The Fall Classic 2014
Crown Colony Country Club
FP III Victorious in 2014 Fall Classic Championship
FP III was able to overcome the most crowded final round leaderboard in Fall Classic history with an excellent closing round on Sunday to claim his first ever Fall Classic title. FP III broke out of a pack that included Birk Jr., defending champion World B. Freeman, three time champion Little Ray, and Big Whit by shooting a final round 80 (-8) in route to a three stroke victory in the 2014 Fall Classic by posting a four round total of -10. Big Whit followed up a record third round of 72 (-11) with a fine closing round of 79 (-4) to finish in second with a total of -7. Birk Jr. was in the final group for the second time in the last three years and shot a nice closing round of 91 (-1) to finish third with a total of -5. World B. Freeman didn't easily part with his 2013 title and finished fourth at -2. World B. carded an 86 (-2) on Friday, and an 80 (-8) on Saturday in an attempt to bring the trophy back home to St. Louis, but a final round 90 (+2) was not enough to get it done. Little Ray got himself in position, yet again, and was tied for the lead heading into the final round; however, he was unable to make his signature late charge on Sunday, and dropped to a fifth place finish. Still, Little Ray has finished in the top five in each of the last eight Fall Classics in which he has participated. This marks the fourth straight year that the Fall Classic has had a first time winner following first time victories by Ricky V. in 2011, The Cuntzter in 2012, and World B. Freeman in 2013.
Thursday's opening round saw strong performances by Birk Jr. and The Cuntzster who shot 89 (-3) and 82 (-2) respectively. Scotty B. and FP III also got off to fine starts, each finishing at net even for the day.
Friday saw what appears to be a record low gross round from Little Ray who shot a fantastic round of 69 (-6). The crack research staff at the Fall Classic archives could only find a 70 also recorded by Little Ray in 2002 at Rayburn. Little Ray's great round was only good enough to put him into a tie for the tournament lead with FP III who had a great round himself with a score of 83 (-5), leaving both players at -5 heading into the weekend. Birk Jr. faded a little on Friday with a 96 (+4), but at +1 was still in third place after two rounds. World B. Freeman seemed to get serious about defending his title and carded a nice round of 86 (-2) on Friday and entered the final two rounds in fourth place.
Friday’s record low gross round was followed by a record low net round on Saturday, as Big Whit shot an incredibly steady round of 72 (-11). The best net round that the crack research staff could come up with was a net -8 for Little Ray way back in 2001 also at Rayburn. TD, who had a front row seat to witnesss the round, confirmed that Whit hit 17 of 18 greens on the day. Whit’s record round on Saturday was enough to put him in fourth place after a couple of mediocre rounds to start the tournament, but he was just a single shot back of the leaders heading into the final round. World B. shot what would have been a record tying low net score by carding a score of 80 (-8) which moved him into a share of the lead at (-4) where he was tied with Little Ray and Birk Jr. Little Ray made it to lead by following up his Friday 69 with a Saturday round of 76 (+1), while Birk Jr. got back on track with a very nice round of 87 (-5). FP III fell back a little into fifth place after recording a Saturday 91 (+3), but was only two strokes from the lead with one round to play.
With so many golfers within such a few strokes, Sunday's final round was sure to be exciting, and after the front nine, the outcome was still very much in doubt. Little Ray and Birk Jr. each fell back a little after shooting a few over their number on the front, while World B. and Big Whit both stayed steady and were right on their numbers. FP III made the biggest move on the front with a 41 (-3). In his last three appearances at Crown Colony, Little Ray had fired back nine rounds of 37, 33, and 37, and in each case came up just a bit short of the title and finished third each time; but there was to be no such magic this year, as Little Ray faded to a fifth place finish with a closing nine of 44. World B. was unable to muster up enough good play in the final holes to repeat as the Fall Classic champion, and finished in fourth after shooting a back nine of 46. Still, World B. put up a very strong defense of his 2013 title. Birk Jr. played well on the last nine and shot a 43 to finish third to go with his second place finish in the 2012 Fall Classic. Big Whit made the biggest charge by shooting a back nine of 38 to finish the tournament in second, but it was FP III who took home the trophy by firing a back nine of 39 for a final round total of 80 (-8). Coming to the last hole, FP III had a three stroke lead, but things got a little tense as his drive went left off the tee, forcing FP III to take a provisional. However, destiny was on the side of FP III as his ball was well in bounds, and he was able to get up and down for a closing par and a three stroke victory. Congratulations to FP III on his 2014 Fall Classic championship!
Murph's Blue Team Dominates The Jap's Red Team
After the Captains' Cup draft was held on Thursday, Sept. 18th, many of the experts were calling for this year's team event to be a cakewalk for Captain Murph's Blue Team after Red Team captain, "The Jap", went for many of the higher handicaps in the early rounds of the draft; however, after the opening 2-Man Best Ball Net matches on Thursday afternoon, the so-called experts seemed to be off-base, as the teams were only separated by a single point with the Blue Team leading by a score of 53–52. This actually seemed to favor the Red Team as for the last seven years, the team that won the Thurday session went on to lose the Captains'Cup.
