By: Shane René, Administrator of Media and Communications
Early signs of winter out at RedHawk Golf Course kept the amateurs on ice for yet another year as the Rocky Mountain Section’s Snake River Chapter retained the Carter Cup in its 49th playing last week. The pros lead team IGA 36-13 all time.
Returning captains Michael Kastner (RMSPGA) and Joe Malay (IGA), rolled out teams stacked with familiar faces for the bi-annual match-play event. Scott Masingill, Ty Travis, Joe Panzeri and reigning mid-amateur champion Burke Spensky headlined a team of amateurs looking for their first victory since 2014. Travis and Darren Kuhn are the only two players who returned from that team a decade ago. The pros arrived with a team headlined by experience, featuring players like Justin Snelling, Mike Hamblin, Ben Bryson and Tad Holloway, all with many cup appearances under their belts.
Every other year, the Carter Cup is competed over two days with three sessions of match play – Wednesday morning four-ball, afternoon foursomes and Thursday singles. Each match employs a Nassau format with three points up for grabs (front nine, back nine, and overall).
Session Totals:
Four-Ball: 11 - 4, PGA
Foursomes: 10 - 5, PGA
Singles: 15.5 - 14.5, IGA
Total: 35.5 - 24.5, PGA
Leading Point Getters:
PGA: Tyson Bowen – 8.5 of 9
IGA: Joe Panzeri – 8.5 of 9
A cool, crisp morning set the tone for Wednesday’s Four-Ball session. With a group photo captured, players hit the course for fourball matches and the pros make quick work of putting blue on the board. None of the first four IGA pairings collected more than a half point in the morning, with Dan Potter and Joe Panzeri taking 2.5 in the final match. RMSPGA left the session with a 11-4 lead.
The afternoon foursome matches got off to a marginally better start for the IGA, as Scott Masingill and Gilbert Livas battled through a back-n-forth match to win the back nine and tie the overall match, walking away with a point and a half. The next three matches, however, were less fruitful, adding just half a point to the IGA’s session total as players from both teams battled cold and blustery conditions. Joe Panzeri – this time playing alongside Jesse Hibler – won all three points to bring the IGA total up to 5 for the session and 9 on the day.
Rolling into singles with a 21-9 lead, team PGA found themselves in auto pilot for Thursday singles. Scott Masingill and Tad Holloway traded blows for 18 holes, with Holloway making birdie at the last to tie the match 1.5 to 1.5. The pros went on to win five of the remaining nine matches on Thursday, earning plenty of points to retain the cup. The IGA did collect a few especially decisive wins that would hand the amateurs a win in the singles session. Ty Travis would shoot 66 in the final match to beat Justin Snelling and push the IGA total to 24.5 for the week.