2017 St. Patrick’s Tournament

By Steve Clarke

For a little while, it looked like the St. Patrick’s Day tournament wasn’t going to get the benefit of good weather, but the luck of the Irish prevailed. Around 10:30am, the fog broke, the skies parted and the sun beamed beautifully for the rest of the day.

255 golfers descended upon the two courses at Lakeside, with golfers divided into teams of four. The playing format was ‘two best balls of four,’ which emphasized strong team play over having one standout score per hole. The course played very tough. Not only were the greens running very fast (11 and 12 on the stimpmeter), but there were also some dastardly pin positions on both courses.

On the Lake Course, the top gross score in the Jameson Flight was a 138 turned in by the team of Phil Huff, Tim Dees, Steve Sanguinetti and Steve Barry. They beat out Tim Dien, Mike Finn, J.P. Moriarity and Ian Doss by only one stroke.

Ryan Connolly, Nick Werner, David Murry and Mitch St. Peter turned in the top net score in the Lake Course’s Jameson Flight. Just one stroke back in the net competition was the team of Dave Ashlock, Zach McReynolds, Maurice Monserez and Joe Tabacco.
The Powers Flight on the Lake Course was won by Ed Marinucci, Mike Cinelli, Perry Tomei and Ezio Rastelli with a net score of 127. Second place went to Jim Millet, Russ Hoem, John Eggert and Paul O’Driscoll with a net score of 131.

Over on the Ocean Course, a best gross score of 140 in the Jameson Flight was carded by the team of Jim Mason, John Ivanco, John Bradley and Josh Levin. Don Papa, John McLaughlin, Pat Murphy and Martin Connolly finished two strokes back with a 142. The net portion of the Jameson Flight was won by Mike Kerns, Peter Riaboff, Mike Sordelli and Jim McInerney with a score of 123. The second best net score of 125 was carded by John Marciano, Greg Sarrail, Joe Kelly and Dave Rawson.

Bob Micheli, Steve Mutto, Ed Beck and Ken Bianchi won the Ocean Course’s Powers Flight by four strokes with a score of 126. Finishing in second with a score of 130 was the team of Emmy Ehrlich, Paul Ehrlich, Barbara Azevedo and Andrew Guggenhime.
The closest to the pin competitions were fierce this year, with only one hole being won by a shot finishing more than four and a half feet from the hole. On the Ocean Course, Lisa Mizono, Martin Connolly, Pat Cronin and Dave Herrick took home top honors. Over on the Lake Course, Dale Ashlock, Mike Cinelli and Mitch St. Peter won closest to the pin prizes.

But the single best shot of the day went to James Bradshaw. His 7-iron on the Lake Course’s 13th hole traveled the full 167 yards, and alleviated the need for a putter by finding the bottom of the cup. Drinks for everyone! (oh, wait…)