Encinitas Ranch Golf Club

Friday  November 7 & 14,  2008   

Championship Match :  Chan vs. Haug – The Battle for the 2008 Seacoast Cup -  Curtis Chan arrived at the golf course 45 minutes before his tee time.  He has been playing well of late.  His post season  match play record is quite notable, where he has not ever been down in any of the his matches this year.  His steady even play has gotten him to the finals.  He usually waits for his opponents to make the mistakes and that’s where he turns his game up a notch to win holes.  His putter has been hot, and driving much improved.  He reports that his short game still needs improvement.  Mike Haug also arrived early and was found hitting balls off the mat.  He has been known for long accurate drives.  His chipping has been very accurate and steady.  Length and accuracy off the tee usually gives him an advantage as this leaves him short iron shots to the green.  Most opponents are a bit intimidated when they are hitting 7 and 8 irons to the green while Mike is 50-60 yards further and holding a pitching wedge.  Mike declared at the practice area that his swing just didn’t feel right today.  He said it may take a few holes for him to feel loose.  The player with the least amount of mistakes today will most likely have the advantage as both players play well in match play conditions.

Final Championship Match Play Results:

 To View the Entire Match Play Bracket - click here

Chan vs. Haug:  Chan wins 3 and 1.   Curtis held off the late charge from Mike Haug and held onto the match that finally ended on the 17^th hole when Curtis putted out his 4 foot birdie putt to close the door on the championship match.  Curtis is now the 2008 Seacoast Cup Champion!    It all began early in the morning when finalist were both warming up on the practice range.  Curtis was working hard on his short iron approach shots as he declared that this was one area of his game that had been letting him down for the past few weeks.  Mike Haug looked a bit tentative with his driver which normally is his “forte” in his game.  Mike’s dependable long drawing drives (usually +280 yards) were just not being shaped as he normally does.  He reported that..”my long drive swing has slightly changed in the past 2-3 weeks and I’m going to have to dig deep to find my swing.”  Curtis took and early lead and by the 8^th hole he had a comfortable 4 Up lead.  But Mike made a back nine charge and closed the gap to 1 up after the 14^th hole.  Curtis then made a sweeping putt on the par 3 #15 hole to take him back to 2 Up.  Mike had only 3 more holes to work with but Curtis finally sealed the match when he made another birdie on hole #17 to close out the match and the win.

Congratulations to Curtis Chan for wining and becoming the new 2008 Seacoast Cup Champion ! Match Details

Details of each hole can be viewed at: Match Details

Post Match Comments:

In the post match interview Mike said..”Curtis really played well.  He did not make the big mistakes that I did early in the match. He really made it fun when he missed his short putt on 16.   I feel kind of bad that I taunted him, but I truly expected him to make that putt.  He just doesn’t miss…  I realized that he gave me a chance at that point, but he quickly recovered on the next hole when he sank that right to left putt for birdie.  Curtis made the crucial putts when he needed them, and he truly deserved to be the Champion today.  Today I struggled early on and didn’t have my “A” game.  But my hat goes off to Curtis as he got the early lead and held on to the end.  I’ll be looking forward to coming back again next year to my chance at the Trophy.”

Curtis had some pleasant comments in regards to his championship win…”Mike was a great opponent to contend with for the Championship Match today.  He proved to be a very worthy opponent who never gave up.  I know early on he missed some big tee shots that gave me a few holes, but in the end, he put on quite an effort to close the gap. I had to dig deep today to suppress his charge. .  His demeanor on the course inspite of his difficulties, shows what great Christian character Mike has.  It was a true joy to play with him today. 

When asked as to what gave him the edge to be the 2009 Seacoast Cup Champion Curtis  said.. “ I’ve worked hard on my game these past 5 months, as I had some difficulty early this year in getting off the tee.  After making some big changes in my equipment during the year, I was able to gain some confidence in my game and fortunately these past 4 months I have been able to make steady improvements and progress in my game.  I knew playing against Mike today would be a challenge.  He’s long off the tee and has a really good short game.  I’m very fortunate today that I somehow got the upper hand in the match and was able to hold on for the win. It was a really fun and tough match.” 

