2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, May 5, 2024
***REIVIK WINS MASTERS***
~SANDALL GETS BHO ~KOONCE RETAKES 1ST PLACE ~AIUTO SHOOTS 69~
Week-10 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds.
Like a script from a David vs Goliath Hollywood movie, BOB REIVIK won his second major when he became the 2024 ST MASTERS champ this past Monday after defeating STAN KOONCE in a Sudden Death playoff. This achievement began to take form last season after Reivik won the Broad Creek OPEN last September. Reivik’s game had been improving since last year culminating in his first major win up to that point. He has continued to push that improvement here in the early going of the 2024 season, and it paid off. Reivik was able to catch Koone and tie for the lead just before that final round on Monday, setting up a photo finish… and it definitely went that way. Waiting in the clubhouse was Koonce who had finished at -12, and needed to see if Reivik had pushed past him. When Reivik finished his round, both men were tied. They proceeded over to hole #1, a par-4, to begin their sudden death playoff proceedings. Reivik teed off first and put his shot down the middle. Koonce sent his tee shot veering off to the right. Reivik’s approach shot fell just shy of the green, just 20 feet or so from the upfront flag. Koonce had to bail out to the left side of the green to get his ball back in play. Reivik’s chip came within a foot of the flag, leaving him with a tap in par. Koonce’s birdie putt had to come across the entire green and came up about 6 feet short. Koonce needed to sink the putt, but it came up just a couple of inches short. Reivik now joins Mark Carmichael, Mark Nolan and Bruce Hice as the only players to win 2 majors in their ST careers.
It was like a strong Aruba tradewind that came blowing across Fairfield Harbour on Wednesday last week when FRANK AIUTO slammed a 69 down the throat of the HPGC golf course. In scoring his record-setting round, Aiuto scored 6 birdies on his way to his 4th I-win All-time. He pounded out a 34 on the front-9 getting 4 of those 6 birds and then finished out with a 35 on the back. For the young 73 year old, that was a substantial age-beater right there. Besides getting the win in the MGA individual playdate and the 6 birds, he also scored a sandy to have a robust 33 point day. Aiuto is currently ranked 12th in the field.
Elsewhere… despite the playoff loss on Monday, Stan Koonce is heating up once again. Koonce has retaken the lead in the Combined standings, after trailing PAUL CORMIER for the last 3 weeks.
Koonce played in two of the three rounds in Week-10 and nailed down 97 points for the week (52-x-45). That included an extra 12 points for his second place finish in the Masters. Koonce scored a PENpar both on Monday and Friday when he played, racked up 3 birds, 2 holeouts and 2 sandies. On top of that Koonce was part of the HPGC team that won the New Bern Cup… quite a week indeed!
BRIAN SANDALL was the cause of a very rare occurrence this past week during STATracker play.
On one shot, Sandall scored 33 points! Sandall holed out from a green-side bunker for his birdie and thusly a sandy as well. Now, there have been plenty of holeouts and sandies, but what makes this rare is that the holeout occurred from a trap. When that happens, it’s a Bunker-Holeout, worth 20 points just for that feat alone. In Sandall’s case, it was also for a bird and the subsequent sandy. Now, there have only been 10 bunker holeouts (BHO) in STATracker history. Sandall owns the 10th one All-time and the first one this season.
Finally, a big WELCOME BACK to BOB GILLHAM, the birdie machine, as he made his first start in nearly a year. In his first start this past Friday, the 80 year old beat his age with a 79!! And a birdie
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/May 6 and Friday/May 10… (tee-times 8:50)
-MGA… Wed. May 8th…Tournament #5… The MGA… individual Low Gross/Low Net flighted Major/9:00AM
MASTERS MONTH… April/2024
From MONDAY, APRIL 1st… concluded MONDAY, APRIL 29th
… 4 lowest net scores achieved during play in any Bald Eagles or MGA event…
FINAL Top Ten…
1- BOB REIVIK 70-67-69-70 -12 … Champion (via playoff)
2- STAN KOONCE 71-70-63-72 -12
3- DAVE SEYERLE 67-70-71-70 -11
4- JOHNNY HARRELL 69-69-70-70 -10
5- JIM FURMAN 63-75-70-75 - 5
6- PAUL CORMIER 68-72-75-69 - 4
7- JOE BARNHART 70-71-71-72 - 4
8- MARK NOLAN 69-72-70-74 - 3
9- ED EDMUNDSON 73-71-71-72 - 1
0- 4 Players tied for 10th… + 1
2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, May 12, 2024
***REIVIK GRABS CAREER SLAM***
~CARMICHAEL, NOLAN WIN 3rd MAJORS ~AIUTO SCORES FIRST MAJOR WIN
Week-11 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds and it included the second major of the season… The MGA.
