The Men’s Golf Association welcomes new members. For more information about joining the group, contact Dave Lange (616) 706-9007 or Johnny Harrell (704) 430-7131.
This past weekend the Harbour Pointe Golf Club held its annual Club Championship.
This two day tournament gave participating players who are part of the STATracker field, an opportunity to gain extra points in the STATracker standings.
Below, are the final, official results compiled from the reporting players scoresheets...
The points for the LGA have been added to their standings and will be posted on Wednesday, 7-24-2024.
The points for the men will be added at the end of the official week, this Friday, 7-26-2024.
Harbour Pointe Men’s Golf Association Founders Day Cup Tournament Event (07-10-2024)
On Wednesday May 9th, the MGA golfers had their second Major Golf Event of the 2024 golf season, The Founders Day Cup Tournament. This event honors the Founders of the MGA and Bald Eagles at Harbour Pointe Golf Club: MGA: C.A. Smith Bald Eagles: Joe Pillow, Charlie Henke and Larry Ferraris (in memoriam)
This was an individual play format with winners for Low Gross and Low Net scores in an A-Flight and B-Flight. We also had “closest-to-the-pin” winners on all the Par 3 holes.
It was a hot & humid day on the golf course, so the winners had to struggle through tough conditions to get to the victory circle! Congratulations to All Winners!!
Congratulations to the following 1st place winners.
Joe Pillow – Winner Low Net (A-Flight)
Mark Carmichael – Winner Low Gross (A-Flight)
Dave Seyerle – Winner Low Net (B-Flight)
Kevin Fitzpatrick – Winner Low Gross (B-Flight)
Second-place winners: Frank Aiuto, Larry Ervin, Dan Engelhaupt and Brian SandallThird-place winners: Brian McDowell, Dave Fahrmeier, Keith Swan and Jim Robinson
Congratulations to all the “Closest-to-the-PIN” winners:
Special congratulations to all the HPGC Legends of Golf Players listed below who have had a gross golf score equal to or UNDER their age this season!
Jerry Koper – Age 92
Larry Ervin – Age 90
Sean Mulhall – Age 87
Jim Rosania – Age 84
C.A. Smith – Age 83
Gus Villanova – Age 82
Bob Gillham – Age 80
Frank Amato – Age 79
Frank Aiuto – Age 74
The next MGA event will be on July 24th. This will be the Team “Shamble” with computer selected teams to achieve their best combined low/net scores.
Harbour Pointe Men’s Golf Association Shambles Golf Tournament Event (07-24-2024)
On Wednesday July 24th, the MGA golfers had their 10th Golf Event of the 2024 golf season, The SHAMBLES GOLF Tournament.
The Shambles Golf Tournament was a computer selected team format. All team members hit their tee shots and then the team selected the best tee shot location to play their next shots. All players then played their own individual balls to complete the hole. The best team score wins it all! We also had “closest-to-the-pin” winners on all the Par 3 holes.
Congratulations to the following 1st place winners.
1st Place: Mark Nolan, Stan Koonce, Bob Reivik
2nd Place: Dave Seyerle, Joe Pillow, Tim Welch
3rd Place: Brian McDowell, Larry Carknard, Kevin Fitzpatrick
Congratulations to all the “Closest-to-the-PIN” winners:
The next MGA event will be on August 8th. This will be the Team STABLEFORD Golf format with computer selected teams to achieve their best combined Team scores.
The Men’s Golf Association welcomes new members. For more information about joining the group, contact Dave Lange (616) 706-9007 or Johnny Harrell (704) 430-7131.
2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, July 7, 2024
***WHAT’S UP WITH WELCH??***
~IS KOONCE CATCHABLE? ~MULHALL SCORES BHO ~AMATO MOVES UP~
Week-19 of the 2024 STATracker season completed just 2 of the 3 scheduled rounds last week as Monday’s Bald Eagles round was rained out.
