what a memorable afternoon it was, april 26th, we were told it was going to be a day of thunderstorms and rain, but the golf gods offered a break in that bad weather for the Bernardsville Country Club's 12th annual April Fool's Open. saturday was a little cooler than it had been and the gusting winds were swirling around the eight hoops of the BCC course, making for challenging conditions. we do apologize to all the members who could not make this "short notice grapevine invitational", we must say that although we had a good turnout, it's not something we will be doing again soon. but for those who were there, what a peach! a great golf tournament!
(above: tony on the 1st tee. below: the BCC half-way house.)
the members gathered round in a circle and a tee was spun and tossed to decide the groupings for the eight clockwise hoops of the 1st round qualifier. 2 points for the win, 1 for the tie, first one in the hoop decides. the 1st group saw randy's 12 points dropping some jaws, not to mention jef d. and hunter's. in the 2nd group, tony d., 9 points and derek, 7, pushed an ailing past champ mike r. to only 1 point and an eventual retirement from the tournament. he then did a wonderful job taking over the BCC Bar-B-Q, and we all thank him for that. the 3rd group pitted the reigning champ, winner of last year's Tick Open and holder of the silver BCC Cup, capt. billy jo auld of the Steeple View Country Club against the BCC groundskeeper, johnny Z and pete "the eagle" johnson. "the man came to defend his title" was heard as they watched billy jo lead the group with 9 points while making the groundskeeper struggle for 5.(below: derek wins the Octopine Trophy, 6'7" from the pin at #5)
the BCC tried a new 2nd round qualifier seeding, suggested by mike r. for more cinderella story chances, high seeds play high and low play low. all in favor? aye! so the first group, the leaders, watched randy, who amassed 12 points in the 1st round, only buy a bagel in the 2nd, while billy jo and tony d. gained 9 and 7 points respectively. the 2nd group saw a battle that has been repeated more than once before, this time with the BCC groundskeeper scrambling for 9 points and derek from the SVCC also securing his spot in the final with 7 more points, they were joined by jef, along for the ride and 3 points. in the last group, "Z" and the "eagle" made a valiant effort but came up just a few points short of a cinderella shootout.
(above: jef checks the scores. below: the final five & wolfie.) 
the final: billy jo SVCC, 18 points - tony d. SVCC, 16 - groundskeeper BCC, 14 - derek SVCC, 14 - randy BCC, 12. the champ, billy jo was playing solidly, as was tony d., but could he overcome his usual final round difficulties? was the groundskeeper too high? or was it derek's day? would randy wake-up? at the #1 O.K.Corral (95yds), the groundskeeper was the only one on the green, but only made a par and shared points with derek. at #2 One Bad Apple (127yds), billy jo made a beautiful pitch of some 30 yards onto the green and into the hoop for a birdie! amazing! and then at #3 Sight Unseen (113yds), everybody missed their par chips except the champ, that's 2 more points, wow! that's a lead. at #4 Octopine (103yds), the no.1 handicapped hoop, "got the best of must of us." and made the groundskeeper pull a rabbit out of his hat, making a par save from the branches of the Octopine after hitting directly into it!!!
at the the turn, billy jo 4, G and derek 2 and tony d. 1. after some good tee shots were taken at #5 Octopine's Revenge (83yds), a few birdie attempts were made but missed, the closest being the groundskeeper's 8 footer, that went through the hoop stopping only inches past, 1 point for all except tony d.. at #6 Pine's Gauntlet (109yds), tony d. hit the only nice shot, but could not take advantage, missing the birdie, and sharing points with derek when the groundskeeper missed his par chip through the hoop, by inches.
at the difficult #7 Big Roundup (129yds), pars were hard earned and points easily lost. but as they headed to #8 Barn's Window (111yds), billy jo and derek with 5 along with tony d. and G with 3, all had a chance! the groundskeeper had his opportunities on this day and on the final tee box, in this final round, he gave himself another one, a sweet eight iron, just five feet above the pin, and although his birdie chance rolled right through the hoop, again stopping inches outside, he said, "oh well", he knew this was a great golf tournament, a great day and a great repeat champion, telling him so even before it was over, but billy jo made the correction, and better still, made the 5 footer he needed to make for par, and for the title, only the second person in BCC history to defend the silver BCC Cup, 
your April Fool's Open champion of 2008, billy jo auld. congratulations to all...
