MGA June Update
- John Harrell & Thomas Caruso
- May 25
- 9 min read
Harbour Pointe Men’s Golf Association Championship Golf Tournament Event (05-07-2025)
On Wednesday May 7th, the MGA golfers had their 5th Golf Event of the 2025 golf season, the MGA CHAMPIONSHIP GOLF Tournament. Our first GOLF MAJOR of the 2025 season.
The MGA Championship is an individual golf event. The event included two flights, a low
handicap flight and a high handicap flight. Each flight included winners for low net score and
low gross score. We also had “closest-to-the-pin” winners on all the Par 3 holes.
Congratulations to the winners
1st Place/Low Handicap Flight:
Stan Koonce – Low Gross
Johnny Harrell – Low Net
1st Place/High Handicap Flight:
Tom Caruso – Low Gross
Ron Blittersdorf – Low Net
2nd Place/Low Handicap Flight:
Mark Carmichael – Low Gross
Dave Fahrmeier – Low Net
2nd Place/High Handicap Flight:
Tim Welch – Low Gross
Jim Robinson – Low Net
Congratulations to all the “Closest-to-the-PIN” winners:
The next MGA event will be on May 21st. This will be a 2-Man Team Championship Golf
format. Pick your own partner to achieve your best combined low net team score.
The Men’s Golf Association welcomes all new members. For more information about
joining the group, contact Stan Koonce (757) 802-1767 or Johnny Harrell (704) 430-7131.
Sunday, May 4, 2025
***HARRINGTON WINS MASTERS***
~WINS 2nd MAJOR IN A ROW ~ROSS/LANGE WIN MEMBER-MEMBER ~The MGA THIS WEEK
Week-9 completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds
The month-long HPGC/STATracker MASTERS concluded play this past Wednesday and with that final round, a new champion was crowned. After establishing a strong early lead in the competition, it was BRIAN HARRINGTON winning his second major in a row by a 3-stroke margin. Harrington won the major with a 16 under par net score. In the beginning of the last week of this competition, Harrington’s big lead suddenly evaporated when former MGA champ C.A. SMITH cut his lead to just 3 strokes going into the final round. In that final round this past Wednesday, Harrington could not improve on his score finishing at 16 under but neither could Smith improve on his score as he had to settle for the runnerup position at 13 under. Former STATracker Playoffs champ DAVID ROSS gave it a valiant go in the final round on Wednesday. He had a realistic outside chance of maybe catching Harrington and forcing a playoff but, Ross came up just short after firing a 69 in the final round to also finish at 13 under. Now Harrington, who won the Broad Creek OPEN back in September, has won his second major in row with this MASTERS title and now The MGA major coming up this Wednesday, has a real chance of becoming only the second player to achieve a Grand Slam, as BOB REIVIK had accomplished that last season when he won a champion spot in last year’s MGA. So history could repeat itself but this time with the second year player from Vermont who made his mark on the league last year with Rookie-of-the-Year honors and that major win in the BCO. The upcoming MGA tourney has 4 champion spots up for grabs… a Low-gross and a Low-net spot for each of two flights in the competition. The defending champs going into Wednesday’s major are: MARK CARMICHAEL, FRANK AIUTO, BOB REIVIK and MARK NOLAN. Harrington’s game seems to be in a spot that would enable him to make some more history this coming week.
Elsewhere… winners in Week-9 included a couple of double winners. Both STAN KOONCE and the aforementioned David Ross, each earned 2 wins during the week. Koonce helped his teams to victory in the Bald Eagles events on Monday and Friday. Ross scored an individual win in Wednesday’s MGA playdate round with a 2 stroke victory. His other win came on Friday when he was teamed up with the Comet as they scored a narrow victory there. With those 2 team wins Koonce has moved back into the top spot in the Winners Circle competition just one point ahead of Harrington who got an I-win when he won the MASTERS. Harrington leads all players with 3 individual wins on the season thus far. Remember, 5 I-wins are the most any player ever, has been able to get in a single season. A handful of players have achieved that but none have been able to break through and get that 6th I-win on the season. Harrington is halfway there with three quarters of the season yet to play. It will be fun to watch.
The other winners for the week included KEN PLANTIN, JIM ROBINSON, Bob Reivik and JOE PILLOW.
