June 28, 2005. Mont-Tremblant - USA CAPTURES SECOND STRAIGHT MYRTLE CUP ON CANADIAN SOIL
The United States team walked away with the Myrtle Cup earlier today, defeating Canada 31-25 in a tense, hard-fought affair.
Led by Captain Marc Wyttenbach and bolstered by standout performances from veterans Aron Weiss and Nick Sinhgvi and a solid rookie outing for Andrew Wyttenbach, the U.S. squad rode a commanding 6-point lead into the 4th and final round at Le Maitre Golf Club in Mont-Tremblant. They didn't falter, despite a commendable effort by the Canucks in the deciding round.
Fittingly, a couple of great finishes from the elder Wyttenbach and veteran Kevin Boone closed out the victory. Wyttenbach's 4-foot par putt on the beautiful finishing hole at Le Maitre earned the win in the Wyttenbach/Weiss fourball match against Cragg and Still and set the stage for Boone, whose great par on the home hole sealed the deal, guaranteeing the 28.5 points needed to retain the Cup.
This spoiled a truly inspiring effort by Canadian freshman Tony Morrone, finishing with a 4-0-1 mark and taking the 2006 Low Net Tournament (+5) after a stellar final round 5-under 67.
The Americans arrived in Canada, at the lovely resort town of Mont-Tremblant, brimming with confidence after a solid 27.5 to 20.5 win in the 2004 installment in Myrtle Beach, SC. The Canadians, eager to erase the memories of that painful final round in 2004 and bent on returning the Cup to Canadian hands, were counting on the home turf advantage to assist in that endeavor.
Both squads, expanded to 16 players from 12 in 2004, featured 12 veterans and 4 rookies (Tony Arciero, Eric Berthiaume, Morrone and Stevens Murray for the Canadians, Jake Jacoby, Joe Petruso, Joe Walter and the junior Wyttenbach for the U.S.). The U.S. came in relying on the matchplay prowess of Captain Wyttenbach, Ed Kilduff and Kevin Boone, each of whom played wonderful golf in Myrtle Beach one year prior. The Canucks countering with pure talent Marty St-Pierre and the experience of Jim Cragg and John Tsambasis (winner of 2 Low Net titles in 3 years).
The opening Cup round, at Le Diable, proved to be a continuation of the final round in 2004, with the U.S. threatening to run away with the point totals but settling for a 5-3 lead at the day's conclusion.
Highlights for the Canadians included a big 7&5 win by the tandem of Giles/St.John over 2004 stalwarts Boone and Trimarchi, and what turned out to be a critical 2&1 win by Gravelle/Still over the tough pairing of Kilduff/Jacoby (Kilduff's first matchplay loss in the 3-year history of the Cup). Gravelle's gutsy 96 net 72 allowed the Canadians to avoid what would have been a morale-bruising 6-2 deficit after Cup Round 1. Honorable mention to Canadian skipper Santo Manna, whose curling 35 footer on the 9th at Le Diable prevented the American tandem of Heckerling/Fortune from taking a 4-up lead at the turn, leading to a much-deserved halve.
The U.S., always strong in the fourball format, featured a comfortable win by rookie Petruso with Singhvi (5&3 over Sarena/Morrone) and a gritty comeback by Wyttenbach/Walter over Cragg/Keller; in the latter match, the Americans were down 4 holes at the turn and 2 down with 3 to play, and won three straight to snatch matchplay victory from the proverbial jaws of defeat. In another thrilling match, the Kiesel/Cutini pairing managed to halve with St-Pierre/Murray on the strength of an amazing 3-hole stretch on the closing holes where St-Pierre's GROSS birdie-birdie-par run was cancelled out by Kiesel's steady play.
Singhvi and Carr shot the low rounds of the day, firing identical 4-under 67s.
The 2nd and 3rd rounds were played as a 36-hole day, on the beautiful mountain course of Gray Rocks La Bete.
The 16 singles matches in Cup Round 2 featured intriguing matchups, including the marquee clash of Cragg versus Kilduff.
The rookies continued to play surprisingly well, taking 5 of 7 singles matches against their veteran opponents, led by Morrone's 5&4 thrashing of 3-time Cup winner Rob Kiesel and convincing 3&2 wins by Petruso over Giles, Murray over Trimarchi, and Berthiaume over Fortune.
Other highlights included Cragg's convincing 3&1 win over Kilduff on the strength of a net 2-under 70, a comfortable 4&2 win by Tsambasis over Heckerling, and a great comeback by Captain Wyttenbach over Sarena to win 3&2 after being down by 3 at the turn.
In the end, all the hard-fought battles resulted in the teams sharing the 16 available singles match points and an aggregate lead by the Americans of 13-11. Scores ballooned this round, with Cragg's 2-under 70 proving to be the only score under par for the day.
