Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation - Baltimore Golf Courses and Clubs

2009 Challenge Cup
Pine Ridge Golf Course
Sparrows Point Country Club
October 10-11, 2009

Doug McIlvain, part of a veteran lineup, registered the first point of the second day's singles competition, and the Public Course players went on to a 14-10 victory over the Private Club members at Sparrows Point Country Club, October 11th. This was 15th annual event and marked just the third triumph for the Public Course side.

The 2009 Public Course Challenge Cup Team
(Back row from left to right) Doug McIlvain, Jim Pappas, Tim Osgood,
Brad Foxwell, Rusty McCready, Glenn Strunc
(Front row from left to right) Blair Laubach, Andy Peet, Steve Cha,
Drew Forrester, Serge Hoog, Kevin Carmen

The 2009 Private Club Challenge Cup Team
(Back row from left to right) Kevin Tehan, Chris Emerick, Jim Winner, Drew Devan,
Jonathon Steckler, Bryan Sheperd
(Front row from left to right) John Evans, Jim Biggar, Moose Brown, Bob Pryzbylski,
Mike Cavanaugh, Bud Brueggeman

McIlvain, the only member of his side to have played in the two previous victories -- in 1996 and 2004 -- jumped ahead in the middle of the front nine and pretty much maintained a 3 up margin the rest of the way in beating Kevin Tehan, 3 and 2. At one point in the middle of the match, the Public team was ahead in five and five were even and anything could happen.

The Private team, which collected a record low of four points on Saturday (two each in alternate shot and fourball) and trailed 8-4, made a determined run at the leaders as the singles opened on a sunny, mild afternoon. Bud Brueggemann birdied the 16th and hung on to beat Blair Laubach, 1 up, and John Evans, one of five first-time players for the Private squad, defeated Glenn Strunc, 3 and 2.

The host team went on to win three and halve one in the next five pairings and the margin was cut to 10 1/2 - 9 1/2.

Then, in a matter of moments and in quick succession, the Public troops clinched the decision. They got one point when Rusty McCready got by Jm Biggar, 2 and 1, and about the time Tim Osgood was thwarting Chris Emerick, 3 and 2; Brad Foxwell was polishing off Moose Brown, 4 and 3, in a pairing that was expected to be much closer. At the same time, Kevin Carmen was assured no worse than a half-point went he went to the 17th tee, 2 up, on Drew DeVan. The latter completed a belated rally when he won 17-18 for the half.

The 2009 Challenge Cup winning Public Course Team with the Challenge Cup

In finishing the triumphant run, the Public team got a half from Jim Pappas against Jon Steckler. The latter won the 17th to get even and they halved the last hole. Andy Peet put a more dramatic spin and certainly the best display of sportsmanship of the weekend to end the proceedings.

Peet and Jim Winner were tied going to the last hole, a 443-yard test with a tee shot over water. Peet made the green in two, the ball stopping 10 feet from the cup. Winner put his second in a front bunker and blasted out into the collar short of the green, 20 feet from the cup. Peet indicated Winner's next shot was good, giving him a conceded par 4. It meant Peet had to sink his putt to win the hole and the match or it was halved. Peet calmy rolled in his putt for a birdie.

Of his act of sportsmanship (even though the team outcome had been decided), Peet said, "We had battled back and forth, his short game was unbelievable, and we had won the team match. I just felt that if I didn't make that putt, I didn't deserve to win the match. It was just that close and we both had played well."

Sparrows Point members Bob Przybylski, team captain for the Private Clubs, and Bryan Shepherd were matched against Serge Hogg and Drew Forrester, respectively. (The matches were played in six foursomes, two matches to each one.). At the 14th, Przybylski won with a birdie to improve his lead on Forrester en route to a 3-and-2 victory, while his win enabled Shepherd, who had won the 13th with one of a series of birdies, to close out Serge Hogg, 5 and 4.

In the next group, Kevin Carmen hit it 12 feet from the hole in two, and settled for a winning birdie against DeVan, while Osgood won with a par when Chris Emerick missed a short par-matching putt. Steckler hit the green in two and made birdie to go ahead of Pappas at that point, 1 up.

Notes: Mike Cavanaugh, another Sparrows Point member, won the 17th and 18th to rally past Steve Cha, 1 up. Osgood and Peet each had a hand in three points for the victors. Play was over 6,886 yards to a par of 72. Jim Deck, head professional at Pine Ridge GC, once again served as team captain for the Public side, assisted by Forrester, while the entire program was under the direction of Jon Ladd, executive director of the Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation.