Twenty-Seven VC matches were in the books as the golfers in the 28^th match hit their tee balls on the 18^th hole with just a half point separating the two teams!!!!!!

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Here is our official recap summary for Validation Cup IV October 2020.

Saturday morning – Best Ball / Four Ball Team Matches – Weather overcast cool 60 degrees, light winds 

Great job of fore caddying by Dan Thorne, Herb Joiner, Donnie Griffin and Mike Brock throughout the VC weekend which was very much appreciated by everyone as there were a lot of golf balls found in strange places.

Match One- Chance Young & Carl Poposki got off to a strong start in a 3/2 victory over Jordan Montague & Captain Cano with Chance holing the winning putt.

Match Two – Captain Sult wins his first VC point with his strong play alongside with Joe Bissa. Sult shot three over on his own ball, to defeat Rob Bogardus & Brian Warburton 4/3.

Match Three – Despite falling behind early in the match, the veteran team of Doug Ward & Buddy Ackerman battled all the way to the 18^th hole before losing to Stephen “PH” Ramirez & Will Jenkines 1/0.

Match Four- “Captain Comeback” Vince Schlueter & Dean Boyd rallied on the back nine to earn a half point against Mike Allcorn & Dion Carver igniting Team Mata’s late comeback in the morning Best Ball matches.

Match Five – Newcomers from Chicago, Joe Eskey and Brock Hancock took home the first full point for Team Mata defeating Oscar Diaz & Kurt Liles 3/2.

Match Six- Veteran Frank Mata took rookie Billy Martinez under his wing in leading them to a 4/3 victory over the strong team of Vince Iglesias & Fred Buchman. Billy was just a couple over par after 15 holes for this best ball match.

Match Seven- To cap off Team Mata’s morning comeback, Ismael Ortiz & Brad Ausdemore played well together defeating John Stephens & Jason Johnston 4/3 to even up the morning matches.

Saturday Morning –Team Up One 3.5 Points / Team Mata (Dirt Naps) 3.5 Points 

Saturday Afternoon – Alternate Shot / Foursomes Team Matches — Warmer weather with temperatures reaching 74 degrees and sunshine / First VC with 18 hole Alternate Shot matches

Match One (AS) – In a particularly good match with both teams making birdies and even an eagle, Captain Cano & Jordan Montague battled the entire match before losing to Chance Young & Carl Poposki 1/0. Chance once again made the winning putt on #18.

Match Two (AS) – Brian Warburton & Rob Bogardus earned an important point defeating an exhausted Stephen “PH” Ramirez & Will Jenkines after their morning marathon 2/1.

Match Three (AS) – In a match which went all the way to eighteen, Kurt Liles and Mike Allcorn earned an important half point against Doug Ward & Buddy Ackerman.

Match Four (AS) – Vince Schlueter & Dean Boyd won their first point of this VC, defeating the tough playing team of Oscar Diaz & Dion Carver 1/0.

Match Five (AS) – John Stephens & Vince Iglesias partnered well together once again to defeat the Chicago twosome of Joe Eskey & Brock Hancock 3/2.

Match Six (AS) – Jason Johnston teamed up with Captain Sult to win against the very strong team of Frank Mata & Billy Martinez 4/3.

Match Seven (AS) – Continuing their strong play in the afternoon, Ismael Ortiz & Brad Ausdemore beat Joe Bissa & Fred Buchman 4/2 earning their second point of Saturday.

Saturday Afternoon –Team Up One 3.5 Points / Team Mata (Dirt Naps) 3.5 Points 

Sunday Morning – Fourteen Singles Matches – Great golfing weather with sunny skies, light winds, and temperatures in the mid seventies

Match One – Chance Young continues his strong play getting Team Up One off to a strong start with a 5/3 victory over Rob Bogardus (Young is 3-0 VC IV record).

Match Two – Jordan Montague jumped off to a 3 up lead after six holes only to see Carl Poposki charge back with four birdies including #14 & #15 to win the match 4/3 (Poposki is 3-0 for his VC IV record going undefeated for the third time out of his four VC starts.) 

