Alameda North
Club Championship (29th Annual)
14th and Final Event of 2005 Season
5th and final Major Event of 2005 Season
Saturday, September 3, 2005
2005 Golfer of the Year Dennis Smith proudly displays his trophy.
Dennis eked out a 2-point lead over Rick Guevara, who came on
strong in the final tournament.
Our
29th annual season-ending Club Championship took place at Alameda North on September 3.
Complete
results and a few photos are now online. Thanks to Mike Armstrong we had an abundance of trophies and prizes
to give away. Each season the Club Championship serves as our fifth and
final major. Among this year's winners were some familiar faces and some
new faces. The most familiar face was Steve Desimone, who three-peated
as club championship (low gross), shooting 73 from the black tees. This
was the 10th time Steve's won this tournament. His confidence at this
event is so high that he left the trophy
at home where it rightfully will remain for another year. The next best scores were 77's by Dave Webb and Mark
Steppan. We also had a first-time major winner in Rick Guevera. Playing from the blue tees with
the rest of those in the non-Championship flights, Rick fired a 77 (net 64)
over the par 71 course. By winning his flight Rick also catapulted himself
past Jim Peretti and Ken Lloyd into second place in the Golfer of
the Year contest. Other flight winners include Al Rollins, who shot 67 and
won the 2nd flight, and Jack King, who shot 67 and won the third
flight.
Despite failing to
place at Alameda, Dennis Smith was able to maintain a slim 2-point
lead in the standings to become our 2005 Golfer of the Year.
Since Golfer of the Year points are doubled at majors, it was still
possible for two players to surpass Dennis, but none of the top three
contenders placed, and so after the dust settled, Dennis was left standing
alone atop the hill. One interesting side note is that in preparation
Dennis played four practice rounds during the week leading up to this
event. He posted scores in sequence of 86, 85, 84, and 83. Had Dennis
managed to shot 82 he'd have shot a 66 and won his flight. Instead he shot
95. That's why we love (and hate) this game! This was Dennis' second
Golfer of the Year title. His first was in 1996. Only 21 different players
have won the Golfer of the Year. Throughout it's history we've had several
repeat winners. Three players have won it three times. This list includes:
Ken Lloyd, Skip Thomas, and Jud Whitehead. Four
players have won it twice and this list includes: Kelly Alvarez,
Steve Desimone, Ryan Lai, and now Dennis Smith.
At the
awards banquet Eddie Reed was honored for his contributions to the
club. Eddie's first 18-hole round of golf occurred at Alameda when he was
24 years old and so it is appropriate for him to be honored at this
course. Eddie is our longest-serving board member, with 26 years of
dedication to the club. Of course Eddie also dreamed up the Match Play
event which dons his name. In appreciation of his efforts he was given
photo of himself (the notorious photo) taken by Mike Armstrong in
Hawaii in 1988. This was signed by the officers and board members and
other members who played Alameda. Eddie laughed really hard when he saw it and tried
avoid having the photo displayed, but it was too late. And thanks to the
board because we'll now be giving away a print of this photo to every
Eddie Reed flight winner! We won't run out of photos until beyond Eddie's 100th birthday!
The 2005 season was one of the best we've had. We player terrific
course and saw some amazing golf from folks who hadn't before won major
events. We've got a terrific schedule lined up for 2006. Anyone who fails
to renew their memberships will regret it when they see what we've got
lined up! Out first tournament is at San Geronimo next month, where we
begin a brand new season.
For laughs...
At the driving range Aaron Walburg told Ken Lloyd he thought this would
be Ken's year. Ken has won every Major except the Club Championship. Steve
overheard the conversation and was delighted to that Aaron had reminded
Ken of this painful memory. Steve said "The streak must continue, it's
tradition, like the red sox." Aaron pointed out that the Red Sox had won
last season. When Steve and Ken were teeing off at the 18th hole Aaron was
just finishing the 15th hole. From across the lake Aaron asked how the Red
Sox were doing. Steve said, "The Red Sox are struggling but the Yankees
are doing well." And so they were. Steve won his 10th Club Championship.
At Alameda Eddie Reed and Charlie Flowers were sharing a cart. After
completing the par 5 6th hole Eddie told Charlie his score so that Charlie
could write it down. Charlie told Eddie that he could go ahead and record
both scores. "You'll get more pleasure out of it." Charlie had recorded a
7, while Eddie had earned par. This is somewhat of a running joke. Former
member Ron Irving used to pretend he was deaf whenever asking Eddie or
Charlie or John Robertson what they'd scored. But that was only on their
blow up holes. "What'd you take Eddie?"
"I had an 8."
"Sorry Eddie, what was that?"
"An 8."
Ron's hearing was always much better if Eddie or Charlie carded a good
score.
Charlie Flowers was looking good out there. He's dropped 54 pounds in the past
five months by sticking with a simple vegan diet. At the banquet Charlie avoided the roast beef, barbequed
chicken, pasta salad, bread rolls, and ice cream. The only thing on his
plate was Caesar salad! That's some will power, Charlie. You're an
inspiration to Overweight America!
Silly game
Tom Furtado placed third in the third flight. What's most remarkable is
the turnaround he achieved. After shooting 49 on the front nine Tom shot
39 on the back and finished the final three holes at 1-under par. You'd
have to move all the way up to the first flight to find another score of
39 or better, and even there only three players managed that score on the
back nine. In fact it would have been a terrific score in the championship
flight. Way to go, Tom!
The weather was perfect
It was another typical overcast summer day until just after the first
group teed off. The sun broke out at 11:06 a.m. and remained for the rest
of the afternoon. Nevertheless it's been a markedly cold summer in the
East Bay. We usually have a few hot spells in Late July and August. We
only had one week of real heat, and that was way back in July. Other than
that it's been much cooler than normal this year.
More to come
A complete summary will likely not be online until the end of
September. This is just a brief sample....
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