What, Are You Surprised?
“Artski Sixie” reverberated throughout the Polish American Tavern. The old guard could not be contained as the Pinelands Tournament unfolded. With 5 pars placed on the front nine Scorecard, Art Czachorowski was making a strong early statement. He felt cheated at the end of last season arguing against the course difficulty rating, which allows a further separation of strokes being assessed when players compete from different, Senior and Regulation tees. The disappointment echoed loudly and often on Championship Sunday as patrons held their nose, spit Żywiec on the floor and proclaim śmierdzące each time Lazarchick and Shaw blew opportunities. Meanwhile, Don St George and Art came with a stroke of beating Borillo and Hamm in the ”President’s Memorial Tournament”, changed from Hanko Memorial (in an informal secret vote so said the OCAGA Investigative Reporter) because so few are left on the tour who remember Joe.
On this day Art was giving an additional 5 strokes to the low handicappers! Early chatter in the Tavern about big hitters having too much of an advantage was replaced by exuberant boasts about too short a course for Czach and his precision “short game.” Indeed, he coasted to a Gross 86, fairly oblivious to the shabby fairways and bumpy slow green that plagued most of the rest of the field and bested Bohan (2nd), Hamm (3rd), Juliano (4th) and St George (5th) to take the victory with a net 68. Only Marc Bohan beat CZACH in Net score on the day and league low handicapper Roger Read was actually a stroke higher.
Art (44) vaulted to the top of the of the Points Chart edging out Don St George (42) in the Race to the Final Four. Historically the early season leader has made it to the finals throughout modern OCAGA History. Vegas* now lists both Czachorowski and St George as prohibitive favorites to be in the finals, almost unprecedented at this stage in the season, as gamblers flock to get in on the action.
POINTS AFTER TWO
- 44 Czachorowski, A
- 42 St George, Don
- 38 Ranucci, Charlie
- 35 Bohan, Marc
- 32 Juliano, Rob
- 31 Hamm, Glenn
- 30 Lazarchick, Mike
- 28 Read, Roger
- 24 Shaw, Scott
- 21 Borillo, Ed
- 17 O’Brien, Mike
- 11 Swanson, Andy
- 9 Buechner, John
- 0 Stocker, Phil
Bruno in the Italian Bistro, could not understand why his boss seemed relatively unnerved by the tournament outcome. Sipping Amaro Averna, the Godfather explained, Big Charlie is in third place and our League Champion, Rob, is in fifth place, “That’s where the smart money is focused.”
Art did share the big Handicap SCATS take home with Charlie Ranucci. March Bohan once again took the lion’s share in the Scratch Category.
NEXT: RUNNING DEER
Ocean City Amateur Golf Association 