Pete Takes Dannenfelser Cup Opener 4 & 3

HIGH BRIDGE, NJ – In the first official round of golf for the season (see Dannenfelser Cup Rules), the younger Dannenfelser, Pete, came out the victor in a match that was much closer thatn the score card indicated.

At 6:34 in the morning on Palm Sunday, 2006, the thermometer read 31 degrees, but the winds were whipping across the links-like High Bridge Hills Golf Club making the wind chill in the 20s at best. Pete and Randy were determined to get their season started and with an opening drive down the left side, son-of-Dannenfelser got it going. Randy’s opening drive found the fairway and the season was underway.

Pete took the first two holes with bogey and par respectively, but Randy was not going to be shut down so quickly. On the third hole, which was playing approximately 110 yards, Pete used a gap wedge to put the ball on the front side of the green. Randy followed with a shot right onto the green for the only GIR he would have for the day. He was took only two putts while Pete took three and the match sat at Pete +1 after three.

The fourth hole saw the tees set back to the tips and although Randy struggled to get his shot over the ravine. However, after Pete three-putted, his father had tied it up.

On the fifth, both Randy and Pete did something neither one had done in quite some time: drop the tee shot into the pond. Both ended with 7s, but due to the 15-stroke handicap advantage, he took the lead, 1 up, for the first and only time on the day.

Pete quickly recovered and birdied the sixth, and started a three hole run and took a two hole lead into the back nine. He won the tenth with a bogey, halved the next one and then lost the 12th after losing two tee shots and conceding the hole. Randy tried to give it back but sunk his putt on the last chance before a pick up.

After the 14th hole, Pete was up by three with four to play. The shortest hole on the course, playing just under 100 yards today, would be the first chance for Pete to put the match away. The 15th was the last hole of the day that would play even up. Pete’s shot came up short and right and landed in the bunker. Randy followed with a pitching wedge that carried to the back fringe of the putting surface. Pete’s first attempt to get out of the rain hardened sand popped back into the trap to nearly the exact location it was in before he attempted to get out. The second try was the charm and he landed it six feet from the hole.

Now it was Randy’s turn to putt on. He came up short. Then he did and slid it about five feet by. On Pete’s attempt he was able to sink it in four. Randy needed a five footer to stay alive but just missed. It was over on the 15th hole. Appropriately on one of only three holes that were played even up.

Since this was one of the Dannenfelser “majors,” it was worth 150 points instead of the 100 that all the “regular season” matches will be worth, with bonus points, Pete scored 177 points in this round and Randy took 15.

Standings
Pete ... 177 pts, 1-0-0
Randy ... 15 pts, 0-1-0