Congratulations to our National Champions! Both teams battled all weekend long to come out on top and claim the hardware. Streamsong Resort lived up to the hype as one of the best golf resorts in the U.S. Many thanks to the team at Streamsong for hosting our 2022 National Championship.
In the Gross Competition, our champs raced out to an early lead and never looked back, with a blistering 5 birdies on the front 9 at the Red course. Arnold & Williams added 4 more birdies on the back 9, and only a bogey 18 cost them a clean card in round 1 action.
In Round 2, the birdie barrage continued with 2 more quick birdies on #1 & #2. Playing in the final group, the final result was never much in doubt as the cruise control was in place. For good measure, 4 more team birdies on the back 9 sealed the victory by 6 shots for Arnold and Williams. It was quite a season for Arnold and Williams as they also claimed victory at Pebble Beach, American Dunes and Forest Dunes!
Over in the Net Competition, the battle was intense and would go down to the final putt. After round 1, team Jones & Duneman found themselves clinging to a 2 shot lead. That lead quickly went away - playing the 1st hole of Blue course, the team of Chuck Hervas and Casey Griffin made an eagle 2 with a fairway hole-out to catch the leaders. The leaderboard continued to bunch up with the team of Rick Gordon and Ken Krauss surging to the top, carding a 6 under front nine. With 2 more birdies on the back nine, Gordon & Krauss took a brief lead leaving the 15th hole an kept it until a costly bogey on #17. With a par on #18, Gordon and Krauss finished at 15 under as clubhouse leaders.
Jones and Duneman were also sitting at 15 under with 3 holes to play. A roller coaster back 9 for the Pebble Beach Champs proved to end team Hervas and Grffin's championship hopes as they settled in at 14 under.
With pars on #16 & #17 and potential sudden death playoff looming, Jones and Duneman had one last chance on #18 to claim the hardware. Both players were receiving a stroke on #18, the 3rd most difficult hole on the Blue course, meaning a par would deliver a championship. Both players found the fairways with their tee shots. Jones missed the green to the right with his approach shot and Duneman barley made the front part of the green. Jones hit a chip shot that checked too quick and had a 25 footer for par. Duneman was able to navigate his first putt over the hills on the green to settle 10 feet away from the hole. Both players took their time, lined up their putts, discussed with their caddie and with a gallery of participants watching the drama unfold, Jones calmly stepped up and smoothly rolled in his putt for par and the Championship! After the fist pumping and celebration - Duneman then rolled in his putt as well for good measure and the real celebration began! National Champs!
