SCORING SUMMARY

We played a practice round at Old Kinderhook the day before, so we were all prepared for this round.  However, things started very slowly for everybody.  Sheebz got the points started with a sandie/rabbit on the second hole to score the first par of the day.  Then the next four holes were all carried over and Sheebz won the seventh hole to take a commanding lead.  The score at the end of the first round was much more spread out that many expected.  The score was Sheebz - 32, Nick - 9, Robert - 6, JJ - 1.

Nick and Sheebz traded blows for much of this round and Nick made a run towards the end.  Nick won the final five skins.  Robert and JJ couldn't get things going just yet.  Sheebz widened his lead only slightly over Nick.  At the end of the first day, the score was Sheebz - 52, Nick - 27, Robert - 5, JJ - 4.

Sheebz took advantage of a very slow start by the rest of the players by winning six of the first nine skins.  It was starting to look like Sheebz would run away with the title.  Then Nick decided to kick it in and make things interesting.  Nick shot a two over par on the back nine holes winning six of the eight skins that were awarded.  Nick cut into Sheebz 25 point lead by getting to within 19 points.  The final hole would carry over to the next day.  Nick closed in on the lead.  Robert and JJ were still bunched very closely for third place.  The final score was Sheebz - 70, Nick - 51, JJ - 8, Robert - 7.

With only two rounds left, Sheebz had a 19 point lead over Nick.  Robert and JJ were together at a distant third place.  Then the momentum shifted and JJ flipped a switch and won the most points on this round.  His biggest winner was on #16 when he won four skins and scored a greenie point.  Nick had two rounds to cover the 19 point lead that Sheebz had.  He did what he had to do and cut the lead in half to only 9 points.  The final score was Sheebz - 79, Nick - 70, JJ - 33, Robert - 8.

Early on it looked as if Sheebz would run away with the victory.  However, after a slow start in round one, Nick had been coming back and Sheebz had only a nine point lead.  Robert did not play this round, and nobody was sure what effect that would have on the score.  After five holes Sheebz had stretched his lead to twelve points.  It looked like Sheebz was going to hold off Nick.  Then the biggest move of the week happened with Nick winning the next six skins to tie the score with Sheebz after eleven holes.  It was all tied at the top with only seven hole remaining.

Sheebz then made a mistake on #12 when he failed on his woof attempt and lost a point.  The hole was carried over by JJ and Nick, but Nick took the lead for the first time in HSI VI with a one point advantage.  #13 was carried over as well and then Sheebz won #14 with a par when Nick's par putt barely missed.  Sheebz took a five point lead with only four holes and six skin points remaining.

Sheebz then all but closed things out when he won #15 with a par.  The hole was worth one point.  Sheebz had a six point lead with only five skin points remaining.  JJ had been relatively quiet this round scoring only a single point through fifteen holes, but then he won #16 and took those points off the board.  However, Nick sunk a rabbit putt on this hole to get a point back.  With two holes and three points remaining to be awarded, Sheebz had a five point lead over Nick.  Nick would need to win the remaining two holes and score two extras in order to tie Sheebz for the lead.

Nick did what he needed to do on the next hole and won #17 with a bogey.  It all came down to the last hole when Sheebz had a four point lead and the final hole was worth two points.  Nick needed to win the hole and score two extras to tie Sheebz and send the title to the tie breaker.  It was absolutely possible on the par five as Nick could have scored some combination of birdie, woof, rabbit, or sandie.

Nick was in a greenside bunker after his third shot and it looked like sandie/rabbit would be the combination he needed.  He hit a decent shot out of the sand and left himself a long putt for par.  He two putted for bogey and JJ stepped up to par the last hole to win the points.  The final score of HSI VI was Sheebz - 96, Nick - 92, JJ - 40, Robert - 8.

The previous closest score at an HSI for the winner was when JJ won HSI V by 14 points.  The only difference with that event was that all three players were in position to win on the back nine of the final round.  In that event, the last lead change occurred on the fourth hole of the final round.  In HSI VI, the last lead change occurred on the fourteenth hole of the final round.  It truly did come down to the very end before the winner was decided.