pro golf   

Updated July 7, 2014

2013 WBC Report   

  2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Bill Morse, VA

2013 Champion

   

Event History
1994    Dave Walrath      29
1995    Bruce Reiff      45
1996    Tom Pavy      43
1997    Dave Metzger      65
1998    Kevin Wojtaszczyk      61
1999    John Coussis     71
2000    Adam Gugliemini     74
2001    Dennis Nicholson     76
2002    Terry Coleman     86
2003    Ken Gutermuth     80
2004    Devin Flawd     75
2005    Nathaniel Hoam     54
2006    Bruce Reiff     67
2007    Keith Hunsinger     62
2008    Brian Farrelly     67
2009    Eric Brosius     58
2010    Brooks Beyma     63
2011    Daniel Pappas     63
2012    John Coussis     71
2013    Bill Morse     73

PBeM Event History
2010    Lisa Gutermuth     34
2011    Dennis Nicholson     41
2012    Mark Yoshikawa      44
2013     Dennis Nicholson     48
2014    Sean McCulloch     51

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  John Coussis       IL    12     92
  2.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    11     74
  3.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    13     72
  4.  Mark Yoshikawa     CA    13     69
  5.  Devin Flawd        PA    04     34
  6.  Bill Morse         VA    13     32
  7.  Bruce Reiff        OH    11     32
  8.  Sean McCulloch     OH    14     28
  9.  Keith Hunsinger    OH    08     26
 10.  Terry Coleman      CA    14     24
 11.  Chris Kizer        CA    13     24
 12.  Debbie Gutermuth   NC    13     22
 13.  Lisa Gutermuth     NC    10     22
 14.  Daniel Pappas      MD    11     20
 15.  Brooks Beyma       MD    10     20
 16.  Eric Brosius       MA    09     20
 17.  Brian Farrelly     IL    08     20
 18.  Nate Hoam          OH    05     20
 19.  Adam Gugliemini    PA    00     20
 20.  Bob Tassinari      NY    12     18
 21.  Jason Levine       NY    12     18
 22.  Chris Kamm         NY    04     18
 23.  Robert Kircher     RI    14     16
 24.  Paul Risner        FL    11     16
 25.  Harry Flawd        PA    14     14
 26.  Mike Pacheco       CA    13     14
 27.  Robert Drozd       IL    10     14
 28.  Pete Stein         OH    13     12
 29.  Danny Lewis        DE    11     12
 30.  Jim Bell           MD    10     12
 31.  Rod Weaver         PA    08     12
 32.  Erica Kirchner     KY    07     12
 33.  John Shaheen       MA    06     12
 34.  Dan Dolan Jr       NJ    05     12
 35.  David Metzger      NY    03     12
 36.  Jeff Mullet        OH    12     10
 37.  Josh Githens       SC    10     10
 38.  Seth Kirchner      KY    03     10
 39.  Jason Porta        PA    12      9
 40.  Bruce Maxwell      VA    04      9
 41.  Laurie Wojtaszczyk NY    14      8
 42.  Mark Mtchell       VA    12      8
 43.  Bruce Young        SC    11      8
 44.  Mark Neale         RI    09      8
 45.  Beth Zhao          DC    07      8
 46.  Davyd Field        CA    06      8
 47.  George Sauer       OH    03      8
 48.  Robert Eastman     NV    02      8
 49.  H Richardson III   VA    01      8
 50.  Bill Beckman       SC    00      8
 51.  Ted Simmons        IL    13      6
 52.  Nicole Reiff       OH    10      6
 53.  Bernard Beckerman  NY    09      6
 54.  Richard Meyer      MA    09      6
 55.  Carrie Lewis       DE    07      6
 56.  Charles Squibb     PA    05      6
 57.  Lee Presser        NY    03      6
 58.  Grant LaDue        NY    13      4
 59.  Paul Bean          MA    11      4
 60.  David Stiffler     VA    10      4
 61.  Charles Drozd      IL    08      4
 62.  Kevin Brown        GA    06      4
 63.  Hilary Haagen      VA    13      3
 64.  Scott Buckwalter   MD    12      3
 65.  Ann Cornett        FL    04      3
 66.  Rebekah Monnin     OH    14      2
 67.  Bruce Monnin       OH    12      2
 68.  Mike Coomes        OH    10      2
 69.  Nick Kramer        PA    08      2
 70.  Arthur Davis       MI    02      2
 71.  Vincent Collura    PA    99      2

2013 Laurelists                                                Repeating Laurelists:

Chris Kizer, CA
2nd

Peter Stein, OH
3rd

Mark Yoshikawa, CA
4th

Ted Simmons, IL
5th

Hilary Haagen, VA
6th

Past Winners

Dave Walrath, MA
1994

Bruce Reiff, OH
1995, 2006

Tom Pavy, OH
1996

Dave Metzger, VA
1997

Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
1998

John Coussis. IL
1999, 2012

Adam Gugliemini, PA
2000

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2001

Terry Coleman, BC
2002

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2003

Devin Flawd, PA
2004

Nate Hoam, OH
2005

Keith Hunsinger, OH
2007

Brian Farrelly, IL
2008

Eric Brosius, CT
2009

Brooks Beyma, MD
2010

Daniel Pappas, MD
2011

Bill Morse, VA
2013
   

Elizabeth Ploran and Brett Mingo have fallen in with a bad crowd - don't let the pink shirts fool ya.

