MGA May Update
- John Harrell & Thomas Caruso
- May 4
- 9 min read
On March 28th, MGA member, Bruce Hice, had a "hole in one" on hole #3. His shot was slightly left of the green but hit the hill just right and rolled onto the green and into the hole. Congratulations to Bruce!!! Photo below of Bruce on his exciting day.
Harbour Pointe Men’s Golf Association Chili-Clash Golf Tournament Event
(04-09-2025)
On Wednesday April 9th, the MGA golfers had their 3rd Golf Event of the 2025 golf season, The CHILI-CLASH GOLF Tournament.
This was a superball format where the computer selected teams were able to play from the best location of the best team shot until the ball was holed out. Each team was required to use a minimum of two drives from each team member during the 18-hole round. The team with the best 18-hole score was the winner.
We also had “closest-to-the-pin” winners on all the Par 3 holes.
Congratulations to the following 1st place winners. (See Photo)
1st Place: Tom Caruso, Dave Fahrmeier, Mark Nolan, Bruce Hice
2nd Place: Bob, Gillham, Wayne Bendenbaugh, Seam Mulhall
3rd Place-Tie: Johnny Harrell, Ed Edmundson, Jerry Kopec, Charlie Henke
3rd Place-Tie: Stan Koonce, Bob Reivik, Dave Lange, Ron Blittersdorf
3rd Place-Tie: Brian Harrington, Rick Wolfe, Keith Swan, Jimmy Robinson
Congratulations to all the “Closest-to-the-PIN” winners:
Harbour Pointe Men’s Golf Association Match-up Madness Golf Tournament Event
(04-23-2025)
On Wednesday April 23rd, the MGA golfers had their 4th Golf Event of the 2025 golf season, The MATCH-UP MADNESS GOLF Tournament.
This was a 2-man match play format where the teams were selected by their team captains “school yard style”! The MGA president, Stan Koonce and MGA vice president, Johnny Harrell were the team captains. Koonce and Harrell picked their teams from the registered players. Then they matched up their 2-man teams and headed to the golf course to do battle “Matchplay Style”!
After all the matches were over, Johnny Harrell, the MGA vice president’s team won the day!! It was a very close victory by a score of 8.5 points to 6.5 points.
We also had “closest-to-the-pin” winners on all the Par 3 holes.
Congratulations to the following Winning VP Team. (See Photo)
Winning Team Members: Johnny Harrell (VP-Captain), Mark Nolan, Brian Harrington, Ed Edmundson, Tim Welch, Bruce Hice, Sean Mulhall, Wayne Bedenbaugh, Jimmy Robinson
Congratulations to all the “Closest-to-the-PIN” winners:
Sunday, April 6, 2025
***HARRINGTON, ROSS BAG EAGLES ***
~HARRINGTON SAILS INTO 2nd PLACE ~HARRINGTON GRABS MASTERS LEAD~
Week number five of this 2025 STATracker season completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds.
No doubt about it… it was BRIAN HARRINGTON’s week! Last season’s Rookie-of-the-Year is currently making good on his promise to play more rounds in 2025 and it is paying off big-time. First, Harrington, along with major champion 2022 STATracker Playoffs champ, DAVID ROSS, made history on Wednesday during the MGA’s Individual playdate round when both players scored eagles during their rounds. In the case of Ross, after a big drive on the par-5 7th hole, Ross was left with a 150 yard approach shot which he put just 6 feet from the flag then putted that in for his 2nd eagle of his STATracker career and first for this season. One may remember, after missing just about all of last season, Ross got back into the lineup last October and during one of his only 6 starts in 2024, Ross nailed his first ST career eagle. Regarding Harrington’s eagle, the big guy from Vermont took advantage of the cart path down the right side of the par-4 13th hole, which many players try to do, and he caught it just right. When his ball came to rest, it was right by the white stake for exiting golfcarts. Harrington proceeded to chip in from there to an upfront flag placement for his first ST career eagle. With that eagle as a result of a holeout, it was a 30 point shot! Harrington went on to victory in the “A” flight getting his first individual win (I-win) of this season. It was his 15th trip to the Winners Circle and 3rd I-win of his young ST career. Along with the rest of his week, Harrington racked up 65 points for the week (10-35-20), leading all scorers. Those points landed him in 2nd place in the Combined standings, his highest ranking ever. And…NO… we’re not done with Harrington yet… That round on Wednesday also got him a net score of 65 giving him the early lead in the month-long MASTERs competition. Now, he followed that round up with a net 69 in Friday’s Bald Eagles team event. What that means is when the next official MASTERs leaderboard sheet comes out after this Friday’s round, at worst, Harrington will be at 10 under.
