Golden’s team (Slivken, Olson, Schaeffer, VonEschen)
Half of Valley’s team (former and current BMGA Presidents Sufuentes and Jocelyn).
There are 14 teams in the Metro-Seniors League. For many years, Brookview (due to the awesome popularity of the BMGA) has fielded two teams (no other club has two). During the season, each team plays each other team once (at one of the courses). Friday was the one time this year that Brookview Golden went head to head against Brookview Valley, this year at Heritage Links in Lakeville.
The course was in decent shape; the greens were slow by our standards. Many people hate Heritage Links. Of the 6 holes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, all but one crosses a creek through a narrow opening, and then the rest of the back nine has OB left on every hole (except the par 3 14th). Many holes have blind shots, and there are ponds that seem to appear out of nowhere.
After a chilly start, it warmed up quickly. In the A match, Golden’s Steve Slivken played Valley’s Ramiro Sufuentes. According to Steve, “I started out slow and Ramiro was hot. He hit some magnificent shots and grabbed a 4-up front nine victory. I [Steve] continued to play poorly on the back nine for the first four holes. Ramiro was 3-up through the first four holes on the back nine. I subsequently woke up and won the final five holes to secure a back nine victory. Ramiro won the match 4-2.” In the B match, John VonEschen got out to a commanding 4 hole lead before Darin Allen fought back to keep the front within 2. But John’s net 74 was enough to also win the back, for 6 points.
Golden’s C player was new team member Gregg Schaefer, who handily won the front, back, and match against Doug Giron for 6 points. And the D match pitted Golden’s captain Dan Olson against BMGA President Larry Jocelyn. On the front, Dan got out to an early 2 hole lead, and after saving bogey with a long putt on 7, was able to stay 2 up. But Dan melted down and lost 8 and 9, (both with creek trouble) for a push on the front. The start of the back was also a disaster for Dan (Larry won the hole with a triple). But Dan came back on 11. 12 was pushed; all square. But then Dan melted down on 13 and 14, so Larry was 2 up. But Dan came back winning 15 and 16. All square going into 17, Dan figured he’d better win 17, because Larry was to get a stroke on 18. Dan did win 17. Dan and Larry both hit excellent tee shots (less than driver), leaving 170 yards to the pin. Both came up short (safe) right of the green. Both tried to get up and down. Larry did. Even if Dan would have, he would have lost the hole. So the match was all square, front, back, and total. 3 points each. Golden got 17 points; Valley got 7.
Next Friday the matches will be played at Columbia.
