***PILLOW PLUCKS EAGLE***
~FAHRMEIER OWNS 1st PLACE ~WELCH CONTINUES WINNING WAYS ~ERVIN BEATS AGE~
Well… the first month of the 2024 STATracker season is in the books and it concluded with a very lively round on Friday during the Bald Eagles team event. Firstly, STAN KOONCE scored 32 points on Friday to go along with his 47 points in Wednesday’s MGA tourney (x-47-32). Those 79 points in Week-5 moved Koonce right back up into the thick of things and into 2nd place just 7 points the standings leader, DAVE FAHRMEIER. The Comet was back to his old tricks getting 3 holeouts and a sandy in his 2 rounds for the week. And… speaking of Dave Fahrmeier, last season’s rookie sensation has managed to finish the first month of the season on top of the standings, scoring the 2nd most points in a month (200) in STATracker history (see comparison table below). He did have a kind of “cooler” week in Week-5 scoring just 23 points in all (6-14-3). Fahrmeier now enters MASTERs month with Koonce and Cormier chasing him down with diligence. In the case of PAUL CORMIER, last year’s Birdie champ set a new birdie record for an opening month. He scored the “hat-trick” on Friday to go along with his birdies on Monday and Wednesday. Cormier scored 46 points for the week (6-30-10) which included a solid performance in Wednesday’s MGA tourney. So, Cormier has snared 20 birds in all during the opening month of the season setting the new record.
On Wednesday, the MGA held its 2nd tournament of the season, The MARCH Chiller, a team event.
The event was won by the team of JOE PILLOW, RICK WOLFE, WAYNE BEDENBAUGH and former MASTERs champ, JIM FURMAN. A closer look at one of the reasons this team won was the play of the first STATracker Playoffs champ in history, Joe Pillow. Pillow stepped up to the tee on the par-5 2nd hole and put it down the fairway. He was left with a 165 yard approach shot which he put just off the green, on the fringe. A decently long twisty, turny putt faced Pillow as he stroked his holeout shot… and in it went. It was Pillow’s 4th STATracker eagle of his career. It was a 30pt stroke.
Speaking of the MGA tournament… a huge day was had by last season’s BCO major winner, BOB REIVIK. Reivik racked up 53 points in the tourney on Wednesday. Reivik scored a birdie, two holeouts and 2 sandies! Reivik currently sits in the #6 position in the Combined standings and in 3rd place in the Tournaments standings. Oh and by the way… the Comet has opened up a 27 point lead in the Tournaments standings after his performance on Wednesday, pushing him past Fahrmeier.
Now… 11 rounds were completed during this opening month of the 2024 season, and in more than half of them, you’ll find the name TIM WELCH achieving 6 trips to the Winners Circle! Welch has continued his good and improving play helping his teams gain victories. In the official first publishing of the Winners Circle Championship standings after this conclusion of the first month of play, Welch has one Individual win (I-win) and 5 Team wins (T-win) for a total of 7 points as he leads that endeavor. ALSO… LARRY ERVIN beat his age for the 3rd time this season as the 89 year old Pennsylvanian shot an 86 during Wednesday’s tournament which included a birdie as well!