THAT right there would make him a heavy favorite to winning his 2nd major in a row. He won the Broad Creek OPEN last September as a rookie, making history there. So yeah… it was Harrington’s week.
Elsewhere… RICK WOLFE is having himself a strong start to the 2025 season. Wolfe scored 36 points in his 2 starts last week (12-24-x) which included finishing 2nd to Harrington in that MGA round on Wednesday. He also currently sits in 2nd place in the Winners Circle competition, just 2 points behind the leader, STAN KOONCE, who had a quiet week.
HPGC Legends of Golf player SEAN MULHALL, won the “B” flight by 4 strokes shooting a net 67. Now that low round put him just 2 strokes behind the aforementioned Harrington, on the early MASTERs leaderboard. Speaking of Legends, another member of that elite group, JERRY KOPEC at age 92, beat his age during Wednesday’s round scoring a solid 91!! Not to be left out, the newest member of the Legends group, GUS VILLANOVA, scored the field’s first PENpar of the season when he achieved that feat on Monday on the par-5 4th hole.
Here are the current top ten players on the first official 2025-MASTERs leaderboard…
Harrington@-7, Mulhall@-5, Welch@-5, Swan@-3, Edmundson@-3, Kopec@-2, Wolfe@-2, Ross@-1, Fahrmeier@-1, 3 tied @Even Par
Sunday, April 13, 2025
***HARRINGTON EXTENDS MASTERs LEAD ***
~HOLDS SLIM LEAD OVER SURGING MULHALL ~CARUSO WINS TWICE~
Week number six of this 2025 STATracker season completed only 2 of its 3 scheduled rounds.
With Monday’s round cancelled due to weather conditions this past week, and the MGA SuperBall tourney on Wednesday, players were left with only Friday’s Bald Eagles round as an eligible game to improve their position in the HPGC/STATracker MASTERs month-long competition. Already with two sub-par rounds to his credit, BRIAN HARRINGTON moved from -7 last week up to -10 this week to hold a one stroke lead over the surprise charge by 2-time major winner, 88 year old SEAN MULHALL. Keep in mind, Harrington did score a 70 in Friday’s round so once again, when the next official Masters leaderboard is posted this Friday, the worst he’ll be is at -12. Mullhall also took advantage of this past Friday’s game posting a 68 to go along with his 67 he shot back on April 2nd to put him just one behind Harrington. STATracker Central knows we’re only just less than half-way through this Masters competition, but Harrington is on a strong path to a second consecutive major victory after winning last season’s Broad Creek OPEN as a rookie, last September. Also making his presence felt in this season’s Masters so far is the defending STATracker Playoff champ TIM WELCH. Welch finds himself just 5 strokes off the lead with plenty of qualifying rounds to go in April. Just behind him at -4 is the Freight Train himself, ED EDMUNDSON after putting together two fine rounds of 71 and 69. Rounding out the top 5 is the Cyclone, TOM CARUSO climbing back to even par after firing a 67 on Friday. Now Caruso had one of his best days on Friday. He was not in the lineup initially but then made the decision to play just before tee time… and it turned out to be a good move. Besides netting that 67, he helped his team to an overwhelming victory and scored two holeout birdies in the process giving him 39 points for the day. His teammates on Friday were JOHNNY HARRELL, Brian Harrington and Sean Mulhall. Caruso was also on the winning team in Wednesday’s MGA tourney, the Chilly Clash. Along with teammates DAVE FAHRMEIER, BRUCE HICE and MARK NOLAN, they eeked out a one stroke victory in the team SuperBall format. For Mark Nolan… the 3-time major winner made his first start of the 2025 season with a win. Welcome back to Mr. Nolan!
Elsewhere… the Comet was reignited… while STAN KOONCE didn’t make the Winners Circle this week where he leads that competition by one point over the surging Sean Mulhall, he did rack up the points. Koonce scored 56 points for the week (x-26-30) that included an amazing 26 points in the stingy team SuperBall MGA tourney on Wednesday getting 2 birds, 2 CTPs and a holeout. That performance put him in the lead in the Tournaments standings. So as of now, Koonce sits atop both the Tournaments and the Combined standings. Koonce got another 2 birdies, his first PENpar of the season and a sandy in Friday’s round.
