Opening Day was among the most pleasant the OCAGA Tour has experienced. The weather was fairly mild in the mid 60s on the Fahrenheit scale. Wind was not a major factor on most holes, however the white tees seemed pretty far back according to Phil Stocker who remembers every course he plays! Only five players on the tour were able to break 100. Among them, Andy Swanson placed a nice 92 on the Scorecard, (net 72), dropping 1 Birdie and 6 for Par, good enough to take 1^st place at the Sand Barrens. There was an immediate jump in Swanson Health Stock. Not since Andrew bested the crowd with his Eagle on the Gambler in Myrtle Beach has he looked so dominant on the links.

Phil Stocker fans once again protested the handicap system, questioning how Swanson remained at 20 after posting so many low scores, while Stocker remained at 20 posting high scores? The OCAGA News Investigative Reporter was unable to determine if this “feud” was at all related to the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1812, or what their ancestors’ position was on the Convention of Moss. Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Lines still has pictures of Phil winning the back to back 2008 and 2009 OCAGA Championships! Andy is still hunting his first title.

Marc Bohan was clearly in the zone taking 2^nd place with a sweet 84 (net 74). Bloomburg reported swift trading in Bohan Company Stock. Marc took the OCAGA Title in 1996. Big Charlie Ranucci also broke 90 (net 74) eliciting a big smile from the Godfather. Charlie took 3^rd and now is regarded as the best player on the tour to not have won a Championship! Tommy Hunt was respectable in the opener. His 100 (net 74) gave him 4^th place. Four time OCAGA Champion Glenn Hamm took 5^th with a 95 (net 80). The fifth player to break 100 was Rookie Roger Reed. Young Roger promises to be a formidable opponent sporting a 12 handicap. Roger posted a 92 in his first OCAGA Outing.  Rounding out the Top Ten were David Hamm, Don St George, Phil Stocker, Mike O’Brien and Eddie Borillo.

The Polish American Tavern was relatively quiet. The best the group could do was current champion Lazarchick’s 11^th place finish. All the tavern stars were well into the 100s, the highest total strokes the quartet has ever taken in the same tournament. There was a demonstration outside in support of Rich Antczak who replaced Andy Swanson as national girl scout poster boy a year ago.  Despite the number of strokes he used to transverse the course, the girls just swoon when they see Richie.

Despite Swanson’s opening day heroics,   local   troop    leader Elizaveta Kwiatkowski proclaimed undying support which was followed   by  a  chorus  of, (did you guess) ,

“Richie, Richie, he’s tooo Cute!”

SCATMAN 2015

Marc Bohan grabbed 4 SCATS in the Scratch Competition pocketing almost $25 . The Big Winner on the Day however was Phil Stocker, collecting 3 SCATS in the Handicapped field for a whopping $46.67.

NEXT ON THE TOUR         AVALON