Match Four – Buddy Ackerman jumped out like a buzz saw shooting one over for fifteen holes to win his first full point this VC weekend over Fred Buchman 4/3 with birdies from off the green on holes 11 & 12.

Match Six – Stephen “PH” Ramirez brought his “A” game on Sunday which led to a strong 5/4 victory over Brock Hancock.

Match Seven – Had to veto Schlueter’s request to start this match on holes on #13 – 18 where he has certainly played his best VC golf this year. Instead, Vince Schlueter used his imagination and skills in an impressive 8/6 victory over Kurt Liles. (Schlueter went 2-0-1 in VC)

Match Nine – Frank Mata made it back-to-back single wins winning 4/3 over Oscar Diaz and cementing his new nickname “Smokeahontas” for another Team Mata point. Several witnesses reported Frank had some good stuff that Sunday which made him happy but at the same time to keep up with his scorecard responsibilities.

Match Eleven – Vince Iglesias made over 120 feet of putts to make it two VC single wins in a row with a 5/4 victory over Brian Warburton for an important Team Up One point.

Match Twelve – Bruce Sult, one of several golfers who lowered their handicap significantly from last May, defeated Brian Cano 4/3 to go undefeated in VC IV.

Match Fourteen – Ismael finished VC IV undefeated (3-0) for Team Mata finishing off Joe Bisa for a solid 4/3 victory.

This is when the VC IV got interesting on the back nine Sunday afternoon.

Match Three – John Stephens led from the start, but Doug Ward came back to win the last two holes to earn an important half point for Team Mata.

Match Five – This was the first match I started paying attention to on the back nine starting on #15. Joe Eskey tried to make a charge, but Jason Johnston had enough to win on #18 for a vital 2/0 victory for Team Up One.

Match Eight – In a match that went back and forth all day, Mike Allcorn went up one after #16. Then Dean Boyd busted a pin seeking three wood into the wind to three feet for birdie on #17. All even going into eighteen, both players found the fairway. Dean had 215 yards to clear the creek. Pulling his driver out of his bag, Dean hit it 185 yards for an effective lay-up short of the creek (LOL). Another driver off the deck into the wind left Dean with a 30 yard pitch which he hit to five feet and nailed the putt for the all-important point 1/0 for Team Mata. (Dean Boyd 2-0-1record) 

Match Ten – Billy Martinez took an early lead in the match with Dion Carver, but Dion kept in the match winning his critical stroke holes. Billy would shoot three over for 18 holes in this singles match. One down going into eighteen, Dion also pulled his driver to hit it off the deck over the creek from 220 yards. The shot resulted in “another” lay-up four feet short of the creek. Facing a 12 foot down hill putt (described as “slick as snot”) to win the hole and earn the half point, Dion calmly walked in the critical winning putt. 

Match Thirteen – In another back-and-forth match, neither Brad Ausdemore or Will Jenkines could build a big enough lead. Trailing by two on #17, WillJ hit a 335-yard drive to set up his win to go one down heading to #18. The next tee shot was not kind to Jenkines as he hit a foul ball past third base into the water but then played the smart shot short of the creek to lay three. Brad hit the fairway but then found the creek to also lie three. Brad hit his fourth shot a pulled hook into trouble while WillJ hit a good three wood short of the green and then got up and down for bogey to win the hole resulting in a MUST HAVE HALF POINT for Team Up One. (Brad Ausdemore finished 2-0-1 for Team Mata)

Keeping an unofficial leader board in my cart the last hour of matches, we saw Team Up One winning around 2 pm, the VC ending in a tie around 2:20 PM, Team Mata winning the VC around 2:30 pm, then another all tied up VC around 2:40 pm until Will Jenkines’ winning putt to finish the win for Team Up One just after 3:00 pm.

