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| Bryan Springer - 2012 BCGC Matchplay Champion |
2012 BCGC Match Play Championship Review
After a one year hiatus, the Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Club resumed its annual Match Play Championship in 2012. Sixteen players were seeded in the tournament, based on their March, 2012 tournament results. Matches took place over a span of five months, beginning in April, and ended with an exciting Finals match on August 11, 2012. During that five month span, seven of the total 15 matches went down to the final hole, or beyond, before the matches were decided. The Finals match pitted Bryan Springer, whose handicap index at the beginning of the year was 29.1 but had impressively improved (an obvious understatement!) to 17.0 at the time of the Finals match, against Lonnie Podgorny who entered the Finals match with a handicap index of 5.4. In case some of you haven’t played golf with Lonnie, he has arguably one of the best short games in the Sacramento Region. No matter what trouble he may be in, Lonnie is never out of a hole!
The first round of match play saw Kim Volk, an avid Giant’s fan, defeat Dave Springer, an equally avid Dodger’s fan, 8&7. During the match both wore outer wear displaying their respective team allegiances. Also in first round play, Bob Thomas beat Shawn Breakey 3&2; Bryan Springer beat Greg Leuterio 1-Up; Glen Kinion defeated Mark Edgar 2-Up; Dave Schutt defeated Bob Benefiel 5&4; Lonnie Podgorny beat Steve Ackly 2&1; Bob Volk defeated Tim Gudman 4&3; and Wayne Urbani beat George Yanez 1-Up on the 19th hole.
Second round matches saw Kim Volk beat Bob Thomas 5&3; Bryan Springer defeat Glen Kinion 2&1; Lonnie Podgorny beat Dave Schutt 6&5; and Wayne Urbani defeat Bob Volk 2-UP.
Both third round matches went down to the final hole before being decided. Kim Volk, who many in the club thought would go all the way to win the Match Play Championship, lost to Bryan Springer 1-Up. Wayne Urbani took Lonnie Podgorny to the 21st hole until Lonnie prevailed in the match 1-Up.
The Final Match between Bryan Springer and Lonnie Podgorny was held on Saturday, August 18, 2012. I can attest that it was an exciting match to watch. During the 18 hole finale, the lead changed SIX times! Lonnie won the first hole with a par to Bryan’s bogey, as Bryan did not stroke on that hole. The second hole was halved with Lonnie making par to Bryan’s net par. On hole #3, Bryan knocked in a 20 footer for a natural birdie to even the match against Lonnie’s par. On hole #4, Bryan took the lead (second lead change) with a net par to Lonnie’s bogey, after Lonnie hit an errant tee shot. Hole #5 was halved with 4’s. On hole #6, Lonnie got the match back to square with a par to Bryan’s net 5. Bryan again took the lead (third lead change) on hole #7 with a par, net birdie, to Lonnie’s par, after lagging from 40 ft. with a down-hill curling putt that finished close to the hole. Bryan extended his lead to 2-up on #8 with a par, net birdie, to Lonnie’s par. That only seemed to get Lonnie fired-up! On #9, Lonnie stuck his approach shot to within one foot for a “kick-in” birdie, which tightened the match to Bryan being 1-up after the front nine. Gross scores for both players were: Lonnie – 37; Bryan – 42. Great golf on the front nine!
The back nine began on #10 with Lonnie again hitting his approach shot to “kick-in” range for back-to-back natural birds and getting the match back to ALL-SQUARE. On hole #11, Lonnie made par to Bryan’s bogey to take the lead (fourth lead change) at 1-up. On hole #12, Bryan made a great scrambling par, knocking in a 20 footer for net birdie against Lonnie’s par to, again, get the match to all-square. On hole #13, Bryan ran into trouble off the tee. After Lonnie hit his approach shot close to the hole, Bryan conceded Lonnie’s birdie putt with Lonnie taking the lead (fifth lead change) at 1-up. On the 14th hole, each player made an easy par with Bryan getting the match back to all-square with a net birdie. The difficult 15th was halved with Lonnie’s bogey against Bryan’s net bogey. On hole #16, Bryan took the lead again (sixth lead change) with a net birdie to Lonnie’s par. Hole #17 was halved with pars after Lonnie knocked in a tricky five foot comebacker, a result of Lonnie going for his birdie from 12 feet to try to square the match. As Lonnie stood on the tee at #18, he knew he had to “go for it” as Bryan was 1-up, as well this being a stroke hole for him. Lonnie tried to take a straight line to the hole, but the tee shot got away from him and ended up in the water. Regardless, after taking a drop, Lonnie hit his approach shot to the green from 200 yards and still had an opportunity to save par. After playing his tee shot safely to the right side, Bryan coolly laid up his second shot, giving him a fairly safe approach shot to the green, which he hit to within 18 feet. Bryan calmly knocked in the 18 footer for net birdie to win the match 2-up. Both players had a terrific round. Gross scores on the back nine were; Lonnie – 35 (gross 72); Bryan – 42 (gross 84). It was a very enjoyable round to watch. Congratulations to both players for making it so competitive, and congratulations to Bryan for being the 2012 BCGC Match Play Champion!
Bob Benefiel
BCGC Weekend Tournament Chair
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