Randy Haag's Golf Blog

Today was the final 18 holes of qualifying before going into match play starting tomorrow morning for the round of 16. Today was another tough day with wind and firm and fast greens. I believe there were only 9 rounds under 75 today which illustrated how tough this course plays in these conditions.

Apparently there was one player, a mister Michael Muehr that didn’t seem to think it was tough at all with a spectacular 67 today for a 138 -2 total and a 8 shot victory for the medalist plate over Michael McCoy at 146.

Tomorrows matches are as follows in the Championship flight-

Michael Muehr plays the winner of the playoff for the 16th spot which went 5 holes until darkness suspended play

William McGuinness #8 seed plays Dennis Kavelman #9 seed

Glenn Smeraglio #4 seed plays Roger Hoit #13th seed

Scott Rowe #5 seed plays Skip Berkmeyer #12 seed (and defending champion)

Michael McCoy #2 seed plays Craig Nichols #15 seed

Dan Horner #7 seed plays Randy Haag plays #10 seed

Jordan Nasser #3 seed plays Michael Barbosa #14 seed

Kevin Marsh #6 seed plays Robert Couture #11 seed

The quarter finals will be played in the afternoon, followed by the semi finals matches Sunday morning with the final match Sunday afternoon at about 12:30 pm.

This is the fun part of the tournament where you can free wheel it a bit and be aggressive knowing worse case you only lose the hole. However the aggressive play here is rarely rewarded as it’s just to darn tough to properly gauge all the outside factors that effect each shot. The successful match winners I believe will take a more conservative approach and rely on making some good solid putts.

The staff and grounds crew have been working round the clock to ensure we have the best possible conditions. Sometimes it gets a bit lost really how many individuals it takes to prepare an event like the Crump Cup at Pine Valley. Many of these behind the scenes hero’s were recognized at the dinner which was great to to see!!

We the participants are very fortunate to be playing the #1 ranked course in the world in these conditions!!

I’m sure nobody is wondering what I made on the short par 4 8th hole today after going 8, 6 the last two times…today I made an 8 footer for bogey five. Tomorrow is filled with great promise and I thoroughly enjoy posting the action for you on this golf blog site.

Until tomorrow- STAY TUNED!!