The Fall Classic 2009
Crown Colony Country Club
Perry Wins 2009 Fall Classic Individual Title
Perry captured his first Fall Classic title by narrowly defeating TD and Little Ray in the 2009 championship that was contested over a very challenging Crown Colony course in Lufkin, Texas. Perry finished at Even par (net), TD finished at +2 (net) and Little Ray finished at +4 (net). Pat was also in the money finishing 4th at +11 (net). Perry started the final round with a two stroke lead over TD and a six stroke lead over Little Ray. After the front nine on Sunday, TD had actually taken the lead by a single stroke, but Perry finished strong with a closing 42 to TD's 45 on the final nine to take the title. Little Ray birdied 16 and 17 and still had a chance for a three-peat with a finishing birdie, but he was eventually done in when his approach shot into the 72nd hole buried in the greenside bunker. Sal had another strong tournament and for the second straight year finished in 5th place (once again, just out of the money) at +12 (net).
Thursday's round was played in a steady and sometimes heavy rain, yet TD and Perry were able to put together fine rounds of +1 (net) to share the first round lead by two strokes over "The Plumb" and "The Rat". The weather improved for the final three rounds, but there was very little movement on the leaderboard for the week, as TD and Perry occupied the top two spots each of the four days. The leaders were each -3 (net) on Friday's round and were at -2 (net) for the tournament heading into the weekend, seven strokes clear of the rest of the field. On Saturday morning Perry put together an even par (net) round to take sole possession of the lead, while TD slipped a little with a round +2 (net). Little Ray started making his move with a third round score of -2 (net).
For the week, there were only three rounds under par (net), TD and Perry each shot -3 (net) on Friday, and Little Ray was -2 (net) on Saturday. This is believed to be the lowest number of under par rounds in modern tournament history (that is, since we started entering the scores into a spreadsheet), two less than the previously low of five under par rounds at Walden in 2005. The Cuntzter, Perry, and Little Ray managed to shoot the only other rounds not over par, by matching their handicaps in the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday rounds, respectively. Sal had rounds of +1 (net) on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
In addition to the prize money, the trophy, and the prestige that normally accompany a Fall Classic title, Perry also received a nice new golf bag that was donated by Scott to this year's champion. Congratulations Perry!
Birk and Perry lead Red Team to another Captains' Cup Victory
Red Team Co-Captains, Birk and Perry, took a rather low key approach in leading the Red Team to its third consecutive Captains' Cup victory. The Blue Team captained by "The Rat" and "The Plumb" once again jumped out to an early lead on Thursday by winning the 2-Man Best Ball Net matches by a score of 46-38. The Blue team stretched the lead to 14 points by midday on Friday after winning the morning individual matches 83-77; however, the Red Team made a strong comeback in the 3/3/3 round on Friday afternoon, winning the session 26-14 to cut the lead to only 2 points heading into the weekend.
Captain Rat attempted to fire up his crew after dinner on Friday night with a rousing impression of General Patton. After the picks for the Saturday morning matches had been made, Captain Rat jumped up on the ledge separating the den from the bedroom and declared "Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I've read your book!". However, only moments later, the fierce stare of General Patton turned into the stunned look of Buckwheat, when Captains Perry and Birk lower the boom by pairing Little Ray and TD against "The Rat" and "The Plumb" in the Saturday afternoon 6/6/6 matches.
The Saturday morning 2-Man Best Ball matches were very close with the Red Team winning by 3 points (43.5-40.5) and taking a 1 point overall lead. But it was the Saturday afternoon matches that proved to be the turning point of the Captains' Cup. The Red Team routed the Blue team 45-31 in the 6/6/6 matches and took a comfortable 15 point lead into the final day matches.
The Blue Team tried to rally on Sunday morning and won the front nine matches by 5 points (42.5-37.5), leaving them within striking distance for the final nine holes. However, the Red Team slammed the door shut by dominating the back nine matches, winning 6 of the 8 matches and outscoring the Blue Team 48-32 in the closing session to win the 2009 Captains' Cup going away by a final score of 315-289. Congratulations to all the Red Team members on an outstanding Captains' Cup victory.
Little Ray, Perry, TD, Sal, and Johnny Red lead the way for the Red Team, each having 6 or more victories in their 8 matches. The Blue Team was lead by Murph who had 6 wins in his matches and was the only Blue Team member with more than 4 wins.
The "Rat Ball"
Although the Blue Team did not come out victorious, each team member did receive the "Rat Ball", the offical ball of the Blue Team. Thanks to Captain Rat for thinking of his team! Note that the only reason that I still have this ball is that I was afraid to use it.
Scoring
For at least the ninth straight year, Little Ray had the lowest gross total for the Fall Classic. His four round total of 304 was enough to win by 33 strokes over Dennis (337), who has had the second best gross score for eight of the last nine years. Ray finished with 9 birdies and 42 pars over 72 holes, and he had the four lowest rounds of the tournament. Little Ray's third round 73 was the lowest round of the week, and his final round 80 was his highest score in the tournament since the final round of 2005 at Walden, breaking a string of 13 straight rounds in the 70's for Little Ray in the Fall Classic. TD had a very strong showing in the gross scoring finishing 3rd (342) including 6 birdies over the tournament. TD's six birdies include four 2's (and 2 is never a bad score).
Crown Colony, which is listed at only 6100 yards, proved to be more than enough course for most of the field. The winning score of even par (net) was the second highest winning score ever in Fall Classic history, second only to +6 (net) at Walden in 2005. The average gross score for the tournament was over 92, and there were 14 rounds of 100 or worse. The hardest hole proved to be #10 with an average of 5.56, followed by #11 at 5.41, #3 at 6.36 and #18 at 6.33. The easiest hole was #7 with an average of 3.53.
Trash
Little Ray dominated the Long Drive competition, winning three of the four long drives. Only The Cuntzer was able to beat him out in Saturday morning's round. TD had four closest to the hole wins, while Perry, Little Ray, Big Ray, and The Rat each had three. The Jap and Dean each won two closest to the hole in limited action.
Calcutta
Birk was the only person to pick Perry in the Fall Classic Modified Calcutta, therefore the two of them split the Calcutta pot evenly, $100 each.
Friday Night "Surf & Turf" Dinner
On Friday night, TD and "The Plumb" went all out for an unbelievable dinner. TD cooked two beef tenderloins, Crawfish Elegante, and a wonderful "Sensation Salad". "The Plumb" served up some fresh Grouper topped with shrimp. Key Lime Pie and Cheesecake topped it off. Special thanks to TD and "The Plumb" for all the time and effort that they put into it. Murph should get some recognition as well, as he was a great help in the kitchen (he must be on the "Cooking sub-committee"). Also, a big thanks to Scott for supplying the cocktails.
The Fall Classic 2009 Complete Results in PDF Format
Get all the results in PDF format here: The Fall Classic 2009 Results in PDF
The Fall Classic 2009 Photos
Check out all the photos here: The Fall Classic 2009 Photo Gallery