We had some fantastic weather to close out the year at Brookview and are now officially done with all golf events. Here’s how the season long events shook out.
Individual Match Play
Curt Medina provided the following write-up.
“On a sunny October Sunday, Medina outlasted Steichen, 5 and 4. The match was all square thru 3. Then with pars on holes 4 and 5 Medina takes a 2 up lead. Hole 6 was halved with excellent chip shots by both. After Stichen’s second shot found the creek, Medina wins hole 7. Medina also wins hole 8 to go 4 up. Steichen’s tee shot on 9 finds the water left, Medina’s drive finds the right side of the fairway. Steichen’s third shot after the drop clears the water and is in the fairway short of the green. Medina’s second shot finds the green but is 23 feet away. Steichen then proceeds to chip in for Par. Medina answers back with two putts to halve the hole. 4 up at the turn. With bogeys by both, Medina wins 10 and 11 getting strokes. Steichen wins 12 with a par and a rare missed putt by Medina. Both bogey 13 to get the match to dormie. On 14, Steichen’s par is not enough as Medina makes bogey getting a stroke. Medina wins 5&4.”
2-person MatchPlay
I used AI for this one…
The Great Handicap Grinder: How Hoffman & Brynteson Closed Out Medina & Bialke
If you only looked at the strokes on the card before teeing off, you’d be forgiven for checking the odds and placing your bets on Curt Medina and Dave Bialke. Between single bumps and double bumps falling left and right, it was shaping up to be an uphill, net-handicap slugfest.
Fortunately, match play doesn’t care about the handicaps on paper once the putter gets hot.
Here is how the battle unfolded from the perspective of Richard Brynteson and Howard Hoffman—a masterclass in surviving the handicap blitz, grinding through the back-nine dogfight, and slamming the door shut in style.
The Front Nine: Taking Punches & Fighting Back
Curt and Dave struck first blood out of the gate on #1, cashing in on a bump to convert par into a win. Richard answered immediately on #2, sticking it close and rolling in a pure birdie to square the match.
Then came the heavy bump stretch. On #3 and #4, the Medina-Bialke squad leaned hard into their handicap strokes—including a double bump on the 3rd—taking both holes with net advantages. Howard punched back on #5 with a textbook birdie, but another double-bump par on #6 pushed Curt and Dave back to a 2-up lead.
Down two with three to play on the front, Richard and Howard flipped the script:
#7: A gritty halve with net pars to stop the bleeding.
#8: A clean, no-nonsense par win to cut the deficit to one.
#9: Another steady par into the cup to square the match heading into the turn.
All square. Momentum: officially reversed.
The Mid-Round Standoff: Holes 10–13
The start of the back nine turned into a classic test of nerves. Four straight holes of deadlocks:
#10, #11, and #12: Net pars across the board. Neither side budged an inch.
#13: Howard poured in a birdie that would usually flip any match, but Medina and Bialke found a way to halve it.
Four consecutive ties. Still all square through 13.
The Late-Round Blitz: 3 & 2 Closing Spree
Ties only last until someone decides to put their foot on the gas—and that’s precisely what happened on the 14th tee box.
#14: Howard dropped his third birdie of the day, finally breaking the stalemate to put the squad 1 Up.
#15: Richard stepped up and delivered the dagger—a flat-out birdie, converting to a net eagle with his stroke to push the lead to 2 Up.
#16: Smelling blood in the water, Richard threw another birdie on the board.
Match over: 3 & 2. Handshakes on the 16th green.
Surviving the bumps, erasing an early deficit, and closing it out with three straight birdies on 14, 15, and 16—you can’t draw up match play much better than that.
