For Men’s Night this week, we’ll be playing our Chicago format on the Front 9. All players play from white tees and Rule of 75 players (age + handicap >= 75) may play golds. Please record gross scores for all holes on scorecards with names clearly marked and turn in all completed cards to the Pro Shop.
Chicago Format:
Players start with a negative number of points (based on 18-hole course handicaps) then add positive points during their round. The idea is to get from the negative to the positive, clearing your “hurdle” by as many points as possible.
Account Charges for Match Play + Stearns Cup
Our MGA accountant extraordinaire—Mr. Pete Strass—has been working diligently in the back office this week to get all charges for the 2024 Match Play and Stearns Cup tournaments added to our member accounts. Thank you as always, Pete, for your meticulous work!
MGA Digest: 2024 Stearns Cup
Finally, our virtuoso creative editor—Mr. Chuck Roster—has done it again with an amazing cover rendition for our Stearns Cup champions. Fantastic stuff, Chuck! If you missed all of Chuck’s photos and swing sequence edits yesterday, be sure to check them out!
2024 Stearns Cup: A Weekend for the NGC History Books
What an incredible day of golf we had Sunday for the conclusion of the 2024 version of the Stearns Cup which was capped off by the longest and most thrilling playoff in recent NGC history. First and foremost, we wanted to say thank you to Tiffany (who absolutely crushed it!), all the NGC staff, Chuck (our tournament photographer and Golf Digest swing sequence editor extraordinaire), and all our MGA members who made the weekend truly special. And thank you to Mr. Stearns — the spirit of competition and camaraderie that your legacy at NGC embodies is unbreakably tied to the love of the game that we all share. NGC is a place where our strongest emotions come alive and that was on full display during this year’s tournament.
Congratulations to both our champions and the teams that challenged them throughout the weekend through their outstanding performances.
In the Net Division, after a fiery Saturday, we were treated to an unforgettable Sunday that turned into an all-out sprint to the finish. Through countless twists and turns, one team rose above, proving that in the end, golf conquers all. After narrowly edging out our runners-up, Oral Pottinger & Leo Goff, who posted an impressive -14, we send our genuine congratulations and a big well played to Ed Clarke & Mark Mattis, who claimed victory with a winning tally of -15, etching their names and partnership permanently on the Stearns Cup!
Champions – Ed Clarke & Mark Mattis (-15) – 110 Chase Points – $91.87 each 2nd – Oral Pottinger & Leo Goff (-14) – 95 Chase Points – $72.19 each T-3rd – Erik Rosales & Royce Huffaker (-13) – 80 Chase Points – $32.81 each T-3rd – Kevin Dick & Bruce Sedlak (-13) – 80 Chase Points – $32.81 each T-3rd – Paul Weidenfeld & Scotty Kimmel (-13) – 80 Chase Points – $32.81 each 6th – Torey Diggs & Carl Ford (-12) – 35 Chase Points T-7th – Joey Jewell & Colin Zoski (-9) – 20 Chase Points T-7th – Ron Turner & Brian Carlstrom (-9) – 20 Chase Points
The battle for the Gross title of the Stearns Cup unfolded in spectacular fashion, with 36 holes proving woefully insufficient to crown a victor. As the shadows lengthened over the sun-drenched course on a glorious Sunday afternoon, we all played witness to a heart-pounding playoff and remarkable displays of skill, grit, and nerve. Matt Doherty & Joe Lapan faced off against Ryan White & Jared Powell in a fierce competition, with both teams pushing each other to the limit. The competitors dug deep, delivering a spectacle that had the crowd in a frenzy as the drama intensified hole by hole—including two nerve-wracking trips down the pressure-packed 18th hole and a journey back to the Front 9 for holes 1-4. Suspense truly filled the air with each swing, keeping everyone on the edge of their (cart) seats until the champions emerged. The historic playoff included…
#18: A stellar tee shot under pressure from JP was followed by a stone-cold par putt from JL
#18: Another equally fearless par by MD was answered by JP’s clutch 3 to match
After the absolutely epic back-and-forth, Matt Doherty & Joe Lapan emerged as the 2024 Stearns Cup champions, sealing their victory with heart and determination in one of the most thrilling finishes the tournament has ever seen.
Champions – Matt Doherty & Joe Lapan (-4 won on 6th playoff hole) – 110 Chase Points – $91.87 each 2nd – Ryan White & Jared Powell (-4) – 95 Chase Points – $72.19 each T-3rd – Weston Happ & James Hsiao (-3) – 80 Chase Points – $49.22 each T-3rd – Kyle Armstrong & Sam Bowmer (-3) – 80 Chase Points – $49.22 each 5th – Jim Sussmann & Patrick Escalambre (-2) – 50 Chase Points 6th – Brad Simonich & Brad Adams (+3) – 35 Chase Points T-7th – Nathaniel Burgess & Dave Krukowski (+7) – 20 Chase Points T-7th – Jim Prendergast & Matt Nolan (+7) – 20 Chase Points
Well done today, boys — what a fantastic day at the club. It was a true honor to once again have Mr. Stearns with us, and we can’t express enough gratitude for the incredible legacy he has brought to the club we all love. A special thanks to Scotty for the arrangements, to Mr. Stearns’ grandson Ryan for hitting the pressure first tee shot and, of course, to Mr. Stearns for being an absolute legend.