*********Team Up One  7.5 Points  /  ***********Team Mata (Dirt Naps) 6.5 Points 

FINAL –Team Up One  14.5 Points- Captain Sult /  Team Mata (Dirt Naps) 13.5 Points- Captain Cano

GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP on Display from Both Teams Throughout this VC

“Team Up One” captioned by Bruce Sult used “REVENGE” to its fullest extent as a motivator for their 11.5 to 4.5 defeat the previous October.

An extraordinarily strong Saturday by Team Up One resulted in a 7.5-to-2.5 point lead for Captain Sult’s team.

Strong performances by Joe Bissa, Will Jenkines, John Stephens, and Chance Young (who all went undefeated) led Team Up One to a big day in Singles Sunday despite 

Herb Joiner going undefeated for Team Mata.

A solid 14 – 10 victory by Team Up One to avenge that October 2019 butt whipping of 11.5 to 4.5 by Team Mata sums up our May 2020 VC III.

We are all tied up 1-1-1 with the Tie Breaker set for next October.

The golf course staff went out of their way to accommodate us making the event a rousing success despite Saturday’s weather. 

Everyone enjoyed the use of the Pavilion for our privacy as it just added to our VC experience.

Thanks to Matt Sipko, Gary McCorkle, Matt Lassen, Kelly A., Jo White, Scott Leggett, & Carson Peters for all their hard work that weekend at WC. 

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Saturday Morning – Best Ball / Four Ball Team Matches – Weather 1.75 inches of rain throughout the day/ Overcast / 15 mph wind out of the north

Match One – First timers Mike Brock and Joe Bissa took down the previously undefeated team of Buddy Ackerman & Doug Ward in a match that went all the way to #18 —  1/0

Match Two – Another team of first timers Chance Young & Fred Buckman both played well together to take down the stout team of Brad Ausdemore & Glenn Staley –3/2

Match Three – Breaking his VC Cherry, Vince Iglesias with the strong play of John Stephens (two birdies) defeated Dean Boyd & Ismael Ortiz –3/2

Match Four – Herb Joiner, the hottest player in the group heading into the VC, continued his solid play along with Jordan Montague to defeat Mike Allcorn & Bruce Sult –3/2

Match Five – Will Jenkines & Stephen ‘PH’ Ramirez put together an outstanding round; tag teaming Vince Schlueter & Brian Warburton by the popular number of the day – 3/2

Match Six – After talking “smack” on the group thread Friday, Brian Cano tore up the front nine along with Frank Mata to win their grudge match against Carl Poposki and Oscar Diaz– 7/6

Team Mata – 2 points /  Team UpOne –  4 Points

Saturday Afternoon – Alternate Shot / Foursomes Team Matches – Same Weather with rain and a cold rain with the matches reduced to Nine holes

Match One – All even through six holes, Stephen ‘PH’ Ramirez & John Stephens poured it on to defeat Frank Mata & Brian Cano – 2/0

Match Two – Another match even through six holes, Ismael Ortiz & Herb Joiner won the next two holes to defeat Mike Brock & Vince Iglesias – 2/1

Match Three – In classic ‘alternate shot tradition’, Glenn Staley & Brad Ausdemore were finally on the eighth green in FIVE strokes (w/o a penalty shot) about 22 feet away. Brad made the putt for six to preserve their one up lead. On number nine, Glenn hits a great shot leading to a birdie to finish off Carl Poposki and Bruce Sult – 2/0 

Match Four – In what turned out to be the match of the afternoon, Jordan Montague and Dean Boyd were two up after seven holes of play. But Oscar Diaz & Mike Allcorn won hole eight to go one down in the match. MikeA hit a “golf shot” on #9 to about 15 feet. Jordan & Dean made their par leaving it all up to Oscar, who promptly made the birdie to bring the match to all square. Instead of the afternoon ending in a 3-3 tie in points, Team UpOne won Saturday afternoon 3.5 – 2.5  EVEN

Match Five –Will Jenkines & Fred Buckman played well together to earn a tough victory over Vince Schlueter & Brian Warburton – 2/1

