The Fall Classic 2013
Crown Colony Country Club
World B. Freeman claims 2013 Fall Classic Championship
Barry grabbed the early lead on Thursday and held off a late charge by The Rat to capture a wire-to-wire victory in the 2013 Fall Classic Championship with a final score of -2. The Rat finished just a single shot back at -1, and Little Ray finished third at +3.
Barry fired an opening round of 90 (-2) and was tied for the lead after day one with the 2011 champion Ricky V. who shot an opening round of 89 (-2). The Rat opened with an 82 (+2) and was in third place after day one. Syrupy and Bubba Jr. were tied for fourth at +3 with rounds of 86 and 94 respectively.
Day two saw a bunching of the leaderboard as both Barry and Ricky had their struggles shooting 96 (+4) and 98 (+7) respectively, while Little Ray had an excellent round of 74 (-1), and The Rat stayed consistent with an 81 (+1). Other fine rounds for the day were turned by in Birk Jr. with a 90 (-1), Scotty B. with also with a 90 (E), and T.D. with an 84 (E). At the end of the day, Barry maintained a slim lead of just one over Little Ray and The Rat, and two over T.D.
Scores in the third round were much lower than the previous two days, and Barry turned in the low round of the day by firing an 87 (-5). He was followed closely by Blue Team Captain Murph who carded an 82 (-4). Little Ray shot a great round of even par 72 (-3) and tied Bubba Jr. who recorded an 88 (-3) for third place on the day. Headed into the final round Barry had a three stroke lead on Little Ray, and a five stroke lead on The Rat, who had signed for a 79 (-1) in Saturday's third round. The final member of the last group on Sunday would be Bubba Jr. who was six strokes back after an excellent 88 (-3) on Saturday.
Sunday's final round was packed with drama as the three leaders each played great at times and struggled at others. The Rat fired an excellent front nine 36 while Little Ray had some problems and shot 41 on the outward half. Barry stayed near his handicap shooting a front nine of 47. Rat started out shaky on the back nine playing the first three holes in +5. Little Ray birdied four of the first seven holes on the back nine, but threw in a double on 10 and bogeys on 13 and 15 to effectively take himself out of the championship. Barry played great on the first six holes of the back nine playing them in just four over, and he appeared to have the tournament well in hand; however, maxi-pads on both 16 and 17 kept the final outcome in doubt. Headed to the last hole, Barry's lead over The Rat was down to a single stroke. Barry was able to rebound and gut out a par the last hole, and The Rat also made par, giving Barry a one stroke victory and his first Fall Classic Championship. The second place finish is the best ever for The Rat who has had many third place finishes over the years. Little Ray finished third for the third time in his last three trips to Crown Colony. The Cuntzter and The Murph had the best rounds of the day, each shooting -4, recording an 80 and an 82 respectively. Congratulations to World B. Freeman for his Fall Class victory.
Murph's Blue Team Puts a Late Whipping on Syrupy's Red Team
Two rookie captains took the helm for the 2013 Fall Classic Captains' Cup Matches as Captain Murph's Blue Team came on strong down the stretch to post a convincing 40 point victory over Captain Syrupy's out coached Red Team. This is the third straight victory for The Blue Team, and after eight years of Captains' Cup competitions, the series is all even with four victories apiece for each the Red and the Blue teams.
As has been the case in each of the last seven years, the team that won the opening session could not hang on to claim the cup. This year The Red Team jumped out to an early twelve point lead, mainly on the strength of Captain Syrupy and World B. Freeman's crushing of Captain Murph and Birk Jr. by what is believed to be the largest margin of victory ever in the 2-Man Best Ball competition, 17.5-3.5. Murph once claimed that he had never lost a singles match; however, he certainly can't say the same about the 2-Man Best Ball, as this marks the second straight year that he has lost by a record number of points in the opening round. The Red Team also had a very strong showing from The Rat and defending champion Ricky V. as they took down Little Ray and Dubya-Dubya by a 13-8 score. The Red Team was led by The Jap and Bubba Jr. would took home the family honors in a 14-7 whipping of Deuce and "The Factor".
