2015 Newport Cup Matches Thread

[Hardspoon]

This may be a stupid question, but it just occurred to me: how did you guys decide which type of ball to play during alternate shot?  Was there any discussion about it?

[saevel25]

This may be a stupid question, but it just occurred to me: how did you guys decide which type of ball to play during alternate shot?  Was there any discussion about it?

From the group I was in you just play what ever ball was tee'd off. There wasn't really any discussion on playing one type of ball or really carrying about it. I think most of us were playing the KickX balls provided anyways.

[jbishop15]

This may be a stupid question, but it just occurred to me: how did you guys decide which type of ball to play during alternate shot?  Was there any discussion about it?

Not for Vince and I. We both decided to use the KickX balls that were given to us, but even if we hadn't been using the same ball I don't think it would've mattered much.

[iacas]

West had the board looking pretty good as the tallies were deep into the back 9, but the East quietly and quickly put themselves in striking distance as several holes went their way very late in the match on the back 9, in time for the last foursome to eke out the tie.  In fact, John had to win the 18th just to even things up for the West, as we know. I'm still stunned about the back 9 ups and downs.

I was genuinely sure the Red team had won when the first match ended. I didn't see the 4.5 points we still needed coming in on the last four matches.

A small part of it was my personality: assume the worst and then if it happens, you're prepared, but if it is any better, it's a bonus. But yeah… I was telling people who had finished that it was over and Blue wasn't going to win.

Happy to be wrong!

I am not sure I liked the Nassau format. I almost wished it was just front and back only. I kinda felt like the Nassau took out aggressive play to win the front. If you are two down with two to play, if yo have a Nassau it was almost better to try to maybe win one out of the two to get it close for the back nine. If there was no Nassau then you would go supper aggressive in trying to win the front nine. I think the Nassau kinda took away trying to really win the front instead of just trying to set up for the back nine. In the end you still could tie it up at 1.5 to 1.5 or go 2 to 1 if you win the back nine by a lot. I think the Nassau made the front nine a tad less important.

That doesn't make much sense to me. The back mattered exactly the same as the front nine. And the total mattered as much as each of the nines. This helped to normalize close matches a bit, as rather than getting 0%, 50%, or 100% of the matches, it was possible to earn either 0%, 17%, 33%, 50%, 67%, 83%, or 100%.

If you win an 18-hole match 3&2, then you'd win 1 point in a true "match play" format (100%). If you lost the front, but won the overall, that also means you won the back, so you'd win 2-1 points (67%).

If you were two down with two to play on the front nine, you had three possibilities:

• Lose more on the front nine, making it tougher to win the total.
• Win/Tie the last two holes to still lose the front but "help" the total by not losing more ground.
• Win two holes to square up the front, earning half a point and putting you in the best position to win the total.

The Nassau is a very commonly played format. If you're 3 down on the front nine, the last two holes still have meaning because you want to fight back for the total. Ditto why playing the back as a separate match matters: if you would lose the "match" 5&4 nobody cares about the last four holes, but very, very few matches had meaningless holes in this format - and those that did had only 1 or 2 meaningless holes, not the 6-8 that are possible in straight match play.

P.S. Quick math, but…

• If we counted only the totals, the score would have been: 8.5 - 9.5 .
• If we counted front and back only (no idea why we would, but…), the score would have been: 18.5 - 17.5 .

[Golfingdad]

I was genuinely sure the Red team had won when the first match ended. I didn't see the 4.5 points we still needed coming in on the last four matches. A small part of it was my personality: assume the worst and then if it happens, you're prepared, but if it is any better, it's a bonus. But yeah… I was telling people who had finished that it was over and Blue wasn't going to win. Happy to be wrong!

I can vouch for this. While standing in the rough waiting for Vince to drive back to the tee to hit his third on 16 in his match against Colin, I was actually surprised when you said to me "congratulations on your comeback victory." It took me a second to register that you were actually talking to me AND to register that you were referring to the entire competition and not just my match. We realized your concession was premature later while the last groups were finishing but thought maybe Johns chip in had sealed our victory.

[iacas]

I can vouch for this. While standing in the rough waiting for Vince to drive back to the tee to hit his third on 16 in his match against Colin, I was actually surprised when you said to me "congratulations on your comeback victory."

