It was a shotgun start at Oak Ridge Country Club. Joe was early as usual and Jake was the last one there with only a few minutes to spare. We started on the 7th hole as A and B group with no one behind us.

Joe and Jake had a seesaw battle most of the day, fighting for 1st and 2nd spot. Joe jumped out to the early lead with 2 quick pars which put Jake behind by 3. By the 13th hole, they are all square. Joe steals the last hole to finish our front nine and is up by one.

Rock has a terrible start and on our very first hole scores a 12. While everything that could go wrong, went wrong, Rock never let that one hole determine his fate.

Dan is kicking Joe T’s ass for the first nine holes and by the time the scores are in the books, Joe T is down by 6. With Dan’s handicap, that number would increase to 9. Joe T is losing to a guy who had trouble putting Adam away.

In a surprising twist, after nine holes Chris is tied with Dan. I don’t know if that means Chris is having a bad day or Dan is just having a great day.

First Nine Scores:

Joe – 45

Jake – 46

Chris – 49

Dan – 49

CUTLINE

Joe T – 55

Rock – 56

At the start of our back nine, Jake goes par, par par and by four holes in, Jake is up by 2. On the next hole (2nd) Jake scores a triple bogey to Joe’s par and now the lead is cut to one. Joe makes the match all square on the 3rd hole but then Jake takes the last 2 holes and finishes up by 2. That is not to say that Jake didn't have his own issues.

Rock battles all the way back on the last nine holes and he really starts ripping his driver. In fact, on the 5th hole, 326-yard par 4, Rock almost drives the green.

I wanted to write that Joe T must have been embarrassed because he comes back hard on the back 9 but the truth is that Dan just fell apart scoring a 10, 9 and two 8s. Joe T ends up winning the last nine holes by 3.

Chris must have finally got caught up with the antics of his group because he scores his own pair of 7s and three 8s on the last nine holes.

Back Nine Scores:

Jake – 45

Joe – 48

Joe T – 52

Rock – 52

CUTLINE

Chris – 55

Dan – 61

Final Score (Actual Score)

Joe – 93 (93)

Jake – 94 (91)

Chris – 104 (104)

Rock – 105 (108)

MISSED CUT

Joe T – 107 (107)

Dan – 107 (110)

While Joe didn’t beat Jake outright he did manage to win with the BJG handicap. Truth be told, Jake has been on fire the last 3 rounds where he shoots 2 rounds in the mid-80s and beat the 2nd place finisher by 11 strokes in the first round of the FedUp Cup playoffs. Joe knew that he had to beat Jake today in order to have any shot at the FedUp Cup Championship on Sept 16th.

Fortunately for Chris, neither Dan or Joe T could not put together a decent score for all 18 holes and he slides into the 3rd spot.

Rock stayed strong after scoring a 12 on the very first hole and was rewarded by making it to the Championship round for the second year in a row. Rock, using his handicap, only ended up one stroke behind Chris.

Dan and Joe T: In the end, with Dan’s 3 stroke handicap, Dan and Joe T both tie with 107. The only thing that could have made this more epic was if they were playing from the yellow tee boxes. On what would be another anticlimactic finish which featured a classic battle of mediocre players battling for, what turned out to be, tied for 5th place with only 4 spots open. It was kind of like watching musical chairs only neither one of them could find a chair once the music stopped.

Joe, Jake, Chris, and Rock -WELCOME TO THE 2018 FED UP CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

Respectfully,

Broken Joe

Commissioner