Fast Eddie Borillo and Mike O’Brien fell short in their quest to catch the Doctor finishing 2nd and 3rd, in a thrilling finish with pressure building at Golden Pheasant. Eddie had just returned from a 5 week sojourn visiting national parks, reaching states of meditative awe while witnessing natural wonders. His swing was in tune with the universe. Bruno asked the Godfather if he could hear one more time how a Faint Glimmer of Hope was taken to the Championship Title. OB was his usual down the middle self, not really so long, but mostly in the fairway when he could mediate that slow swing. At the Irish Pub they were singing along with Tim O’Brien, Michael’s cousin, to the ballad, Ireland’s Green Shore. Phil Stocker took fourth place, needing another hole or two. After a Birdie on 2 he rattled off four consecutive sevens and took a snowman on 8, but midway through the back nine everyone on the Norwegian Cruise to Alaska was watching the tournament via satellite. Phil was charging for the lead, playing the last four holes only 1 over par. Club Champion Rob Juliano edged closer to an opportunity to defend his title finishing 5th, leading the field in gross score after 9, but wobbling just a little too much as he approached the finish line. All four contributed to Michael Lazarchick widening his lead over his closest competitors in the Race to the Final Four.
LZ finds rare flower at the Pheasant
Lazarchick started slow with three double bogeys in the first 5 holes, yet he managed to transverse the front nine in 45 strokes. He was surprised at the turn to see he was a stroke ahead of Roger Read in his foursome. More surprising he was a stroke behind Paul Ruth, who returned to the tour as a guest. Paul was crisp and clean with his drives and was deadly with the putter. Had he been in the handicap SCATS he would have needed a wheelbarrow to haul winnings just on the front. Martin DeBruin was also in the group and he played magnificently, placing a 43 on the Scorecard in a tie with Juliano, head to head.
The OCAGA Investigative reported was able to get an exclusive Interview with the Doctor after the tournament, learning that Lazarchick felt fortunate to take the tournament. He had been embarrassed in the championship last year, losing the lead with sloppy play on 15, followed by not being able to keep up with Juliano’s awesome finish. He finished 2nd four times, clearly marred with questionable decisions, before finally winning the Championship with dogged concentration across all 18 holes. He felt his performance at the Pleasant was way too sloppy. With great drives and decent fairway play and very nice chips he consistently was putting for good scores. By three putting 17 after landing the ball 15 feet from the cup in 2 he wasted yet another opportunity. Roger Read was energized by the competition in his foursome and shook his head in disbelief at the number of very short putts missed by Lazarchick. Stepping up to the challenge, Roger put on an accuracy exhibition on the back nine, one under par through 16. Lazarchick and DeBruin were in full admiration of his short iron precision as Read coasted to a low gross 84 on the day.
Controversy abounded when the tournament was rescheduled suddenly and Marc Bohan and John Buechner who were fine with the Holiday Weekend, had other plans already scheduled for the new date. Marc despite missing the tournament, held onto fourth place in the standings. Charlie Ranucci, Scotty Shaw, Art Czachorowski and Glenn Hamm finished at the end of the pack. Shaw who was playing with Art, said the slashed wrist he incurred just prior to Running Deer was still a personal handicap and also suggested that Art may have been a little disoriented because he was having trouble counting all his strokes. When asked if knew whether or not Art had been out all night carousing again with the ladies, Scotty shrugged his shoulders. Don St George is still missing! Juliano, Read and Swanson all moved up, albeit ever so slightly.
Lazarchick played well enough to win and clearly will be in the final four if he does not experience a total collapse in the four remaining regular season tournaments. He has 16 points on Charlie in 2nd . He is a full 27 points ahead of 4th place.
PTS Tour Player
- 102 Lazarchick, Michael
- 86 Ranucci, Charlie
- 80 Czachorowski, Art
- 75 Bohan, Marc
- 74 Hamm, Glenn
- 68 Juliano, Rob
- 65 Read, Roger
- 60 Shaw, Scott
- 50 Swanson, Andy
- 50 O’Brien, Mike
- 44 Borillo, Ed
- 42 St George, Don
- 36 Beuchner, John
- 36 Stocker, Phil
A supposed anonymous entity (could it be the St George Greek Orthodox Church in Hamilton ?) has offered a substantial reward for information on the whereabouts of Don St George. Don has not shown for a tour event since finishing Pinelands in 5th place and climbing into 2nd place in the overall points. His last posting in the “myscorecard” handicap system was Harbor Pines on June 22nd. Before he disappeared a rumor was circulating that Don’s Picture from a year ago was a shoo-in for International Picture of the Year.
Bruno in the Italian Bistro asked the Godfather if Tour Champion Rob Juliano possibly could still be reeling from the Bohan remark at the Banquet, “I shot an 82. Who is the real champion?” Bruno heard a customer talking about an unidentified bystander supposedly overhearing Rob threatening to file a formal complaint against all the tour players for not keeping up the input of current golf scores in the handicap systems. He specifically named Marc and asked point plank if his myscorecard account was even active. Apparently a teenage “hacker” was engaged, who was able to access the account and found, supposedly, that the last score input was September 15, 2016. Bruno, not the brightest spoke on the wheel, was perplexed as to why Marc would want to keep his handicap so low. He asked the Godfather if there was any truth to what the customers were saying, that Rob purportedly said, Marc was keeping his handicap low so he could Whine when he lost to High Handicappers. The Godfather, took a sip of Sambuca and replied, “I doubt it, but if it helps Rob catch Marc and take the fourth position in the Race for the Final Four, that is good!”
FLASH: President trying to absconds with SCAT Money? President Scotty Shaw has the highest approval rating in OCAGA History, unpresented since Phil Stocker was Commander in Chief and set a new standard for excellence, virtually erasing the scandal ridden administrations in OCAGA’s sordid history. Shaw is now claiming that he does not have the names of those who played SCATS at Golden Pheasant. The far left is accusing him of not wanting to disclose personal financial records. It was not confirmed that Fox News Reported that Secretary Lazarchick was seen dumping the task on the president in what some observers suggested was unprofessional behavior and once again rumbling to remove him from office from the far right, surfaced. Why did Lazarchick not collect those names from President Shaw on the day of the Tournament? Why do we need a secretary if he does not support such a popular president? Shaw was swept into another term of office at the last Banquet, running on the slogan, Let’s Make OCAGA Great Again. The Federalist Papers Project *cast blame on the deviation from the original standards set by SCATS Creator, the late past President Kevin O’Donnell, claiming the founding fathers clearly did not want the current situation, followed by a suggestion that the former president was to blame.
*The Federalist Papers are not considered real news like Fox and the OCAGA News Blog, nor are they considered Faux or Fake News. They have been described as a far right wing entertainment parody of reality.
NEXT: CENTERTON JULY 30TH 10 AM
Ocean City Amateur Golf Association 