As the second half of the season got underway, finally, on Wednesday, with the MGA’s individual playdate round, once again it was TIM WELCH grabbing yet another victory. This time, an individual win (I-win). For Welch, it was his third I-win of the season to go along with his 12 team wins (T-win). He continues to own the top spot in the Winners Circle competition. In fact, he has opened up a 5 point lead over his nearest competitor, 3-time major winner, MARK NOLAN. Consider this… last season, STAN KOONCE won the Winners Circle title with a total of 21 points. Koonce achieved that with 5/I-wins and 11/T-wins. Welch already has 18 points with nearly a whole half of a season to go, with 3/I-wins and 12/T-wins. He is on track to break the single season record for I-wins. Only 4 players have reached 5/I-wins in a season (Hice, Caruso, Reivik and Koonce). Getting 6/I-wins in a season would be huge!! In his rookie season (2022), Welch already displayed a proclivity for being a winner. He had 1/I-win and 9/T-wins. Last season, Welch continued to display the trappings of a valuable team player as he had 1/I-win and 14/T-wins. As a result, this season, Welch has achieved his highest ranking as he has been sitting in the #9 spot in the Combined standings for the last few weeks.
Our other compelling question this week is… Is Koonce catchable? That question has been bantered about the water cooler here at the STATracker Central offices, all weekend. I mean, look at what the Koonce Comet did this past week. In just 2 rounds this past week, Koonce racked up 106 points (x-41-65). It’s the second time THIS SEASON, that he has gone over a hundred points for the week. No one has done that in a career, let alone in the same season! He has now opened up a 223 point lead in the Combined standings ahead of #2 ranked DAVE FAHRMEIER. That seems to be a real claim-staker on a second consecutive Harbour Cup. Now, inside sources say that Koonce will not be participating in next week’s rounds. So that’ll be a breather AND an opportunity for some, especially over in the Tournaments standings with the MGA’s annual Founders Cup tourney with triple points, coming up on Wednesday, July 10. We’ll see…
Elsewhere… SEAN MULHALL scored the 5th BHO of the season by the field. It was his 2nd career Bunker Holeout. Only he and MARK CARMICHAEL have achieved that many in a career.
FRANK AMATO has made significant and dramatic gains since he rejoined the STATracker field after a long hiatus. In just 20 starts over the last couple of months, Amato has climbed the Combined standings from a #48 ranking up to #15… and that there my friends, is a playoff position. Now Amato, an HPGC Legends of Golf member had finished ranked #4 in 2022 but elected not to play in the playoffs. In his rookie year in 2021, he had just 5 starts. In both rounds this past week, Amato beat his age on Wednesday and matched it on Friday. LARRY ERVIN also had the same achievement in both of his rounds last week. FRANK AIUTO beat his age by 1 in Wednesday’s round.
2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, July 14, 2024
***FAHRMEIER CLOSES GAP***
~TAKES OVER TOP SPOT IN TOURNEY STANDINGS ~ADAMS SCORES EAGLE
Week-20 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds last week.
Week-20 included the annual MGA FOUNDERS Cup Championship.
In this seasonal vacation time across the USA, some of the big name players did not play last week.
As a result, it gave the middle of the pack a chance to make some gains. One of last season’s rookie sensations, DAVE SEYERLE, did just that. This season, Seyerle has not been able to match the points he achieved in 2023, thus far. However, last week, it seemed he caught the groove again. He had a solid week points-wise (2-15-18/35), getting stronger as the week wore on. The big moment came on Wednesday when he secured an individual victory (I-win) in the coveted annual Founders Cup tournament. Seyerle had one of his best rounds of the year on Wednesday to get the win and the triple points that went with it!
