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On the first tee assemble our first foursome, a motley cast featuring
left to right: Steve Desimone, Rollie Otto, 2005 Golfer of the Year Jim
Peretti, and NCGA Board Member Vaughn Kezirian.
To establish batting order Steve performed some unusual ritual which
involved tossing three balls into the air. Nobody quite understood how it
worked, so as usual, they just followed Steve's directions.
Steve belted a drive which split the fairway.
Later, at the 7th hole, Steve protected members from this potentially
deadly rattlesnake. Steve made par on this dangerous hole.
The rattlesnake was later killed by the greens keepers.
Here's the rattle part.
Steve setting up at the 9th hole.
Steve took a par here at #9. Steve played a nine hole stretch at -1,
beginning after the rattlesnake hole. That rattlesnake evidently fired him
up.
Jim Peretti at the opening hole. Jim would likely have performed
better had he been bitten by the rattlesnake. Still, he's in 8th place in
the GOY standings.
Jim with a long putt at #3.
Despite what this looks like the fourth green was not attacked by monkeys.
Instead it's Jim Peretti in a bunker, Rollie Otto preparing for a long
putt, Vaughn Kezirian trolling for a ball in the lake, and Steve Desimone
taking cover from Jim's bunker shot. Only Rollie escaped here with a par.
Jim Peretti with a shot over the ravine at #5.
Nice contact here from Jim as he drove the ball at #9.
Jim completed his round after missing this short par putt at #18. It
was a flaccid performance by Jim today, but don't count him out. At least
not yet.
Rollie Otto on the 1st tee hit a nice drive down the right side. Rollie
has committed himself to scoring better. He regularly practices. Keep an
eye on Rollie in upcoming months. Rollie did not place today, however he
had the only birdie at the difficult 12th hole (par 3).
Rollie hitting from a bunker on the 2nd hole.
Rollie plays with intensity. Here he grimaces over a shot on the 6th hole.
Vaughn Kezirian standing over his drive at the 1st hole. Vaughn played
well until the 15th hole where he took a 10. Nobody had more stroke on #15
than did Vaughn. Even Walburg, who was playing left-handed mustered a
bogie there. Nevertheless, Vaughn is a board member of the NCGA. We have
to be nice to him.
Mark Steppan was the hero of the day. Without him none of us would have
posted a score below net par. Mark's 74 (net 68) was by far our best
score. Here's Mark's drive on the opening hole.
Ryan Tabibian observes Mark's drive at #5.
Mark's shot at #8.
Mark played the front nine well, posting a 38. Mark played the back
nine even better posting 35. Here on #10 Mark began with a birdie.
Mark also birdied the 13th hole.
Here's an explosive drive at #14.
Mark managed to save par with an exceptional up and down on #14.
Mark gazes after his chip shot at #15.
[Super-size]
Ryan Tabibian plays an exciting brand of golf. He's able to spray the
ball in four directions at once. He gets into lots of strange places out
there and somehow always manages to pull off respectable scores. Moreover
he's always in the best spirit, despite the Herculean obstacles he
creates for himself.
Ryan with a short chip at #3.
Ryan from the bushes at #5.
Ryan played on the Cal Volleyball team while attending Cal. He was the
shortest member of the team (5'-11"), but had the highest vertical leap (38").
One of Ryan's trademark reaction is his jump. If he misses a short putt
expect to see Ryan carelessly catapulting himself into the air. Here on
the 7th hole one gets a sense of his jumping legs as he strides across the
fairway to observe the flight of his approach shot.
Ryan smoked his drive here at #10.
Here's a nice shot of the back of Ryan's head at #11.
Ryan's approach at #13. This was the beginning of three consecutive
pars.
Ryan's greenside chip at #16. The Club President/Photographer would
like to thank Ryan for manning the camera while the last few groups
trickled in. Aaron was busy entering hole-by-hole scores into his laptop
(see below). Some day those paper scoring sheets will be a thing of the
past.
