from BJ Richardson, Regular Inter-club Co-captain
Tanglewood played their fourth regular interclub match at home against Oak Valley on Saturday June 17th. It was time for Tanglewood to make something happen. However, after the first 6 holes, there was a lot of red showing on electronic scoring on Oak Valleys side, signifying Tanglewood struggling.
This is not good Mav!! This is not good!!
Match one had Eli Kennedy and Mark Harper Jr going against an interesting pair for Oak Valley. OV went birdie, birdie, on hole 1 and 2 with the latter being a hole out from a ridiculous spot for a net eagle. It was going to be one of those days for this Tanglewood team. OV was 3 up after 9 with the guy that was getting the most strokes for OV, shooting gross even par. Eli and Mark chipped away a little on the back with Eli shooting 1 under overall, but ultimately lost 3 and 2.
Tough luck guys.
Match 2 had Mark Sr and Stevie Blankenship to the rescue, or so I thought. Again, Oak Valley came out hot with a bomber leading the way, shooting gross even par on the front to take OV to a 1 up lead after 9. Then Sr turned things around with a magical shot out from under the trees on 10 to 4 feet and made the birdie. Our guys continued their good play, to go 3 up after 13.
Then….momentum shifted, with OV winning 3 holes in a row to tie the match going in to 18. OV made par on 18 to win 1 up. This was a tough loss for our guys, but remember this is a TEAM event. And the number 3 team was getting ready to save the day.
Our Tanglewood veteran ,Eddie James, and our younger interclub stud, Josh Dalton were up to the challenge. Josh nearly drove the green on 1, and caused some raised eyebrows from our veteran and a sly grin, which most of y’all have seen. The race was on with Eddie and Josh going 6 up after 9, with Josh shooting 1 over!! The dominant play continued, and our guys kept the pedal down for a 9 up win!! These additional points were a welcome sight on the leader board, and this team helped ease the pressure a bit for our other guys.
Great playing!!
Our last team consisted of Kyle Smith and John Holzworth (aka. Holzy). This match caused me to drink a couple extra beverages. These guys were in a battle, and were all square after 9. Our guys got it to 2 up and finished off the match at 1 up. Way to fight guys!!
Tanglewood won 43.5 to 36.5 This was a really close match, and a perfect example of even if your team is down and cannot win, you continue to play hard and win every point you can, and that’s what I feel like our guys did.
Mark and I were proud of everybody’s play, and participation. Let’s keep it going for 2 more matches and get our playoff spot locked up.
Go Tanglewood!!!