Saturday consisted of a singles round at 27 hole Buffemville followed by best disc doubles at famed Maple Hill. The competion was stiff at Buffemville, but the Champ managed to lead wire to wire in large part due to the seemingly deep spiritual connection between him and the Surge, which was flying unbelievably long and true. The Maddog was nipping at his heels however, gaining some momentum after nailing a long approach shot on the difficult hole 17 . A lost disc and a few OBs on the treacherous back 9 sealed his fate at second however, undoubtedly a dissappointment for Gramps on his home course.
Meanwhile Ravi and Saito were waging a hard fought battle for third until Saito, after chastising Dave for his shot selection, managed to launch one of the most ill fated projectiles ever to challenge the force of gravity. Driving from atop the dam down onto a windswept peninsula, his disc flew dangerously high into the crosswind and was then dramatically swept 90 degrees off target, easily clearing the adjacent hole and dropping into the churning funnel of white water flowing into the middle of the dam - an obstacle which most competitors would not really consider to be in play on this particular shot. Saito lost a few more pieces of plastic before the day was done, further confirming his theories regarding the relative merits of courses with water hazards and helping Ravi to cement third place. Fortunately for Saito the depletions to his bag should be easily replaced due to his prudent massive overstocking of key discs.
The field was chauffered down the rode to the afternoon venue where the mixed doubles competition provided the weekend's most intense match. On the lead card Ben and Saito took on Ravi and Dave on the Maple's elements course. The first shot of the round presented the Champ with his first opportunity to fulfill his bold New Year's resolution that he would clear the pond. An errant shot in the windy conditions went well left though and Ben was left to ponder what went wrong and hope for another chance. Dave and Ravi came out of the gates solid as a rock, maintaining par through about hole 9, with both veterans making valuable contributions. Meanwhile Ben and Saito had a few slipups to drop them a few strokes behind but they remained optimistic after a few promising opportunities. Ben nailed the flagpole protruding from the basket with a beautiful drive over the water on hole 8 but alas the disc bounced directly back into the drink, robbing his team of a what could have been a nice chance to make a move. Finally things started to turn around on hole 11, where Saito and Ben combined for a pretty par on this extremely long hole while Dave and Ravi couphed up an ugly doubler, whittling down their previously growing lead to about two strokes. Ben and Saito attempted to turn up the heat. After having some great looks on the next three or four holes, it was only a matter of time before Goldman's beautiful drives and Saito's putting would connect. Finally on hole 16, much to the crowd's delight, Saito stuck a difficult ~35ft putt to tie-up the field. The gladiators were still locked in a tie after 18 and returned to the intimidating hole 1 - where the opportunity to win the match in dramatic fashion presented itself. Again, Ben's attempt to clear this 350 foot beast fronted by a disc swallowing pond were for naught. Both teams managed pars however and the endurance contest was on. Finally on the sixth hole of sudden death, Ravi and Dave's heretofore unbelievably steady game faltered, with a bogey from a bad approach allowing Ben and Saito to claim a hard fought victory. Below, Ben does a celebratory dance, as Saito looks on, slightly amused while hole 1 looms menacingly in the background.
On the way to the scorer's hut, Ben tempted fate and took one more shot at clearing the pond on hole 1, taking advantage of a brief lull in the wind. He stepped up with an unusually determined look in his eye and launched a career defining drive which nestled within 10 feet of the hole exactly pin high. He completed the birdie and, for a brief moment, all was right with the world.Ravi sadly dropped out of Day 2's scheduled competition at Wickham, preferring instead to sit home and count his previous night's haul of poker winnings. Below, is this man bluffing?
The Champ, Gramps and Saito rose to the challenge, but alas this round was practically over soon after it began. Both Saito and Dave found serious trouble the first few holes and after hole 4 the scores stood at Ben: even par (including a first time drop in birdie on hole 2); Dave and Saito +8. Despite this ginormous gap in the scores, Ben started sweating over the final few holes as his lead had dwindled to a mere 2 strokes over the hard charging Dave (who plays those last 4 holes particularly well). Ben managed to barely avoid what would have been a devasting collapse and once again claimed victory, with Dave close behind and Saito gamely bringing up the rear.
Scores
[anyone remember?]
The weekend prior to the extravaganza reported on above, a round was played at Tyler where Mike the President attempted to defend his course title. This also marked Dave's return to competition after a bit of a hiatus and the rust certainly showed. Ben claimed victory, with Mike M taking second and Dave narrowly edging out Saito for third.
