Dayton Takes Ryder Cup…Again

DAYTON - Dayton turned a one-match lead over Waitsburg on Friday into a rout by the end of Saturday and cruised to a 28 ½ to 23 ½ victory Sunday in claiming its third straight Ryder Cup championship.

The competition, in its third year of existence, mimics the format of the bi-annual competition be­tween professional golfers from Europe and the United States.

On Friday, the two valley rivals competed in two-per­son alternating shot matches. The two sides were knotted at four match wins apiece after the 2 p.m. matches. Dayton opened up a one- match lead 9-8 after the five-o'clock matches were played.

Saturday morning's com­petition featured two-man best ball matches, which Dayton won handily, 6 ½ to 3 ½. After this format, where each teammate plays his own ball, but the better score for each hole is recorded on the team scorecard, Dayton led 15 ½ to 11 ½.

Needing a good show­ing in the afternoon's two- man scramble to keep up, Waitsburg instead fell on its face. Dayton soundly beat its western neighbor six matches to two and opened up an almost insurmount­able eight-match lead, 21 ½ to 13 ½, with 17 matches remaining.

To pull off the comeback, Waitsburg needed to bag 13 of the 17 one-on-one Sunday match play matches. Waits­burg won the day, 10-7, but fell over all 28 ½ - 23 ½.

Among the competitors rolling off the course around noon Sunday, was Dayton football coach Dean Bick­elhaupt. Bickelhaupt lost his match on the final hole to Team Waitsburg player Dave Belcher-just missing a match-tying putt to the side.

"I'm tired today," said a clearly exhausted Bickel­haupt, hiding in the shade from the near 100-degree heat. "This is the first time I've played (in the Ryder Cup). I played every day. My team won the scramble. It was Scott Marinella and me against Gerald Mason and Pete Huwe. Today, Dave and I had a good match and he beat me by one, and Gene Crothers lost to Pete on the last hole too."

In the end, none of the competitors really cared. The weekend event was more about having a good time and raising money for junior golf in the Touchet Valley.

"Nobody was really keep­ing (the team) score in their heads," said competition organizer and Dayton team captain Kim Lyonnais. "It was just a match-to-match event."

"Before expenses we grossed about $2,200," Touchet Valley Golf Course Women's Club head Cherie Hinchliffe said. "Probably in the neighborhood of $1,500 after expenses. (That mon­ey) will run junior golf for a couple of years. It's one of our highest totals ever. The guys are very generous."

Besides food and conces­sions, the TVGC Women's Club sold raffle tickets for prizes including a night at Campbell's Resort on Lake Chelan, a gift certificate to Chief Spring's Fire and Iron Brew Pub, a print by artist Nick Page, and a 54-degree wedge golf club. Many play­ers simply donated money to the cause as well.

Terry Robbins took the Campbell's Resort prize; Eric Johnson won both the Chief Spring's Certificate and the Nick Page print; but as of Sunday at 1 p.m., no one had yet claimed the wedge.

All money raised from the event is dedicated to ju­nior golf, and is used to fund annual free golf lessons, buy or recondition clubs for youth, provide or discount junior memberships and fund travel to farther away tournaments for junior golf­ers.