Speaking of “OUR” Pillow, the former Playoffs champ uncorked a great set of rounds last week as he racked up 70 points in all for the week (36-13-21). Battling back from an injury, Pillow has had a slow start to the 2025 season but all seemed back to normal last week. The big guy from Texas had a double holeout round on Monday, finished in 3rd place on Wednesday just 3 strokes off the lead and then got a team win on Friday along with a birdie and another holeout.
Last Sunday, after we went to press, came the results of the annual HPGC Member-Member tourney. In the end, the team of Dave Ross and DAVE LANGE took the title with a narrow victory over the field. Both players as a result of that win, were awarded 50 points each in the Combined standings. In the case of Ross who had 47 points for the week besides that, those 97 points have catapulted him up into the 4th position in the standings giving credence to STATracker Central’s pre-season predictions about the impact the return of Ross, to the field, might have on the 2025 season.
AND… finally, in Wednesday’s MGA playdate and for the 2nd time in his career, “The Freight Train,” ED EDMUNDSON scored 3 holeouts in a single round. Edmundson had previously achieved that feat last season tying TOM CARUSO’s record. No player has ever had two triple holeout rounds in their career.
Sunday, May 11, 2025
***MGA CROWNS NEW CHAMPS***
~ALL FIRST TIME CHAMPS ~WELCH GOES WILD ~KOONCE PASSES 500 ~HARRELL WINS 2
Week-10 completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds.
The MGA… the biggest of all the season tournaments in a single year, was held this past Wednesday and this season’s MGA was replete with great stories and achievements. Let’s start with the winners of this tourney. For the third year in a row, 4 champion spots were up for grabs… 2 flights with a low-gross and a low-net winner in each flight. For the first time ever, all the champion spots were won by first-time STATracker major winners. In the A-flight, STAN KOONCE took the coveted low-gross title after firing an impressive 77 for his round. Now Koonce did win an HPGC sanctioned major title last year but winning The MGA was his first STATracker career major. He shot 39-38 which included birdies on the par-3 6th and the par-4 15th. He scored 33 points on the day which included the 15 points for the major individual win along with those two birdies, a CTP and a sandy. Koonce’s 82 point week pushed him past the 500 points mark in the Combined standings (44-33-5). In addition, he continues to hold a slim lead in the Tournaments standings, which we’ll get to in a moment. He also has opened up a 4 point lead in the Winners Circle competition over BRIAN HARRINGTON. Speaking of Mr. Harrington, it was an opportunity for the second year player to become only the 2nd player to achieve a STATracker Grand Slam if he could continue his hot hand in The MGA, as he had just won his second major the week before last, in the Masters… BUT… it was not to be. Harrington ran into early trouble on the challenging par-4 8th hole having to settle for a big number there and then again on the back nine, another big number after a troublesome hole. The other MGA champ from the A-flight was the 2023 HPGC Match-Play champ, JOHNNY HARRELL. When Harrell won that major, STATracker had not yet adopted those tourneys as part of its purview, so this win IS Harrell’s first STATracker major, as he took the low-net honors. Now over in the B-flight, it was 2 brand new, first time ever major champs. The most interesting one is the low-net champion RON BLITTERSDORF who won this major as a rookie this season, tying Brian Harrington as the only other rookie to win a major in their first season. And finally we arrive at the 4th MGA champ for 2025 and it was claimed by the big boy from Brooklyn… the Cyclone… TOM CARUSO. Caruso got off to a strong start on his front nine going par-birdie-par-par and then coasting to a 39-43 round to take the low-gross honors in flight-B. It was Caruso’s 9th I-win in his career. Only 5 players have had more I-wins than that All-time.
