You know it is the middle of a CGA season when the league starts chirping about what is wrong. The course is too difficult. The subs are ringers. The handicaps are screwed up. Ahh, the sights and sounds of the CGA.
Week 12 shaped up to be a very interesting week as nearly a quarter of the league was "across the pond" on an epic trip to the birthplace of golf. This meant the league would be welcoming four subs for Event 12, including a BIG sub vs. sub match featuring Super Sub Dan Freiburger and first-timer Mark Sell in a battle of the top two teams - Chuckie West and BuBu. Sell, a decorated champion who used to play out of Heritage Golf Club in Hilliard, took over for Brad Underwood while Fry filled in for K. C. Budzik. This match did not live up to the hype. Sell fired up a gross 39 that tied him for low net (34) honors on the evening. Fry's shocking decline continued with a 47/43. Final score: Sell 12.5, Fry 2.5. Burkley and Shaffer went toe to toe with Burkley putting up a 41/37 against Shaffer's 39/37, but Shaffer came away with a 9.5 to 5.5 victory and 1st place Chuckie West swept Bubu by a score of 33.5 to 11.5.
Sell wasn't the only first-timer touring the front side with the CGA. Newbie Brady Tessner impressed the league with both his preparation and his play. You have to love a sub that takes his first CGA event as seriously as this guy. Tessner, a 6 handicap out of Rattlesnake Ridge, had never played the GC of D before Monday. Maybe the scores of the members over the last few weeks scared him. He played a practice round Monday afternoon and shot a 74. That must have quelled any nervousness that he had as he went out and shot a 37/35, tying Ryan Webb for low gross honors on the night. One CGA veteran described Tessner as "half Shaffer, half Webb". Another referred to him as "Brady Woods". Still, King Peter'validated the league with a 9.5 to 5.5 victory over Tessner.
Not to be outdone, former CGA member Shawn Swanson subbed for Jason Diwik and managed a 40/34 that earned him a tie for low net honors with Sell, Webb, and Steve Porterfield. But Dr. George Tzagournis put together a 53/36 that was good enough for an 8 to 7 victory over Swanson.
Overall, the Event 12 subs averaged a gross score of 40.75 and a net score of 36.50. The CGA full-timers averaged a 45.58 gross and a 37.25 net. What does this prove? Nothing really. Except that maybe the course is too difficult, the handicaps are screwed up and the subs were ringers. Touch 'em all!