For those who were wondering what happened at last week’s Bolt Action Challenge, here’s a quick recap.
Following a theme that has been set for the last few tournaments, three players showed up to vie for the Bolt Action Challenge championship.
Ash, binkdog and MacTHW would assemble to play four great rounds at East Lake GC.
MacTHW would score a 75, a win for round one, putting him two strokes up over second place Ash and four strokes over binkdog. Round two would see two records being set for the course at East Lake. MacTHW would set a record low front nine with a 31 and binkdog would set a course overall record with a 68, putting him in the overall lead. MacTHW puts up a 72 and Ash an 81. Round three would see both Ash and MacTHW falter, while binkdog easily strolls in for the win with a 73. MacTHW barely beats out Ash for second, scoring an 84 to Ash’s 85. binkdog appears to be running away with the championship so Ash and MacTHW will have step it up or lose out. MacTHW trips up early, but Ash turns in a 36 at the turn, three ahead of binkdog. Ash keeps pace on the back nine and wins the round with a 75. binkdog is two strokes behind with a 77 and MacTHW limps home with an 83.
Birdies, bogies, binks, knibs and the classic bindog choke. What do all these have in common? They are all part of your THW Golf headlines, which cover this weekend’s closely contested S-Mart Classic tournament at Cog Hill.
With Jared detained at his job, virg still out on medical leave and ze5 holed up in his basement perfecting his swing robot, only three players took part in this weekend’s tournament. Still, the play was stellar and the scores close.
A pair of birdies by binkdog and MacTHW started off the first round, although, it wasn’t long until the squares dominated the scoreboard. MacTHW got stuck in a 5 bogey rut, starting at the 4th, racking up triple and quad type bogies. Ash and binkdog both manage to escape the front nine with a 41 and MacTHW trailing behind with a 47. Ash signals he’s ready for a charge on the 10th as he offers up a birdie to bink’s par and MacTHW’s bogey. MacTHW answers on the 11th with his own birdie. Meanwhile, binkdog holds steady with par along the back nine, only breaking his six par streak with a birdie on the 16th. binkdog’s steadfastness would win him the round with a 5 over par 76, followed by Ash at 80 and MacTHW 83.
Round two finds the players trying to maintain par. MacTHW finds a birdie on the 4th, while binkdog and Ash run into double and triple bogey trouble along the front nine. Ash stops to build a snowman on the 9th, putting him at 10 over for the front nine. binkdog hangs in at 5 over for a 40 and MacTHW finishes the front nine at even par. binkdog looks to make a comeback with a birdie on the 10th, which MacTHW answers on the 11th. Ash finds himself mired in 4 bogey streak, starting on the 13th. No snowmen were seen, but Elway was spotted twice. binkdog trips up on the 14th par 3, carding a 6 for triple-bogey. MacTHW trundles on and finished out the round with a personal best of 69. binkdog follow with a 78 and Ash falls back in the standings with an 89.
Coming off a great victory on the second round, MacTHW is brought back to Earth with a double-bogey on the first hole of round 3. Ash and binkdog hold steady with pars. binkdog capitalizes on Ash and MacTHW’s double-bogey misfortune on the par three 6th and picks up three strokes with a well played birdie putt. MacTHW then gets back two from Ash and binkdog, as they double-bogey the 9th. At the turn, binkdog leads with a 35, MacTHW 39 and Ash 40. The back nine would see the players looking to hold steady. The only birdies were on the 15th, where all three players would sink their birdie putts. If there was any hope of bringing gown binkdog, Ash and MacTHW gave it away on the 17th, with Ash scoring bogey and MacTHW a triple. binkdog takes the round with a 71. Ash follows close behind with a 77 and MacTHW brings home an 80.
Round 4 would find the People’s Champ down seven strokes to the Planetary Champ. Ash, down approximately 20 strokes would need to throw down some Eagle streaks to regain the lead. MacTHW starts off with birdie, which binkdog answers on the 2nd and Ash answers on the 3rd. The play would remain intense as all players stayed within a few strokes of one another. MacTHW is unsuccessful in his quest to pick up seven strokes from the binkdog, but makes a statement with an EAGLE on the 9th, hole-ing out from 147 yards out! Ash leads at the turn with a 34, binkdog one stroke behind with a 35 and MacTHW back in the game with a 36. MacTHW would hold steady along the back nine while Ash veers off course with a 4 bogey streak starting on the 11th. Meanwhile, binkdog starts leaking bogies, handing back some much needed strokes to MacTHW. The battle between binkdog and MacTHW seemed over at the 18th. binkdog leads by 5 strokes. MacTHW chips away at that lead by kicking in his birdie putt, putting pressure on the binkdog.
An this, folks, is where the classic binkdog choke rears it’s ugly head.
Obviously feeling the pressure, binkdog puts one in the drink. After the ‘dog shakes off the water, he lands one short of the green. The next shot puts him above the hole, which has a decent downward slope. binkdog then shows us another classic move, by binking the ball waaaaay across the green. Three putts later bink would finally sink his putt, resulting in a snowman on binkdog’s card. MacTHW finished 7 strokes ahead of binkdog, with a 70. Ash comes in second with a 75.
binkdog’s snowman would put his championship in jeopardy as it would set up a tie between himself and MacTHW.
For the first time in THW Golf tournament history, there would be a three-hole playoff to decide the victor.
MacTHW stumbles immediately, giving up a bogey to binkdog’s par on the 1st. Same story on the 2nd. binkdog now up by two strokes. MacTHW birdies the 3rd, hoping the binkdog choke would save him again. But it was not to be. binkdog pars the 3rd, winning the playoff, snatching victory from the clutches of MacTHW and putting binkdog’s stamp of authority on the 1st annual S-Mart Classic!
And for those who are still hanging there reading the headlines, we have a bonus for you. Since binkdog has been gracious enough to broadcast our games live on http://www.livestream.com, we have built up a game library.
If you would like to watch the S-Mart Classic tournament in it’s entirety, you can watch it here:
THW Golf is a private online golf league that plays Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the Wii. Membership is not open to the public and one must be invited by a current member in order to join. THW Golf was formed during the Tiger Woods 2010 season and provides for a family-friendly environment where known friends can get together and compete in challenging and cheat-free golf sessions. We think that not opening ourselves to the trolls and cheaters and hackers of the greater World Wide Web is key to maintaining that environment.
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