HSI VII
Point Recap
SCORING SUMMARY
ROUND 1 - PINE DUNES 1The start of HSI VII was very interesting for several reasons. First, this was a course that none of us had ever played on before, so we didn’t know what was in front of us. Second, this was the first HSI event that Ryan Powell would be playing in, and none of us had played with him since Sheebz in college about 10 years ago. Third, we all had high hopes for a great start and we were uncertain how the games of the other players had progressed over the past year or even over the past few weeks.
By the fifth hole, each player was on the board with either a skin win or an extra. Ryan Powell picked the right time to win holes in the first round, as he won three holes that all had carryovers to them, so he won a total of seven skins. Sheebz went five of six on woofs and had three rabbits while Nick and JJ were pretty even on the skins and extras. The score after the first round was very close: Powell – 17, Sheebz – 13, Nick – 13, JJ – 13.
ROUND 2 - PINE DUNES 2
Powell started this round in first place. JJ won the first two holes this afternoon to take over first place for the first time during the week. Sheebz then took over the top spot after scoring a birdie on the eighth hole. Nick grabbed first place after a par on the eleventh hole. Finally Sheebz won the sixteenth hole to keep the top spot through the end of the round.
This was a very interesting afternoon round because all of the players were in each of first, second, third, and fourth at some point during the round (except JJ was never in fourth place). JJ scored the weeks low round of 83, but Sheebz won the most points because he won skins on the right holes. The score was a little more spread out than in the morning, but still very close: Sheebz – 33, JJ – 29, Nick – 25, Powell – 21.
ROUND 3 - PINE DUNES 3
With two rounds down and three to go, this was the round that somebody needed to separate themselves from the crowd. Sheebz tried to separate early, but then he failed on four consecutive woof attempts to come back to the crowd. The second through fifth holes were all carried over, and then Powell jumped into a tie for second when he won the sixth hole.
Then something very significant occurred on the back nine of the third round. JJ scored the worst score of any player on the back nine, but he won the right holes with the right carryover amounts to vault himself past Sheebz for the lead. JJ won the fourteenth hole to vault past Sheebz, for what would be the last lead change of the week. The score ended up still very close after the third round: JJ – 48, Sheebz – 38, Nick – 34, Powell – 34.
ROUND 4 - PINE DUNES 4
At the start of this round, all the players still had a chance to take the victory. However, this was the round that Powell struggled. He won no skins and ended up one for two on woofs to finish with zero points. A significant moment occurred when the 11th through 14th holes were all carryovers. If Nick or Sheebz would win the next hole, either of them would have vaulted into first place. However, picking the 15th hole to make a move was not the right thing to do against JJ. He won the hole with a birdie, which wasn’t uncommon for him on this hole. He birdied it three of the five times this week. These points gave him enough points to make it look like nobody could catch him the final round. The score after round four was JJ – 70, Sheebz – 52, Nick – 46, Powell – 34.
ROUND 5 - PINE DUNES 5
It was mathematically possible for any player to catch JJ, but it would be tough. The 17th and 18th holes were both carried over from the previous day. So it was obvious that every player desperately needed to win early to have a chance at catching the people in front of them. #1 was carried over by Sheebz/Powell, #2 by Nick/JJ, #3 by Nick/JJ, #4 by Nick/Powell, #5 by Sheebz/Nick/Powell, and #6 by Sheebz/JJ. The last couple of these holes were very tense because there were a lot of points available on the board. Sheebz and Nick needed to win the next hole to catch JJ. Powell needed the win to catch Sheebz and Nick. JJ needed the win to lock up the title.
As we stood on the seventh tee, everybody knew the situation, but only one person stepped up. JJ won the hole with a par while Sheebz and Nick scored double bogey and Powell scored a triple. JJ locked up the trophy with this victory. Sometimes a player can fall backwards into a win, but not this time. Nobody gave it to him, JJ grabbed the victory when it counted.
So all that was left was a battle for second place. Powell could mathematically still reach second, but it would be virtually impossible. Sheebz and Nick began trading blows. We hit our tee shots on the 14th hole and then the horn blew that meant a storm was coming and we needed to stop play. We went to the clubhouse and had a storm delay of about 90 minutes. Had we been rained out at this point, Sheebz would have won second place by three points over Nick. However, there were eight points remaining on the final five holes. We finally got out to finish the final holes. #14 was carried over, Nick won #15 to get within one point of Sheebz. #16 and #17 were both carried over and then Nick won #18 to pass Sheebz for second. After the rain delay, Nick played the final five holes in two over par while Sheebz played the same five holes in eleven over. Sheebz folded and Nick stepped up.
The final score ended up JJ – 89, Nick – 61, Sheebz – 56, Powell – 44. The scoring system again seemed to be set up very well. Every player had chances to win the event even though the total scores were all over the map. JJ shot well, but specifically he stepped up on the holes that counted while the others didn’t. Very little scoring changes, if any at all, will be implemented into HSI VIII.