Attached you’ll find the groups and starting holes for tomorrow’s 2nd Round which will again start with a 9:30 AM shotgun. We have very tight competitions on the Gross and Net leaderboards — tomorrow should be a very exciting Sunday showdown!
Men’s Night 10/3 — Phantom Teammate Stableford on the Back 9
As we continue to count down to the Stearns Cup this weekend and the excitement of team golf, we thought we’d have some fun with a phantom teammate (and decide how that guy compares to a real teammate 🤔). This week, we’ll be playing Men’s Night on the Back 9 using our traditional Stableford format but for 3 of the 9 holes, your “teammate” has your back with a net par. This means that only your best 6 holes on the Back 9 will count toward your final Stableford tally (with your worst 3 holes being covered by Mr. Phantom as net pars).
Please record your own gross scores for all holes and the scoring spreadsheet will automatically calculate your best 6 + 3 teammate net pars.
May the best “team” win!
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Match Play Final Four: Main & Wildcard Brackets
We’d like to send out a thank you to all competitors for completing their matches to get us to the semifinals in both the Main and Wildcard brackets. Congrats and well played to all those who have now reached the Final Four:
Main Bracket Final Four:
Leo Goff vs. Torey Diggs
Erik Rosales vs. Mark Mattis
Wildcard Bracket Final Four:
Joe Lapan vs. Jack Sullivan
William Keyes vs. James Hsiao
The next round deadline for Final Four matches is Monday, October 14th.
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2024 Stearns Cup — Team Sign-Ups
Team sign-ups continue for the final MGA major of the season, the Stearns Cup, which is set to be played this weekend — Saturday & Sunday, October 5th + 6th.
To confirm your team’s sign-up, double check the online leaderboard here.
The format for Stearns Cup is 2-man teams playing 2-day, 36 hole, best ball for both gross and net awards. 100% of handicaps apply for net play. Standard MGA tees, with Rule of 75 for gold tee players.
Stearns Cup: Saturday & Sunday, October 5th + 6th — 2-man teams with 9:30 AM shotgun start each day Cost: $25 per player — All players must be MGA members Online Registration Portal: https://mga.golf/Stearns-Cup-Sign-Up Team Registration Deadline: Thursday, October 3rd @ 8:00 PM
For Men’s Nights, your 5 lowest scoring weeks (or weeks you missed) have been dropped.
For our 1-day, 80-point events (Play It Again, 2-Man Team Shamble, NGC Cup), 1 low points-earned tournament has been dropped with our Closing Day Stableford (10/26) still to be played.
The same applies to our multi-day / major tournaments (Memorial Cup, RW&B, Club Championship) where 1 low has been dropped with the final rounds of Match Play and Stearns Cup (10/5-10/6) still to be played.
Drops will continue to be updated through the remainder of this season’s Men’s Nights, the Match Play tournament, and the playing of our two weekend tournaments in October. We have an extraordinarily tight race and an exciting finish to the 2024 Points Chase is in store!
All Club Championship $25 entry fees and credit book prize distributions will be processed next week when our Tournament Accountant Extraordinaire, Mr. Pete Strass, is back in the office. All cart charges from the weekend have already been processed to accounts with credit book used if available — thank you Tiffany and Donnee! Finalized leaderboards (without inadvertent copy & paste duplication) are included below.
What a fantastic weekend of Championship golf! And one that was wholly made possible by the amazing enthusiasm of our NGC golf family. Thank you to all the members who participated, spectated, laughed, (gambled?), and brought the joy that our club is truly about. And thank you to all the NGC staff who made the weekend a great success!
Club Championship Results
Over the entire field, which consisted of 6 Flights and 71 players, we saw some awesome battles and very exciting finishes!
In the Women’s Club Championship, first and foremost, we saw some very fast play! Championship golf with sub-4-hour pace of play across all groups is glorious — well done ladies!
We also saw two defending champions, Vivianne Couts and Betty Sussmann, successfully defend their 2023 titles to continue their reigns as 2024 Champions! Very well played and congratulations to both of you!
Vivianne also made a hole-in-one on #15 on Sunday — What an epic way to cement the championship win! (And thank you for the free drinks!)