Also, making a substantial move last week was the “Fireman…” DAVE FAHRMEIER. After the smoke cleared last week, Fahrmeier had rearranged the furniture. First of all, he scored 83 points for the week (28-42-13) which helped him close the gap on the idle Combined standings frontrunner, STAN KOONCE… but also, with his 42 points in the Founders Cup tourney on Wednesday, Fahrmeier was able to move past Koonce in the Tournaments standings to take over the top spot there. So now Fahrmeier trails Koonce in the Combined by 140 points and leads by 35 points over Koonce in the Tournaments standings. Fahrmeier also moved past the 800 points mark last week and now sits at 813 for the season. With that, Fahrmeier became only the 5th player in STATracker history to achieve that many points in a season. He has an opportunity to be only the 4th player to get to the 1000 points mark in a season. The other winners in the Founders Cup on Wednesday included major winner, JOE PILLOW, aforementioned Dave Seyerle, 3-time major winner MARK CARMICHAEL, and upcoming rookie KEVIN FITZPATRICK getting his first career I-win. KEITH SWAN finished 3rd but piled up 42 points in the tourney on the back of 2 holeouts for the day.
The annual Founders Cup tournament was introduced in the 2022 season. It is scheduled every year to coincide with the July 4th holiday and the founding of our country. For us here at the Harbour Pointe Golf Club, this tournament is meant to commemorate the founding of our MGA and the Bald Eagles entities. More importantly, it is meant to honor the men who founded these groups and their diligent and untiring efforts to maintain an honorable and well-run system of play that we enjoy today. The current situation we enjoy here at the HPGC has been well over 2 decades in the making.
On Wednesday, after the tourney, members gave a resounding applause to C.A. Smith, Joe Pillow, Charlie Henke and in memorium, Larry Ferraris, during the annual luncheon.
Elsewhere… JIMMY ADAMS scored the field’s 6th eagle of the season when he holed out his approach shot on #8 from 99 yards, using a gap wedge. For Adams, that 30 point shot was his first STATracker career eagle. HPGC legend, LARRY ERVIN beat his age twice last week. On Friday, it was another legends member, SEAN MULHALL, beating his age.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
***SANDALL STOKES FIRE IN 2nd HALF***
~KOONCE NEARS 1000 ~ROOKIE CARKNARD HAS BEST WEEK ~NOLAN’s BACK
Week-21 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds last week.
Week-21 included an individual MGA playdate round.
The second half of the STATracker season is usually a time to get going if one has happened to have had a slow start to the season. In the case of BRIAN SANDALL, that seems to be exactly what is going on. Sandall, a perennial top 16 player, got off to a slow start to the 2024 season. Around the STATracker Central offices, many were bewildered by his slow start as Sandall has made the playoffs in each and every STATracker season that has existed. He had been hanging around the #28 position in the Combined standings for most of the first half of the season. By late June and certainly now in July, Sandall has hit the after-burners. This past Wednesday was indicative of his late turnaround.
In the MGA individual playdate round on Wednesday, Sandall put together a timely holeout and a sandy to secure his Flight-B I-win by 2 strokes over runnerup JIM FURMAN. Remarkably, it was Sandall’s first trip to the Winners Circle this season. That’s right… not even any team wins yet this year! Most of Sandall’s 13 birdies, 4 sandies and 9 holeouts for the season, have occurred over the last few weeks. As a result, Sandall has jumped up in the Combined standings and has now reached the #11 position in the standings… quite a quick rise indeed for the wily veteran from Virginia.
As week-21 came to a close this past Friday, STAN KOONCE once again found himself on the precipice of another 1000 point season. Koonce scored 44 points in week-21 in his two starts…
(2-42-x). That left Koonce at 997 points for the 2024 season, thus far. Now keep in mind, some of Koonce’s previous brushes with 1000 point seasons. His first near-miss came in 2022 when he entered the final round of the season needing 24 points to get there. He gave it a valiant try that day scoring an eagle and a birdie for 18 points finishing at 994. Then came last season, when he blew the doors off and scored a record-breaking 1470 points. On August 18th last year, Koonce finished week #25 at 996 points. So now, in week #21, Koonce is where he was last year, just 4 weeks sooner!
By the way, Koonce got his 3rd I-win of the season and the 13th I-win of his career… the most I-wins of All-Time by anyone. He secured that win via a playoff over runnerup BRIAN McDOWELL.
From the “Where Did He Go?” department comes this tidbit… MARK NOLAN led all scorers last week with 63 points (23-40-x) in his two outings. After winning his 3rd major at the MGA back in May, Nolan went quiet. He too, like the aforementioned Brian Sandall, had been staying well back of the top twenty rankings. Suddenly, and certainly after Wednesday’s double holeout round, Nolan has catapulted himself up into the #16 position, a playoff spot. BUT… lots of golf still left to play.
As this article is being written, the second round of the 2024-HPGC Club Championship, is being contested. This is one of the 4 new tournaments to be added to the STATracker season this year, and, it’s a big one. To the winners go 100 STATracker points PLUS any regular STATracker achievements made during the two rounds this weekend. That’s… a lot of points!!... 75 for 2nd place and 50 for 3rd.
We’ll have a complete review on this event in next week’s report. There could be some very interesting outcomes coming out of that tourney. HPGC Legend of Golf LARRY ERVIN beat his age again.
Sunday, July 28, 2024
***CORMIER WINS CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP***
~KOONCE BREAKS 1000… GETS 2/I-WINS IN A WEEK… WELCH IN TOP TEN~
Week-22 of the 2024 STATracker season completed just 2 of its 3 scheduled.
Week-22 included a first time ever circumstance… 2 individual competitions in the same week.
So STATracker has finally reached the level of having two designations for its history and its records. First, we’ll call all the STATracker seasons prior to 2024 as the “Classic” era. Beginning in 2024 and going forward, we will refer to each season being in the “Modern” era. This is all due of course, to the inclusion of 4 new tournaments, sanctioned by the Harbour Pointe Golf Club, into the STATracker purview. This past week, week #22 of the season, saw the inclusion of the 2nd of the 4 HPGC tournaments… The Club Championship. This is the only one of the 4 new tourneys that will be considered a major by STATracker… and with it comes some interesting outcomes that impacts the 2024 season.
PAUL CORMIER won the 2024 Club Championship by capturing the Low Gross title in the Senior Men’s division. This 2-day tournament featured some tough conditions. Cormier shot 80 on the first day and then followed that up with an amazing 74 on the second day for a 2-day total of 154. In winning the tourney and coupled with 2 birdies, a holeout and a sandy plus bonus points, Cormier ended up with 136 STATracker points… leading all STATracker-eligible players in the tournament.
Even though Cormier has pulled back from playing regularly in the STATracker field, that last batch of points has put him in the #4 spot in the Combined standings. He most surely will secure a playoff spot come the end of the season. We’ll see if he accepts the invite as his eligibility will run out at the end of the year.
Now… as a result of the Club Championship being played in the same week as an MGA tournament, we had a first time occurrence. STAN KOONCE grabbed a 1st place designation in the Club Championship in the Men’s Senior division, with the lowest net score. With that first place win along with 2 birdies and a holeout plus bonus points, Koonce scored 124 STATracker points for the tourney. That put Koonce over the 1000 points mark for the second year in a row and garnered him his first career major win. He now has 1149 points and a #1 ranking. Koonce got his second I-win of the week when he was part of the winning team in Wednesday’s 10th MGA tourney of the year… the SHAMBLE. Along with teammates MARK NOLAN and BOB REIVIK, one can see why they won.
That’s 7 majors won by those 3 players. Other notable results from the Club Championship include 87 year old SEAN MULHALL winning a first place designation in the Men’s Super Senior division with the best Low Net. It was NEIL BYRNE winning the Low Gross in that division. Two-time major winner and Double-Crown winner MARK CARMICHAEL picked up 96 points in the tourney.
TIM WELCH picked up 61 points for his play in the tournament and those points moved him up into the top ten in the Combined standings at #8… his highest career ranking. Speaking of Timbo Welch, as you know he’s been leading the Winners Circle competition from the first week of the season. After Koonce’s two I-wins this week, Welch’s first place lead has shrunk to one point and now its Koonce right on his tail… like a motorcycle cop…………… well…………… yeah…………..
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