Match Six – Doug Ward & Buddy Ackerman jumped out to a quick three up lead in their match before Chance Young & Joe Bissa rallied to win four holes in a row to go one up heading to number nine. Doug too hit a “golf shot” in difficult conditions to almost the same spot as Mike Allcorn did earlier. Unfortunately Buddy’s birdie putt hung on the lip to give Chance & Joe the win—1/0

Team Mata – 2.5 points  /  Team UpOne – 3.5 points

Sunday morning – Twelve Singles Matches – Finally good golf weather with sunny skies and a 10 mph north wind

Match One – Stephen ‘PH’ Ramirez & Brad Ausdemore were chosen by their captains to get their teams off to great starts. It was a tremendous match with both players playing well throughout the round. Both players putted for birdies on #18. Brad made his birdie to finish his first VC at 2-1 and winning the match for Team Mata–2/0

Match Two –Vince Iglesias won his first VC singles match despite Jordan Montague making two birdies during the match. Vinny ran his VC record this weekend to 2-1 winning 3/2

Match Three – In a terrific match, Joe Bissa and Doug Ward battled all the way to the end with Joe winning #18. Joe became Team UpOne’s first undefeated at 3-0 winning 2-0

Match Four – Battling injuries, both Mike Brock & Buddy Ackerman were true gamers on Sunday.

Buddy won #6 with a seven (despite a found golf ball 45 minutes later) but the ‘Brockinator’ turned it on to extend his weekend VC record to 2-1 winning the match 5/4

*Match Five – See the match wrap up farther down this email list

Match Six—In the rematch of the of the 2019 Captains, Oscar Diaz & Frank Mata played a very competitive match all the way to #18 with Frank finally winning for Team Mata – 1/0

Match Seven – Running his first VC record to 3-0 for Team Mata, Herb Joiner kept the hammer down on Captain Bruce Sult to win the match – 8/6

Match Eight – Enjoying the sunshine and dry weather on Sunday, Dean Boyd got his game back and defeated Fred Buckman, who had a strong Saturday (2-1 VC). Team Mata –2/0

Match Nine – Vince Schlueter also made the most of the better Sunday golf weather putting on his game face to defeat a strong player in Carl Poposki. Team Mata –6/5

Match Ten – Will Jenkines was able to claim the title of “ King of Louisiana” by defeating his buddy, Brian Warburton. Will finished the VC weekend at 3-0. Team UpOne –5/3

*Match Five – Mid-afternoon during the Sunday Singles, Team UpOne needed a fifth point to win the VC after their strong play on Saturday. Mike Allcorn lost hole #15 to put his match at All Square against Captain Brian Cano. MikeA then played solid golf on the difficult #16 & #17 holes at WC to secure the first Validation Cup for Team UpOne—2/0 

Match Eleven –All four players were told on #16 that the VC had been “Unofficially won by Team UpOne”, but to keep playing their matches to avoid a disaster if any of the first ten matches were wrongly reported. On #16, the match stood even but Ismael Ortiz made John Stephens work to get his VC record to 3-0 to go undefeated for the weekend. John won the match 1-0

Match Twelve – Chance Young stood ‘three up’ on #16 over Glenn Staley. Being the crafty veteran, Glenn fully utilized his stokes on #17 & #18 to SQUARE the match against Chance who finished the VC weekend at 2-0-1 for Team UpOne. EVEN

Singles totals — Team Mata – 5.5  /  Team UpOne – 6.5 

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Final Totals for the May 2020 Validation Cup — 

Team UpOne 1-1-1 – (Captain Sult) – 14 points

Team Mata 1-1-1 – (Captain Cano) – 10 points

The first timers certainly put on a show in their VC debuts — Herb (3-0), Brad (2-1), JoeB (3-0), Brock (2-1), and Chance (2-0-1).

Once again, I really enjoyed working with both the captains over this last seven months. Frank and Oscar left big shoes to fill, but Bruce and Brian certainly stepped up very well. 

Dan Thorne also deserves kudos for his ten hours of hard work in looking for golf balls this weekend. Thank you, Dan.

