Seacoast Christian GC , October 25, 2019
The Field – The Crossings @ Carlsbad, CA
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS MATCH
Today’s event is our Championship Finals – Top 2 Match Play event. We have 2 players left to determine our 2019 Club Champion. The match is Richard Mulligan vs. Rik Thistle . The other 2 semi-finalist will have their “consolation” match and battle it out for 3rd place….Ted Clinite vs. Tom Abrell. Players who don’t qualify for the Semi Finals Championship Bracket will still be able to compete in our post season play and compete in the “PLAYERS CUP” division to determine our Player’s Cup Champion for 2019. Extra Value Seacoast Playoff points will be available today for those players who can showcase an “A” game with intelligent course management skills.
Here’e the line up of matches for Friday –
NOTE:
Today’s round allows players in the Championship Bracket to earn 1500 points for the championship win, 1200 points for 2nd Place Runner up, 600 points for 3rd place, 400 points for 4th place. All “Player’s Cup” matches are worth 400 points. “Tie Matches” will split the points (200 pts. each).
Pre Match Interviews
Players came out early to The Crossings @ Carlsbad to warm up . Fortunately the field of players were all met with early morning sunshine rays which warmed up their swings. As player’s tee times were called their demeanor and “game face” looks took over as most the the field is ever so familiar with the prows and challenges of this fun course. Earlier in the media room, the 2 finalist who were playing in the “Championship Match” afforded our golf reporter an interview to explore their game plans.
Richard Mulligan topped our leader board towards the end of our regular golf season. He has tuned on the after burners to his game as our “match playoffs” have gotten underway. Rumor has it that he has been seeing private golf coaches to help him get deep into the playoffs….this strategy has worked well for him this year. In the media room he was asked, “Richard, how did you prepare for today?”….Richard replied, “I have to admit that getting this deep into the Seacoast Cup playoffs was not exactly what I visioned. I was making it a goal for me to just win a few matches and if I got into the “Wild Card” playoffs, I’d be a happy man. But now several weeks into it, and deeper into the playoffs than I’d planned, I’m now playing in the final championship!…I’ve out did myself, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. I won’t be holding back in letting you know that I’ve spent just about every day these past weeks in working on my game. I especially have been focusing on my short game as that’s one part of my game I know I can improve on. All that extra work has paid dividends for me as I feel confident in my game and it’s been the sharpest as its ever been…I now know what it means to have an “A” game.”
Rik Thistle has been no stranger to the Seacoast Christian GC playoff board. He has been steady all year and has always made a strong showing in the year end “Match Play” playoffs. Today is now his chance at the Championship Cup. He’s been in this position before but has failed to win in the championship finals. It will be a challenge today for Rik, as he just flew back from a 3 week trip with his wife to Italy that was planned one year ago. Rik may have had to lobby his wife to cut the trip short to accommodate his golf schedule…the media department tried hard to press Rik to see if he was still feeling jet lagged as his tee time this morning would be a 4p tee time Italian time. Rik explained in the interview room..“I’m ready to go today…I’ve been dreaming and contemplating this finals match for the past 3 weeks. In fact, when I was flying back from Europe, I mentally played all my shots over and over as part of my pre match routine. It’s a kind of mental exercise I do which helps my mental game. I actually go hole by hole and envision each swing, each shot, each golf hole… which helps me focus my game. I’ve had a lot of time while traveling in Europe to think about today’s match and I’m ready to go. You might think I’m tired…but I’m tired of waiting to get this match underway. My competitive juices have been held back as I’ve not swung any clubs for 3 weeks…but my range time today proved my game is still as good as it can be. Let’s get this going !”
Another great day of golf for our field of players. The Championship and Consolation matches were played, and players all felt that the conditions today were very fair. The greens were true. The fairways were well manicured. What an enjoyable day of golf we all experienced. Below are the results and details of the Championship Match.
Post season play involves points earned solely from LOW GROSS and LOW NET play as well of WINS or TIES in Match Play. Also our normal “NET SKINS” scoring is not available for post season play.
Below are the MATCH PLAY score cards. Winner earns 1500 points.