Team REIVIK made history last week on Wednesday when BOB REIVIK, hot off his playoff win in the Masters, the week before, captured one of the 4 championship spots in the annual MGA. With that win, he became the first player to achieve a career Grand Slam. Reivik started that ball rolling late last season when he won the Broad Creek OPEN, his first major win. Then, just last month, he tied for the lead going into the last round of the Masters and then won in a playoff to capture his 2nd major. And now… here he is with his 3rd major win to complete the STATracker SLAM! From the “history repeating itself” department, Reivik did what Mark Nolan did last season when Nolan jumped out of the gates to capture 2 majors in the first half of the 2023 season. More on Nolan in just a bit. Reivik scored a 73 for a 5-stroke margin of victory in Low Net category in the Red flight. In the tournament, he was on top of his game also scoring a birdie, capturing 2 CTPs and a sandy. If he can repeat as the BCO champ later this year, he’ll get a rare SEASON GRAND SLAM… we’ll see.
Let’s go through the other winners in this year’s MGA. First, both MARK CARMICHAEL and MARK NOLAN each scored their 3rd major wins of their STATracker careers. These 3 players are the only players with 3 major wins… Carmichael, 2 BCOs and the MGA… Nolan, The Masters and two MGAs and now of course, Reivik. In the case of Carmichael, he edged out season favorite JOHNNY HARRELL by one stroke in the Low Gross Gold flight with a gross score of 80. Nolan followed suit in that Gold flight taking the low net crown with a 73.
Finally, hot off his blistering round of 69 last week, FRANK AIUTO applied some of that heat on Wednesday, to capture the Low Gross Red flight crown, firing an impressive 76 AND… getting his first major win. Aiuto has been playing some of the best golf in his career lately, and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. See the chart below for the final results.
Elsewhere, a look at the TOURNAMENT standings in the aftermath of this year’s MGA, and we can see a tightening race developing there. Unfortuneately, STAN KOONCE, the current Tournaments standings leader, was out of the MGA proceedings with a hand injury. Both Bob Reivik and DAVE FAHRMEIER were able to make significant gains on Koonce as a result. Reivik picked up 29 points there and now sits in the #3 spot. Fahrmeier, who finished 4th in the Low Net Gold flight, inched closer with his birdie on Wednesday. Fahrmeier is in the 2nd spot there just 19 points behind the lead.
Also in week-11, the first ever HPGC tourney that’s now included in the STATracker season, was played… the Member-Member. Taking advantage big-time there, was the team of TIM WELCH and ED EDMUNDSON. Now, these 4 new HPGC tournaments added to the STATracker season’s events, are a big opportunity for a player to achieve STATracker points. Well, Welch and Edmundson made the most of that when they won the tournament outright. Welch gained an extra 71 points for the win and his other achievements during the round. Edmundson picked up 53. Both players now find themselves in the top ten in the Combined standings. Welch continues to have the lead in the ongoing season-long, Winners Circle championship.
….Coming up
-Bald Eagles team events on Monday/May 13 and Friday/May 17… (tee-times 8:30)
-MGA… Wed. May 15th…Individual Playdate… 9:00AM
The MGA… May 8, 2024
Gold/LG Gold/LN Red/LG Red/LN
1-CARMICHAEL 1-NOLAN 1-AIUTO 1-REIVIK
2-HARRELL 2-SWAN 2-WOLFE 2-KOPEC
3-McDOWELL 3-BARNHART
4-FAHRMEIER 4-SMITH
2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, May 19, 2024
***FAHRMEIER RETAKES TOP SPOT***
~WOLFE, NOLAN GET I-WINS ~FRANK AMATO MAKES SEASON DEBUT~
Week-12 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds.
It was a week of change as the season has been 33% completed after last week’s play. Two things came together last week to cause a re-schuffle at the top of the Combined standings. Playing in only 2 of 3 rounds last week, DAVE FAHRMEIER made the most of it as he amassed 80 points (34-46-x) to push himself back into first place in the COM standings. Fahrmeier was part of a “Trifecta-fest” on Monday. He along with JOHNNY HARRELL (28-0-x) and rookie BRIAN HARRINGTON (41-x-0) scored the birdie-holeout-sandy combo during their rounds. In the case of Harrington, the first year player lead all scorers on Monday with 41 points. Harrington as you may remember had been recruited to be on the HPGC team last month that won the New Bern Cup championship. STATracker Central will be watching his progress with interest. But, back to Fahrmeier, the current #1 ranked player even ended up in a 3 way playoff in Wednesday’s MGA playdate. Although, he ultimately placed third in the tournament, he had quite the round. He finished with a 69, usually a score that would’ve won, but not this time, as we’ll get into more of that in just a second, he scored his 6th PENpar of the season, 2 birdies, a holeout and a sandy. Now, when week-12 concluded on Friday, yes Fahrmeier did recapture first place but his lead is just 3 points over the scoring juggernaut known as STAN KOONCE. On Friday, Koonce returned to play after missing 4 rounds due to a hand injury. In Friday’s round, Koonce scored a birdie and a sandy to really close the gap Fahrmeier had opened up. And so the dance begins yet again for the top spot in the COM standings. In fact, it is now these same two players vying at the top of the TOURNAMENTS standings, as Fahrmeier trails Koonce there by just 19 points, with another MGA tournament looming this Wednesday.