It took me a second to register that you were actually talking to me AND to register that you were referring to the entire competition and not just my match.

We realized your concession was premature later while the last groups were finishing but thought maybe Johns chip in had sealed our victory.

Reverse jinx. Annoyance required. Has to sound believable.

[Golfingdad]

Reverse jinx. Annoyance required. Has to sound believable. :-)

Lmao ... Pretty sure at one point I even said to somebody somewhat sarcastically that you were trying to reverse jinx us.

[saevel25]

I was genuinely sure the Red team had won when the first match ended. I didn't see the 4.5 points we still needed coming in on the last four matches.

A small part of it was my personality: assume the worst and then if it happens, you're prepared, but if it is any better, it's a bonus. But yeah… I was telling people who had finished that it was over and Blue wasn't going to win.

Happy to be wrong!

So am I. I was trying my hardest to get as many points as I can, but my golf game was trying it's hardest to defy me.

The Nassau is a very commonly played format. If you're 3 down on the front nine, the last two holes still have meaning because you want to fight back for the total. Ditto why playing the back as a separate match matters: if you would lose the "match" 5&4 nobody cares about the last four holes, but very, very few matches had meaningless holes in this format - and those that did had only 1 or 2 meaningless holes, not the 6-8 that are possible in straight match play.

True. I was just thinking in terms of what I thought mentally on the 8th and 9th holes. I knew if I pressed on a shot and messed up then it could just give the total away right there. If I was down 2 with 2 to play it was almost better to just try to get as many points back with out pressing to the point of just throwing away more points. In the end, 2 points isn't insurmountable on the back nine as 4 points are.

I can vouch for this. While standing in the rough waiting for Vince to drive back to the tee to hit his third on 16 in his match against Colin, I was actually surprised when you said to me "congratulations on your comeback victory."

It took me a second to register that you were actually talking to me AND to register that you were referring to the entire competition and not just my match.

We realized your concession was premature later while the last groups were finishing but thought maybe Johns chip in had sealed our victory.

It was going to be tough for @jamo anyways because he gave John a stroke on that hole. I believe Jamieson par'd that hole. So John would have to bogey it. He made an amazing chip, but if it didn't go in it looked to be at least a tap in anyways.

The biggest help was when I tied Barrett on the 17th so he didn't shut me out for a 3-0 win. Getting a stroke on a shorter par 4 was a bit advantage for me.

[iacas]

True. I was just thinking in terms of what I thought mentally on the 8th and 9th holes. I knew if I pressed on a shot and messed up then it could just give the total away right there. If I was down 2 with 2 to play it was almost better to just try to get as many points back with out pressing to the point of just throwing away more points. In the end, 2 points isn't insurmountable on the back nine as 4 points are.

You might have some things to learn about match play, Matt. It sounds like you worried too much about the status of the match and how it would affect things later on… Just play golf! Don't worry about your opponent, the status of the match or the teams, etc. Those things take care of themselves when you focus on playing good golf.

The only time you worry about that kind of stuff is if your opponent puts two OB or something… then you hit a 5I off the tee or something.

It was going to be tough for @jamo anyways because he gave John a stroke on that hole. I believe Jamieson par'd that hole. So John would have to bogey it. He made an amazing chip, but if it didn't go in it looked to be at least a tap in anyways.

Right. As soon as it got close enough, it didn't matter that it went in because Jamieson was probably not going to make the 30-footer. So once it got close enough for a par, it going in basically gave the Red team about a 2% bump in the odds of tying the match (roughly the odds of Jamieson making his putt).

The biggest help was when I tied Barrett on the 17th so he didn't shut me out for a 3-0 win. Getting a stroke on a shorter par 4 was a bit advantage for me.

We tend to over-emphasize the things at the end, of course, but all of the points mattered all week. One hole here or there - either way - was all that was needed to make one team the victor. And I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

[RandallT]

I was genuinely sure the Red team had won when the first match ended. I didn't see the 4.5 points we still needed coming in on the last four matches.

I was skeptical too the East could mount the last second comeback, because in those last 4 matches it stood here as each was going into their 18th. (not shown is that 18 was a hole where it seems a stroke was given for handicap differences)

Vishal Down1 on back. Down 2 Total.

Dave All Square on back. Down 1 Total.

