2020 Knucklehead OPEN Williamsburg VA, Quarantine Edition

Final Round:

The fourth round at the Kingsmill’s River Course in Williamsburg started off with a drizzly start making the greens soft and attackable and also increased the chance to have mud stick to the balls. Luckily for the knuckleheads, God checked Brian Duffy’s weather app and the sunshine began to peek through the clouds after an hour from the start of the round to make the final round enjoyable.

Bob Ingram used his 5-iron from 165 yards to hit the ball within 5 feet of the pin on the first two par 5’s to maintain his lead over the field. The approach on the first par 5 #3 hole was to save par as he initially ducked hook his drive into the hazard and the approach on the second par 5 #7 495 yard hole was for a birdie. Greg Sadowski used his bombing drives to negate the wet fairways and got many good looks for birdies but had to settle for only two birdies. Greg did “dechambeau” the #16 428 yard slight dog-leg right hole as he bombed his drive off one of the colonial mansions bordering the right-side of the fairway. He had 94 yards remaining to the pin. That is a 334 yard drive for those mathematically deficient. Greg Sadowski did have low score honors for the final group as he finished with EVEN total points.

Battle for third place started off precariously. Gill Nichols was 4 points behind Jon Ryan before the start of the round. Initially Gill mistakenly used the white tees in calculating his handicap and reported that his course handicap was 14 for today. Jon Ryan thought that was unusual since his course handicap was at 13. So Jon sportsmanly corrected Gill to inform him to use the blue tees instead. Gill did and his course handicap was adjusted to 17. Since Jon was 4 points ahead in the points total and Gill’s handicap was 17 and Jon’s handicap was a 13, the battle for third place was essentially mano a mano.

Gill started off the first five holes at 2 over par by making a couple of 12 foot putts to save par on the par 4 #4 379 yard hole and the downhill par 3 #5 hole. Jon then made up some ground on the next two holes but lost his concentration on the difficult #9 445 yard par 4 hole as he four putted for a minus one score. So after the first nine holes, Gill had managed to grab a one point lead. On the back side, Jon rebounded with a nice up and down for par to the raised green on the #12 hole. Jon also made a slippery downhill 10 foot putt for par on the next two holes; #13 par 3 hole and #14 par 4 hole. Jon then made a 20 footer on the #18 hole for a scrambling par to finish with a 39 on the back nine to secure third place.

On the other side of the spectrum, Alan Burke should had gone to the casinos today. He recorded eight 5’s on his scorecard. Starting on the tenth hole, Alan record five straight 5’s then a 7 on hole #15, then two more 5’s. This type of play guaranteed Alan the Bad Dog award. Greg Muolo kept away from this year’s Bad Dog award with a brilliant 4 hybrid shot to the 163 yard #17 hole playing into the wind. Greg’s ball finished 25 feet from the pin to capture the CTP on the final par 3 hole and eventually the final CLEAR for the tourney.

Joe Hirsch had low round honors for the first group as he scored a -3 point total in the final round. He thought he was in the running for a CLEAR on the final hole as he made a nice up & down from behind the green for par. But ended up in a tie for the CLEAR with Jon Ryan. Pete Blauvelt and Brian Duffy shared low round honors for the second group as each finished with a -6 total points for the round. Gary Adam Boukis (GAB) was relatively quiet for the round as the sixth consecutive day of golf was coming to a close. Bruce attempted to gain ground on his side bets by DOUBLING all of his bets. In a football analogy, Bruce attempted to run a reverse sweep out of his own end zone and ended up fumbling the ball. Highlight of Bruce’s round was capturing a CTP on the #13 158 yard par 3 hole. I was going to ask him if he ended up making par, but thought the score was inconsequential in his total score of 118.

Thanks to Gill Nichols for his relentless efforts to find a golf destination for this year’s Knucklehead Open. Overall the courses were in excellent condition. Each course offered a different layout and ravines and water hazards but it was the speed of the greens that made scoring challenging. The accommodations were fantastic as all eleven golfers were “bubbled” into one townhouse unit and were able to share beer, chips, rum, whiskey, and laughs.

Knucklehead OPEN 2020 Williamsburg

PLAY	Pos	Total	R1: Kingsmill	R2: Viniterra	R3: RNK	R4: River
Bob Ingram	1	+10	+4	+6	+2	-2
Greg Sadowski	2	-1	+2	+3	-6	0
Jon Ryan	3	-13	-10	-7	+5	-1
Gill Nichols	4	-23	-7	-8	-1	-7
Brian Duffy	5	-27	-9	-11	-1	-6
Joe Hirsch	6	-28	-16	-2	-7	-3
Pete Blauvelt	7	-30	-9	-11	-4	-6
Gary Boukis	8	-31	-9	-13	0	-9
Bruce Grau	9	-37	-22	-5	-6	-15
Greg Muolo	10	-42	-13	-5	-15	-9
Alan Burke	11	-43	-13	-8	-11	-11

Third Round:

The third round of the knucklehead open was played at Royal New Kent Golf Course. Flowing across windswept, rugged landscape the Royal New Kent golf course has been called “the truest representation of an Irish links in America”.

