CLUB NEWS
6.13.2011
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
BRENTWOOD, Calif. - Did we have a spring in the Bay Area this year, or did we go straight from winter to summer?
After record rain fall and cold temperatures well into the first weekend of June, the weather finally turned for the better as the Dragons returned to Uncle Loui's backyard for the club tournament at Deer Ridge. With no clouds in the sky and temperature approaching 80, the Dragons were blessed with ideal scoring conditions, and smooth sailing on the course with rounds coming in at just under four-and-a-half hours.
 Lawrence Ma: Breakfast of Champions. |
And go low we did. If you didn't break 80 in the A Flight, you weren't getting the big money or the points. Two Dragons turned in personal bests ("PBs") under tournament conditions (i.e. no gimme's, no mulligans, and possibly no friends in their respective groups, LOL), a remarkable feat. With a slope of 132, well-placed hazards, and firm greens, Deer Ridge was no walk in the park either.
Jim Hwang blew out the B Flight with his PB round of 81 -- all but five in the A Flight bested that score and it was 9 clear of the second-best gross score in the B Flight. Notice was served on No. 1 when Slim reportedly ripped a 3-wood to the front edge of the par-4 green (ah, but he only made par -- work on your short game, dude). It was a steady round of golf thereafter, with no "dreaded others" that tend to plaque the B Flight, and a birdie on No. 18 to cap off the day. Yes, it was good for a skin -- he got two in the skins game.
The net 64 gave Jim an easy First Low Net win (weighted with more Dragon Cup points) in the B Flight. Karen Fong and Norman Lui both turned in 96/net 69's, with Karen winning the card-off for second place.
In the B Flight gross division, Song-Min Wang took first place with a score of 90. Ray Jeung made his first appearance this season, presumably to scout Deer Ridge for Oakland CGC, shot 91, good for second low gross. Bobby Yu took third place with a round of 95.
In the A Flight, Paul Loui won another field low gross title (72), but the younger Dragons gave Uncle Loui a good chase. Rookie Howard Choy's 75 was the second PB of the day, with an opening 36 and a closing birdie on No. 18, picking it clean out of the left fairway bunker and draining a down hill birdie putt to finish in style. Lawrence Ma eagled Par 5 ninth to go 1-under on the front (Paul was at 2-under), but a double on the 11th and a triple on the devlish 17th derailed his low gross bid as he finished at 77. That was one better than Wes Chong, and good enough for second low gross.
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You would think Howard's 75/net 65 should win First Low Net in the A Flight, but no -- the big man from Tucson and the Dragon Cup points leader, Jon Chong, fired a 79/net 65 and won the card-off (a 37!) for those honors. Howard finished second low net, with Jonathan Wong's 82/net 68 winning third low net.
With his A Flight net win, Jon (420 points) has opened up a 90-point lead over Chris Chong (330). Paul Loui is now at 325 points. Deer Ridge was also the last qualifying event for the Battle of the Bay, and Howard Choy (210, T9) and Lawrence Ma (180, 11th) played themselves onto the team. George Hsu tumbled from T7 to 13th, clinging to the first alternate spot, while Steve Tsang fell from T10 to 14th.
The top 12 and alternates have been posted on Facebook, and the Guru will update the full Dragon Cup points list as usual by the end of the week on the Dragon Cup page. BoB team captain Wes Chong (who may have failed to make a BoB team for the first time in his illustrious career; must be the hair or that lavender driver from Joe Kwok) will be contacting the qualifiers and alternates to finalize our roster in the next few hours. The BoB will be hosted by the Dragons this year, and it will be held at (guess where) Deer Ridge, on Sunday, June 26. The top two teams in the four-club team match will advance to September's NorCal Cup against Federation clubs from the South Bay and the Central Valley. The Dragons are the defending NorCal Cup champs.
In other Deer Ridge news, the A Flight KPs went to Carter Mau, Wes Chong, Jonathan Wong, and Jon's guest from Tucson, Mike Gregory. Dr. Po-Jen Lin, Judy Wu, Bobby Yu and Gustavo Gonzalez won the B-Flight KPs. Rob Dang, Judy Wu, Greg DeForest, Bobby Yu, Jason Jeung, Karen Fong, Angie Wong, and Paul Lee were all winners in the skins game.
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A big league "Outta Babe" goes to Paul Lee, who had a dangerous blown tire en route to Deer Ridge, and missed his tee time. He got to the course anyway, caught up with the last group on No. 5 and proceeded to go 1-under for five holes on the front nine! A baker's dozen went to Pho Vietnam again for dinner, where we watched the most excellent victory by Good over Evil, as the Mavs defeated LBJ and Miami in the NBA Finals. We also said good-bye to our friend Gustavo, who is returning to Venezuela.
The next club tournament will be at Lake Merced Golf Club in July, with a special members' dinner for the Weekender Team Draft. Registration for both Lake Merced and the Weekender '12 are open at the club website.