Consolation Match Play (the battle for 3^rd place) Results: 

Consolation Match:  Jensen vs. Maglidt – The Battle for 3rd Place - Jensen has been making steady progress in his game.  Just last year he was barely breaking 100 on the score card.  This past year his game has advanced to a new level where he now has a chance at a 3^rd place finish.  Darren also has been playing more and with much improvement.  His game can be streaky, but lately he has become used to posting scores in the 90’s.  Darren can be long off the tee but sometimes his directional location can add strokes to the scorecard.  Both players can have great holes, but the player who puts several good holes together will mostly likely win the match

Jensen vs. Maglidt:  Maglidt Wins 1 up.   Both John Jensen and Darren Maglidt were at the driving range early, working out their swings for the day and also spending time on the practice green to get a feel for their putts.  John realized that he would be the one giving up strokes this time to his competitor.  Normally John would be the recipient of the strokes but since Darren had a 5 stoke allotment for the day.  Due to some golf course construction work on hole #3 (pouring of concrete on new pathways), the play began on hole #10.  The normal front nine would then become the final back 9.  Jensen realized that his “A” game needed to come out in full force for him to overcome the play of Darren. So as planned, Jensen played a great opening hole and barely missed his par put for a tap in bogey.  The steady play of Jensen somehow rattled Darren as he finished the first hole with a “snowman” 8 and found himself already one down on John.  Somehow, this opening hole, gave John a boost of confidence, while Darren took a few deep breaths and told himself, that he had to regroup and play some steady golf….and that’s exactly what happened for the next 8 holes.  Darren was able to put together a string of very steady golf and take a 4 up lead after 9 holes.  In fact these nine holes were his best ever player as Darren posted an opening 43 strokes..  John realized after his first hole win that all he needed to do is let Darren make more mistakes and the match would end up in his favor.  But as each hole progressed, John found himself making the mistakes and Darren was minimizing his problems.  John knew that being 4 down going into the final 9 holes, that he would have to dig deep and play the best golf he could just as he had been playing these past months.    He told himself that only if he could give himself a chance to make par or bogey this would put the pressure on Darren.  With only 4 holes left, John really put on a charge and he was able to win 3 holes in a roll.  So going into the final hole, he found himself only 1 down.  But realizing that even if he tied the match, Darren would still be declared the winner since Darren won the tough hole #4 hole (handicap #),  and that hole would be used in the event of an All Square match.  John still gave if his best effort to win the hole and was able to score a birdie.  Darren felt that he needed to show that he was a worthy golfing opponent, and so at the final green realizing that John just scored a birdie, Darren sized up difficult hill side putt, and sank his par saving (net birdie) 10 footer to halve the hole.  The two of them realized that the better golf in today’s match was the winner.  In the post interview room, John declared, “Darren sure came out on fire on the front nine….before I knew what was happening, I was 4 down.  I did make it respectable, by climbing myself back into the match, but I didn’t play a complete game and that’s what caught up to me.  I wasn’t able to be steady and consistent and that left the door wide open for Darren to get the lead.  In the end, Darren really deserved to win as he was able to get a big enough lead to hold off my charge.”  Darren was found in the clubhouse enjoying lunch a showing a big smile from his win.  He said, “John really shook me up when he won the first hole.  My first few swings were ugly, and that led to my opening 8 on my scorecard.  I really had to focus, since in my last match with Mike Haug really showed me that when I’m not focused, my game goes sour.  I got a big wake up call when I somehow played the wrong ball out of the bunker and lost the hole from my blunder.  So I really concentrated on my game and in the end, my ability to get a good lead helped me finish as the winner. “ 

Congratulations to Darren Maglidt  for winning and taking the 3^rd place position in the 2008 Seacoast Cup Championship

.2008 Seacoast Cup - Match Play Bracket

Results for Individual Gross / Net Stroke Play  - several other players did come along to watch and play along with the Championship and Consolation match play participants.  Our normal format of play was also done and here are the results:  Both matches were played on Nov 7 and Nov 14 so both dates scores are listed below.

Note:  play began on hole #10

 Winners:  Congratulations to Al Asakura  for posting the low gross score of 78.  Low Net honors goes to Jim Freitas who fired low net 64.

Best Front Nine: Al Asakura 40

Best Back Nine:  Jim Freitas 38 / Al Asakura 38

Noteables:  Darren Maglidt cleaned up on 5 skins today !  Welcome – to newcomer Anil Bhalla .

Results:  For the rest of the field here are the result of individual gross and net stroke play.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Skins Game - In our regular skins report here are the following players who won skins for this round.  To win a skin you must have the sole lowest net score amongst the field of players.