Now, the fireworks did not end there on Wednesday. In a history-making round, former STATracker Playoffs and Winners Circle champ, TIM WELCH, blew things up when he plowed into the clubhouse at the end of his round having scored 78 points on the day… the most points ever in a single round occurring during an MGA tournament. While Welch did not gain a major victory on Wednesday, he did finish as a runnerup finishing just 3 strokes off the lead. His achievements included the first ever Bunker Holeout (BHO) during a tournament. That feat occurred on the challenging par-3 11th hole when Welch put his tee shot into the left greenside bunker. He holed out from there for the birdie, the BHO and the sandy all in that one shot… 33 points in one swing. But just 4 holes earlier on the par-5 7th Welch scored a holeout eagle when he chipped it in from 30 yards out after a big tee and 2nd shot. That was another 30 points in one swing of the club. It was only the 4th eagle ever scored during an MGA tourney. He got 12 points for his second place finish in the tourney along with a second birdie. Welch now finds himself in the top ten in the Combined standings and now only 9 points behind first place in the Tournaments standings where The Comet currently sits.
Elsewhere… both Johnny Harrell and Stan Koonce won twice in Week-10… both players got the aforementioned
I-wins in The MGA and then team wins in the Bald Eagles rounds. Other winners last week included TOM DECKER, JIM FURMAN, MARK NOLAN, SEAN MULHALL, KEN PLANTIN and Tim Welch. Stan Koonce this week, just moved past MARK CARMICHAEL on the ALL-TIME Winners Circle standings, scoring his 92nd point to slip by Carmichael with 91 All-Time WC points. Koonce’s win in the MGA was his 17th All-Time individual win (I-win) setting another new record. Mark Nolan’s win was his 50th trip to the WC All-Time while Johnny Harrell achieved his 25th career team win (T-win).
Sunday, May 18, 2025
***HARRELL BECOMES WINGMAN***
~GETS FIRST EAGLE ~HARRELL, SEYERLE GET I-WINS ~ FREIGHT TRAIN DOUBLES UP AGAIN~
Week-11 completed only 2 of its scheduled 3 rounds due to a rainout on Monday.
JOHNNY HARRELL took to the skies in Week-11 soaring into 2nd place in the Combined standings after his high-flying rain-shortened week. Harrell played in both of the rounds last week and they were banner games for the native North Carolinian. First, let’s get to Harrell’s win in the MGA playdate on Wednesday. Harrell shot a blistering 38-37 gross 75 for a net 70 and the victory in the A-flight. That round included Harrell’s first career STATracker eagle when he put his ball to within a foot of the red pin placement on the par-5 2nd hole after a huge drive and a 168 yard approach shot that looked like it was going to roll in for the Albatross! Harrell almost had another eagle on the par-5 7th when he put his 2nd shot on the green about 15 feet away. This reporter had the privilege of witnessing Harrell stepping up to what would have been a historic putt… but… his attempt turned just left as it died by the hole. But he wasn’t done for the day. He scored a birdie later in his round to get his 2nd pair of wings for the day. Then on Friday, Harrell nailed down 4 birdies for his round helping his team to 2nd place finish. Harrell scored 57 points for the truncated week (x-23-34) pushing him past the 300 points mark for the season and past BRIAN HARRINGTON for the #2 ranking in the Combined standings.
Speaking of Wednesday’s MGA playdate round… DAVE SEYERLE scored the victory over in the B-flight when he fired a 68 net eeking out a one stroke win over DAVE LANGE and RON BLITTERSDORF the rookie. It was Seyerle’s 30th trip to the Winners Circle All-Time. Seyerle also snared one of the CTPs that day as well. It was Seyerle’s first I-win of the season and 5th in his career along with 25 All-Time team wins (T-win).
Now… ED EDMUNDSON, affectionately known as the “Freight Train,” hauled in another big load of cargo into the clubhouse when he scored 2 holeouts in his round on Friday. This is the 3rd time this season that Edmundson has had a multiple holeout round. In his only appearance of the week, he scored 34 points on Friday (x-x-34) moving him up in the Combined standings to just 2 points outside the top ten at the #11 spot. He also got his 4th birdie of the season on Friday as well.
Other winners for the week included WAYNE BEDENBAUGH, MARK NOLAN, JOE PILLOW and KEITH SWAN as they got the team win in Friday’s Bald Eagles round. For Bedenbaugh, the former “IRON-Man,” he completed his 30th round of the season. He has not missed one scheduled round all season. The only other player currently matching this feat round for round is 2-time major champion, Brian Harrington.
Elsewhere… HPGC Legends Of Golf player SEAN MULHALL beat his age for the second time this season when the 88 year old fired an 85 in Wednesday’s MGA playdate round.
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