Jon Ryan dug deep in his heritage to gather the support of his Irish ancestors as he conquered the course with a +5 total points. His iron play was spot on as he captured the two CTPs on holes #7 and #12.

He finished his solid round with a nice birdie on # 18 hole. He was able to hit a 7-iron over the pond fronting the green and drained a 15-footer for one of the few CLEARs in the round. Attached is a picture of him enjoying his celebratory bourbon old-fashioned drink.

Gill Nichols was able to rope a 3 hybrid to within 10 feet on the long uphill 170 yard # 15 hole. He was then able to two putt that provided him a CLEAR.

Out of 11 golfers no one was able to hit the green on the short 135 yard #3 hole. The Irish Links course was showing its teeth.

The #10 green on the par 5 533 yard hole also took some victims. Greg Muolo took 5 shots to get on the green but was unable to navigate the 11 foot rise in the green to the pin on the back level. Pete Blauvelt had to correct Greg’s score as he was counting his putts. Unfortunately Pete followed up with a four-putt himself to score a 7.

The fun part of the knucklehead group is not always the stellar golf game but rather the frequent clumliness of some of the members actions. FOR EXAMPLE Bruce Grau was relaxing after the round on the clubhouse deck enjoying the landscape. Unfortunately he left the golf course only to realize 10 minutes later then he left his cell phone at the golf course. He went back inquiring about his cell phone to find out that it was still on the table on the deck outside.

As the final round will be played at Kingsmill River course Bruce Grau is looking to lessen his losses. In addition to doubling most of his side bets he is thinking of quadrupling some other bets. Standing in line for this opportunity is Gary Adam Boukis (GAB) and Brian Duffy.

Second Round:

he second round was at Viniterra golf course. There was ample opportunity for some birdies as in the attached picture. Here are 4 golf balls all within 10 feet of the pin. At the end of the hole there were only two pars, one bogey, and one birdie by Greg Sadowski. That was the start of Greg Sadowski’s three birdies in a row to complete a 33 on the back nine. Equally as well Bob Ingram shot a 36 on the back nine to maintain a slight lead over Greg Sadowski.

At the other end of the spectrum Gary Boukis started off the round with a birdie on the first hole then followed it up qawith six double bogeys. That’s the ultimate PBFU (Post Birdie Fu*$ Up).

Alan Burke was a little discombobulated on the first hole. After hitting his fourth shot to within 180 yards of the green he then noticed that he left some of his clubs back at the driving range. He immediately turned back passing the first Tee Box to the driving range. A golfer at the driving range informed Alan there were two additional clubs left at the practice green. As Alan retreated back to the first hole he informed the four carts that were bottled up on the First Tee Box that “there was another idiot that had left his clubs at the practice green”. Jon Ryan was Alan’s cart mate for the round. He was unfazed about Alan’s departure. John was able to squeeze out a 7 for 0 points at that hole.

Other highlights included Brian Duffy’s 6-iron hybrid into the ninth hole to capture a clear there.

Bruce Grau smoked his 3-wood on the long #6 185 yard par 3 hole to capture a CTP there. Joe Hirsch bombed his drive over sand bunkers on the dogleg left #7 hole. He had an easy pitching wedge to the hole which he put within 5 feet for a clear there.

Jerome hit his 8-iron to within five feet of the pin on the par-3 145 yard #12 hole to grab the CTP. Unfortunately he missed the five foot uphill putt for a birdie that would had guaranteed him a clear.

First Round:

For the opening round of 48th Knucklehead Open some of the players had jitters at the Woods course at Kingsmill Resort.

Greg Muolo started off shakily as he pumped his first two tee shots off the 1st hole into the water. He eventually made a nice CPA par (Cart Path Assisted) on the 18th hole to capture a clear.

Bob Ingram shot a nice 39 on the front side to bolt in the lead with a +4 total points. Hot on his trail is Greg sadowsky who birdied every par-5 in route to a + 2 point total. Gill Nichols was three inches short of draining an eagle on the 527 yard par 5 #13 hole.

Playing in the same group Bruce Grau used the cart path to get an additional 40 yards on a par 5. Gary Bukis tried the same but his ball bounced to the right in a bush. The group could only hear the bush talking and saying “I think I have a shot.”

Pete Blauvelt was so excited about the tournament that he tried to pay his entry fee again.

Greg Sadowski placed his tee shot on the part 3 # 8 hole within 7 ft. Only to be outdone by a member who scored a hole in one. He treated the knuckleheads is beer after the round. Attached is picture of Greg Sadowski and the member Mike.

You may missed

Maryland National results

Quail Valley Results

Rocky Point GC Results

Leisure World II

Kwang and Bob “Competes” and competes HARD!