Hole 1 – Both players greeted each other the shook hands as they both knew this was the most important match of the year. Honors off the tee went to Richard Mulligan. Both players got off the tee, but Mulligan hit got his drive down the middle leaving only 155 yards to the hole. Thistle drove his ball slightly to the right leaving a much longer approach (170 yards) to the green. Mulligan hits his approach shot to the safe left side of the green leaving himself a 20 footer for birdie. Thistle pulls his shot leaving himself a chip shot from 30 feet to the hole. Thistle almost holes out with a chip, but runs his ball 8 feet past the cup. Mulligan methodically lines up his birdie attempt and rims the edge of the cup for a miss. He is conceded the tap in par. Thistle misses his 8 footer to save par. Mulligan 1 UP
Hole 2 – Successful tee shots for both players leaving themselves both about 140 yards from the green. Players both come up short and left of the green and end up with lengthy putts to the hole. Both players unsuccessful in getting up and down and halve the hole with bogey. Match remains Mulligan 1 UP
Hole 3 – Mulligan hits his drive solidly down the middle of the fairway, leaving 170 yards to the up hill green. Thistle slices his drive to the right, leaving 190 yards to the green. Rik then leaves his second shot short giving him a 45 yard opportunity to get up and down. Difficulty arises as Rik’s third shot chunks and flies long over the green into the hazard environmental habitat area. Rik has to take a penalty shot and must chip in to save bogey. Mulligan misses his shot to the green leaving a short 15 foot chip shot which he skillfully performs to leave his ball 6 inches for a tap in par. Rik fails to get up and down and looses the hole. Mulligan 2 UP
Hole 4 – Both players get launch beautiful tee shots onto the green (168 yards). Pars are both made . Mulligan 2 UP
Hole 5 – Mulligan doesn’t connect well on his drive and leaves the ball short as it drops into the canyon rough. He is forced to hit from the “drop area” for his 3rd shot. Thistle, senses an opportunity and nails his drive down the fairway 280 yards. Mulligan is now forces to hit a solid shot to get his game in gear, but he again misses his opportunity and tops his 3rd shot and it sails only 40 yards into the left rough under a tree. Mulligan tries to chop out but before he realizes it, he now lies 5 with 180 yards to the green. Rik skillfully gets his ball to the right side of the green leaving himself a 40 foot chip opportunity for birdie. Mulligan finally gets to the green in 7 strokes, but realizes his chances of winning the hole are not good. Rik sensing the struggles that Mulligan has on this hole, he methodically gets his ball to the cup to settle for a bogey and a win. Mulligan 1 UP
Hole 6 – The number ONE handicap hole with all kinds of difficulty. Mulligan strokes on this hole. Thistle skillfully nails his drive leaving himself 175 yards to the green. Mulligan hits a slice and his ball carries into the right hazard, leaving a difficult 3rd shot to the green from 189 yards. Mulligan collects himself and nails his 3rd shot getting pin high just right of the green. Thistle hits his 2nd shot but misses right leaving an 18 foot chip shot to the cup. Both players pull out their short game skills. Rik is unable to get up and down and taps out for a bogey, while Mulligan comes up big with a saving double bogey putt (net bogey) to tie the hole. Mulligan 1 UP
Hole 7 – The par 5 water hole now awaits the players as both players hit nice drives off the tee. Their lay up shots become the crucial shot of the hole. Rik hits his second shot solidly leaving himself 135 yards to the hole. Mulligan also hits a great second shot, leaving himself a 105 yard approach shot to the green. Rik now feeling the pressure to tie the match, miss hits his short iron shot, and ends up long and left into the high pampas grass above the hole. Mulligan calmly hits his short iron approach shot to 25 feet on the 2nd tier, leaving a difficult putt down the slop to the hole for birdie. Rik’s difficulties compound as he misses his next shot and is only able to advance his ball 5 feet leaving himself a 20 foot chip shot to the hole. Rik finally gets to the green after 5 shots and he has to settle for a 2 putt double bogey score. Rich Mulligan 3 putts the green but is able to win the hole. Mulligan 2 UP
Hole 8 – Now the players are realizing that almost half the match is over. Mulligan has a 2 up lead, but there’s plenty of golf left on the score card. Thistle knows he’s given many opportunities to Mulligan, and has missed golden opportunities to be back into this match. Now with the short par 4 hole, Rik decided to just relax and insure he plays solid golf without any mistakes. Both players get off their drives on the fairway leaving 120 yards to the hole. The uphill elevated green becomes the challenge in calculating wind and elevation differentials. Both players miscalculate their approach shots and come out 10 feet short off the green. Now the chipping challenge becomes the head to head match. Both players chip to within 10 feet of the cup, but neither is able to make their putt and a bogey halved hole results in a tie. Mulligan 2 UP
Hole 9 – A short 105 yards par 3. Mulligan gets his tee shot on target and leaves a 10 footer for birdie. Thistle hits a straight shot, but it comes out short and lands in the near sand bunker. Unable to get out on his first attempt, Rik finally gets out in on his 3rd shot and his only hope is that Mulligan 3 putts. Mulligan feeling command in his game just misses his birdie attempt and taps in the par. Rik only shakes his head as he realizes he just gave up a hole as another gift to Mulligan for a win. Mulligan 3 UP