Speaking of noteworthy things… HPGC Legends Of Golf player BOB GILLHAM made his 2025 season debut in Wednesday’s MGA tournament. The record-holder of the most birdies in a season scored 3 birdies, a CTP on the always challenging par-3 11th and helped his team to a 2nd place finish just one stroke back.
Also two other Legends were on top of their game this past week. Former MGA champ C.A. SMITH at 85 years of age, shot his age this past Friday along with 2-time MGA champ SEAN MULLHALL at 88 years of age scoring an 86 in his round this past Friday as well.
Sunday, April 27, 2025
***HICE-CAPADES ARE BACK IN TOWN***
~GETS 2nd H-I-O ~HARRINGTON ON TRACK TO 2nd MAJOR ~SMITH MAKES BIG MOVE~
Week number eight of this 2025 STATracker season completed all 3 of its scheduled rounds.
A history-making week it was courtesy of 2-time major winner, former MASTERs champ BRUCE HICE.
For the second time in 27 days, the big guy from Connecticut, scored an Ace. This time Hice teed it up on the windy par-3 17th with 118 yards to the pin. His shot went on a direct line to the flag. The ball landed in front of the pin and then rolled up to the flagstick getting wedged between the flagstick and the rim of the cup. As the players approached the green, the notorious shifting winds at that hole, swirled back around pushing the pin back towards Broad Creek and allowing the ball to drop to the bottom of the cup for the hole-in-one!! Hice had scored an HIO back on March 28th. Now the history involved here is that he beat out Legends of Golf player SEAN MULHALL who scored 2 holes-in-one 30 days apart, late last season. Hice has had 5 HIOs in his lifetime, 4 of them at HPGC and 2 of them being STATracker-eligible achievements. So in just 2 swings of his mighty sword, Hice has scored 90 points towards his 2025 season total. He continues his #3 ranking in the Combined standings but now just 5 points behind second place.
Speaking of mighty swords… in a very exciting development in the STATracker month-long MASTERs competition, Legend Of Golf player and former MGA champ, C.A. SMITH, has soared up the leaderboard in week-4 of the competition as he nailed down two spectacular sub-par rounds for the week. His rounds of 65 and 69 have put him in 2nd place just 3 strokes off the lead heading into the final week. Smith beat his age twice last week. Smith now stands at -13 just 3 back of BRIAN HARRINGTON who posted another subpar round on Friday to move to -16. With just 2 eligible rounds left for players to lower their scores, Harrington seems to be in the driver’s seat. But now he’s got 2 legends steaming up behind him. The other is the aforementioned Sean Mulhall who currently occupies third place moving his score up to a -10 after last week’s play.
Elsewhere… our winners for the week included JOHNNY HARRELL… winning twice in Week-8, founders CHARLIE HENKE and JOE PILLOW, MARK NOLAN, WAYNE BEDENBAUGH, BRUCE HICE, defending STATracker Playoffs champ TIM WELCH, PAUL HILL, the Comet STAN KOONCE and BRIAN HARRINGTON. Koonce maintains a one point lead over Harrington in the Winners Circle.
A big welcome back to 3-time major winner and 2-time Harbour Cup champ MARK CARMICHAEL. The big guy from Indiana returned to the lineup on Friday after a month-long layoff due to surgery. He had quite a good day in his first round back scoring 2 birdies and 2 sandies in his round. Former Playoffs champ DAVID ROSS had a triple birdie, double holeout round on Friday as he moved up in the Combined standings into the top-10. Ross lead all scorers for the week piling up 65 points (x-26-39). DAVE FAHRMEIER had 55 points for the week including a PENpar. Fahrmeier is about to become a grandfather for the second time.
In the annual President vs.Vice President MGA tourney, it was the Veep’s Johnny Harrell’s team getting the win this past Wednesday at 8.5-6.5 with the 2-man team of Brian Harrington and JIM ROBINSON getting the clinching points as the last group in and over-taking the late lead of 6.5-5.5 for Prez Koonce’s team. Harrington and Robinson ended up sweeping their match against Grand Slammer BOB REIVIK and former President, DAVE LANGE for the final 3 points and the win.
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