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/April 1 and Friday/April 5… (tee-times will be posted via emails)
-MGA… Wed. April 3rd… Individual playdate round
STATracker MARCH/Opening Month Leaders…
2021/11rnds… 2022/10rnds… 2023/12rnds… 2024/11rnds…
Brds: 11/Gillham Brds: 17/Smith Brds: 16/Cormier Brds: 20/Cormier*
Eagle: 2/Carmichael* Eagle: 0 Eagle: 0 Eagle: 1/Pillow
H.O. 5/Carmichael H.O. 4/Rosania H.O. 8/Koonce* H.O. 6/Koonce
Sand: 2/Carmichael Sand: 5/Smith Sand: 12/Cormier* Sand: 5/Cormier
Pts: 172/Carmichael Pts: 150/Smith Pts: 291/Cormier* Pts: 200/Fahrmeier
***CARMICHAEL CORRALS EAGLE***
~FURMAN GRABS MASTERS LEAD~THE COMET MOVES INTO TOP SPOT~
Week-6 of the 2024 STATracker season completed 2 of 3 rounds as Wednesday’s MGA individual playdate was rained out. And… that rainout seemed to put a damper on things by Friday. Monday’s round, a Bald Eagles team event, saw just about every player in the field score STATracker points. However, in Friday’s team event, achievements were light. In light of that, keep in mind that Week-6 was also the first week of the month-long STATracker MASTERs competition. MARK NOLAN begins the defense of his 2023 title in this event. However, the 2-time major winner did not make the top-ten after the first week of play. It was the former 2022 Masters champ JIM FURMAN, rocketing into first place after a “lights-out” 9 under par 63. Furman put together a career round on Monday that interestingly did not include any STATracker achievements, just rock-steady play. He did help his team to a first place finish on Monday as Furman continues to be the 2nd most winningest player in the field, all-time with 10 individual wins (I-wins) and 41 team wins (T-wins). So it was his 51st trip, all-time, to the Winners Circle in his career. By the way, his 9 under round on Monday matches his winning score in the 2022 Masters… -9!!
MARK CARMICHAEL scored the 2nd eagle of the season during Monday’s round. It was his 4th STATracker career eagle and it occurred on the par-4 13th hole. He put his tee shot down the middle of the fairway leaving 130 yards to the flag on the elevated green. Using an 8 iron, he sent his approach shot flying high, hitting just 2 inches from the cup and bouncing into the hole for his 30 point holeout-eagle. The 2-time Harbour Cup champ has been off to a slow start in 2024, but with that achievement, he led all scorers for the week with 56 points (40-x-16) and has now moved up into 4th place in the Combined standings.
Speaking of the standings, it was STAN KOONCE making the big move in week-6 scoring 44 points in all (22-x-22) as he overtook DAVE FAHRMEIER for the lead in the Combined standings. So now, last season’s Harbour Cup champ sits in 1st place in both the Combined AND the Tournaments standings. Koonce had 2 second place team finishes, a birdie, a CTP, a holeout and two sandies for his week-6. In the Masters, Koonce sits in 5th place at -1 (see chart below).
Some more on the Masters… in a clash of polar opposites, chasing down the Masters title and currently in a 2nd place tie behind Furman is last year’s rookie sensation DAVE SEYELE and seasoned veteran, 2022 MGA champ, 87 year old SEAN MULHALL. Both players opened up their Masters week with 67s, just 4 strokes behind Furman. So a look at the current top ten after the first week of Masters play, shows that it is peppered with awards winners… 2022 Masters champ Furman, 2022 MGA champ Mulhall, 2023 BCO champ Reivik, 2023 Playoffs champ Plantin and 2023 Iron-Man Wayne Bedenbaugh. The top 10 also includes the “Freight-Train,” ED EDMUNDSON. He had a 5th place finish in last season’s Masters.
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/April 8 and Friday/April 12… (tee-times will be posted via emails)
-MGA… Wed. April 10TH… MGA Tournament #3… The CHILI CLASH/4-man SuperBall
MASTERS MONTH… April/2024
STARTS MONDAY, APRIL 1st… concludes MONDAY, APRIL 29th
…4 lowest net scores achieved during play in any
Bald Eagles or MGA event…
TOP TEN after first week of play… (2 rnds: 4/1 and 4/5)
1- JIM FURMAN 63 -9
2- SEAN MULHALL 67 -5
3- DAVE SEYERLE 67 -5
4- BOB REIVIK 70 -2
5- STAN KOONCE 71 -1
6- WAYNE BEDENBAUGH 71 -1
7- FRANK AIUTO 72 E
8- ED EDMUNDSON 73 +1
9- BRIAN McDOWELL 73 +1
10- JOHNNY HARREL 74 +2
KEN PLANTIN 74 +2
***3-WAY TIE FOR MASTERS LEAD***
~HARRELL MAKES BIG MOVE~ SEYERLE STAYS THE COURSE~ FURMAN WINS AGAIN~
Week-7 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds.
With the conclusion of last week’s play, it meant that the halfway mark of the 2024 STATracker month-long Masters competition had been reached. A look at where things stand at this point, will reveal some fascinating indications of possibly what’s to come. First, even though JIM FURMAN, the 2022 Masters Champ, came back to the field by 3 strokes, after posting a 75 after his opening round of 63 in the first week of the competition, he looks to be on an excellent recovery path after his off-season knee surgery. His game seems to be back in very good control. However, by coming back to the field and now sitting in a 3-way tie for the lead (see leaderboard below), it allowed last year’s rookie sensation, JOHNNY HARRELL to catch Furman. After week one, Harrell was 11 strokes behind Furman but back-to-back 69s in week two has allowed Harrell to climb up this leaderboard quickly. The talk all winter around the STATracker Central offices was Harrell was headed for a big win in 2024. Could this Masters be it? As always… time will tell. Harrell is the 2023 HPGC Match Play champ. Now that tournament was never part of the STATracker world, BUT… now it is.
Another curious, though not surprising development is the other player who is currently in this three way tie, and that is DAVE SEYERLE. Seyerle has quietly gone about his business and put together two solid sub-par rounds, a 67 in week one and a 71 last week. Seyerle, in his first year in the field last season, finished as the 11th ranked player, winning 15 times in his 67 starts (2 I-wins, 13 T-wins).
STAN KOONCE is another player who worked hard to achieve 2 sub-par rounds, 71-70. Now in the case of Koonce, the 2023 runaway Harbour Cup champ, winning a major would complete a very well rounded resume. He finds himself only 3 strokes off the pace as we enter the second half of April.
Oh… and speaking of the Harbour Cup… we are once again, seeing a tinge of that anticipated “pennant” race between Koonce and PAUL CORMIER. As you may remember, these two jousted for the first two thirds of season last year for the top spot in the Combined standings, until Cormier got hurt. Well, that same scenario is emerging once again as both players seem to be in top form. Last week, Cormier collected 47 points (35-4-8) while Koonce managed only 13 (8-3-2). This allowed Cormier to pull within only 8 points from Koonce at the top of the standings. All eyes will soon be focused on this evolving situation. Meanwhile, Cormier has already lapped the field in the Birdies department. Both players will be teammates representing the HPGC in the upcoming New Bern Cup competition on April 28th. Also, both players will be playing in next weekend’s HPGC Member-Member tourney. This tournament is one of the 4 newly added events to the STATracker system and there are 50 points up for grabs for the winners, plus the additional opportunities to score STATracker achievements during that round. These two clearly would be favorites to perhaps get that done. By the way Koonce and Cormier are not paired with each other for this event so don’t give up on signing up for this important and historic STATracker and club event.
With all this talk about the Masters, both on TV today, Sunday (the concluding round in Augusta), and the competition here at the club, one might be asking… “and how is the defending STATracker Masters champ doing?” Well… this reporter had the opportunity to play alongside the 2023 Masters Champ, MARK NOLAN, this past Friday. This past week saw Nolan finally get on the leaderboard as he was able to finish at +3 at the halfway point. While Nolan is clearly struggling with his game right now, one shouldn’t count this competitor out… especially in light of the way he won the title in
the first place. Remember, it was Nolan who needed a solid no-nonsense round on the last day of the competition last April. The odds were against that happening as that last day was miserable weather-wise, but he rose above it and got it done.
