Storm forces format changes, but the golf goes on
Hurricane season on the East Coast officially began June 1 and made its first appearance in the Cape Region a few days later.
Sizable remnants of Tropical Storm Andrea blew through the area during the weekend of June 7-9.
The heavy rains and strong breezes also wreaked havoc with the planned competition formats for the inaugural Rehoboth Beach Country Club Member-Member Weekend, as well as the 23rd edition of the Kings Creek Country Club Men’s Invitational Golf Tournament.
The Kings Creek event was originally slotted for match play for five nine-hole matches, pitting a Kings Creek member and guest against a similar pairing. The storm forced several suspensions of play during Friday, with only one 9-hole match completed.
The Rehoboth Beach bunch began playing Saturday morning, but the downpours eventually forced the cancellation of the event’s first round in its entirety.
Kings Creek Head Golf Professional Kevin Weist described how they adjusted to Saturday’s conditions: “We changed the format to finish the second round as a nine-hole match, and then play six hole matches for the third, fourth and fifth rounds.”
Sunday’s weather cleared up significantly, with the Rehoboth Beach tournament reconfigured into an 18-hole better ball of partners format.
Dr. Paul Cowan and Dr. Leo Eschbach won the RBCC Overall Men’s Division Championship, with a net 57. Eschbach shot a personal best 5-under-par 31 on the back nine.
Dr. Dan Coar and Jay Whitby finished in second, two strokes behind.
Carole Ann Medd and Daisey Hudson won the RBCC Overall Women’s Championship, with a net score of 64. Sally Fogarty and Bailey Scheurer finished in second place, a single stroke behind.
The Kings Creek event used a one-hole qualifier between two groups of five teams to determine who would make it to the sudden death playoff. Tim Fermoile and Rick Rutter advanced by a chip-off. Dennis Durkin and his son, Dennis P. Durkin, made a clutch bunker shot to a foot away, making the putt to advance to the final. Fermoile and Rutter then won the playoff, and thus their first Kings Creek CC Invitational.
Wiest complimented the Kings Creek groundskeepers as well as the players for hanging in despite the rain and suspensions of play.
The KCCC separate flight winners were as follows:
Augusta Flight, Nick Nardo Jr. and Vinnie Nardo
Bethpage Flight, Tim Fermoile and Rick Rutter
Congressional Flight, Josh Mente and Al Lardo
Pebble Beach Flight, David Bargnesi and Charles Boag
Pine Valley Flight, Gary Weitzman and Jason Klein
Pinehurst Flight, Dennis Durkin and Dennis P. Durkin
Shinnecock Hills Flight, Jim Doane and Jack Feeney
Southern Hills Flight, Adam Schmidt and Andrew Metz
Olympic Club Flight, Bruce Ehrensaal and Jack Mencia
Winged Foot Flight, Chris Kara-Eneff and Nick Lingo.
Local club competition results
The RBCC and Kings Creek Ladies’ 18-hole golf leagues avoided all that Andrea storm stuff by playing their rounds on June 5 and 6, respectively.
The Rehoboth group played a two-best-balls of four round, with net and blind net categories.
Carol Smith, Christine Moore, Eileen Clark and Joan Crowley took first-place net with a 131. Gail Cox, Kim Stockson, Ann Cunningham and Trish Medd finished second net, one stroke behind.
Clark, Cunningham, Stockson and Kathy Curry won the blind net category, finishing with a 133. Crowley was low gross single for the day with her 87, while Bev Sanderson won low net single with her 70. Trish Medd won closest to the third hole pin, with her ball stopping three-feet-five-inches from the hole.
The Kings Creek 18-hole Ladies played a Low Putts round June 6.
Marilyn Hewitt won the first flight, with Jan Howard in second and Jeannine Doane in third.
Julie Dickson won the second flight, with Barb Hines in second and Brenda Butterfield taking third.
Rita Musi won the day’s third flight, with Pattie Magee in second and Mardee Corbett finishing third. Prabhat Karapurkar won the closest to the pin contest, with her tee shot ending three-feet-five-inches from the eighth hole.