Matt Down 1 on back. Down 3 Total

Jamo Up 1 on back. Up 2 Total. John would get a stroke on 18, so it was looking bleak.

That projected 2.5 East, 5.5 to West, for 28.5-25.5 WIN . Lots of Red on my board in those remaining matches ( Red Red, White Red, Red Red, Blue Blue ), and East needed a surge. I suspected that would hold up. From the players' recaps above:

Vishal took 18 to go AS on back. Down 1 Total.

Dave hit 5 footer on 18 to win back. All Square Total.

Matt took 18 to go AS on back. Down 2 Total.

Jamo's 17th hole aggressive birdie paid off, as John won go AS on 18.

That switched those last 8 points for those 4 matches to a 4-4 tie (from 2.5-5.5). On the board it looked like: White Red , Blue White, White Red , White Blue . Much more even.

That 4-4 tie preserved 27-27. Fitting end.

[nevets88]

For the prediction contest, I picked the closest score possible. Had I known you could tie, I would have picked that. But then I thought a tiebreaker would be total points or something like that.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

For the prediction contest, I picked the closest score possible. Had I known you could tie, I would have picked that. But then I thought a tiebreaker would be total points or something like that.

I also predicted the closest score possible without a tie. I never once even considered a tie. Usually in sports, I DESPISE ties. Why compete just to have the end result be the exact same as it was before it began. However, in this situation, it was very cool that a bunch of guys were able to get together, play some awesome golf all weekend, and no one goes home as a 'loser'. It certainly looked like a great event and an awesome weekend.

[GolfLug]

My matches:

1. Thursday morning Four-ball: Dave + Me vs. Kyle + John. I had bit of trouble with my driver during warm up finding proper grip and set up given my 'unique' set up, but thought it would work out.

I was aware of Dave's steady play capability but was not aware he was THAT reliable. He was rock solid off the tee on both sides and IMO made the most telling difference in the result. I drove the ball badly on the front 9 and was starting to get a little disheartened as I felt I leaned on Dave too much but then cleaned up on the back nine to play much better. Just a lot of up and down for me. Thanks to Dave for carrying me.

2. Thursday afternoon foursome: Matt + me vs. Colin + John. Matt covered this so I won't go into much detail. Nothing good happened for either Matt or me especially on the back 9. Did witness Matt's famous ridiculously long drives.

3. Friday morning foursome: Dave  + me vs. Colin + Michael. Again, Colin and Michael covered this match well in their posts. Only thing to add was I finally hit my stride on the back nine to somewhat match with Dave's consistency to halve it and gave me a better feel for upcoming four ball and final singles match.

4. Friday afternoon fourball: Dave (who else? ) + me vs. Kyle + Colin. Familiar faces again! This was a fun match as both Dave and I went head to head with Colin and Kyle. Nail biter to the end. the 1.5-1.5 split was just that.

5. Saturday morning Singles: I drew by buddy Kyle and Dave as my riding partner! Dave was encouraging and pleasant as ever but I could tell he wished he had a chance to ride with someone of the others on the blue team knowing that chances like this to play with them won't come often. I felt I played generally better but had a serious oops on 8. We all drove our balls in the fairway but mine went through the trees so everybody including myself thought she got caught hard in the trees. We saw 3 balls in the fairway close to each other so I ASSUMED that no way my ball made it that far and that they were all my playing partners and that I was OB. Never checked - downright stupid on part. Went back to the tee and pumped the second ball OB without a doubt. Of course I returned to find that one of the balls on the fairway was my first one. I was DONE. Sheer stupidity is hard to forgive. Still kicking myself for it. Also turns out it proved pivotal as I lost that hole to let Kyle up 1 and lost the side as we pushed 9. I managed to half the back nine with some good iron play and with a bit of help from Kyle on 18th. We only pushed 1 out of 9 holes! He won 4 and I won 4. But the 1 up from the front side stung and lost overall too. One hole. One effing hole out of 18. Of course playing with Kyle is always a positive. He is a hoot to play with and even against. You should try it sometimes.

A bit about my playing partners:

Dave Panich: Dave was my playing and riding partner for 4 out 5 matches. He also drove me and Hunter all week to and back from the house to the course. In the spirit of giving moniker and is, I dubbed him 'DaveTFM (The Fairway Machine). But really as the matches wore on deeper shades of his personality emerged. In addition to his steady play I can say he is truly a wise warrior of many battles. Nothing really got to him and also kept me calm and encouraged through my MANY rough patches.

Matt Dougherty: Of course his power is every bit real as advertised! He put up with my short and crooked hitting butt for our foursome. I hope we team up sometime again on one of our better days in the future. Enjoyed the sushi dinner with him on Saturday night.

Kyle Paulhus: Larger than life! The man is alive. Very positive and a heart bigger than a truck. Loved him, I mean, how can you not? He and I had similar troubles off the tee over our three matches together but I could tell he took it better in his stride than I did. He also was a very gracious opponent and won't forget the shaky 3 and a half footer he gave me on the 9th hole in our singles match recognizing how shaken up I was because off an silly mishap on the 8th hole. Class. BTW, I also know a WHOLE lot about the inner workings of WALMART now...ha ha. Congratulations on the impending wedding...!

Colin Boylan: Quite and intense competitor! Can't believe he was a 2nd draft pick. No matter where he was, he found a way to get up and down on the green. Sneaky long with his irons. Enjoyed playing with him. I hope to get a chance to square up with him next time (if there is one for me)...

John Steinman: Ohh what a merry competitor! I would forget if I was playing against him or with him. The wedge play was absolutely stellar. Not sure who had more FIRs, him or Dave but I would have bet on at least a tie.

Michael Hepp: Last but not the least, the soft spoken smiling assassin from Oregon! Not quite the ring of King Midas or Mike the Machine, but that's what I thought of him. We sat together at lunch and enjoyed our talk about our families and jobs. Thanks for the recommendation on wineries of Russian River! Wife thanks you. Headed there this Thursday and will drink my sorrows away...

Non-partner team mates and new friends :

Hunter Bishop: Young lively buck with a gift for gab (and pen, I found out). Loves and knows his football. My fellow Patriot.

Jamieson Weiss: He graciously gave me a ride on his Uber cab back to the airport and took the same flight back to Philly so I got to know him some sitting at the airport discussing what had just transpired few hours ago with the wild tie and what have you. A fellow New Englander and Patriot. I loves me them Patriot fans! We gotta stick together coz the world hates us.. haha...

Vince Dougan: Vince hates losing. He really turned it on after the first rough match. Kudos to the almost MVP performance. Could benefit from a new age driver made in the 21st century.. LOL! Did I mention Vince HATES losing?

Barrett Chamberlain: I was able to have very little one on one time with him but very personable. He graciously came out late at night on Tuesday night to pick me up with Drew and Colin. I hoping to get a better glimpse of the +HCP game next time.

Drew Sebillian: I knew much was expected of him coming in to the tourney so you could tell he was feeling the heat after the first few matches but he hung in there tight finished with a flourish making everything from all over the greens. He is about the nicest of people I have met in person.

Formats:

This was a huge learning experience for me in both formats. I might have been on the older side of the dozen with John and Dave, but I think I might have been the only rank rookie for match play. And it showed. It certainly showed where I could not really take advantage of openings I had and ended up being the weaker link of my pairings in three of my four team matches. When it came to foursomes, I guess I didn't realize how thin-skinned I am. Playing bad is one thing but dragging down your much better playing partner is just in entirely different category. Hopefully I will be better prepared if there is a next time for me.

The second four ball and singles match were the only matches where I thought I played ok barring the silly mishap on 8th hole. That about sums up the playing part of the week..

[kpaulhus]

Anytime I'm in the VA Beach area V we will for sure get a round in!

[GolfLug]

Anytime I'm in the VA Beach area V we will for sure get a round in!

You know I'm your man..

[DaveP043]

OK, now that I'm a little caught up both at home and at work, its time to try to get my memories in order.  I'm really impressed with some of the summaries so far, the detail you guys remember is amazing.  For me, lots of the holes seem kind of blurred together.  Anyway, here's my recap.

Match 1, Vishal ( @GolfLug ) and I against Kyle ( @kpaulhus ) and John ( @Club Rat ).  This was the closest match possible, with our side winning one up on the back to take 2.5 of 3 points.  The key may have been my play on 15, the LONG par 3.  After a brilliant 150 yard drive right off the top of the club, I managed to hit a wedge to about 3 feet and make par.  sometimes luck conquers skill.  This was a learning round, learning a bit about V, and our opponents, and about the golf course.