Elsewhere… last week saw 3 players achieve the “Trifecta” in the same round!! That has never happened before. Now, for those of you keeping score at home, the Trifecta in STATracker circles is when a player achieves a birdie, a holeout and a sandy all in the same round. In Monday’s round it was BRUCE HICE, LARRY ERVIN and MARK NOLAN each getting that done. Larry Ervin also beat his age again, during that Monday round scoring an 86 for the 89 year old, the 4th time this year!
Ervin has also made it to the Master leaderboard as well! (see below)
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/April 15 and Friday/April 19… (tee-times will be posted via emails)
-MGA… Wed. April 17TH… Individual Playdate
MASTERS MONTH… April/2024
From MONDAY, APRIL 1st… concludes MONDAY, APRIL 29th
(6 ELIGIBLE ROUNDS REMAINING)
… 4 lowest net scores achieved during play in any
Bald Eagles or MGA event…
TOP TEN after 2nd week of play… (4 rnds: 4/1, 4/5, 4/8, 4/12)
1- JIM FURMAN 63-75 -6
2- DAVE SEYERLE 67-71 -6
3- JOHNNY HARREL 69-69 -6
4- STAN KOONCE 71-70 -3
5- DAVE LANGE 67-75 -2
6- BOB REIVIK 70-73 -1
7- WAYNE BEDENBAUGH 71-72 -1
8- ED EDMUNDSON 73-71 E
9- MARK NOLAN 69-78 +3
MARK CARMICHAEL 76-72 +4
LARRY ERVIN 76-72 +4
***KOONCE STORMS TO MASTERS LEAD***
~3-WAY TIE FOR 2nd~ CORMIER BAGS EAGLE~ WELCH, VILLANOVA WIN TWICE~
Week-8 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds.
The month-long STATracker Masters competition is racing towards its final four eligible rounds of play before crowning this year’s first major champion. In this 3rd week of the competition it was last season’s Harbour Cup champ, STAN KOONCE, making a huge move enabling him to grab the lead after 3 weeks of play AND get pretty comfortable in the driver’s seat regarding this major tournament.
Now… the current top ten players heading into this final quarter are heavily populated with past and defending champions. In fact 6 of the top ten are former champs with 5 of the 6 being major winners.
Koonce’s big round of 63 came during the MGA individual playdate Wednesday, which he ended up winning giving him his 3rd trip to the Winners Circle this season. In fact, with that individual win
(I-win), Koonce has now won 11 times individually, all-time… and that is now the all-time high for all players in STATracker history. Koonce is still seeking his first ever major win.
There are three players tied for 2nd chasing down Koonce in this first major of the season. That group is bunched together just 4 strokes behind at -8. It includes former Masters Champ JIM FURMAN (2022), rising star DAVE SEYERLE and season favorite JOHNNY HARREL. In the case of Furman, while he is playing well, he did end up coming back to the field after holding the lead for the first two week. For Dave Seyerle, he has quietly put together some solid rounds. His opening round of 67 for this competition, set him up well and he has now added 2 additional sub-par rounds. Johnny Harrell, after a shaky start, righted that ship with a pair of 69s and then added a 70 this past week.
Continuing on down the current top ten finds 2023 BCO champ BOB REIVIK. Reivik made a big move last week carding a 67 which places him just 6 behind the leader. Defending Masters champ and 2-time major winner, MARK NOLAN, has made his presence felt as last week was key in helping him climb up into the top ten for the competition. Nolan struggled in the early going but now seems to have course-corrected his defense of last season’s overwhelming victory in the Masters.
New to any major tournament possibilities is JOE BARNHART. Barnhart, like Seyerle, has flown just under the radar and has now suddenly appeared on the screen with a very noteworthy -4 after his third week of play in the Masters. Barnhart is currently ranked #15 in the field, his highest status achieved for him personally. PAUL CORMIER, 2023 MGA low gross champ, has been coming on very strong of late and now he has gained a top ten spot in this Masters competition. Last week saw Cormier smash through with a 68 on Monday on the back of a holeout-eagle, 3 birdies and a sandy.