No griping, no complaining, no disputes, and no fights at our VC which speaks volumes about the level of sportsmanship on display by all involved in the group. Thank you!!!!! 

Eric Chamberlain

Finally, our First winners – “Team Frank / Team Mata aka Team Dirt Naps”

Had 16 players for VC II (and again Buddy drove up from Austin to be the 16^th man just as he did for VC I) 

The alternate shot was only scheduled to be a nine-hole match. Had rain earlier in the week so we had to play the ball up.

Very Strong performance by Team Frank for a Seven Point Win. 

I have never seen Captain Frank Mata so “School Girl Giddy” on a Sunday afternoon! 

Four undefeated players in VC II Buddy, Doug, Glenn, & Jordan.  

No griping, no complaining, no disputes, and no fights which speaks volumes about the level of sportsmanship on display by all involved.

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Saturday Morning Best Ball 18 holes – Day One 

Match One – Glenn Staley/ Jordan Montague defeated Vince Iglesiaz / PH Ramirez 4&3 (Team Frank)

Jordan got off to a strong start and played well throughout the match.

Match Two – John Stephens / Will Jenkines ALL SQUARE Brian Warburton / Vince Schlueter

                         Best match of the morning, Vince S. birdied nine to go one up. John and Will took a one up lead on the back until BW won 16 and then VS holes an eight-footer for a sand save on 17 to keep the match ALL SQUARE for a half point.

Match Three — Doug Ward / Buddy Ackerman defeated Fred Buckman / Mike Allcorn 4&3 (Team Frank)

These two guys “ham and egged” it all match for a strong win in Match Three.

Match Four —  Brian Cano / Frank Mata defeated Oscar Diaz / Carl Poposki 2&1 (Team Frank)

                            Cano had a good morning leading to a solid win.

Morning Matches — Team Frank 3.5  /   Team Oscar .5

Saturday Afternoon Alternate Shot Nine Holes

Match One – Glenn / Jordan defeated Vince / PH 1&0 (Team Frank)

                         This match went all the way down to the last hole with lots of eyes from the group watching the last two holes. 

Glenn made a crucial six-foot putt on number eight to keep their one up lead.

Match Two – Brian W. / Vince S. defeated Stephens / Will J. 3&2 (Team Frank)

                         Brain W. & Vince S. got revenge for their morning match (which was halved) winning 3&2 in the afternoon Alternate Shot.   

Match Three – Doug / Buddy defeated Fred / Mike 4&3 (Team Frank)

                            Their strong play continued in the afternoon with their second point of the day. Buddy and Doug are undefeated in team matches.

Match Four — Oscar / Carl defeated Cano / Frank 4&2 (Team Oscar)

Team Oscar gets their first full point of the day as Carl & Oscar played well together for the win.

Total Points for Saturday Team Frank 6.5    /  Team Oscar  1.5

Sunday Morning Singles Matches 18 Holes

Needing a “Brookline Miracle Comeback” aka Ryder Cup 1999, Captain Oscar sent out two winners Sunday to grab early momentum. 

Team Oscar played very well over the first ten holes and if the competition had ended at #10, then the VC would have been at 8 to 8, a tie. 

But Team Frank started hitting fairways and greens making pars on the back nine to flip the VC.

Match One – Mike Allcorn defeated Brian Warburton 2&1 (Team Oscar)

Team Oscar got the first point of the day as Mike jumped out to an early four hole lead for the win.

Match Two — Carl Poposki defeated Brian Cano 2&0 (Team Oscar)

Running his overall VC record to 4-1, Carl won his match with solid play from the start to finish.

Match Three — Frank Mata defeated Oscar Diaz 4&3 (Team Frank)

In the battle of the Captains, Frank jumped out to a three hole lead dominating the third match.

Match Four – Vince Schlueter ALL SQUARE Fred Buckman 

The match of the day that deserved more attention, Fred jumped out to a quick four hole lead. Going into #14 Fred still held a four-up lead with five holes to go. Vince S. played great golf those last five holes at even par to make up the four hole deficit and even the match for a half point.