Hole 10 – At the turn, Rik takes a deep breath and collects his thoughts. He realizes that every mistake he made so far, was taken as a door opening for Mulligan, and each time Mulligan took advantage of it and scored. Rik knew he had to tighten up the reigns to his game and play the golf he knows. On the next hole Mulligan tees off, but slices his drive right into the lateral hazard. Rik seeing an opportunity, hits his drive solidly down the middle, leaving only a 120 yards to the cup. Mulligan is forced to hit from the drop area for a 3rd shot which sails right of the green above the green side bunker. Thistle hits the green in two and is left with a 25 foot putt. Mulligan scrambles and finally gets to the putting green in 5. Mulligan two putts for a triple which opens the door for Thistle as he two putts for a par win. Mulligan 2 UP
Hole 11 – Thistle now feels a change in momentum and is excited to tee off on the high tee box over looking the 11th hole. He hits his shot but it slices right leaving questions whether it stayed in play. Mulligan recollects his thoughts and shrugs off all the negativity from the previous hole. He hits a solid straight drive leaving his ball 145 yards to the hole. Thistle finds his ball and is able to get a drop off the cart path. His 2nd shot comes out short of the green. Mulligan also hits a short 2nd shot leaving a 25 foot chip shot. Thistle chips up leaving a lengthy 30 foot putt. Thistle misses his par attempt. Mulligan takes out his 54 degree PW and skillfully strikes his ball to perfection to see it land 5 feet short of the cup and rolls online to find the bottom of the cup for birdie. A big smile over takes Mulligan, and a big shaking of the head is all Thistle and do. Mulligan wins the hole. Mulligan 3 UP
Hole 12 – The long ride to the following tee afford the players to collect their thoughts and to think of what it takes to shape up the match to their advantage. Rik knew he had to change the momemtum run that Mulligan was on. Mulligan senses a big boost in his confidence and all he needed to do is hold on to this lead. Plus this next hole was a “handicap”hole which gives him an extra stroke. The tee shots for both players left both with 180 yards to the green. Both players came up short but a nice chip allowed each player a chance at par. The difficult hole placement at the bottom of the 2nd tier green made it almost impossible to make a one putt. Both players tapped out for bogey, but Mulligan wins the hole with the stroke. Mulligan 4 UP
Hole 13 – With a 4 up lead, Mulligan realized that as long as he didn’t make any major mistakes, he would have a great chance at the win. Thistle now took the mental stance that it was now or never. He had to make some magic happen and he’d didn’t have much time left. Both players hit solid tee shots, leaving just 120 yards to the green. Mulligan went first and hit his 2nd shot long as his ball hit the edge of the green and rolled off. Thistle solidly places his ball 15 foot from the hole. Mulligan pulls out his “A” short game and successfully chips his ball 5 feet from the cup. Thistle realizes he must make this birdie putt…but in his attempt to do so he over reads the green and the ball lips out. A disappointing par is scored. Mulligan seeing another golden opportunity sizes up his putt and nails his line to save his par and tie the hole. Mulligan 4 UP
Hole 14 – Thistle now realizes he’s got to go big or go home. All is now on the line and with a limited amount of holes left, he has to win every chance he can get. Mulligan goes first to the tee, and carefully calculates the wind conditions as the short 100 yard hole is all that mattered now. He senses the wind being against him so he clubs up to the 9 iron and solidly hits to the 2nd tier above the cup. Thistle thinks he almost has to hole out to take the hole. But with all the pressure of the day, he miss hits his PW and comes out short of the green. He chips up to the green but leaves a 10 footer. Mulligan does all he can to get the hole to the cup, but he miss calculates the speed of the green and his ball rolls 15 feet past the cup. His return putt misses but he settles for a bogey. Thistle tries his best to make his putt, but he is again unsuccessful and he taps out for a double. He shakes his head, but realizes the better golfer won today. Rich Mulligan proved that his game was worth of the Championship Trophy today. Both players respectfully removed their hats and congratulated each other. Mulligan WIN 5 UP
Richard Mulligan -2019 Seacoast Cup Champion
Summary – Ted held on with his normal “stellar A” game play. Having to give 11 stokes to Tom did give some challenges to the match. Tom kept the match tight for a good majority of the round and he hung on as long as he could, but after 14 holes, Ted’s match play experience proved to be the winning formula. A few double bogey scores served up by Tom set the table for win for Ted. In the end, both players had a great time playing, and felt that next year they’ll have a chance again at the 2020 Championship Cup.
NEXT EVENT – Arrowood GC
The next competition is Friday, November 1, 2019 President’s Cup / Lunch of Champions Awards Meeting.
Congratulations to our Winners:
1st Place Champion – 2019 Seacoast Cup Winner – RICHARD MULLIGAN
2ND PLACE – RIK THISTLE
3RD PLACE – TED CLINITE
4RTH PLACE – TOM ABRELL
2019 Player’s Cup Champion – KEN GUNN
