holes he'd have won the tournament. Consistency is a tough thing to come by.

Tom too drained a long putt on #1.

Here's Tom on #13. A dust storm kicked up on the horizon, and birds were swept into the sky. These were not good scoring conditions.

Ed Biglin on the 1st hole. Ed played consistently and was tied with the third best gross score.

Here a great photo of Ed's approach at #1.

With an expansive grassy field behind him, Ed lines up a putt on #2.

Ed has one of the more limber swings in the club. He really is able to contort his body around his head, which remains down. Of course this contortion can lead to back injuries too, and Ed, like all of us, has had bouts of back pain.

Ed lines up a tricky putt on #3.

Is this the Ed Biglin show? Yes. Granted I've included lots of photos of Ed, but that white beard and teal jacket were particularly bold against the flat setting.

Ed focuses prior to his approach at #10. Ed has a pre-shot routine which seems to involve prayer, or perhaps he's just looking up at his club and wondering, "where on earth will you be sending this ball?"

Ed drained a 30 foot birdie putt at number #10. Ron Gallagher nearly drained an 80-footer from the same line.

Ed prepares for his approach at #11. Ed would birdie this hole too.

Winds were a huge factor on the short 12th hole. A lob wedge was all the was needed. Ed earned a par here, having birdied the 10th and 11th holes.

Ed with a chip on hole #13.

This was Ron Gallagher's day. His 89 (net 74) was the day's best and earned him 1st place in the only flight.

Ron hits his drive at #3. He played solidly, with bogies on each of the first four holes. No one in the club was able to match his consistent stream of bogies over that difficult stretch.

Ron nearly drains this 60-footer on the 10th hole. He settled for a tap-in par.

Ron was focused all day. Here he almost chips in for birdie at #12.

Ron nearly lost his lead on the final 2 holes. Here on #17 he took a double bogey and followed with another double on #18 (for his only "7" all day), but his score held 1st place by one stroke. Had he taken another stroke however, Vaughn Kezirian would have handily won the tiebreaker.

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Jeff Day was in lots of interesting places all Day. Here on #2 (an excellent photo, by the way) Jeff wielded a perfect spatula shot to eject this fried egg embedded in the side of the bunker (while Ed and Ron watch in amusement).

Jeff wasn't so lucky with his bunker shot at #4, which sailed over the green and into the lake he'd so safely carried with the previous shot. Nevertheless Jeff showed grit and following this lakeside chip made an impressive 2-putt for a snazzy triple bogey.

Jeff owned the 7th hole. Only he, Steve Obana, and Jim Peretti were able to par the lengthy par three. Here Jeff watches as his 45-foot par putt approaches the hole.

Jeff makes a triumphant gesture as his ball rolls in for par on #7. 

Jeff hits a terrific shot from a thick rough here on #11. How'd he even find that ball?

Ed Biglin watches Jeff's approach at #17. Jeff's waterloo was the 13th hole, where he took a quad. A par there and Jeff would have placed second.

But Jeff in fact had many Waterloos on the day. To be more precise Jeff's Waterloos were sandloos, for he found himself in nearly every bunker.

Aaron Walburg drives it wild on #3. The day was laden with duck hooks. Perhaps it was the red shirt he donned. But don't take the color of his shirt as a sign of allegiance. True Blue is a state of mind, not a wardrobe decision.

Here our club president picks his teeth with a Stanford tee. They're good for something...

Back at the clubhouse everyone was relieved simply to have survived. There was beer, which served to liven up spirits and bring about a festive, and undeserved euphoric atmosphere. Walburg had the day's worst net score (91), which is something he's become quite good at this season.

Todd Podoll, normally camera shy, was hamming it up

Todd was almost as hammy as Jim Peretti, our biggest cheese.

Kelly Alvarez was a hammy guy too. Just look at him! (if you can bear it...) All in all it was a fine day. The windiness of the course was made up for by the pleasant company and the beer (beer mostly).

Little did anyone know, but in just six days the Men's Golf team would pull off one of college sport's all-time greatest upsets by winning the NCAA Championship, the first golf program not funded by a university ever to win this prestigious event. And three weeks after that Steve would be named GolfWeek's Coach of the Year.

Complete Flight Results:

Highlighted Results:

1st Flight

   1st tie-breaker(L9 holes-1/2 CH):

Blind Bogey

(Results tabulated by The Staff of Stevinson Ranch, Jim Peretti, Dave Webb, and Aaron Walburg)

Prizes:

Due to the large flight prizes were awarded though 5th place. No GOY points were awarded for finishing 4th or 5th. Prize amounts were: