2017 ELKS TOURNAMENT A SUCCESS

A 49! Great Playing!

Yesterday, after almost everyone was gone after the playoffs and the final results were posted, an Elk member who is also member of Elk City Golf & C.C. came to me and said, "This is my favorite tournament of the year. I truly enjoy it. Thank you for your hard work.". It was a very nice compliment and I appreciated it, but knowing this local businessman, I am sure he first thanked the host committee of the Elks Lodge without whom, my work would not be relevant, maybe not even needed.

A tournament's success depends on a lot of things. For weeks before a tournament, especially a fundraising's  tournament, there is a group of people who wake up and plan their day around three things: contacting sponsors, contacting golfers and coordinating with the golf course. In short, a fundraising  tournament does not happen only because you reserve a date at the local golf course, or because your local pro knows how to do pairings or knows the rules of golf, it happens because a group of people who work together for one cause.

Usually, when the tournament is successful, the golf course's staff are usually the ones who get the nod from the players, however, keep in mind that our work is the easiest of all: type the pairings up (of 100-150 people who were recruited by the host committee), type rules (usually following the written rules of golf by the USGA), finish and publish pairings (usually in coordination with the host committee who has received requests, which in turn helps us do pairings the players will be comfortable with), do scorecards, do a scoreboard, and get paid.

None of that would happen if the host committee did not do their work as there would be not enough players, sponsors, and therefore money to have an attractive payoff, raise money for your cause and pay the course and the staff that helps, all at the same time.

By what I can see, over the years, in the yearly Elks Tournament, there is an "official committee" that starts things, and an "unofficial committee" who voluntarily helps with whatever they can, from calling friends to make a team to contacting sponsors or bringing goodies to the golf course, to encouraging other players to make more teams.

So, before getting to the results, let's all thank and congratulate Ann Cowan and her committee (to the best of my knowledge, Don Birdwell, Gary Jennings, Rob Muncrief, Charlie Kauk, Aaron Kauk, Craig Martin, Rusty Wilson among others) and anyone else who helped, for their truly hard work in getting this tournament "on the books", and in the column titled "successful" which netted at least $6,500 for the local Elks Lodge.

Thirty four teams (one hundred and thirty six players) played this year's event which at the end, were divided into four flights: A,B,C & D. One of the rules of this tournament that makes it for an exciting finish, is that all ties up to a third place finish, are decided by a playoff on the course. There is no "splitting" of payoffs. And for this reason, there are usually several playoffs, usually watched by many of players who participated in the tournament or members of Elk City Golf & Country Club, or friends and family of the players. THERE IS NEVER A PLAYOFF THAT IS NOT WATCHED BY AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE, AND IN MOST CASES BY 50 PEOPLE OR MORE!

On Saturday, there was one playoff for 2nd and 3rd places on the "A" (two 52's) , "B" (two 58's) and "D" (two 67's), all three of which among two teams. The largest playoff consisted of five teams who tied for first place in the "C" flight with 61. It was actually six teams who tied for first in "C", but one of the teams had left before the playoff. It was this playoff that started last, and therefore, the one Mona and I went to watch after posting all scores. By the time we got to the first tee, two of the playoffs had ended and the players and spectators of those, had come to watch this five team playoff.

To my recollection, there has not been a more competitive and fun playoff to watch, not to mention "a more fitting end" of sorts. More of that at the end, for now, here are the results:

"A"
1st (49) - "Digger's Diggers": Craig Martin, Rusty Wilson, Aaron Kauk, Bret Matlock
2nd (52) - "Matt Salazar": Matt Salazar, Chris Martin, Erik Fix,
3rd (52) - "GunkelKlan": Paul Gunkel, Dustin Gunkel, Dustin Mahoney, Clint Hughes

"B"
1st (57) - "Wolf Flips" - Brad Spitzer, Robert Lakey, Jamie Lakey, Danny Crabb
2nd (58) - "Dodson's Construction" - Greg Dodson, Charlie Kauk, Joe Wynn, Brandon Thomas
3rd (58) - "Fmilia": Kim Jordan, Brandon Engel, Will Malloy, Heath Martin

