pro golf   

Updated Nov. 23, 2012

2012 WBC Report   

 2013 Status: pending December 2012 Membership Trial Vote

John Coussis, IL

2012 Champion

   

Event History
1994    Dave Walrath      29
1995    Bruce Reiff      45
1996    Tom Pavy      43
1997    Dave Metzger      65
1998    Kevin Wojtaszczyk      61
1999    John Coussis     71
2000    Adam Gugliemini     74
2001    Dennis Nicholson     76
2002    Terry Coleman     86
2003    Ken Gutermuth     80
2004    Devin Flawd     75
2005    Nathaniel Hoam     54
2006    Bruce Reiff     67
2007    Keith Hunsinger     62
2008    Brian Farrelly     67
2009    Eric Brosius     58
2010    Brooks Beyma     63
2011    Daniel Pappas     63
2012    John Coussis     71

PBeM Event History
2010    Lisa Gutermuth     34
2011    Dennis Nicholson     41
2012   Mark Yoshikawa      44

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  John Coussis       IL    12     92
  2.  Ken Gutermuth      TX    11     74
  3.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    11     52
  4.  Mark Yoshikawa     CA    12     48
  5.  Devin Flawd        PA    04     34
  6.  Bruce Reiff        OH    11     32
  7.  Keith Hunsinger    OH    08     26
  8.  Lisa Gutermuth     NC    10     22
  9.  Daniel Pappas      MD    11     20
 10.  Brooks Beyma       MD    10     20
 11.  Eric Brosius       MA    09     20
 12.  Brian Farrelly     IL    08     20
 13.  Nate Hoam          OH    05     20
 14.  Terry Coleman      bc    02     20
 15.  Adam Gugliemini    PA    00     20
 16.  Bob Tassinari      NY    12     18
 17.  Jason Levine       NY    12     18
 18.  Chris Kamm         NY    04     18
 19.  Paul Risner        FL    11     16
 20.  Debbie Gutermuth   NC    11     14
 21.  Robert Drozd       IL    10     14
 22.  Danny Lewis        DE    11     12
 23.  Jim Bell           MD    10     12
 24.  Rod Weaver         PA    08     12
 25.  Erica Kirchner     KY    07     12
 26.  John Shaheen       MA    06     12
 27.  Dan Dolan Jr       NJ    05     12
 28.  David Metzger      NY    03     12
 29.  Jeff Mullet        OH    12     10
 30.  Josh Githens       SC    10     10
 31.  Seth Kirchner      KY    03     10
 32.  Jason Porta        PA    12      9
 33.  Bruce Maxwell      VA    04      9
 34.  Mark Mtchell       VA    12      8
 35.  Bruce Young        SC    11      8
 36.  Mike Pacheco       CA    11      8
 37.  Mark Neale         RI    09      8
 38.  Beth Zhao          DC    07      8
 39.  Davyd Field        CA    06      8
 40.  George Sauer       OH    03      8
 41.  Robert Eastman     NV    02      8
 42.  H Richardson III   VA    01      8
 43.  Bill Beckman       SC    00      8
 44.  Harry Flawd        PA    99      8
 45.  Chris Kizer        CA    12      6
 46.  Sean McCulloch     OH    10      6
 47.  Nicole Reiff       OH    10      6
 48.  Bernard Beckerman  NY    09      6
 49.  Richard Meyer      MA    09      6
 50.  Carrie Lewis       DE    07      6
 51.  Charles Squibb     PA    05      6
 52.  Lee Presser        NY    03      6
 53.  Paul Bean          MA    11      4
 54.  Robert Kircher     RI    11      4
 55.  David Stiffler     VA    10      4
 56.  Charles Drozd      IL    08      4
 57.  Kevin Brown        GA    06      4
 58.  Scott Buckwalter   MD    12      3
 59.  Ann Cornett        FL    04      3
 60.  Bruce Monnin       OH    12      2
 61.  Bill Morse         VA    11      2
 62.  Mike Coomes        OH    10      2
 63.  Nick Kramer        PA    08      2
 64.  Arthur Davis       MI    02      2
 65.  Vincent Collura    PA    99      2

2012 Laurelists                                                 Repeating Laurelists: 0

Bob Tassinari, NY
2nd

Mark Yoshikawa, CA
3rd

Jason Porta, PA
4th

Jason Levine, NY
5th

Scott Buckwalter, MD
6th

Past Winners

Dave Walrath, MA
1994

Bruce Reiff, OH
1995, 2006

Tom Pavy, OH
1996

Dave Metzger, VA
1997

Kevin Wojtaszczyk, NY
1998

John Coussis. IL
1999, 2012

Adam Gugliemini, PA
2000

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2001

Terry Coleman, BC
2002

Ken Gutermuth, TX
2003

Devin Flawd, PA
2004

Nate Hoam, OH
2005

Keith Hunsinger, OH
2007

Brian Farrelly, IL
2008

Eric Brosius, CT
2009

Brooks Beyma, MD
2010

Daniel Pappas, MD
2011
     

The snake oil salesman ... er GM, Bruce Monnin and his lovely assistant Lisa Gutermuth start the proceedings with the presentation of the recent PBeM champ.

And the wearing of the green horse blanket - er jacket, goes to everyone's favorite referee Mark Yoshikawa. Slight alterations may prove necessary.

After seeing what passes for strategy in Pro Golf, Tom Browne needs to explain to the Finns why they should not cancel their plane tickets for next year.

