Hacker Page

Results for August 11, 2023

First of all, let’s give a heartfelt welcome back to play to Marty! It just hasn’t been quite the same without you sir! Looking forward to finishing out the season with you. You’ve got a tough couple of matches coming up, first Mark and then Gloria, who as seen below, is in prime form,  Good luck!

It was a bit of a windy round, but at least there was no rain, and not a whole lot of humidity. This week’s play saw 9 players maintain their handicaps, 5 players go up, and just 2 players improve. One of those was Gloria, who somehow forgot that she was a 13 handicap, as she fired a blistering 6-over par 42, thoroughly trouncing Dave in the process! Great round Glo!  Dave, it seems you drew the short straw that night.

I have to admit to a costly mistake Friday night.  As you know, because of the recent weather conditions, I stopped printing scorecards, and switched to using the course’s cards.  They just hold up much better in the wet conditions we’ve been seeing.  Because of this, I have been using a post-round scoresheet to quickly (manually) record everyone’s gross hole scores and then calculate their net hole scores for the moneyball drawing.  Long story short, I made an error calculating Brian’s net score on hole #4, which was the first ball drawn. Instead of tying Gloria on that hole, she should’ve won outright, rather than proceeding on to a second drawn ball, which Brian then won. I apologize profusely for the error, and I just hope Brian can bring himself to part with the $16 this coming Friday and give it to the actual winner.  If not, I will gladly make it right myself 😊

Because of this snafu, I will resume printing scorecards with the caveat that if we do encounter rain, or if rain is in the forecast, everyone also takes a course scorecard as a backup, and then transfer scores to the actual card when dryer conditions present themselves (such as in the restaurant after the round). I may also bring a laptop in which should eliminate any future mathematical “human” errors.

Now for the matches.

Gloria was the top point-scorer tonight, after falling 1-down to Dave at the 1st hole, she went on to win 6 and tie 2 of the remaining 8 holes for the 7-2.  Oh, and with that net 29 she shot, she also beat Dave out for the match ‘s bonus point by 9 strokes.  It bears repeating, Great round Glo!

Next up we have Brian vs Paul, another match where the ultimate winner, Brian, was 1-down after the first hole and came back quickly, taking 4 of the next 5 holes for a 3-up lead through 5. Paul fought back taking the next 2 to get to just 1 down with a chance tie or even win the match, but, with both players struggling on the always difficult 8th hole, Brian struggled less, taking that hole, and then the last to secure the 6-3 win. Well contested gents!

In the other 6-3 match, It was Andy over Pete in a match that had each player having won 1 hole through the first two. Andy then made a 4-hole run to seal up the win. Pete knocked it in close for a gimme par at #7 to take that hole, and, with just a 1-stroke differential at the 8th hole, he took that hole as well. Par at the last hole for Andy secured that final 6th point. Good match Pete!

Our next match had Tom going 1-up through 2 against Sue. With no strokes given at the 3rd, Sue won that hole outright to get the match back to all-square. Undeterred, Tom took the next 4 holes to secure the win, while Sue took the final 2 holes to keep the winning score to just 5 ½ - 3 ½. Great finish to a tough match Sue!  Well done!

Three matches ended in 5-4 wins with Mark, Jim, and Joe, prevailing over Dan F., Marty and Bette respectively.

In the first match, Mark led from the start, staying at least 1-up through the first 7 holes. There was a little back-and-forth as Dan cut into Mark’s 2-up leads twice during the middle of the round. A “hit-the-pin” birdie for Dan from off the green at #8 got the match to all square heading to the last. Par at #9 for Mark clinched the win. Nice match guys!

In his return to action, Marty kept it close against Jim, as they split 6 of the first 7 holes. Marty squared up the match by taking a full point with a par at the 8th hole.  Jim made par at the last to secure the win in this extremely tight match. Great battle!

Joe and Bette had a close match as well. After halving the first hole, Joe took the next 2 to go 2-up.  A split and 2 wins later, and Bette had the match back to all-square, where it remained through the next hole as well. With a win at the 8th, Joe guaranteed no worse than a tie for himself, and secured the W with a split at the last hole. Kudos to both players, managing just 2 and 3 strokes over their handicaps during this windy round!

Our final match of the night was another back-and-forth round that, despite halving only one hole ended in a tie. Tim was 2-up through 7 and needed just ½ point more for the win, but Bob took the last 2 holes to knot the match at the end.  Nice finish Bob!

Thanks to Joe and Paul for filling in this week! It is always appreciated!

Mark is now just 2 rounds away from another full season with no others.  No pressure 😊

League Standings

Andy extended his lead over Dan Fusco to 3½ points. Dan Palmerino remained in 3rd place, followed by Jim remaining in 4th.  Gloria moved into solo 5th place, breaking out of the 5th place tie with Tim and Dave. As more folks start dropping low points, expect more movement here in the remaining 2 weeks.

Hacker Cup

With Dan Palmerino not in action this week, Brian took full advantage, moving up from 2nd into 1st.  Dave and Tom also made significant strides, moving into 3rd and 4th place, from 6th and 7th, respectively. Meanwhile Bette remained in the top 5, falling from 3rd to 5th. Dan Fusco’s difficult night saw him drop from 4th to 9th, while cousin Jim dropped slightly from 5th to 7th.  Gloria took a giant leap up the board, from 15th to just outside the top five into 6th place. With a zero week already on the board, she needs a couple more nights like this to get to the top!

As a reminder of how the play-off scoring works. Each player starts with a set number of points, depending on their seed location.  Each week, points are scored and accumulated exactly the same as they are during the regular season. The lowest of the 4-weeks of points will be thrown out. The player with the highest number of points using their seed points and the best 3 scores from the playoff weeks, will win the Hacker Cup, and have their name engraved thereon for perpetuity (or, until we run out of room for names 😊).

The Numbers:

Low Gross

42

Gloria, Mark

42

Andy

45

Jim, Joe

 

Low Net

29

Gloria

35

Brian

38

Dave, Tom, Joe, Andy

 

NEW for 2023

Knockout Champion

Dan Fusco’s  lead seems to be a little less insurmountable now.  For instance, were Dave to have a 9-point night or better (and Dan not), he could move ahead. For the current week though, it is Brian who will take over the honor of glove bearer for the next round, as he survived everyone else through to the 6th hole, for 5 points on the week.

Eagles and Birdies

The birds were chirping this night, as 3 of them showed up.

#1 – Paul

#7 – Gloria

#8 – Dan Fusco

Closest-to-the-pin (aka Dan Fusco retirement fund)


Once again, it was Dan Fusco for the win, upping the family total to 7 of the 9 CTP wins this season, while getting his own personal tally to 4. Nicely done Dan!

Week #

Player

Hole #

Prize $

Distance

1

Matt

14

$10

~8’

2

Dan P

3

$10

~15’

3

N/A

17

$10

N/A

4

Mark

6

$15

17’ 9 ½”

5

N/A

14

$10

N/A

6

Dan F

3

$15

13’ 3”

7

Dan F

17

$10

9’ 4”

MID

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

8

N/A 

6 

$10

 N/A

9

Dan F 

14 

$15

3’ 0” 

10

Jim 

3 

$10

3’ 0”

11

 N/A

17 

$10

 N/A

12

Jim

6

$15

24’ 9” 

13

Dan F 

3 

$10

6’ 1” 

14

 

14 

$10

 

15

 

6

$10

 

Banquet Night

 

17 

$10