Speaking of getting wins… RICK WOLFE and 3-time major winner MARK NOLAN scored individual (I-win) wins on Wednesday. For Wolfe, it was his first I-win of the season and his 4th all-time. Wolfe got the win after besting LARRY ERVIN and Dave Fahrmeier in a 3-way playoff. Nolan also scored a 69, but in the B-flight that was good for a 3 stroke victory over runnerup P.J. GUERIERRO. A look at the ongoing, season-long Winners Circle competition, shows that Nolan has closed the gap on frontrunner TIM WELCH. Welch, so far, has been the wire-to-wire leader. Nolan is now just 2 points behind him. It was Nolan’s 2nd I-win of the season and his 6th all-time.
Rookie LARRY CARKNARD picked up his first trip to the Winners Circle as he teamed up with Dave Fahrmeier and Brian Harrington to eek out a narrow victory during Monday’s points round.
In another interesting development, GUS VILLANOVA picked up another team win (T-win) last week. Villanova has been quietly picking up wins as he has 8 team wins in these first 12 weeks of the season. This is his most productive season thus far. He is just 3 points behind the lead in the WC competition. Remember, this is the same Gus Villanova that still holds the record for the most points in a round… 74, back in 2021.
Finally, a big welcome back to FRANK AMATO. The big guy from New Jersey made his season debut in week-12 as he played in all 3 rounds picking up 31 points (12-18-1) in his first week back.
Amato played in the STATracker field back in 2022 and had a fabulous season. Good to see him back!
2024-HARBOUR CUP/STATracker Weekly Report
Sunday, May 26, 2024
***VILLANOVA SCORES EAGLE***
~MULHALL & HARRELL, McDOWELL & FITZPATRICK GRAB 2-Man TEAM WINS~
Week-13 of the 2024 STATracker season completed all 3 rounds and it included the MGA’s 6th tournament of the season, the 2-Man Team Championship.
Lucky week-13, for some anyway, saw seasoned veteran GUS VILLANOVA score his first eagle of the season and 2nd of his STATracker career. It was the 4th eagle produced by the 2024 field of players and it occurred once again on the par-5 second hole, which is a great opportunity when the flag is on the lower tier of the green. Villanova teed off down the heart of the fairway leaving himself a 157 yard approach shot, if he wanted to go for it in two.Villanova grabbed his 4-wood and slammed his second shot onto the green settling only 4 feet from the hole, which he calmly put in the cup for the big bird score. Villanova has been steadily rising these past 4 seasons and could be on his way to his first playoff appearance, come the end of this season. In the 2021 inaugural STATracker season, Villanova finished at #36 with 72 points. In 2022, he finished at #24 with 208 points. In 2023, it was the #22 position with 319 points. Currently, Villanova is ranked #21 with 131 points with 23 weeks still to go in the 2024 season.
The MGA held its 6th tournament of the season this past Wednesday. The format was the 2-Man team championship. Players got to choose their playing partner and then go out and do battle.
The final results showed the team of SEAN MULHALL and JOHNNY HARRELL score a 3 stroke victory in the A-flight and BRIAN McDOWELL with rookie KEVIN FITZPATRICK and the Irish connection, squeezing out a one stroke victory over the team of Dave Seyerle and 2-time major winner Bruce Hice, in the B-flight. Flights were determined by the combined handicaps. It was the first tournament win for these players except for McDowell. That was his 2nd tournament win this season.
Elsewhere… the battle for first place in the Combined standings continues its see-saw ways. This past week saw the defending Harbour Cup champ STAN KOONCE, take back first place from DAVE FAHRMEIER. Both players have been hopscotching up at the top of those standings and this week it was advantage, Koonce. Now Koonce is still in the final stages of a hand injury recovery, but he did quite well last week getting stronger as the week progressed getting 45 points for the week (6-18-21).
Dave Fahrmeier, who now is in 2nd place, sits just 7 points behind Koonce. Fahrmeier played in the tourney and in Friday’s round scoring 35 points for the week (x-17-18).
It was C.A. SMITH pouring gasoline on the fire as week-13 came to a close. In Friday’s round, the former MGA champion racked up this week’s highest single round points total…46. His round included the very rare bunker-holeout (BHO). His sand shot went in the hole and for a birdie to boot getting 33 points for that one stroke. Smith’s round also included the trifecta as he ended up with 2 birdies, the BHO, a holeout and a sandy. Smith’s score of 81 also beat his age of 84!!
Actually, each round last week had an “Age-Warrior.” On Monday, it was LARRY ERVIN obliterating his age of 89 with a score of 82. On Wednesday, it was 87 year old Sean Mulhall scoring an 85 and then Smith with his performance on Friday, completed the sweep!
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