Several members noticed something even stranger than usual about
Aaron Walburg. Yes, today he was playing left-handed. This was a desperate
reversion. It'd been over 20 years since he's played left-handed, but not
only was his left wrist bothering him, but his scores had been simply
awful. The goal today had been to beat his 109 turned in while playing
right-handed last month at Paradise Valley. He didn't beat 109, rather
turned in a 130, however over the final 6 holes he managed to shoot 5-over
par. Had he played the entire round at that pace he'd have won the flight
by two strokes! What does that say about the rest of the hackers out
there, eh???
Aaron on the 10th hole. At this point things were pretty ugly. The
middle four holes of this round were played at 21 over par.
Things got darker for Aaron on the 11th hole, where he suffered a
7-over par on this straightforward par five.
[Super-size]
Aaron cleared of the rough at #11 (for the moment).
Aaron on #14.
One of the day's goals was to earn a par while playing left-handed.
Aaron realized this dream at the 16th hole. His ball was just outside Mark
Steppan's on the green of this 175 yard par three.
Aaron nearly made a birdie, but missed this 12-footer.
David Moers with a dramatic drive at the 9th hole. Dave lost his Eddie Reed match, but still remains in second place in the GOY standings.
New member Steve Morrell at the 3rd hole. Steve still hasn't
established his handicap index, but he'll soon be playing in a standard
flight.
New member Steve Morrell tees off at the 9th hole.
Greg Kramp staring down the 9th hole. Greg had one of those "bookend"
rounds. He began the first four holes at -1, and played the final four
holes at +1. We won't discuss what happened in between....
[Super-size]
Mark Holman misses a birdie putt at #10. Mark would catch fire at Poppy
Ridge next month.
Rick Guevara, frozen over a lipped-out putt on #10.
Ed Louie drained his par putt at #10.
Peter Werner on #18. Peter finished fourth and had a rollercoaster round.
He took more strokes than anyone in the filed on hole #7. (a quad), then
he birdied #8, the only birdie all day on that hole. He was one of only
three players with two birdies at Diablo Grande. (This photo and the
photos on this page through Dan Saeger were all taken by Ryan Tabibian.
Thanks for the help Ryan!)
Tim Walsh on #18. Tim stumbled in with a double bogie, but still managed
(barely) to nudge out Dennis Smith for first place in the second flight.
This was Tim's first-ever win.
Andrew Kang in some sand on #18. Andrew also had a rollercoaster round. He
took a 6-over par on #5, but then birdied #15. Only Andrew and Dez birdied
#15.
Brad Rice looks at a long putt from the fringe of the 18th hole.
David Nilson from a sand pit at #18. Dave placed 4th in the first flight.
[Super-size]
Dave remained steady during this knee-knocker.
Kelly Alvarez on the 18th tee. A solid bogey here was instrumental in his
placing third in the second flight.
Dennis Smith with a short chip on #17. He'd make the par putt and proceed
with a bogie at #18. This would set up a tiebreaker with Tim Walsh. Dennis
placed second, but still earned critical GOY points, which would
put him in the lead.
Dan Saeger on the 18th tee. Dan's becoming a regular for those events near
Sacramento.
Tim Walsh and Andrew Kang checking out the scores.
Tim would be happy with his. Andrew was less enthusiastic.
Congrats to Tim on winning his first-ever UCGC event!
Rollie Otto was enthusiastic about iced diet coke, not about his score.
(By the way, this photo and the photo above were taken using a cell phone.
Aaron just upgraded to a Nokia 6230. See movies below.)
Jim Peretti assists with the scoring.
Ryan Tabibian and Mark Steppan in the clubhouse.
Dennis Smith trying to figure out how to spend his gift certificate in the
clubhouse.
Mark Steppan opted to purchase a shirt with his winnings. Mark turned in
the day's best net score and tied Dez for the best gross score.
See movie section below for more photos (and movies!). |
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