The deciding round is always the 4th round, but Myrtle Cup Matches 2005 proved that the momentum established by a strong performance in the 3rd round is key going into the final round. Added to that this year, the introduction of the foursomes/alternate shot format, highly anticipated by many of the players.
The heat was on, both figuratively and literally. Temperatures soared in the Mont-Tremblant afternoon air, and the heat was at some points sweltering.
Again, a few key matchups to observe. Kiesel/Kilduff, having never lost a fourball match as a tandem, against Berthiaume and Manna. Also in the mix, low handicappers Cragg and Tsambasis against high handicappers Heckerling and Goldstein, in the last match of the day and, in the end, the critical match.
Many of the matches were decided early and by relatively large margins. On the Canadian side, Morrone continued his strong play teaming with Still to thrash Weiss/Petruso by a 7&5 margin, highlighted by a streak of 7 straight winning holes, and the Canadian high capper duo of Sarena/Keller handily defeated Trimarchi/Fortune by a 5&4 score. Meanwhile, the U.S. team was racking up points, with the duo of elder Wyttenbach and Boone taking care of St.John/Embury 6&5 and the Carr/Singhvi and junior Wyttenbach/Cutini tandems defeating their Canadian counterparts by 4&2 margins.
The Kiesel/Kilduff match was pivotal and turned on the poor play of Manna in the final stretch, which placed enormous pressure on Berthiaume to continue his fine play. Despite Berthiaume's heroics, the Americans were too much, with Kiesel nailing down a 3&1 win with a well-struck 7-iron to 3 feet on the par-3 17th.
Canada suffered another blow when the Murray/Arciero tandem could not preserve a 3-up lead with 6 to play, losing 2&1 to Walter and Jacoby. That set the stage for the final match of the day.
The Americans had dominated until that point. With all matches complete save for the final match of Cragg/Tsambasis versus Goldstein/Heckerling, the score for the foursomes round stood at 5-2 U.S. The final match, if won by the U.S. team, would mean an impressive 6-point lead for the U.S. going into the final round.
The Americans were down almost the entire match to their Canadian counterparts, who roared to a 3-up lead after 5 and were cradling a 2-up lead with 7 to play. David and Goliath indeed. The Americans hung in there though, and managed to square the match on the par-3 15th with a double bogey 5 besting an awful sextuple bogey 9 for the Canadians.
After trading punches on the par 5 16th and short par 3 17th, the teams came to the 18th at La Bete all square, with the U.S. team holding a 2-stroke handicap advantage on this, the 4th toughest hole on the course.
It was around this time that the crowd of players gathered around the elevated 18th green, all 28 of them, were informed by Captain Wyttenbach regarding the status of the match, and everyone knew what it meant in terms of score and morale.
The hole looked to be an easy one for the Canadians, after a good drive by Tsambasis left Cragg with about 150 yards to the green from the middle of the fairway, a mere short iron for him, albeit from a sidehill hook lie.
In contrast, the Americans seemed to be squandering the two-stroke advantage. After a short drive followed by a poor 2nd shot left into a hazard, Heckerling was left with a 155-yard approach shot to the elevated green, from a bad stance and lie even after the penalty drop.
Cragg hit first and the hook lie caused him to fly the green long and left, leaving a tough up and down chance for Tsambasis. He would have to manage a difficult lie in high grass about 60 feet from the pin, with the green sloping severely down towards the pin placement on the front of the green.
Meanwhile, dire as Heckerling's situation seemed, he passed the test with flying colors, hitting a solid 7-iron to about 40 feet, to the roar of the U.S. contingent that now sensed a huge upset in the making.
Tsambasis played a very good pitch shot from the grass to the apron, endng up about 15 feet left of the pin. Cragg, perhaps a tad frazzled, chipped the 4th about 7-feet past. Meanwhile, Goldstein used his unorthodox putting stroke to play a beautiful 40-foot lag to about 3 feet.
Seizing the moment, Tsambasis nailed the 7-footer for bogey 5, a must-make putt given that a miss would guarantee the match to the U.S. side due to the 2-stroke edge. This was one of the clutch putts of the entire tournament, and met with rousing applause from the Canadian contingent, but it would not be sufficient.
Heckerling calmly rolled in his 3-footer, to the cheers of his teammates, making a double-bogey 6 and net 4 for the improbable win. The Canadians were downcast, having worked so hard all day only to be facing a mountain of a 6-point deficit (19-13) going into the final round at Le Maitre.
The weather on the last day was more of the same, hot and humid with temperatures reaching into the 30s (90s Fahrenheit). Both teams were aware of the dominant position the U.S. enjoyed, but no one doubted the possibility of a turnaround, given that 24 points were at stake.
The Canadians started very strong, building a 4.5 to 1.5 lead on the strength of another great Morrone performance, handily defeating Walter 5&4 in their singles match and shooting a tournament low 5-under 67 in the process. This was accompanied by a duo of points by Grant in his singles and fourball match against Carr and Andrew Wyttenbach (despite the latter's stellar final round 68).
Much of the momentum was dissipated however, by a surprisingly lopsided reversal for St-Pierre and Embury against Kiesel and Kilduff, with the Americans taking 2.5 points aided by Kilduff's excellent 1-under 71 and 7&5 destruction of Embury. Kiesel also pitched in, once again proving to be St-Pierre's nemesis and salvaging a halve after being 2-down with 6 to play.
The score thus stood at 5-4 after 9 of 24 points had been accounted for, and an aggregate U.S. lead of 23-18.
Hope was restored for the Canucks, with Gravelle and Manna taking back 2.5 points against Goldstein and Petruso, despite an overall strong performance by Goldstein until the waning holes and a stirring comeback by Petruso, who was down 4 with 7 to play against Manna. Gravelle's persistence paid off, as he enjoyed a 1-up victory over Goldstein despite being down the entire match, shooting 1-under 71 and earning 1.5 points for his efforts.
Spirits were ebullient on the Canadian side. The deficit was once again down to 3, the scoreboard showing a Canadian lead of 7.5-4.5 for the day and an aggregate U.S. lead of 23.5 to 20.5. With the strong pairings of Cragg/Still and St.John/Giles coming in, along with the promising rookie pairing of Berthiaume/Murray, the chances of a comeback looked good.
The Canadians did not make up any ground in the next pairing, featuring a great see-saw battle between Murray/Berthiaume and Trimarchi/Singhvi that saw the teams trade 1.5 points. Murray's 2nd singles win over veteran Trimarchi was cancelled out by a 2&1 win by the Americans in the fourball match, despite being down 3 after 7, and a great back and forth battle between Berthiaume and Singhvi, which ended in a fitting halve. All players shot between 70 and 74, a great performance all around under the circumstances.
The aggregate score was now 25-22, the U.S. inching closer to victory, now needing only 3.5 points of the remaining 9.
The Still/Cragg matchup against Weiss and Marc Wyttenbach proved to be a major setback for the Canadians. Despite Cragg's solid 4&3 win in the singles match over Wyttenbach, the Americans nonetheless took 2 points, with Wyttenbach's gutsy par 4 net 3 on the tough 18th cancelling out Cragg's par and netting the 1-up fourball victory, a crucial point. In the remaining singles match, Still found water on his approach to the 18th and eventually succumbed 2-down to Weiss, who shot 1-under 71 and led most of the way. The Canadians played well, but the strong play of Wyttenbach and Weiss, who shot 72 and 71 respectively, won the day.
At this point, the Americans were back in the driver's seat, reestablishing a 4-point lead at 27-23 and needing only 1.5 points out of the remaining 6 for the win.
Those points came courtesy of the Boone/Fortune tandem, in the 2nd to last pairing, at the expense of Giles and St.John.
Giles eked out a 1-up victory over Fortune, but Boone made it academic with a great par net birdie on the final hole. That result preserved a 2-up victory in the singles match with St. John (which the latter led 4-up after 4) and, more importantly, secured the all-important halve in the fourball match to raise the aggregate American total to 28.5 points. Game over.
Boone's clutch 2-under 70 was the final blow for the Canadians who, despite their valiant efforts coming back from a nasty deficit, would go home empty-handed once again, resigned to contemplating their next opportunity to win the prize in one year's time.
The last match was academic. The U.S. added a few insurance points in a 2.5 to 0.5 win by Cutini and Heckerling over Arciero and Keller. Heckerling's heroics would not be needed this time around.
Morrone's remarkable final round 67 capped a great comeback from a deficit of 8 and 7 shots, respectively, to St. John and St-Pierre, earning him the Low Net honors. His final score of +5 (292) was sufficient to earn him the $400 first prize and his name on the coveted Cup.
More importantly, Morrone went 3-1-1 in the matchplay competition which, along with Dan Gravelle, was the only above .500 performance on the Canadian side.
Cragg shot 84 in the final round to reach +52 (339 total), thus cementing his 15-stroke Low Gross victory over St-Pierre and Morrone, who each ended with +67.
The true laurels go to the U.S. team however, and in particular to the Wyttenbach brothers and Aron Weiss, eachof whom went 4-1 in matchplay, and Nick Singhvi, undefeated at 3-0-2.
Congratulations were given on the patio of le Maitre overlooking the beautiful 18th green. A few beers were had, pictures taken, and goodbyes were said. Another succesful installment of the Myrtle Cup Matches in the bag, and everyone the richer for it.
Until next year...
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