"C"
1st (61) - "Proud Dad": Wes Marshall, Tasha Marshall, Krystal Marshall, Jaryn Rainey
2nd (61) - P.O.L.P.: Gaylan Edwards, Randall Wright, Leon Stuart, David Poole
3rd (61) - "Cowan": Ann Cowan, Cooper Cowan, Michael Cowan, Butch Golsberyy
T4th (61) - "Stone's Pebbles": Terry Stone, Nick Hall, Robert Williams, Evan McElheney and
"Hylton's": Billy Bashaw, Brian Markham, Ky Markham, Rayden Markham
Missed Playoff: "3/4's Millers": Bob Miller, Drew Miller, Casey Miller, Jesse Arrowwood

"D"
1st (66) - "Route 66 Car Sales" - Josh Shinault, J.L. Shinault, Kaith Carter, Aaron Long
2nd (67) - "Dunn's Are Not Done" - Darrell Dunn, Bobby Dunn, Chad Armante, Steven Dusek
3rd (67) - "KECO's Very Best": Amber Brewer, Tori Windsor, Kathy Bell, Kristy Lovelace

FUN PLAYOFF;

"THE PUTTER GIVETH AND THE PUTTER TAKETH AWAY"
The rules for playoff in the Elks Tournament call for each team to play alternate shots. If a tie persists, teams drop a player per each hole tied.

There were 6 teams tied for first in the "C" flight, all tied with 61's. One team did not make the playoff ("3/4's Millers"). Three pars on #10 and two bogeys, left three teams "in the money" fighting for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

On #11, "Cowan" ran into trouble and made a double bogey, finishing in third place.

But the real fun was just beginning...

#11 "How did that stay out?" David Poole and the POLP team
react to a narrow miss. Proud Dad now had to make one
from 7 feet to continue. And they did.

On their third shot, "Proud Dad"'s team (without Proud Dad himself, who had been dropped after #10) had gone over the green on #11 and had a tough downhill chip coming back, while "P.O.L.P." had a relatively easy 25 footer for birdie straight uphill. David Poole narrowly missed his birdie putt, meanwhile, "Proud Dad" had chipped to a tough seven footer for par, that Jarym Rainey "lipped in" to continue the playoff.

On #12, Tasha Marshall and Randall Wright hit pretty nice tee shots, both long and on the left side of the fairway, both David Poole and Jaryn hit nice shots on the green, with Poole's ball about ten feet longer than Jaryn's. Randall Wright putted to a virtual "tap-in" par, while Tasha left Jaryn another tester from about 4-5 feet, which she handled perfectly: dead center.

#13: When you have to make a 12 footer to continue a playoff
and you make it... emotions run high!

On #13, each team only had one player left, Tasha for "Proud Dad" and David Poole for "POLP". David hit first and did very well from 210 yards, leaving himself a 10 footer for birdie. Tasha, from about 150, hit to the back of the green to about 45 feet. Her first putt went by by about 12 feet, and had to hit her third shot before David hit his second shot. She made it dead center. David putted his a couple of feet short, and there they went to #14.

On #14, they both hit good tee shots, and again, both hit the green in regulation, and again, David inside Tasha, whose 25 footer lipped out leaving a tap-in for par. David's 15 footer attempt was short by about 3 1/2 feet and then missed, giving Tasha and "Proud Dad" the win in the "C" flight.

It was pretty neat following and witnessing good shots, especially great pressure putting. What Jaryn did on #11 and #12, and Tasha on #13 and #14, is not usually the outcome in other playoffs, most of which I have witnessed, miss those putts outside  4-5 feet to lose the hole, especially when the opponent is already in, and you have to make to continue the playoff, as it was the case from #11 to #13... and the case on #14, when David blinked and missed a short one to fail to advance to #15.

It is worth mentioning that "Proud Dad" ended up being a pretty good name for a team that Wes Marshall put together with his two daughters and a close friend  who has been "almost like adopted" into the family. First, Wes decided to get dropped after the first hole and left it up to the girls to win ("WISE DAD"?)... and make dad proud, which I'm sure, they did! CONGRATULATIONS!

P.S. I don't have all the teams' pictures because I had the pleasure of playing myself in the tournament (with our usual team of Keith Hulen, Kaleb Keith and my wife Mona, all of whom made my day on the golf course a great day! thank you!)