Thursday, August 5, 2004
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Dougherty & Ramil anchor winning foursome at Clark Brothers Invitational Llevano leads the
Blue Team to decisive victory in the Blue & Gold Cup |
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Every other year the bay area sees the return of the Clark Brothers golf tournament, an annual charity event pitting Northern California golfers against Southern California golfers. The tournament benefits the children of Greg and Charlie Clark (a worthwhile cause as anyone who knows these poor children’s fathers can attest). This year it was Southern California’s turn to make the journey north for the two-day event that began last Friday with the Blue & Gold Cup, a North vs. South match play event held at Aptos Seascape GC. On Saturday the beautiful Pasatiempo GC, an Alistair McKenzie designed course in Santa Cruz hosted the Clark Brothers Invitational, a scramble format that many consider to be the spiritual successor of the Crosby. Entering this years Blue & Gold tournament the standings were 4 – 4 putting a lot of pressure on each team’s captain to bring home the trophy and overall bragging rights. The contrast in styles between the Blue (North) and Gold (South) Captains was dramatic. Mike Mullarky, the Gold skipper e-mailed his players every day with golf tips and strategies for winning. He personally contacted each member of his team to be sure he would be at the tournament and ready to play. Lee Llevano, the leader of the North team took a different approach. "I take a more Zen approach to leadership", commented Llevano, "If a team never hears from their captain, does that mean he doesn’t care? No! It is an indication of his confidence they will win." While many at the tournament criticized this laissez-faire attitude and wondered what Llevano had done to earn a chance at placing his name on the coveted Blue & Gold trophy, his strategy obviously paid off as Blue trounced Gold 12 ½ to 5 ½. What Llevano lacked in cheerleading he more than made up for through example going 6 up after 6 holes and closing his opponent out shortly after the turn. Another standout for the blue team was Brian Dougherty who was just warming up for an incredible weekend closing out his opponent 4 & 3. Dougherty wasn’t even supposed to be at the Clark Brothers Invitational. A change in plans caused a family trip to be canceled and this mediocre golfer was scrambling just to get into the tournament. Just a week before the event, tournament co-chair Greg Clark told him not to get his hopes up, the slots were all filled. As luck would have it, a late scratch by Dr. Willie Ross created an unexpected opening just a week before the tournament and Dougherty replaced Ross on the foursome of Ramil, Omania, and Ruud. Dougherty’s good fortune was viewed differently by his teammates. "I was pissed." said Mike Ramil, "They take away our A player and give us a B/C player, I sponsored my nephew for the tournament because I thought we had a shot at winning, I was looking at a lot of money going down the drain." Ramil’s concerns were not unfounded. Ross, considered by many to be the greatest golfer never to have won the Clark Brothers plays to a 6 handicap while Dougherty plays to a 14.5, With Ross on the team the foursome was going into the match as the favorite, with Dougherty the team was not expected to make it onto the leader board. But, as Casey Stengel said, "That’s why we play the games, it ain’t over till its over." On the first hole, a mammoth 460 yard par 4, Omania crushed a 280 yard drive and then stroked an iron onto the green leaving the team with a 15 foot putt. Dougherty drained the putt for the team’s first birdie and all of a sudden the group started to believe. Dougherty made another 12 foot birdie putt on 13 and Ramil made two birdie putts including an incredible 13 foot sweeping downhill stroke that broke 4 feet before diving into the hole on the difficult par 3, 190 yard uphill 5th hole. Ramil’s flat stick was on fire all day as he repeatedly sank 6 to 8 foot putts to save par for the team. Omania, the team’s A player, didn’t have many opportunities to putt as Ramil, Dougherty, and Ruud typically made the putts before he got up to bat. Still he contributed 2 birdie putts including a 20 foot downhill bender from 4 feet off the green on the 17th to take the team to 6 under and a commanding lead in the tournament. In all the team had 7 birdies and only one bogey to win the tournament at 6 under with their closest opponent at 3 under. "It was a great day, a great team, a great golf course, and I was playing out of my mind!" said Dougherty," I think I am most proud of my 260 yard drive on the par 4 16th, the number one handicap hole. It was perfectly placed and then Eric Ruud nailed the approach shot to within 3 feet of a difficult pin placement. He tapped in for birdie and I knew we had it won." Somewhere Dr. Ross is crying in his beer. |
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