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Thursday, June 8, 2023

St. Marys Independent

SPORTS —

Old Guys retain Ryder Cup with 16-16 tie

With a 16-16 tie in points in this year’s competition, the Old Guys retained the Ryder Cup at St. Marys G&CC that they won a year earlier. From left, front row: Jamie Hodgins, Greg Wolfkamp, Rich Parsons, Andy Cunningham, Marty Rutledge, Troy Carter, Dan Murrell. Back row: Jimmy Craigmile, Stefan MacNeil, Eddy Seok, Tom Westerveld, Stewart Grant, Rick Field, Brian Humphrey, Bob Hearn. Not pictured: Jason Firby. (Ian Grant photo) By Stewart Grant For only the second time ever in the nearly 30-year history of the St. Marys Golf & Country Club Ryder Cup, and for the rst time since 2006, the competition ended in a tie. Fortunately for captain Andy Cunningham and his team of “Old Guys”, a 16-16 tie was just what they needed in order to retain the coveted Ryder Cup trophy that they had won in 2022.

today and get to a tie. Nobody gave up, and we brought it right down to the last match,” said Young Guys captain Kyle Heinbuch. With St. Marys’ Road Hole (#9) still under construction, captains Cun-

Greg Wolfkamp urges his birdie putt on #7 to drop into the hole. (Stewart Grant photo)

ningham and Heinbuch collaborated with Director of Golf Brandon De Groote to allow hole #1 to perform double-duty as hole #18 for the matches, so that #9 with its temporary green could be skipped over. During Saturday’s morning Better Ball

“I knew my boys in the end were gonna come through,” Cunningham said as he referred to “legends” Rick Field and Rich Parsons who secured the team’s two nal points on Sunday. Troy Carter, Jimmy Craigmile, Jamie Hodgins and Marty Rutledge also won their Sunday singles matches while Brian Humphrey secured a half-point. When Sunday’s matches began, it appeared likely that the Old Guys would cruise to victory, given that they had built a comfortable 9.5 to 6.5 lead during Saturday’s play. However, the Young Guys team proved resilient, taking 9.5 of the 16 singles match points available on Sunday. “I was proud of the team to battle back

matches, each of the rst six matches went the distance, with four matches ending in ties while two matches were won “1 Up” by the Young Guys. After 18 holes of play, the Young Guys led by an overall score of 5-3. Historically, the Old Guys have dominated the Alternate Shot format, and this year was no exception, with the elder statesmen taking the Saturday afternoon matches 6.5 to 1.5. Since 2004, the Old Guys have won 57% of the available points in the Alternate Shot format while the Young Guys have won 53% of Better Ball points and 51% of Singles matches. “Experience really shines through on the alternate shot… staying out of trouble goes a long way,” reected Heinbuch. In such a closely contested set of matches with several ties, there were only two players during the weekend who compiled perfect 3-0-0 records: Marty Rutledge of the Old Guys (who was named tournament MVP) and Taylor Booth of the Young Guys.

Ryder Cup captains Kyle Heinbuch (Young Guys) and Andy Cunningham (Old Guys) congratulate each other on a fantastic weekend of golf at St. Marys G&CC. (Stewart Grant photo)

Next year’s captains will be Tom Westerveld (Old Guys) and Steve Hinz (Young Guys).

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