Irony ruled the 2003 CMGC Club Championship which punctured the envelope of tradition, but was won by tradition's loudest advocate. The smallest field in Club Championship history teed off Saturday with six contestants on Foxfire. At the end of the day there was one round in the 70s, two in the 80s and several whose owners claimed were less than satisfying. Vince's 85 was his second best round of the year.

Scott and Paula hosted this year's Banquet and organized catering by Bravo. The entire evening won unanimous compliments and unlike Buco di Beppo, no one ordered pizza when they got home. Kudos also to Mother Nature for providing excellent weather for the evening event.

Round 1 put Steve one back of Vince going into the hard course. 2003 marks the rather dubious honor of our club becoming the only golf organization* ever to stage its championship on multiple courses. Sunday's time was a merciful 9:08 am and the Banquet festivities did not do too much damage to anyone's chances. The tournament was tied heading into the dreaded combination of 14-15-16 at Players Club. The intimidating sequence pressured Vince into duck hooking drives into the trees on each of the three holes, but the ball was miraculously found each time. Steve played #14 well, but suffered a 10 on #15 that put him out phychologically if not mathematically. Vince parred 17 and 18 to win his third Club Championship. The festival format was reported to be fun, but then golf has always been fun.

The handicap issue was a little muddier than usual. Here are the results VR (16.4) (85-17=68) + (90-19=71) = 139 SH (7.7) (77-8=69) + (85-9=76) = 145 JMc (11.9) (88-12=76) + (88-13=75) = 151 SB (13.6) (91-14=77) + (92-15=77) = 154 SK (18.7) (97-20=77) + (105-21=84) = 161 TK (16.6) (99-17=82) + (99-19=80) = 162 JK (8.5) 9/10 Withdrew

The 2003 Club Championship may be fun, but golf has always been fun and along the way we parted with some of golf's most hallowed traditions. Some precedents we violated include:       108 years of single course US Open history       143 years of single course British Open history       85 years of single course PGA Championship history       69 years of single course Masters history       108 years of single course US Amateur history       64 years of single course NCAA Golf Championship history       12 years of single course CMGC Club Championship history       3 years of single course New Albany Links Club Championship history So if a snappy dressing guy sporting a rainbow ribbon propositions you in the Adult Lifestyles section of the Book Loft saying "it will be fun," just say no.

For the record, here were John's official odds for the weekend:
SB: 3-1, On vacation this week so he should have his "A" game, and his handicap is up to 14
JMc: 4-1, Has been getting off tee's well and short game has been on
SH: 4-1, He'll shoot 70's on Sat and low 80's on Sun, but will it be enough?
VR: 6-1, Handicap down to 16.5 but getting that many strokes how could you not contend?
TK: 6-1, Another handicap set to challenge but lack of rounds could reflect on consistency
SK: 5-1, Returning from a romantic weekend could be what the doctor ordered
JK: 8-1, Back problems and a handicap that he can't play to will prevent any victory here
RJ: off, Rich lets the MaTER rule come into effect preventing him from possibly dominating the field