Match 2, foursomes with Jamieson ( @jamo ) and I against Kyle and Mike ( @mchepp ).  We played pretty well to win the front, but I think fatigue got to us, and we lost the back and the 18.  Kyle and Mike improved, and we didn't.   This was my first 36-hole day ever in 100-degree conditions, so it was a different kind of learning experience.

Match 3, foursomes again, this time with V and I against Colin ( @Big C ) and Mike.  We started out pretty slow, not a good thing against two players as steady as these two, and lost the front 3-down.  We came back on the inward 9 for a half, raising our spirits for lunch.  Thanks to a good decision by the captains, playing the fourballs in the morning resulted in quicker play, so we had a nice long lunch.

Match 4, in the last of the fourballs, it was V and I again, this time against Kyle and Colin.  This is a fearsome pair, Colin strong and steady, and Kyle immensely strong and mercurial.  We eked out a 1-up win on the front, thanks in part to sand saves on 1 and 5 and birdies on 6 and 8, only to see our opponents do the same to us on the back, so we halved the match at 1.5 points each.  I think my up-and-down for par on the last was inspired by Colin's play all day, he was a magician in the short game.   I think by this time I had seen Kyle hit at least 4 shots from within 6 inches of the boundary walls, a couple of them left-handed, every time getting it back into play.

Match 5, singles against Mike.  Having played against Mike in both of my foursome matches, I knew I was in for a tough time.  I started out well, doing my best to hit each and every tree down the right side of the first hole.  Instantly down 1.  But I won the next, back to even, and that's where it stayed until 6.  Mike won 6 and 7, and we both missed birdie putts on 8, so I had definitely lost the front.  I did manage a win on 9, making it a close 1-down loss.  My birdie on 10 evened the match and put me 1-up on the back, but we went back and forth from there.  Mike's nice par on 15 evened the back again.  I knew that I was giving a stroke on the long 16th, and didn't want to fall behind.  Two good shots, and a solid long putt from the fringe left me a par for a half against Mike's 5.  I thought I had a chance to win 17 when Mike's wedge ended up right of the green, but he hit a brilliant chip that crawled over the ridge in the green and ended up just a few feet from the hole.  On to the last, where I made a real nice 2-putt from the front edge to make a par and win the back.  I was beat, Mike is just so steady he wore me out.

As we walked off, Erik told me that Red had won, but he wasn't quite right this time.  All we could do now was wait and watch the last group.  When John holed his pitch from right of the green, it was all over.

I'll post elsewhere to thank our sponsors, but I really want to thank @mvmac and @iacas for putting all this together, and inviting me to be a part of it.  Thanks also to every one of the players, I enjoyed meeting every one of you, and hope I get a chance to see all of you again.  Last, I want to thank @RandallT and @nevets88 for making this thread so entertaining.  Unlike many of the other players, I completely ignored my phone during the matches.  I can safely admit it now, I even tried to ignore Erik's occasional updates about the state of the other matches.  I had my work cut out for me playing against guys as good as the red team, and that's all I wanted to concentrate on.  But when it was all over, I had a blast reading the updates and getting a sense for the swings in fortunes.  Thanks again to everyone!

[Club Rat]

So now the real question remains: Where is the trophy now if nobody won?

Mike gave me the honors to "spend a day with the Cup"

Both the Cup and I have arrived safely home after a very beautiful and long drive.

I had the pleasure of showing a Texas Ranger the Cup, after he pulled me over for

"failure to change lanes after passing an 18 wheeler and not allowing 100 feet clearance between my vehicle and the rig"

This occurred after he came raging right up behind me riding my ass while I was trying to pass the rig.

I was just east of Abilene and they were out in force, I counted over 15 cars working both east and west lanes.

I told him I was driving home after playing in a golf in Phoenix and showed him my new golf bag with my name on it and the "Newport Cup"

He asked me if we had won, I told him to go to "The Sand Trap" for details.

After a few minutes of friendly conversation, he sent me on my merry way.

I guess I should have asked them to take a picture of us holding the Cup.

So, that was my thrilling day with the Cup.

Club Rat

[mvmac]

Opening tee shots.