The lucky final foursome for the skins game ... what's this? Two in a row for Yoshi? Could it be? Must be the jacket. But Coussis really needs to cover up that shirt.

The Lottery Pick 4 ...

The Lucky 16th gets Coussis his Second ...

Pro Golf tends to show a remarkable stability in its entrants, but the increase to 71 participants teeing off from the Hopewell room this year was the greatest number of duffers-with-dice since 2004. Once again, we were able to keep the Final Four Skins game free of members of the BPA Board of Directors, though Bruce Reiff had looked to be in before a double bogey on his final hole of the 2002 version of the Augusta course. No doubt, Bruce was at that moment hoping the rumors of a switch to the Pebble Beach course next year were true.

The event was preceded by the awarding of the champions plaque and the initial BPA Pro Golf PBeM green jacket to the winner of the 2012 email tournament, Mark Yoshikawa, by the first PBeM champion, Lisa Gutermuth. While official records are unavailable, it is believed that Mr.Yoshikawa held at least a tie for the record for most years of Avaloncon/BPA membership without winning an event. And he blew it all on Pro Golf.

For the third consecutive year, no playoff was needed to select our four duffers for the Skins game. Bob Tassinari and John Coussis led the field at six under par after the 75 minute opening round was completed. The duo of Mark Yoshikawa and Jason Porta were right behind at 5 under par. Could it be that Yoshi was taking a liking to this thing called "winning"?.

Bob Tassinari (with his golfer Tim Clark) set the early pace, with two birdies and five pars on the first seven holes. However, he was unable to manage the sole low score on any of those holes, so all seven Skins were carried over, meaning the first player to successfully score a Skin would be the 2012 champion.

Jason Porta (using Stewart Cink) birdied the eighth hole, but the last golfer, John Coussis (using Boo Weekly) also rolled in a crucial birdie putt to halve the hole and keep the tournament alive. The ninth through twelfth holes were uneventful, making this the first time no Skins were earned on the initial 12 holes. All four players then made par on the 13th hole and birdied the 14th hole.

The tension built for the 15th. Mark Yoshikawa (using Jonathan Kaye) became relevant for the first time as he rolled in a long birdie putt. Mark responded by jumping up and down in celebration while hugging his caddie, Dennis Nicholson (a brutal sight at one o'clock in the morning). However, Jason Porta also made a long birdie putt, and the audience responded with relief that there would not be a sweeping of both Pro Golf championships for the year.

Just as all wondered if the round would ever end, Bob, Mark and Jason all completed a par of the short 16th. The last player, John Coussis, placed his iron shot on the green, then made a long birdie putt to mercifully end the tournament and claim his second Pro Golf title -- only 13 years after his first.

With no remaining plaques and the hour becoming late, the remaining three players rolled off for the next three positions. Bob Tassinari emerged on top for second place, with Mark Yoshikawa in third and Jason Porta in fourth.

Be sure to join the fun again in 2013, and maybe even get in a little practice in the 2013 Fourth Annual PBeM tournament that should start sometime this spring (right before the Masters). Also, look for the event to move next year to the Pebble Beach course with the Skins game occurring at Augusta National.


 PBeM Tournament:

A record field of 44 players contested the third annual BPA Pro Golf PBeM tournament over the course of 95 games. All players first competed on the Lancaster Host course. The top two-thirds of the field survived the cut and moved on to contest the always difficult Muirfield Village course. The top one-third of the original field then advanced to contest the Arrowhead Park local public course. The best cumulative score of the three rounds won the title.

Mark Yoshikawa shocked the rest of the field when he captained his golfer, John Daly, to a 9 under par 62 on the Lancaster Host course. That gave him a four stroke lead over Chris Kizer, whose golfer was Bruce Lietzke. What made Yoshikawa's round more shocking was that the other four players who had John Daly as their golfer averaged a score of 73.5 for the round.

John Coussis (with golfer Lee Trevino) posted a best score in the second round of six under par on the Muirfield Village course, which put him in a second place tie with Mark Mitchell (and Shigeki Maruyama). However, both were six strokes behind Yoshikawa, who posted a four under par 68 on the course.

Twenty players were left to move onto the third course, Arrowhead Park. Jeff Mullet (with Bruce Lietzke) posted the best score on the course at ten strokes under par, but his combined score of eleven under par was only good enough for fifth place.

Chris Kizer also ended play at eleven under par, earning fourth place. Mark Mitchell finished in third place at 12 under par, and John Coussis tried to keep things interesting with a second place finish at 13 under par.

But nothing could stop the mighty Yoshikawa. His digital dice cooled a bit, and he only finished five under par at Arrowhead Park, the eighth best result of the field. But his nearly insurmountable lead coming into the round was good enough to leave him with a five stroke cushion over the stunned field, an 18 strokes under par effort for the tournament. It was a surprisingly easy victory for a BPA member winning his first event after 18 years of Avaloncon/BPA participation.

The tournament will be restarted in March 2013. Come join us next year as we use the time of the Masters and the U.S. Open to determine another PBeM champion of the BPA Pro Golf world.

1st ­ Mark Yoshikawa
2nd ­ John Coussis
3rd ­ Mark Mitchell
4th ­ Chris Kizer
5th ­ Jeff Mullet
6th ­ Bruce Monnin

 GM      Bruce Monnin [9th Year]  177 South Lincoln St, Minster, OH 45865-1240 
    bdmonnin@nktelco.net   419-628-3332

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