2019 CEGA Championship
Thanks everyone for coming down to Monterrey and facing your face off, especially you Brady and Ed. The weekend started with a few folks getting some practice rounds in Friday and a killer dinner at Monterey's Fish House. Big thanks to Ed for keying the group into this place as it was perfect. In summary, the practice rounds didn't prepare anyone for what the group would face on Saturday: a relatively benign Bayonet turned into hurricane Black Horse and pushed scores up over the first day of competition.
Unsurprisingly the three top combatants for POTY were all in the mix after Day 1. Segale (482.5 pts) was just out front in the POTY race with Weyer (440) and Jeb (320) hot on his heels and with better scores over the first two rounds. VJ was playing tourist as he had no shot at POTY, but was putting up a good defense of last year's CEGA Championship victory. A strong start by Tommy, Ed, Greg and Barbano was blunted by the winds during the second round. With narrow tree-lined fairways and very few dogleg rights, Bend It's game was impaired and he could only root for Send It.
After Day 1 the group headed to downtown Monterrey and checked into the downtown Marriott. Before even getting to the rooms, half the league was at the hotel bar shaking off the PTSD of playing in the Black Horse wind. After a couple cool down pints, everyone walked to dinner at the Alvarado Grill and Brewery -- where the only thing better than the food was the traffic headed to the balcony. Some would say the pretzels were better than the traffic, but to each their own.
The group then retired to a card room in the hotel just off the smoking patio and right next to the bar. Everyone was in their element, but none more than Ed in his first travel tourney. After bringing the liquidated assets of some defunct casino (craps, roulette, felts, the wood rake), no dollar would be safe and thanks to Brady no one would have a napkin on the table. Ed roto-tilled his fellow CEGA members in route to an emphatic victory while the lesser winners started Black Jack with Greg as the house. From the card room, a few kept it going in downtown Monterrey until closing time. Nightlife athletes, you know who you are! The second day was a godsend as the wind died down and presented the group with perfect late summer conditions at Poppy Hills. Perfect temps and plenty of sun, but a remodeled Poppy with tightly cut & firm turf and an angry greenskeeper meant that scores would be tough. The previous day's efforts had taken their toll on the group and scores and pace of play suffered. Ed didn't make the box and most of the league all went +10 or worse on the day...Except for one man: The Dialer. He broke 80 with stellar ballstriking and a revamped chipping & putting game. He put three great rounds together in all conditions and on the final day was never in trouble until the last hole (when it was already ballgame). His round also won him the team point he needed to take Team Player of the Year in 2019. But would it take POTY?
Segale, VJ and Weyer battled their games all day, but each player's performance still had a lot of bearing toward who would win POTY. With Jeb way out front in the tourney, Segale and Weyer would need 2nd or 3rd to have any chance to keep their POTY hopes alive. We didn't know the exact numbers coming down 18, but with Weyer fading on the back nine, VJ and Bryan were in a battle for 2nd. VJ was pin high in two on the par 5 18th and Bryan played his fourth shot on the green about 30 feet above the hole. Looking at a slick sidewinder, Segale buried the putt for par. When the final scores were tallied, he had it! A tie for 2nd with VJ and enough points to take down his third POTY. There would have been a playoff with VJ except Segale would still have won POTY over Jeb with 3rd (by just ten points). This year's champ showed excellent mettle in the tourney after a +7 first round put Segale well back of the field, but a second round +1 during Hurricane Black Horse brought him right back into the mix for the tourney. It was also illustrative another distinguished honor earned: Most Improved Player of the Year. Luckily for the rest of the crew, he'll be playing with one less stroke each round next year!
Big congrats to the top honors this weekend with POTY going to Bryan Segale, Team Points going to Dialer, the CEGA Championship going to the Dialer, and to Ed taking down the Poker tourney in his debut CEGA travel tourney. Also, thank you to everyone who took care of the group's various meals and beverages...that was super generous and much appreciated!
Ed, I hope you're feeling better!
Round by Round Leaderboard
Thru Round 1 (Bayonet) VJ E Jeb +1 AB +2 AW +3 Tommy +5 Ed +5 Greg +6 Segale +7 Brady +11
Thru Round 2 (Hurricane Black Horse) VJ +4 Jeb +5 AW +6 Segale +8 AB +11 Ed +13 Greg +16 Tommy +18 Brady +25
Thru Round 3 (Poppy Hills) Jeb +4 VJ +14 Segale +14 AW +22 Greg +24 AB +26 Tommy +28 Brady +40 Ed Trip to Dairy Queen
Final Team Points: Jeb - 4.5 VJ - 3 AB - 3 Ed - 3 AW - 1.5 Segale - 1.5 Tommy - 1.5 Brady - 1.5 Greg - 0