Match Five — Buddy Ackerman defeated John Stephens 3&1 (Team Frank)

In a match much closer than the final score, Buddy rallied on the back nine to become the first player to go undefeated in this VC and bring his VC Overall record to 4 -1.

Match Six — Jordan Montague ALL SQUARE Stephen “PH” Ramirez 

In another great match, Jordan and PH went back and forth all eighteen holes. Despite the tremendous match play pressure, both players shot 79 to finish all square after Team Frank had won the VC earlier on the course. Jordan finished this VC 2-0-1. (Overall – 3-0-2)

Match Seven – Glenn Staley defeated Will Jenkines 3&2 (Team Frank)

Despite finding himself two down to Will on the front nine, Glenn flipped the match on the back nine turning it on to win 3&2. Glenn finished this VC undefeated at 3&0.

Match Eight – Doug Ward defeated Vince Iglesiaz 3&2 (Team Frank)

The fourth undefeated Team Frank player, Doug was down two holes through nine holes. He then proceeded to win six of the next seven holes shooting one over par on those holes to finish the VC at 3-0. Doug is also 4-1 playing in five matches in the two VC to date.

Final Totals for the October 2019 Validation Cup — 

Team Frank 11.5

Team Oscar 4.5 

Validation Cup #1 / May 2019

History Lesson / Blast from the Past — the First VC which ended in a tie. 

Please note – the first VC only had a total of 12 players 

The first Captains were Oscar Diaz and Frank Mata.

The first VC did not have an alternate shot competition due to heavy rain. 

We had to play holes 1-12, then 1-6 again to finish 18 holes on Sunday.

The hero of this first VC was Brain Cano who mounted a huge comeback in the last singles match of the day.

Despite the weather raining out the Saturday afternoon alternate shot matches, it was a great Validation Cup weekend.

No griping, no complaining, no disputes, and no fights which speaks volumes about the level of sportsmanship on display by all involved.

The golf course staff went out of their way to accommodate us and helped make the event a success. Thanks to Matt Sipko and to Mark Stephenson at WC. We’re sure Mark enjoyed the six pitchers of beer, ten Coors Lites, and sixteen shots of tequila.

Saturday Best Ball

Match Two — Carl / Oscar defeated Frank / Brian 4&3 (Team Oscar)

Strong play by Oscar led to the win.

Match Three — Doug / Buddy defeated Stephens / Bruce 4&2 (Team Frank)

Strong play by Doug on the front and Buddy’s birdies on #14 & #15.

Match One — Jordan / Glenn TIED Vince / PH (Halved)

With Jordan’s birdie on #18, the match was halved with good play during the match from all four players. Best Match of Saturday!

Sunday Singles Matches

Match Two — John (9) vs. Doug (9) John Stephens wins the first point on Sunday with a 5&3 victory. (Team Oscar)

Match Six — Frank (9) vs Vince (6) Frank goes up early winning 4&3. (Team Frank)

Match One — Jordan (7) vs Bruce (12) The match went all the way to seventeen, Jordan wins 2&1 to go undefeated (1-0-1). (Team Frank)

Match Three — Carl (9) vs Buddy (9) Carl goes undefeated (2-0-0) winning a back-and-forth match 2&1.  (Team Oscar)

Match Four — Glenn (10) vs PH (10) PH took the early lead in the match winning 2&1 to go undefeated (1-0-1). (Team Oscar)

Match Five — Oscar (9) vs Brian (12) “The match of the day.” Brian goes up four. Oscar battles back to go up one with two to play. Brian wins the last two holes for Team Frank ending the Validation Cup in a tie. (Team Frank)

It was an ugly picture…..the two captains kissing each other instead of their sisters. 4 ½ to 4 ½ points for each VC team.

We are shooting for this coming October for VC II with the same awesome captains (Frank & Oscar) and as many players as we can possibly attract. 

Would like to have sixteen players instead of twelve this time.

Congratulations to all.

Eric Chamberlain