It was an exciting week leading up to the Classic. You could tell people were psyched, in fact a lot of people took time out of their schedule to get in some practice. Everyone thought that they had a chnace to be the ONE.

The morning of the Classic was cold

but if you stood in the sun it wasn’t too bad. It was a 9am shot gun start at Franconia and despite it being the end of the year and cold, there was still a lot of people there. We were going to need some luck if we wanted to complete 2 rounds of golf.

We started on the 10th hole. Group B, Rock, Matt, Jake and Leon, teed off first. Group A, Dan, Chris, Dave and Joe followed.

I don’t know about Group B but in Group A, we were READY. Dan was like a man on crack. He was all over the place. It took a little while for him to calm down. They said I was quiet but I think I was just serious; after all I was the defending champion. Chris and Dave were their usually selves but you could tell that deep down they were pumped.

At the end of the first round:

Actual Scores

Chris – 90

Dave – 92

Joe – 93

Jake – 98

Rock – 103

Leon – 108

Dan – 109

Matt – 119

Handicap Scores

Chris & Rock – 62 (-9)

Joe – 67 (-4)

Leon 68 (-3)

Matt – 70 (-1)

Jake – 74 (+3)

Dan – 75 (+4)

Dave – 77 (+6)

In the first round Dave shot a 10 on the 3rd hole, par 4. I cannot remember the last time Dave had a 10. Dave could have easily given up because he knew he had no chance at the championship but he just set a new goal of playing his ass off and shooting a low score in the 2nd round.

Who would have guessed that Chris and Rock would be 9 under par after the first round? I still thought he had a shot, at least a chance to catch Chris. Chris had not put together good back to back scores since week 4. Yes, I was 5 shots back and Leon was 4 shots back but we were probably the only people that still had a chance. The real question was - who would break first, Chris or Rock?

For some reason we start on the 15th hole for the 2nd round. Now the idea was that we should be able to make up some time because there would be less people on the course. Yes, there were less people on the course but some of those people were SLOW. I don’t know about Group B, but in Group A we were all over the course. We were now playing speed golf but at least I wasn’t cold anymore.

After the first 4 holes we ran into slower golfers. Our fear was that we would not finish before dark but the other group might, so we started jumping around the holes. At one point I had no idea what hole we were on or what the par for that holes was… but it had to be done if we were to finish before dark.

When the 2nd round was finished, we had about 15 minutes of day light left. We all had a drink and told our stories of opportunity lost or how the fickle hand of fate hand intervened. It was a good time but we were cold and tired.

As we told our tales, people tried to figure out who would be crowned the winner and who were the day’s biggest losers. I tried to tell everyone to relax and that I would do the numbers tonight but by the time we left they had crowned Matt champion… and THAT is the recipe for true disappointment.

Round 2: Scores

Dave – 81

Chris & Jake – 95

Joe – 97

Dan & Matt – 108

Leon – 114

Rock – 116

Handicap Scores

Matt – 59 (-12)

Dave – 66 (-5)

Chris – 67 (-4)

Jake & Joe – 71 (Even)

Dan & Leon – 74 (+3)

Rock – 75 (+4)

Who would have seen Matt coming from the back of the pack to shoot a 12 under or that Chris would put together two good rounds in a row?

Dave was given his man card back by shooting a 5 under.

The best that the defending champion could do in the 2nd round was to shoot even par.

The biggest question after the 2nd round is what happened to Rock?

Note – There was discrepancy in Dan score. The scorecard had 106 but it was actually 108.

Winter Classic Championship Totals

1. Chris and Matt – 13 Under

2. Rock – 5 Under

3. Joe – 4 Under

4. Leon – Even

5. Dave – 1 Over

6. Jake – 3 Over

7. Dan – 7 Over

So, while we all thought that golf would be finished last weekend, we now know that there will be one more chapter for Broken Joe Golf.

Congratulations to Chris and Matt for bringing their A game. For seven days you get to celebrate your greatness

but unfortunately, one of you will be the "First Loser" Saturday afternoon.

We will figure out when we will award the trophy on Thursday at Chris’s house.

2016 Handicaps

Dave – 17

Chris – 23

Joe – 25

Jake – 27

Dan – 38

Rock – 39

Leon – 40

Matt – 42

2016 Groups

Group A

Chris

Matt

Rock

Joe

Group B

Leon

Dave

Jake

Dan