The Blue Team increased its lead in the Friday morning individual session with an 18 point victory 109-91; however, the Red Team finished the day strong by winning the afternoon 2-Man Nine Hole Scramble by a score of 26.5-23.5. This left the Blue Team with a fairly slim 16 point lead heading to the weekend matches, 185.5-169.5.The Saturday morning 2-Man Best Ball Net matches would be all that the Blue Team would need to prove the experts correct and to break the seven year curse of the Thursday leaders. In an almost complete mauling of the Red Team, the Blue Team won three of the five matches by 11 or more points, and only lost a single match. The final tally for the session was Blue Team 69.5, Red Team 35.5. The Blue Team refused to let off the gas in the Saturday afternoon 6/6/6 matches, and took those by a 55-40 score, giving the Blue Team an almost insurmountable 65 point lead (310-245) heading to the final day. The lead was so large that Lefty said that it was 'arithmatickely' impossible for the Red Team to make a comeback.
The Sunday morning front nine individual matches proved to be close with the Blue Team winning 50.5-49.5, but the back nine was another big win for Captain Murph's team, as the Blue Team closed out the event with a 56.5-43.5 back nine drumming of the Red Team. The final totals showed that the Blue won in record fashion by a 417-338 score.
The biggest stars for the Blue Team were the rookie TC and TD who each won six of their eight matches, along with Little Whit, World B. and The Cuntzter who each finished the competition with a record of 5-2-1. Big Whit was also very strong in the Captains' Cup, finishing with a 4-2-2 record for the week.
It was no surprise that the Red Team was led by FP III and Birk Jr., who were each able to parlay their outstanding individual play into a fine team performance by winning six of their eight matches. The Red also got fine performances from former champions Captain Jap (5-2-1) and Ricky V. (4-3-1). Scotty B. also finished with a 4-3-1 record in the matches.
This marks the fourth straight victory for the Blue Team, following a four year run by the Red Team from 2007-2010. It also is the second straight year that Captain Murph has been at the helm for the victorious Blue Team. Question is, will he return for the three-peat? Congratulations to Captain Murph and The Blue Team on a fine victory.
Captains' Cup SummaryScoring
This year's Fall Classic produced some of the best scoring in quite a few years. Little Ray once again took the gross scoring championship with a week that included a Fall Classic record setting round of 69 on Friday. Big Whit finished second in the gross scoring, and followed up Little Ray's Friday 69 with an outstanding even par round of 72 on Saturday. The 2014 Fall Clasic Individual Net Champion, FP III, came in third in the gross scoring, and the 2013 champion, World B. Freeman, was fourth with a fine average of 87.5 over the four days. There were also two eagles (gross) recorded in Thursday's opening round with Little Ray and World B. Freeman each making a three on the par 5 13th hole.
On the Net scoring side, Big Whit's 72 was good for a Fall Classic record low net score of -11, while FP III and World B. Freeman each matched the previous record with rounds of -8. Also, Little Birk shot himself a nice round of -5 on Saturday. Headed into the final round, there were five players under par, which is by far the most of any Fall Classic held at Crown Colony. Good shooting guys.
Trash
Little Ray won the most trashes during the week; however, he was not quite as dominate as in the past. Little Ray won five trashes, while The Jap was next with four, and Big Whit and Lefty each finished with three. Good thing for Lefty that he won a few trashes or he would have left Crown Colony with a big goose egg in the money column. Sorry, Sorry.
Calcutta
The elder Birk was the only person to select FP III in the Calcutta, and therefore, the pot was split evenly between Birk and the champion. Birk's method of selection included extensive research into the past performances of all of the players, study of their current tendencies, and disection of their physical and mental preparations for this year's tournament. He then made his Calcutta selection by taking the 13th person on the list (because he was staying in room number 13). When asked afterwards about his unusual method of picking a winner, Birk said that it was as good as any other method. I guess that there is no arguing with success, if it works, it works.
The Fall Classic Food Committee
A very special thanks to TD, DC, Bubba, Little Whit, and to Mrs. Rat for all that they did to make the dining experience at the 2014 Fall Classic one to remember. The menu included:
- Thurs. AM - Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Biscuits
- Thurs. PM - Jambalya, White Beans, Boudin, Salad, Root Beer Floats
- Fri. AM - Grits and Grillades, Biscuits
- Fri. PM - Ribs, Brisket, Pulled Pork, Chicken, Sausage, Salad
- Sat. PM - Boudin, Hog's Head Cheese, Rib-eye Steaks, Twice Baked Potatoes, Salad
- Desserts provided by Mrs. Rat - Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pistachio Cake
The Fall Classic 2014 Complete Results in PDF Format
Get all the results in PDF format here: The Fall Classic 2014 Results in PDF
The Fall Classic 2014 Photos