Dan Dolan Jr, Shannon Keating, Jim & Alex Bell ... don't burn too many brain cells, guys. It's only Thursday. Pace yourself.

The secret to Pro Golf's success ... the 19th hole.

A bad police lineup or Pro Golf finalists ... take your pick.

Emotional Appeal Fails ...

Pro Golf grew by two more duffers this year, perhaps thanks to the teaching session run by assistant GM Rob Drozd. I bet that was a real mind bender! The increase to 73 participants starting off from the Hopewell room was the greatest number of entrants since 2004. This year we switched to the Pebble Beach course in hopes of more balls going out of bounds or finding the water, but scores were only down slightly from previous years.

The event was preceded by 2012 email tournament champion, Mark Yoshikawa, awarding a BPA Pro Golf green jacket to last year's WBC winner, John Coussis. Mark inexplicably chose to keep the larger green jacket for himself, leaving John with a jacket approximately five sizes too small for himself.

For the fourth year in a row, no playoff was needed to select our four lucky - I mean skilled - golfers in the Skins game. Six under par was the magic score to reach the Skins game, and four players (Chris Kizer, Mark Yoshikawa, Peter Stein and Bill Morse) posted that result. In a world turned upside down, Mark Yoshikawa was the only returning laurelist and in the unaccustomed role of favorite going into the Skins game. Five players just missed out with a score of five under par. The rest of the field came in with scores ranging from four under to four over par.

The Skins game was notable for several occurrences. It began when Peter went to start his first ever hole of the Skins game after over two decades of trying to reach the Promised Land. When he first touched the big green foam dice used in the Final, he began blubbering and was overcome with emotion and needed to be consoled by Mark, who went through the same experience the year before. After this shameless appeal to fate for divine intervention, the round began.

As is our tradition, the finalists were not allowed to read their own golfer cards, but instead had to delegate that duty to a caddie. While Peter and Bill had fairly standard caddies, Mark's caddie set the new standard by which all future caddies will be measured. Ken Gutermuth performed the duties, and he acted like the staff at a Hilton when they see Mark's quadruple platinum special guest card. "Let me get the dice for you, Mr. Yoshikawa," "You need a birdie for the Skin, Mr. Yoshikawa," and "You need to roll a 46 or better, Mr. Yoshikawa," were often heard during the Final. By contrast, Chris' caddie, Lisa Gutermuth, often needed to be prompted to perform the simplest of tasks for her charge.

After Peter recovered from his emotional start, he birdied the first hole (with golfer Chris DiMarco) to claim the initial skin. The second hole was halved when both Peter and Mark birdied, then Bill (with golfer Robert Allenby) birdied the third hole to claim two skins of his own.

The fourth hole was halved, then Chris (with Steve Flesch) strung together birdies on the fifth and sixth holes to earn three skins for himself. Mark (with Carl Pettersson) was the last to get on the scoreboard, taking the skin on the seventh hole. After Bill picked up his third skin with a birdie on the eighth, he and Chris were tied for the lead with three skins each while Peter and Mark each had one. With four holes to go, it was still anyone's game.

The next three holes were all halved, as no one could post a birdie. In fact, Bill bogeyed all three holes and had to hope the others halved the holes to prevent them from earning the skins. That meant that the winner of the last hole would win four skins and thus the tournament. Bill started the par 3 12th hole with a birdie. The other three desperately tried to match him, but all failed, leaving Bill Morse as our 2013 champion.

Chris claimed second place with his three skins, and a tie-breaking die roll gave third place to Peter while Mark had to settle for fourth. Pete went off mumbling and looking for puppies to kick.

Be sure to join the fun again in 2014, and maybe even get in a little practice in the 2014 Fifth Annual PBeM tournament which should start sometime this spring (right before the Masters). Bruce Reiff contibuted to this article.

 So, that's how Yoshi made the cut ...

 Yoshi and the Meanie tussle over who gets the lucky green dice ...

 Having successfully wrestled away the green dice from the little guy, the Meanie proceeds to slice off the fairway. Who would be dumb enough to stay up to watch this drivel, anyway?

