Sunday, November 3, 2024
***HICE SCORES BIG IN FINALE***
~CARMICHAEL, REIVIK WIN FINAL GAME ~WELCH WINS WC CHAMPIONSHIP
Week-36 of the 2024 STATracker season completed its final round of the year.
The 2024 STATracker season has drawn to a close. This 4th installment of these unique proceedings had yet again, many amazing twists and turns and wonderful achievements by the players. Many players turned in the best season of their ST careers in 2024. For BRUCE HICE, he turned in his best round of the year this past Wednesday, in the MGA individual playdate round which was the final contest of the season. While Hice did not win the game, his 46 point day catapulted him into a Wildcard spot and a trip to this coming Wednesday’s STATracker PLAYOFFS tourney. Hice hit the trifecta getting 2 birds, 2 holeouts and a sandy. The 2-time major winner makes the playoffs for the 4th year in a row. He ended up having his typical type of season and now a wary eye will have to kept on this wily veteran come playoffs day.
As mentioned, the final round of the season was an MGA individual playdate round. That meant that one more I-win was on the line. Two-time Harbour Cup winner STAN KOONCE, had 4 I-wins on the season coming into that last round. A win would mean tying the All-Time record of 5 I-wins for a season, which he achieved last year, and would mean snatching the Winners Circle Championship away from TIM WELCH. Koonce came up just short of that as he tied for 2nd place finishing 3 strokes off the winning score along with Tournaments champ DAVE FAHRMEIER. He and Fahrmeier will be in the featured group come Wednesday’s playoffs round. So as a result, it is TIM WELCH who wins the Winners Circle championship for the first time with a record-setting 25 points from getting 3 individual wins and 19 team wins on the season. Welch’s title was a nearly perfect wire-to-wire achievement as he led this competition for 35 of the 36 weeks in the season!
Speaking of that last MGA round on Wednesday, the eventual winners were MARK CARMICHAEL and BOB REIVIK. Both players are 3-time major winners and winning that last round was a great way for them to head into the playoffs round. Carmichael had a very steady year while Reivik slumped during the last 2 months of the season, but appears to have broken out of that.
In the case of Carmichael, he will be in that final featured foursome for the 4th year in a row. For Reivik, he finished ranked #5, his best ever, and that puts him in the next-to-last group.
Dave Fahrmeier had a double sandy round to finish out his record setting year.
Here are the playoff players who have accepted the invitation to the playoffs, after calculating for those who were eligible but would not be participating (in order of ranking)…
STAN KOONCE, DAVE FAHRMEIER, MARK CARMICHAEL, JOE PILLOW, BOB REIVIK,
JOHNNY HARRELL, FRANK AIUTO, BRIAN HARRINGTON, TIM WELCH, TOM CARUSO,
SEAN MULHALL, KEITH SWAN, WAYNE BEDENBAUGH, DAVID LANGE, BRIAN McDOWELL and JIM FURMAN.
Here are the “Wildcard” players (in order of ranking)…
ED EDMUNDSON, BRUCE HICE, DAVE SEYERLE and C.A. SMITH
Sunday, November 10, 2024
***WELCH WINS PLAYOFFS***
He just couldn’t let it go… he had to go and win one more for the road…
Of course we’re talking about this season’s Winners Circle champion TIM WELCH, who won his first career ST major by winning the final competition of the 2024 season. With that victory, Welch caps off a stellar year which saw him capture the Winners Circle championship in record setting fashion getting 3 individual wins and 19 team wins for a total of 25 WC points. He lead that competition for 35 weeks of the 36-week season.
Welch was in the first group out this past Wednesday in the playoffs round. He carded a net 40 on the front despite triple bogeying the challenging par-5 4th hole. He came right back on hole #5, the most difficult on the course, with a net par. But the lights really started to pop on the back 9 for the big guy from Maryland.
He began the back nine scoring three fives in a row which included a par on the par-5 12th. Then came 4 fours in a row on holes 13 through 16 and then finishing out with pars on the 17th and the 18th to score a net 33 on the back and a net 73 for the round. No one else in the field came close as runner-ups MARK CARMICHAEL and JIM FURMAN finished 3 back at 76. Below are the top ten finishers for these 2024 STATracker Playoffs.
And how did the “Featured Foursome” do??... that’s the top 4 ranked players for this season…
As mentioned, Carmichael tied for 2nd 3 strokes off the lead. STAN KOONCE, this year’s Harbour Cup champ for the 2nd year in a row, finished in a 4-way tie for 3rd place, 4 strokes back at 77.
Number 4 ranked JOE PILLOW finished in 13th place while #2 ranked Tournaments champion DAVE FAHRMEIER finished in 16th place. In the case of Fahrmeier, a tough start on the front 9 made the going difficult even after a solid back 9.
The surprise of the playoffs besides the victory by Welch was the second place finish of former Masters champ Jim Furman. The big guy from Michigan has struggled since knee surgery at the end of the 2023 season. Furman just edged into a playoff spot when he got some badly needed points in the last couple of weeks of the season. He played a solid round tying for second place.
Here are the top ten 2024 ST-Playoffs finishers…
1- TIM WELCH 73… Champion
2- MARK CARMICHAEL 76
JIM FURMAN 76
4- STAN KOONCE 77
FRANK AIUTO 77
WAYNE BEDENBAUGH 77
BRUCE HICE 77
8- JOHNNY HARRELL 78
BRIAN HARRINGTON 78
DAVE LANGE 78
ENJOY THE OFFSEASON… Winter Meetings in February/2025
STATracker-V… OPENING DAY 2025… Monday, March 3, 2025
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