Cormier’s 51 point day on Monday, lead all scorers for the week. He added 3 more birdies and another sandy on Friday. ED (The Freight Train) EDMUNDSON scored a pair of 71s to help him gain a top ten spot in the Masters going into the final quarter… and at the number 10 spot is 2-time major winner and former double-crown champ, MARK CARMICHAEL. His three 72s show he’s still very competitive, although 12 strokes back at this point, is a tall order, even for the tall Hoosier.
Elsewhere… TIM WELCH, the current leader in the Winners Circle competition, continues to maintain his stranglehold on the top spot there. Once again, he won, but this time he won twice last week in both Bald Eagles team events. Interestingly, along with him on both of those team victories was GUS VILLANOVA. Welch leads with 8 trips to the Circle and Villanova is tied for second with Joe Pillow with 5 trips to the Circle. Villanova also beat his age last week as the 82 y.o. shot an 81.
Scoring Trifectas (achieving a birdie, a holeout and a sandy in the same round) last week was JOE PILLOW and BRIAN McDOWELL. Both players got it done during Wednesday’s MGA playdate.
In the case of Pillow, he scored 5 birdies that day. In the case of McDowell, he set a STATracker record when he achieved his Trifecta all on one hole. After hitting into the fairway bunker on hole #2, McDowell hit out and back onto the fairway. His approach shot fell just short of the green. He then proceeded to holeout for his birdie and thusly, the sandy as well… 28 points off of the one shot!!
Shooting his age at 73 years old, this past week, was FRANK AIUTO (currently ranked at #16).
Also a big Welcome Back to DAN ENGELHAUPT. Engelhaupt played in his first start of the season this past Wednesday as he comes back from hand surgery. Great to see him back in the field… what he was doing there, no one knows…
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/April 22 and Friday/April 26… (tee-times will be posted via emails)
-MGA… Wed. April 24th… Tournament #4… PREZ vs. VP… 2-man team Match Play
MASTERS MONTH… April/2024
From MONDAY, APRIL 1st… concludes MONDAY, APRIL 29th
(as of April 21, 2024… 4 ELIGIBLE ROUNDS REMAINING)
… 4 lowest net scores achieved during play in any Bald Eagles or MGA event…
TOP TEN…
…after 3rd week of play… (7 rnds: April 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, 17, 19)
1- STAN KOONCE 71-70-63 -12 (2023- Harbour Cup Champ)
2- JIM FURMAN 63-70-75 - 8 (2022- ST Masters Champ)
3- DAVE SEYERLE 67-71-70 - 8
4- JOHNNY HARRELL 69-69-70 - 8
5- BOB REIVIK 70-73-67 - 6 (2023- B.C.O. Champ)
6- MARK NOLAN 69-72-70 - 5 (2023- ST Masters Champ)
7- JOE BARNHART 70-71-71 - 4
8- PAUL CORMIER 75-68-72 - 1 (2023- MGA Champ)
9- ED EDMUNDSON 73-71-71 - 1
0- MARK CARMICHAEL 72-72-72 E (2021, 22- B.C.O. Champ)
The HPGC Member-Member tourney has been postponed until Sunday, May 5th
STATracker MASTERS Leaderboard as of 4/24/24 with 2 rounds to go…
(list of players with at least 4 completed rounds… 4 lowest rounds selected)
HARRELL -10
SEYERLE - 9
KOONCE - 8
REIVIK - 8
FURMAN - 5
BARNHART - 1
WELCH + 1
NOLAN + 1
GUERIERRO + 1
CARMICHAEL + 2
CORMIER + 3
EDMUNDSON + 4
LANGE + 5
HICE + 6
McDOWELL + 7
ROBINSON + 7
SWAN + 9
VILLANOVA + 9
FAHRMEIER +11
PLANTIN +11
SMITH +11
CARUSO +12
BEDENBAUGH +13
PILLOW +13
TOBY +14
WOLFE +16
ERVIN +17
SANDALL +24
FITZPATRICK +29