 ... oh


 2014 PBeM Tournament:

Only 12,590 emails later, we have a champion.

A record field of 51 players contested the 5th annual BPA Pro Golf PBeM tournament. All players first competed on the Muirfield Village course. The top 35 players who finished one over par and better survived the cut and moved on to contest the Lancaster Host course. The top 17 (those two under par and better) then advanced to contest the Augusta National course. The best cumulative score of the three rounds won the title.

Robert Kircher and Harry Flawd led the field at five under par on the Muirfield Village course. Peter Stein then crushed the Lancaster Host course with a round of seven under par to take a one shot lead into the final round. While Peter would collapse with a three over par round at Augusta, others would seize the initiative. It was one of those days during the final round at Augusta, as the roars of the crowd reverberated throughout the back nine.

Laurie Wojtaszczyk was one of the early golfers to take on the final course at Augusta National. She blistered the front nine at five under par. After a bogey at 10, she birdied 13 and 16 and scored an eagle at the 15th hole. Unfortunately, a bogey on the final hole left her at 12 under par for the tournament, one stroke short of the necessary total.

Sean McCulloch was the next contender to challenge Amen corner. After only playing the front nine at even par, he birdied holes 10, 11, 12 and 14, while carding eagles at both par 5's, holes 13 and 15. With a three stroke lead, Sean's magic collapsed, as he bogeyed both holes 16 and 17. On the final hole, Sean earned his only par of the back nine, but needed to drain an 18 foot putt to win by a stroke.

It appeared Sean had the tournament in the bag, but recent March Madness PBeM winner Robert Kircher was lurking three strokes back with four holes to play. Robert also eagled 15 to move to within one stroke, then sank a 20 foot birdie putt on the 17th hole to force a playoff.

For the tie-breaker, Sean and Robert faced off at Arrowhead Park (the GM's home course). Sean (with perennial favorite golfer Shigeki Maruyama) and Robert (using Bob Tway) each shot par for the first four holes, setting up the decisive fifth hole. Sean went first on the par 5, laying up on his second shot. A nice chip led to a successful seven-foot birdie putt. Robert tried to match with his own second shot layup. However, he found the pond that wraps around the green. Shaken by that, a poor pitch and putt followed, leading to a double bogey. To emphasize his victory, Sean then birdied the sixth hole to seal the deal.

Meanwhile, Laurie used golfer Johnny Miller to claim third place while Harry Flawd (Bob Tway) was two strokes further back in fourth. Terry Coleman and Rebekah Monnin, who both were assigned Ray Floyd, tied for fifth, but Terry won the playoff to earn the higher placing and the extra laurels.

The tournament will be restarted in March 2015. Come join us next year as we use the time of the Masters and the U.S. Open to determine another PBeM champion of the BPA Pro Golf world.

1st ­ Sean McCulloch
2nd ­ Robert Kircher
3rd ­ Laurie Wojtaszczyk
4th ­ Harry Flawd
5th ­ Terry Coleman
6th ­ Rebekah Monnin

For those of you interested, here are the historical results for the seven golfers used in this year's event.

Muirfield Village Average Scores:
69.0 = Bob Tway 1986 (5)
70.7 = Shigeki Maruyama 2005 (19)
72.0 = Ray Floyd 1984 (20)
72.6 = Curtis Strange 1981 (21)
72.8 = John Daly 2004 (14)
72.4 = Johnny Miller 1981 (18)
74.5 = Bernhard Langer 1986 (6)

Lancaster Host Average Scores:
67.2 = Bob Tway 1986 (5)
71.1 = Johnny Miller 1981 (15)
70.3 = Curtis Strange 1981 (19)
70.5 = Shigeki Maruyama 2005 (18)
70.6 = John Daly 2004 (10)
70.6 = Ray Floyd 1984 (19)
72.5 = Bernhard Langer 1986 (2)

Augusta Average Scores:
70.8 = Johnny Miller 1981 (4)
70.8 = Bob Tway 1986 (5)
70.9 = Ray Floyd 1984 (7)
71.2 = Shigeki Maruyama 2005 (6)
72.3 = Curtis Strange 1981 (3)
72.7 = John Daly 2004 (3)

Overall Average Scores:
69.0 = Bob Tway 1986 (15)
70.7 = Shigeki Maruyama 2005 (43)
71.2 = Ray Floyd 1984 (46)
71.6 = Curtis Strange 1981 (43)
71.7 = Johnny Miller 1981 (37)
72.0 = John Daly 2004 (27)
74.0 = Bernhard Langer 1986 (8)

 GM      Bruce Monnin [10th Year]  177 South Lincoln St, Minster, OH 45865-1240 
    bdmonnin@nktelco.net   937-441-2480

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