The Friday morning singles matches were among the closest ever, as The Red Team won the front nine matches by nine points, and The Blue Team won the back nine matches by ten points. The session ended with The Blue Team winning 100.5-99.5. Big winners for The Red Team were The Salamander with a 8.5-1.5 victory over Birk, and "The Factor" with a 7-3 victory also over Birk. For The Blue Team, Dubya-Dubya had a big win over Little Rat, 7.5-2.5, and Little Ray won by the same score over Ricky V. Birk Jr. also had a strong showing with a 7-3 victory over The Salamander.
In the Friday afternoon 3/3/3 matches, The Blue Team continued their good play from the morning back nine, and took the session by a 30-20 score. The Blue Team got a dominate performance from T.D. and Bubba Jr. as the destroyed The Rat and Matt by a score of 9-1. The Blue Team also had large victories from Dubya-Dubya and The Jap who were 7-3 winners over Little Rat and Ricky V., and from Captain Murph and The Cuntzter with their 7.5-2.5 victory over Deuce and Scotty B. The Red Team got victories from the team of FP III and World B. Freeman who took out DC and Birk by a 6-4 score, and from Captain Syrupy and The Salamander who polished off Little Ray and Birk Jr. by a 7.5-2.5 score. At the end of the day on Friday, The Red Team led the competition by the slimmest of margins, holding a one point lead (178-177 ) heading into the weekend.
Incredibly, The Saturday morning 2-Man Best Ball Net only tightened things up, as The Blue Team won the session by a single point (53-52) and put the teams in a dead heat heading to the afternoon. All of the matches were extremely close with each team winning two matches, along with one tie, and no match was decided by more than a 12-9 score.
As often seems to be the case, the Saturday afternoon 6/6/6 matches proved to be the turning point of the competition. Although most of the matches were again extremely close, The Blue Team won four of the matches and one match ended in a tie. Three of the matches were decided by narrow 10.5-8.5 scores, with the only large victory being Captain Murph and The Cuntzter's 12.5-6.5 win over The Rats. The Blue Team won the session 49-37, and took a twelve point lead into the final day's action.
With two hundred points available on the final day, and The Blue team holding a twelve point lead, the outcome was still very much in question; however, The BlueTeam left no doubt as to who the stronger (and better coached) team was by crushing the Red Team's hope of a comeback with a resounding 114-86 point victory in the Sunday individual matches with identical 57-43 victories on both the front and back nines. The big stars of the day for The Blue Team were Dubya-Dubya and The Cuntzter. Dubya-Dubya won both of his matches, a 7-3 victory over The Salamander on the front nine, and a total shellacking of Captain Syrupy with a 8.5-1.5 victory on the back nine. The Cuntzter won both of his matches by 7.5-2.5 scores, defeating Matt on the front nine and Little Rat on the back. Captain Murph also won both of his matches with a 6-4 victory over his rival Captain Syrupy on the front and a 7-3 win over The Salamander on the back. The Red Team's best performance for the day came from World B. Freeman, who, on his way to the Individual Championship, was able to win both of his matches taking out Little Ray on the front 6.5-3.5 and Bubba Jr. by the same score on the back nine.
Congratulations to Captain Murph and The Blue Team on a fine victory.
Captains' Cup SummaryScoring
Little Ray once again recorded the low gross total for the tournament with a four round average of 75.8. The Rat returned to second place with a four round average of 79.8 and The Jap finished third with an average of 84.5. T.D., The Salmanader and The Cuntzter also played well with averages of 87.5, 88.8, and 88.8 respectively.
Trash
With no long drives being awarded this year, it was thought that the trash might be spread out a little more evenly than in the past; however Little Ray still won nine closest-to-the-holes to dominate the competition. The Jap and Dubya-Dubya each finished with three trashes, and The Cuntzter, The Rat, Captain Murph and Captain Syrupy each finished with two trashes.
Calcutta
Nobody selected Barry in the Calcutta, so he took the whole pot for himself.
The Fall Classic Food Committee
The "Food and Style" staff was back in action this year after being struck with a stomach virus during the 2012 Fall Classic, and they took full advantage. This year's menu included Jambalya and white beans, Grits & Grillades, BBQ, Rib-Eye Steaks, double-stuffed potatoes, root beer floats, and of course salad prepared by "The Factor". Everything was great as usual, and a huge thanks goes out to T.D. for all the hard work that he puts in on the Fall Classic Food Committee, and to all the others that helped out.
The Fall Classic 2013 Complete Results in PDF Format
Get all the results in PDF format here: The Fall Classic 2013 Results in PDF
The Fall Classic 2013 Photos