On January 17th OCC club members Bill Austin, Joe Doviak, George Gill and Jan Mileskey ventured to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida to compete in the Cadillac Invitational National Finals on January 18th – January 21st. The captain & crew tournament was played on three different courses: the 7100 yard Sawgrass Country Club, the 7200 yard TPC Stadium course and the 6800 yard TPC Valley course. The tees on all of the courses were set to the back so the teams were playing the entire yardage listed. The pin placements were interesting to say the least. On the TPC Stadium course (home of the famed #17 island green hole) the pins were in the Sunday locations that the pros are faced with in the TPC Players Championship. Par 4’s measuring 450 – 480 yards were very common. Many of the par 3’s measured over 200 yards.
The Oswego CC team shot rounds of three-under par, even par, four-over par and even par in the tournament. Highlights included an eagle three on the 544 yard par 5 at Sawgrass Country Club and making a birdie on the #17 island green hole. Three out of four members of the team hit the green with their tee shots, but the other member of the team redeemed himself by making the birdie putt. Over the four days the team had one eagle, eleven birdies and no scores higher than a bogey, which was respectable for the way that the courses were set up and the weather conditions that prevailed. The team’s four-day total of one over par placed us in fifty-eighth position out of eighty-two teams.
Team members say that it was a tremendous, once in a lifetime, experience and would recommend that any golfer who has the opportunity to compete in such a tournament to definitely do so.