Razor Thin Margin

Deacon's Invitational ended on Sunday afternoon in spectacular fashion as the outcome was hanging in the balance as the final few matches played the 18th hole.

Pic'em Party

Pic'em Party

Sandy and family again hosted the Pic'em Party on Friday evening in their backyard poolside complete with tables and plenty of comfortable chairs.  The food was plentiful and delicious with hot dogs, burgers (beef and venison) and different types of salads.  To say nothing of the variety of beers on hand in large coolers. All you had to do was raise up your empty beer bottle and magically a smiling waitress was running to get you a new cold one.  Great service...  Birdie brought his special potent "Gimlets" and Chimney his unique blend of "Margaritas".  Billy D kept sampling both to see which one he liked better.   The Director along with (his partner, keeper, landlord and saint) Barbara made their appearance a little late as they had to make a few stops along the way.  One of the stops was to bring a beautiful birthday cake to celebrate Blue Tees 72 birthday.

(The Gazette has it on good authority that Barbara had to pick it up because the Deacon has been banned for life from at least two grocery stores in Keene that we know of).

The two 2013 Captains Tractorman and Molasses Boy both with their lists of players and their scouting reports watched as Deacon flipped a coin which gave Molasses Boy first pick and then Tractorman the next two.  When the dust cleared they both had 12 players and were scrambling to see how they would pair them up.

The first round on Saturday to played on the north course was Four Ball.  Followed at noon on the south course of Alternate Shot.  Leaving Sunday for the 12 Singles matches.  As each Captain laid out his choices of partners for each round the well lubricated crowd voiced their reaction with plenty of hoots and hollers.  With darkness setting in and the temperature dropping, most (not Chimney) players made their way to their cars after thanking their hosts and prepared to do battle in the morning.

Saturday

Under very cool temps (low 50s) Invitees warmed up on the chipping green and putting green with plenty of dew on both.





 A new tradition started this year (Joey M's idea) that the Director would hit the first shot to open up the Invitational.  The Masters has nothing on the Invitational.

Deacon Hitting Opening Shot

Captain Molasses Boy's Red Team vs Captain Tractorman's Blue Team  

Four Ball

Matches

Bear & Cheez vs Bayou Bomber & Jerry won by Red

Jay Esch & Penguin vs DMac & Chimney won by Blue

Sandy & Billy D vs Brad-Brian & 99 won by Blue

Dougie & House vs Andy Mac & Blue Tees won by Blue

TJ & Rama vs Nick F & Joey M won by Red

Birdie & Molasses Boy vs Tractorman & Skrocki won by Red

Total

Red 3 Blue3

Alternate Shot

Matches

Sandy & Penguin vs DMac & Jerry won by Blue

Bear & Billy D vs Brad-Brian & Chimney won by Red

TJ & Birdie vs Andy Mac & 99 won by Blue

Dougie & Cheez vs Nick F & Skrocki won by Blue

Jay Esch & Rama vs Bayou Bomber & Blue Tees won by Red

Molasses Boy & House vs Tractorman & Joey M won by Blue

Total

Red 2 Blue 4

Total After Saturday

Red 5 Blue 7

Sunday     

Singles

Matches

Sandy vs Skrocki won by Red

Bear vs DMac won by Blue

House vs Blue Tees won by Blue

Rama vs Chimney won by Blue

Cheez vs Jerry won by Red

Jay Esch vs Brad-Brian won by Red

Birdie vs 99 won by Red

Dougie vs Andy Mac won by Blue

TJ vs Nick F won by Red

Penguin vs Joey M Halved

Billy D vs Bayou Bomber won by Blue

Molasses Boy vs Tractorman Halved

Total

Red 6 Blue6

Overall Total

Red 11 Blue 13 

Congratulations to Captain Tractorman and his Blue Team for their spectacular play

   

After Party

The Deacon with the closing of Gino's (rest in peace) chose McCue's for the after party.  This is where all the Invitees come together to celebrate, eat drink and let all the hooks, shanks (yes, 99 I mean you), lip outs and one railers melt away from their memories until all they remember is what a fun time it is to play in the Deacon's Invitational.  There was a lot of bonding going on as they ate and drank their way into a bill of over $500.  The winners share of the money goes quickly when the losers start ordering pitchers and appetizers by the dozens.  But well worth the price.

After Party

Tournament Notes

The celebration at McCue's was interrupted twice inorder to give a heart felt Thank You and round of applause as a tribute to Director Deacon for all his hard work to putting on a such memorable tournament.  Word is the "Randy and Friends" Tournament scheduled for 2014 may have to wait another year as Deacon was spotted giving out invites and secret handshakes at the after party.  Three players even offered up 2014 entry fee money to ensure their place in next years tournament.

There were six rookies invited this year.  The Bayou Bomber, 99, Andy Mac, Nick F, Jerry and DMac.  They all were picked by Tractorman to play on the Blue Team.  Experience can be over rated as Molasses Boy found out.

The Director in his "Deacon Mobile" was constantly tracking matches and giving updates to all the groups which added to the atmosphere of the tournament.  Plus he was able to dispense medicine as needed on Saturday afternoon to all those players coming down with dry throat disease.  He used all his secret pathways to quickly move between matches.

Andy Mac would have played faster in the Alternate Shot but 99 kept coaching him up before every shot.  It must have worked because they staged a comeback to win in the "Park".  Their opponents blamed crowd noise for their demise.  If you call 12 Invitees zooming their carts within 10 feet of their shots and whispering loudly between sips of libations being noisy.

Cheez and DMac both are selling their drivers.  Cheez for hitting all his drives low left and nowhere and DMac for hitting massive moon balls that drifted right of right.

Billy D played with Bear's spun Pro VXs and hit them 15 yards further than his Pro Vs.  He took the "juiced" one from their Saturday afternoon match so he could keep up with the Bayou Bomber in his match the next day.  But there must have been an expiration date on the ball as it failed him on Sunday.

The Bayou Bomber is in negotiations with the Gazette to be their lead sportswriter covering the Pot Games on a weekly basis.  It seems his current job working for a rival paper isn't as much fun and they didn't give him a cool nickname like the Gazette did.

Rama used the magic of Heinekens to cure his stiff back on Saturday to help win his match but he must have a got a bad batch on Sunday because the results weren't quite the same.

Jay Smith is nervous his new nickname 99 based on where he manages which could become a problem if he changes jobs and works at Pinky's or Gertrude's next.

Who knew that Bretwood created all those mounds behind the greens on South so you could park your carts for great viewing of the matches. (Good thing "The Big House" doesn't read the Gazette)

Cheez cured himself of the Chinese Sidewinders by hitting lots of balls but 99 caught a case of them over the weekend.  Not sure what his cure is yet.

Here is to many more years of Invitationals...