Bouchard Repeats!

Pro Golf saw 69 true professionals attempt to conquer Augusta National to reach the championship Skins game, which is one of the great spectacles of sport, with 20+ year old big fuzzy dice being tossed off the stage of the Grand Ballroom. The field gathered in the Grand Ballroom and received the usual two minutes of detailed instructions by the GM, then scattered to various rooms and bars for group play.

Defending champion Richard Bouchard led the field after the preliminaries at Augusta with a score of 11 under par round of 61, three strokes better than anyone had achieved in the last four tournaments. Newcomer Heidi Zambrano also advanced to the Pebble Beach Skins game with a score of 7 under par while Joshua Githens and Roberto Fournier claimed the final two spots with rounds of 6 under par. Debbie Gutermuth and Bowen Nin earned fifth and sixth place laurels after each finished 5 under par.

The four finalists moved up onto the Grand Ballroom stage, where the greatest spectacle in WBC sports, the tossing of the big green foamy dice off the stage, occurs. Joining them were their caddies (to read their cards) and Sean McCulloch, who was once again the dice retriever extraordinaire, thus earning the sportsmanship nomination for his efforts and willingness to give up sleep. A dozen or so others chose to watch and occasionally mock the finalists.

After the first hole was halved, Richard Bouchard started off the scoring with an eagle on the par 5 second hole, thus earning two Skins (exactly the same sequence of events as started last year’s Skins game). Roberto Fournier birdied hole #4 to claim two Skins of his own. Josh Githens then birdied the par 5 sixth hole to make it a three-way tie, and Heidi Zambrano reached the scoreboard with a par three on the seventh to get within one Skin of the gentlemen.

Roberto surged into the lead with a birdie on the ninth hole, thus increasing his total to four Skins and taking a two-hole lead. Then, a frustratingly amazing thing happened. Eleven holes ensued with no players earning a Skin, thus forcing the field to play ten holes beyond the scheduled 12 holes of the Skins game.

A trend then started. On the 13th hole, Roberto birdied and had the victory taken away when Heidi made a birdie putt to halve the hole. Roberto also birdied the 14th hole, and again Heidi saved the field with a matching birdie. On the 21st hole, it happened again, as Roberto’s hopes were crushed for the third and final time.

For the 22nd hole (actually a repeat of hole #4 at Pebble Beach), Roberto started off with a bogey, then Josh posted a par. Richard sank a crucial birdie putt, and this time Heidi could not save the field, making Richard the champion for the second year in a row with five Skins. Roberto was second with four Skins, Josh third with two Skins and Heidi fourth with one Skin.

Be sure to join the fun again in 2024, when we shall have a system set up to prevent this long overtime in the Skins game. The best way to prepare is to get in a little practice during the 2024 fifteenth annual PBeM tournament which should start in April (during the month of the Masters).