A SANCTUARY PUBLICATION – EDITOR MICHAEL C. LAZARCHICK -THE OCAGA NEWSBLOG HAS AGAIN BEEN AWARDED THE NUMBER ONE SPORTS PUBLICATION IN THE WORLD REPORTING EXCLUSIVELY ON THE OCAGA TOUR BY SPORTS ILLASTRATED.*

The Polish American Tavern, Le Petite Café, The Italian Bistro and Hamm’s Beer Tasting Room were quite   in anticipatory silence with a veil of mesmerizing concentration exuding from the final four in the OCAGA Tour Championship.  Marc Bohan erased the stroke he was giving Mike Lazarchick on the very first hole and they would battle to a 40, 41 tie after 9. Glen Hamm sunk a beautiful 15 foot birdie on 5, raising his club in a victory pose to the cheers from the gallery, and would share the lead posting a 43. Charlie Ranucci was one off the pace coming in at 45. The Championship was delivering all the excellence predicted in the media hype. There were miscues yes, but incredible recovery shots eliciting  oohs and ahs from the fans.

The doctor started the day with golf meditation and was early at the driving range for a pre-tournament warm up. He was the first tour player at the course, practicing putts when the others began to arrive.  In an exclusive interview the night before, he revealed that he just needed to be in play after the first 6 holes. He believed that his game would get progressively stronger as it had so many times over the course of his record breaking regular season. He told the story of how he had squandered the lead the year before in the finals, after being given the opportunity to win, by letting Shaw, Bohan and Juliano back in position to take the victory.

LZ’s par on 10 gave him the lead. Another on 12 signaled a march of determination to the trophy. Marc was down 4 strokes after 14 and Charlie was off by 5. Glen stumbled to a 7 on 13 and posted a careless 8 on 14, twice missing very short tap-ins. Michael was methodically sinking every putt within 6 feet, twice hit the pin from off the green pitches and left one long curving rescue shot over a trap, one revolution from Birdie. On 14, the Tavern erupted in delirium. The Doctor sent a long booming drive down the hard pan right side of the fairway into a large waste bunker.  He picked the ball clean and sent it just short of the green and followed with a chip to 6 feet from the cup. The Birdie added another stroke to his cushion. He was slowing down his fluid swing seeking a more perfect tempo. Oh NO!!!! Too slow of a swing on the par three 15, sliced the ball off the green all the way down the hill, to a spot partly shaded, under the 150 yard pampas grass on the adjoining fairway.  Marc gave him a “nice shot” when he navigated past the trees up the hill onto the green on the way to saving a four.  By then, Stanislaw and Kazimierz were bumping chests, standing on the bar yelling, “He’s gunna win!”

Michael Lazarchick stood on the tee box at 18 with a three stroke lead over Marc Bohan. He had  dropped two strokes since the birdie, after shifting to a protective, more conservative state of mind, playing safe shots. He took a deep breath and visualized a drive targeting the middle of the fairway. It was full, smooth, clean and crisp and his longest of the day. Charlie immediately congratulated him. They knew it was over. He finished by tapping in his 41^st stroke on the back. He had beaten a formidable trio, the best the tour had to offer, the lowest  four handicap indexes ever to be in final four together in OCAGA history. He had won the  2017 OCAGA Championship. 

Callaway Tournament

Art Czachorowski offered a Callaway Tournament to the Tour Players who did not make the finals. The Callaway Method is quite popular for one time events because it applies a one-time handicap that’s actually based upon a player’s score on that day. Basically, the table shows the number of “worst hole” scores the player may deduct and the adjustment to be made, based on the player’s gross score. With only five players showing for the event, having a two man scramble event became problematic and in the end Art Czachorowski and Phil Stocker tied Scotty Shaw and John Beuchner. Only Rob Juliano, regardless of who he was paired with, was not a winner.  He actually shot the low gross score among the five players. Bruno asked the Godfather if he planned to speak with Rob because the patrons at the Italian Bistro were embarrassed again by his “whining” which resulted in the other players returning his money.  They said it actually started before the tee off when he was “whining” that paying $20 to play could have been eliminated by using the money “saved” from the 5 no-shows. The Godfather first reflected on the thought that Rob on occasion seems to appear a little tight with his money, but quickly shifted to he just hates to lose. He told Bruno not to listen to Giuseppe and “that” crowd. He told him Rob is just drawing attention to the questionable OCAGA management with leaders that get most of their wisdom from the Polish Tavern.  Too bad, he said, that Rob was in the wrong tournament. If he had made the finals, his 84 would have held onto the Trophy! At the Bistro a group of very young Italian Gymnasts were swooning as they watched the tournament. They were visiting hoping the Godfather could get “Physical Therapist” Rob to work on their bodies.

Turner-Nickles Memorial Trophy Retired   

Since 2010, when Art Czachorowski won his fifth OCAGA Championship, there has been talk about retiring the Turner-Nickles Trophy and giving it to Art.  As a charter member of the OCAGA Tour he is actually the only person who knew Turner and Nickles and no one prior to 2010 was even close to 5 titles.  President Scotty Shaw, in his infinite wisdom, after some discussion with the players who stayed after the tournaments, asked for an executive board vote (they complied) on his following Executive Order.

“I pledged to make OCAGA Great Again.   Five time Champion Art Czachorowski, arguably the greatest player in OCAGA Tour History, is hereby presented with retired Turner-Nickles Memorial Trophy to be held in perpetuity. He is directed to procure a new Trophy of reasonable size (not a giant trophy like the one being retired) to present to our 2017 Champion,  Doctor Michael Lazarchick at the Banquet. The New Championship Trophy will be called the Art Czachorowski  Championship Trophy.” **

*Sports Illastrated is a subsidiary of Sanctuary Publications

**If any member of the association objects to this decision and actions, they can query the secretary who will collect information to be brought to the attention of our president so that he can resolve the conflict.  The president declared that he would Make the Polish American Tavern Pay for the Trophy. That has been amended to the OCAGA members will pay for the Trophy out of the treasury and we will be reimbursed by the Tavern.