The 2016 CA Hickory “North-South” went off without a hitch. It is hard to believe that this was the fifth year of this annual event. 36 contestants braved the blue skies and mid 60’s temps in Pacific Grove on the Monetery Peninsula. For those from the area or travel to know how rare blue sky is in the mornings. Pacific Grove Golf Links was up for the challenge of the great weather with terrific course conditions. The greens rolled true, the fairways green and lush, and the winds off of the Pacific were par for the course.
Saturday began bright and early with a group picture and first tee times starting at 7:40AM. Round #1 is always interesting because each player plays their ball tee to cup, but is also paired with a partner in team match play. The field was divided into 18 North players, and 18 South. Unlike the first four years of the matches where the South team had won the big goose egg, they finally came through strong winning the matches by a 17 1⁄2 to 9 1⁄2 margin. Closest to the pin winners were Lyle Rowland (#10 at 4ft. 8 in.) and Jack Wilson (#17 at 7ft. 2 in.). Doug Richards performed his best on the tough 14 th , 15 th , and 16 th holes to claim the Bogey award. Some good scores showed up too with three below 80, and a handful in the low 80’s.
Above: The Surano home. Time for fun!
After the trunk trade show the group headed over to Kris & Sylvia Surano’s home in Pacific Grove Saturday evening for the event social. Great food, drink, and company were on hand at this wonderful 1898 Victorian home. Socializing, pictures, great tasting beverages, stories and so on went on for hours.
Sunday saw the typical morning overcast skies with fog rolling in over the dunes. With the wind up a little more and temps down a touch, scoring proved to be more difficult for round #2. No scores would drop below 80, and most players found that the higher scores of the second day did not hurt them too much, as most of the field had added a few strokes. This did not deter the passerby’s, sightseers, and the many photos that were taken of the players on the course. And of course, there were many of our beloved four-legged spectators spread throughout the course.
Above: Brian Malison putts for Bucks.
Closest to the pin winners of round #2 were Robb Stuart (#10 at 17ft. 1 in.) and Larry Sonnenberg (#17 at 7ft. 11in.).
Great play Ladies Division! : Donna Richmond took the Gold. 2 nd place Pam Rowland,
3 rd place Susan Bradrick.
Bobby Jones Division: John Sweeney 3 rd Net, Steve Richmond 2 nd Net, and Kurt Olsen 1 st place Net. Rob Ahlschwede took 3rd Gross, Jack Wilson 2 nd Gross, and Jim Clawson 1 st place Gross. Great consistent play Jim!
Francis Ouimet Division: Chuck McCollum 3 rd Net, Dan Vordale 2 nd Net, and Dana Niehaus finished first place Net. 2012 champion Kris Surano battling a bad knee still managed to finish 3 rd place gross, and Robb Stuart from New Mexico and new to hickory had a great showing as a rookie shooting a 78 and 83 for a two day total 161 in his first ever hickory event. Well played Robb.
While the hickory golfers were finishing their rounds on the links side back 9, the players better halves were taking part in the St. Andrews ladies putting green contest (Pacific Grove Chapter).
I have a feeling this was more entertaining (and pleasing to the eye) to watch than the golf on Sunday! We look forward to seeing many more hickory golfers in Monterey in July 2017 (July 10-12) for the US Hickory Open at the historic 1897 Del Monte GC in Monterey, CA.
