On May 6th, 2018, we will play our verision of “The Players Championship” which we call “The Pretenders Championship at Ledges Golf Course in South Hadley, MA.

“The Pretenders Championship” is our first tournament and is worth 300 FedUp Points. This year it will be played a week earlier than “The Players Championship”.

Jake is the 2017 Pretenders Champion and with him playing from the yellow tee boxes it looks like he has a great chance to repeat. Of course Rock is also playing from the yellows and could give Jake a run for his money.

As you can see, last year I “pretended” to be John Daley.

In 2018, who will you pretend to be? Here are some choices.

Tommie Armour’s 23 - The Silver Scot is most well-known for his three major championships -- the 1927 U.S. Open, the 1930 PGA Championship and the 1931 Open Championship. But in the 1927 Shawnee Open on the par-5 17th hole at Shawnee CC, Armour recorded the first ever "Archaeopteryx" -- the term used to define a score of 15 or more over par. Ironically, Armour's 18-over-par 23 on that par-5 hole came just one week after his U.S. Open triumph at Oakmont Country Club. So much for momentum!

Hans Merrell's 19 - The first of three "19s" on record, Merrell got his on the par-3 16th hole at Cypress Point during the 1959 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. The hole played to 222 yards. It demanded a long tee shot over water, but -- believe it or not -- Merrell didn't even hit it in the Pacific Ocean.

So what happened, then?

Merrell's tee shot came up short of the green and fell onto the beach 75 feet below. From there, his second shot was skulled into ice plant. He moved the ball just one foot with his third shot, according to an Associated Press account, and lashed at the ball four more times in the ice plant before it was buried and therefore unplayable.

Dale Douglass's 19 - On the final day of the 1963 Bing Crosby National Pro-Am, Douglass took a crushing 19 on the par-4 10th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

It all started when Douglass sliced his tee shot onto the beach. He took three, unplayable lies and a bunch of swings before finally getting back to the fairway where he was lying 14.

His 15th shot went into a greenside bunker. Two shots and two putts later, he had his 19. Remarkably, Douglass played his final eight holes in even par... and shot a 92 that day.

"It's kind of a blur," Douglass told the L.A. Times. "I know my tee shot lodged in the bank of a cliff. I tried to hit it about three times. Finally it rolled back to the beach and an unplayable lie. I took the first of about eight penalty strokes.

"Every time I hit the ball it would slash into the bank and roll back to be half buried. Finally I had to put it on a piece of ice plant to hit it out of there. Joe Campbell was playing with me and helped me count the strokes. I just can't remember all of them. I was trying my best on all the shots, but you just couldn't get any footing."

In 1969, Douglass was a runner-up to George Archer in the event. Go figure.

John Daly's 18 - Of the 26 scores of "13" or higher in PGA Tour history, three of them belong to two-time major winner John Daly. But, it was his 18 on the 16th hole at Bay Hill in the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational that was the worst of the bunch.

On this fateful day for Daly, it all began when his tee shot found the lake on the left side of the 543-yard par 5. Armed with a three-wood after taking his drop where the ball crossed the hazard, Daly proceeded to -- Tin Cup-style -- hit five consecutive shots into the drink.

Daly eventually cleared the water with his sixth attempt, but the Golf Gods weren't done messing with him yet. The ball embedded into a bank and he was forced to drop the ball again.

The seven shots plus the seven penalty strokes already gave him a score of 14. Daly's next shot was a 6-iron, and it barely cleared the water that is in front of the green, hitting the rocks that line the water and then ricocheting into the sand trap near the green.

Daly blasted out of the sand, then two-putted for his 18. After starting the hole two under par for the tournament, he walked off 11 over.

Amazingly, Daly made birdie on the next hole, and he shot a 49 on the front side and a 36 on the back side for an 85. With that score, he plummeted off the leader board into a tie for 53d place with a four-round total of 298 -- a 68 in the first round followed by a 75, a 70 and an 85.

As always, I'll save my surprise for the Golf Course.

Group One - 8:10am

Cart 1: Bryan & Chris

Cart 2: Dave

Group Two - 8:20am

Cart 3: Dan & Joe

Cart 4: Joe T

Group Three - 8:30am

Cart 5: Rock & Jon (Yellow Tees)

Cart 6: Jake and Adam (Yellow Tees)

For $5.00 a person, we will offer the Closest to the Pin and Longest Drive competition. The Closest to the Pin will be on the 7th hole and the Longest Drive will be on the 15th hole.

Repestfully,

Broken Joe

Commissioner