In the Gold Flight, a very tight battle was competed eye to eye in the final group on Sunday and, in the end, another defending champion completed his quest to hold his title for another year! Well played to our Gold Flight champion, Jerome Lofton, who played a tremendous final round and came in at -6 net for the weekend — just edging out Robert Straughter (-5 net) and Carl Brown (-2 net).
1st – Jerome Lofton (-6 net) – $60 2nd – Robert Straughter (-5 net) – $40 3rd – Carl Brown (-2 net) – $25
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Moving on to our Men’s net flights, in the National Flight, we saw a new member who joined just this summer, Erik Simonds, come from 7 shots behind on Sunday to capture a 5 shot victory at Even par net for the tournament. Fantastic playing Erik! Willie Barnhill played great to finish 2nd at +5 net followed by our 2023 Champion, Mike Reynard, in 3rd at +8 net.
In the Tantallon Flight, an epic battle in the final group came down to the last few holes of the tournament. Proving to be the pivotal hole, this year’s champion, Matt Dove, made a clutch birdie on #16. He then finished the day with a 4-footer for the win on #18 capping off a 2-day total of -5 net. At -4 net, Michael Helmer took home 2nd place with Jim Prendergast and Micah Busbee finishing at -3 net for T-3rd.
Finally, in the Men’s Championship Fight, once again, the finishing stretch of holes designed by Ted Robinson in 1965 were decisive in determining parking spot rights. Our defending champion, Scott Redmond, made birdies on #13 and #16 which were crucial and, with rock solid pars on #17 and #18, he finished the day in style for a repeat victory at +4 for the tournament. A very well deserved W, Mr. Redmond! And well played to those who pushed him right to the very end — Clay Thatcher (+8) was 2nd and Sam Bowmer (+9) was 3rd, great fight gentlemen.
The 2024 edition of the NGC Cup is in the history books and we are certain it is one that will be remembered for years to come. Thank you to everyone who came out yesterday to make it an absolutely epic day! Our love of golf as a golf family is what NGC is all about and yesterday truly showed that. Thank you to all the pro shop, clubhouse and course staff who helped make yesterday amazing. And the biggest thank you to Joe for navigating the intricacies of MD state liquor law and Alisha for bringing the absolutely incredible energy, Songbyrd crew, and setup that made the 2024 edition our best NGC Cup ever.
The generosity and giving spirit of all our members was on full display with both the mountain of donated refreshments that brought to life the MGA BYO bar and with the cash tips for charity! In the end, we were able to collect and donate $525 directly to the Lapan Sunshine Foundation.
When it came to the golf, excitement and good vibes energized each match as players wrapped their minds around Pinehurst Scotch (while enjoying scotch?) and every hole counted towards the final Blue vs. Green tally. When all the points had been counted, Team Green reigned supreme with a final score of 109.5 to 124.5 — Green has earned its place in the NGC Cup color battle!
In the side-contests, laughs and cheers abounded! Mr. Hanpeter got us off to an electric start with a perfect cluster putt, the necessity of walkie-talkies was revealed, and a Truck Bed chip-in joined the ranks of NGC legend.
Cluster Putt Champion – Mike Hanpeter – $50 #10 Knockout Shootout Champion – DJ Low Japan – $100 #10 Knockout Shootout Runner-Up – Leo Goff – $30 #10 Knockout Shootout Runner-Up – Nathaniel Burgess – $30 #10 Knockout Shootout Runner-Up – James Hsiao – $30 Truck Chip Victor + Hole out bonus – James Hsiao – $75 Closest to the Pin #3 – Matt Nolan (11’7″) – $50 Closest to the Pin #6 – Sam Bowmer (1’11”) – $50 Closest to the Pin #15 – Kevin Gates (10’2″) – $50 Closest to the Pin #18 – Clay Thatcher (12’3″) – $50 Long Drive – Jared Powell – $50 Golf Ball Easter Egg Discoverer – Brad Adams – $50
Thank you to Vivianne, Rahel and everyone for the awesome photos!
Thank you to all the teams that came out on Saturday for the 2024 edition of our 2-Man Team Shamble for a day of the true camaraderie that the MGA is all about. Despite the dry conditions, birdies, eagles, and albatrosses flew and we saw a great competition right down to the very last shots.
In the net division, some great scoring overall was topped by a very impressive net 53 (-19) by the team of Shane Rutherford & Ryan Dierker. Well played gentlemen!
In the gross division, with a birdie on their closing hole of the day, the team of Sam Bowmer & Scott Redmond carded a clean 62 (-10) to take home the victory!
Match Play Round 2 + Wildcard Round 1 — July 28th Deadline
The deadline for Main Bracket Round 2 and Wildcard Bracket Round 1 matches is set for this Sunday, July 28th. All matches should be scheduled to be completed by the deadline unless you have arranged an official extension. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions.
Thank you to all matches who have played and reported their results. If you do not see your match result listed in the online bracket, please let us know the result via email.
