Ryder Cup goes to the Old Guys again!

At St. Marys Golf and Country Club this past weekend

 

By Pat Payton

Sports editor

 

Have the Old Guys started another streak?

Only time will tell, but the 36-and-over team defeated the 35-and-under Young Guys for a second straight year in the 15th annual Ryder Cup competition this past weekend at St. Marys Golf and Country Club.

Sunday’s final tally read: Old Guys 19 points; Young Guys 13 points.

Looking back at the history of Ryder Cup, both sides have taken turns dominating the local event--which began in the early 1990s. The Old Guys won the competition for eight or nine consecutive years, then the Young Guys turned the tables and hoisted the Cup in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Last year, the Old Guys met the challenge head on and won the two-day event by six points. This year, they won all three segments of the competition (better ball, alternate shots and singles play) to claim another six-point victory.

“Wayne Ross, Kent Gozzard, Rich Parsons and Marty Rutledge won all three of their matches this weekend, but everybody played well for us,” Old Guys’ captain Brian Hughes replied when asked what gave his team the edge.

Young Guys’ captain Stew Grant graciously tipped his hat to the Old Guys.

“The Old Guys really stepped up this year and executed,” Grant said. “Experience is definitely a key for the Old Guys. They probably know when to call it a night,” he added with a laugh.

“We focused a lot on match-ups, and we actually got a lot of the match-ups that we wanted, but the results didn’t fall the way we had hoped. They simply out-played us.”

Four-point lead going into Sunday

The Old Guys held a four-and-a-half to three-and-a-half lead in points after Saturday’s opening round, the better-ball competition. They extended their lead to four points (10-6) in the afternoon’s alternate shots event.

In Sunday’s head-to-head singles play, the Old Guys won by a nine to seven points margin.

Old Guys who won their singles matches were: Rick Fifield, Rich Parsons, Brian Hughes, Chris Osborne, Kent Gozzard, Wayne Ross, Marty Rutledge and Len Foran.

Young Guys who won their singles matches were: Derek Fifield, Jason Skipper, Jimmy Holliday, Brent Smale, Adam Bell and John Cole.

Smale collected 2.5 of a possible three points on the weekend, best on the Young Guys.

Ross named MVP

Wayne Ross, known for his consistent play, won all three of his matches and was named the winning side’s MVP this year. Captain Hughes presented him with a small trophy.

“I played well this weekend,” Ross admitted. “I was hitting the fairways and the greens, and I didn’t three-putt once all weekend.

“And (2007 MVP) Kent Gozzard and I played very well as a team on Saturday (firing a six-under-par 66 in better ball).”

Hughes described Ross as a “steady, down-the-middle” golfer.

Tough pins placements Sunday

Jim Craigmile reported that course conditions were “excellent” on Sunday.

“There were some tough pin placements today,” the veteran Craigmile said after finishing his round. “We had a good match, Derek (Fifield) and I. I struck the ball well, but I didn’t make any putts today.”

Several golfers remarked that the par 4 No. 13 hole played long on the weekend. In addition to playing into the wind on Sunday, the blue tees were back, and the pin was on the top-right side of the tiered green.

Ryder Cup notebook:

--The teams were expanded to 16 players (from 12) for the first time this year.

--Next year’s team captains were appointed on Sunday. Len Foran will lead the Old Guys, and Andy Cunningham will be his counterpart on the Young Guys squad.

--Old Guys’ Rich Parsons describes the Ryder Cup competition as “80 per cent fun and 20 per cent serious.”