While the PGA “Players Championship” was played on March 14th to the 17th, we were still wondering when the snow would melt, and we would be able to start our season. We are lucky to begin in April, Veterans may not be open until May.. Our version of the “Players Championship” is the “Pretenders Championship.” It is a fitting name since most of us are pretending to be golfers in the first place.

Rock, our BJG Fed Up Cup Champion, is pretending to be Justin Rose. Justin actually won the 2018 PGA Fed Ex Cup, but because of Tiger Woods victory in the final leg of the Fed Ex Cup (The Tour Championship), nobody really remembers Justin.

Jake is pretending to be Bubba Watson. Bubba had three wins in 2018, but you have not really heard his name out loud for a while. Jake, our number 2 handicap golfer, had been in a slump for a while, but like Bubba, he had a great year winning the Pine Knoll “Championship of the World” and the double round “Broken Joe Golf Championship.”

Joe is pretending to be Old Tom Morris. Tom was the oldest golfer to win the British Open. Joe was the oldest golfer to win in 2018. Hell, Joe is just going to be the oldest golfer in 2019 too. Joe also wishes he could grow that beard.

Chris is pretending to be Fred Couples. Like Chris, Couples has had a single win in each of the last 5 seasons. They are also almost the same age. Chris usually has his win early in the season but then comes back for the playoffs. Chris has only missed one BJG playoff in 5 years, but he makes up for that with 2 International wins.

Dan is pretending to be Bernhard Langer. They are both winners, and they win from about the same yardage. Bernhard does it on the PGA Senior Tour, and Dan used to do it from the yellow tee boxes.

Joe T is pretending to be Jordan Spieth. Both Jordan and Joe T had a pretty good year in 2017, but neither was able to live up to those expectations in 2018. Jordan could not manage a single win on tour in 2018, and Joe T played from the yellow tee boxes at least twice.

Adam is pretending to be Aaron Wise. Aaron was the 2018 PGA Rookie of the Year, and Adam was the 2018 BJG Rookie of the Year. Adam was able to bring his handicap down from 57 to 39, play to a tie during Match Play and selected the right "Rider Cup" team to dominate the competition in 2018.

Jon is pretending to be Chris Gaines. Chris is ranked last on the PGA Tour which is where Jon is listed right now. The good news for Jon is that Matt is supposed to play in 2019.

Dave is pretending to be Briny Baird. Briny holds the record for longest time between PGA wins at 15 years, 5 months and 10 days. Dave isn’t quite there yet, but it has been a while since he has had a win.

Bryan is pretending to be Dustin Johnson. Dustin has managed at least one win in consecutive seasons. Bryan is always good for at least one win a year. For Bryan, family comes first which is why he has not played in a Fed Up Cup yet, but I think this is the year that he makes a big move.

Rey is pretending to be the 2008 Tiger Woods. Tiger had a great year in 2007 but had to cut the 2008 season short because of his back. Like Tiger, Rey had a good 2017 season, in fact, he was the 2017 Rookie of the Year (he was the only candidate), but he had to take the 2018 season off because of “baseball.” Welcome back, Rey.

Matty Slush is pretending to be David Feherty. Yes, I know David does not play golf anymore but neither does Matt, and they both like to talk a lot. Matt is supposed to be making his comeback this year, and that would be great for Broken Joe Golf. I, for one, can’t wait to witness the battle between Jon and Matt. I’m putting my money on Jon because I know he is going to at least show up.

Chris Cirelli is pretending to be the number one rookie on the PGA Tour, Cameron Champ. I made Chris the number one rookie because he played with us a couple of times last year so he knows how strict the BJG rules can be which may give him an edge for the 2019 BJG Rookie of the Year.

Steve is pretending to be Adam Long. Adam is the number two rookie on Tour. This will be Steve’s first time playing with BJG, and I hope he is ready for it because there are no refunds Good luck in 2019.

The “Pretender” is worth a total of 200 Fed Up Cup points.

1st Place = 28 Points

2nd Place = 26 Points

3rd Place = 24 Points

4th Place = 22 Points

5th Place = 19 Points

6th Place = 17 Points

7th Place = 15 Points

8th Place = 13 Points

9th Place = 11 Points

10th Place = 9 Points

11th Place = 7 Points

12th Place = 5 Points

13th Place = 3 Points

14th Place = 1 Point

Groupings: For tournaments: Groupings will be done by handicap, pairings or in some cases, by random drawing. Majors will be done by the current 2019 Fed Up Cup points. The one exception is that the defending champion will always play in the first group.

Group A – 10:02

Cart 1 – Rock. Since Rock was our 2018 Fed Up Cup champion, he will lead us into 2019

Cart 2 – Chris (Pretender’s Defending Champion) & Dave

Group B – 10:10

Cart 3 – Jake and Bryan

Cart 4 – Joe & Chris C

Group C – 10:18

Cart 4 – Joe T & Rey

Cart 5 – Dan & Steve

Group D – 10:26

Cart 6 – Adam & Jon

Cart 7 – Matty Ice

Of course, if anyone does not show up, I may need to move people.

If there is a tie, we will have a putt off at the practice green.

Come early, pay your green / cart fee and set up your cart. I will have a quick and final Rules meeting at 9:30.

Since there was so much talk about the “regular” BJG season I have decided to incorporate this into our season and I am calling it “The Race to Big Y” (The Race to Dubai, the European Fed Ex Cup, get it?). The golfer who is in first place, with the most Fed Up Cup points, after the final Major (the double round BJG Championship) will win a gift certificate to Big Y.

And finally, after further review, Rey was last to respond to the bog so he owes the round of beers after the Pretenders. Thanks Rey.

Good luck to everyone.

Respectfully,

Broken Joe, Commissioner