2005 Palmer Cup All Even After the Morning Fourball Matches

USA and Europe split the fourball matches.

Cal Smith

Haven, Wis. - Before anyone can even talk about the actual tournament, we need to first of all send some kudos Coach (of Indiana) Mike Mayer's way. Four total players (three American, one European) were at the U.S. Open qualifier out in Maryland on Monday. Three of those made it into a playoff that was on Tuesday morning. Because of the playoff and the hectic schedules, every single flight was missed by those players, leaving Coach Mayer in quite a little pickle. However he played GCAA chaperone and eventually got all the players up to Whistling Straits with a little help from Bass Travel. Thanks again Coach.

Now on to the good stuff… The first match of the day pitted Americans Spencer Levin ( New Mexico ) and John Holmes ( Kentucky ) against Europeans Rhys Davies ( East Tennessee State ) and Steve Tiley ( Georgia State ). Let me take a time out here to ramble about John Holmes' tee shots. They're ridiculous. I bet if you added up the yardage of all his tee shots from the last three days, it's farther than my truck can go on a full tank of gas. Case in point, I take you to the eighth hole. We're talking about a 555-yard, par 5 hole here. There is a hazard that goes across the middle of the fairway 320 yards from the tee. John rolled his tee shot to within five yards of that hazard….WITH A 3-WOOD. That's just not supposed to happen. Just to prove a point, someone had him hit from his knees during the Junior Clinic on Monday afternoon. He still put his ball 250 yards out into the range. The bombs he launches from between the markers allowed him to eagle two holes in the first round, including the aforementioned eighth.

Cal's (Un)official Shot of the Round comes from that same match. This prestigious award is only kept from national attention because I only got to see maybe half of the holes. Other than that….it's legit. Anyways, this morning's award goes to Spencer Levin. He decided to add a little drama to the sixth hole (par 3) by hitting his tee shot into a bunker behind the green. No big deal for Spence though as he visited the beach for only a very short time, knocking down a 25-foot bunker shot for birdie and a 3-up lead over his European opposition.

Jumping back once again to pre-tournament fun, European David Skinns came down with a nasty little number sometime yesterday before or during the College/Am and ended up having to be taken to the hospital by the Pin Placement Profit/acting resident ambulance driver Doug Martin. David got himself some antibiotics and was back at the hotel without too much delay. Apparently David is one tough cat. Not only did he come out and play this morning, but he shot a 29 on the front nine to lead he and partner Scott Jamieson to a first round victory. A 29!

The third match of the round brought quite an interesting match-up to the forefront. Now the Palmer Cup's winningest player, Alejandro Cañizares, was paired with fellow Spaniard and recent Phil Mickelson Award winner (Division I Freshman of the Year) Pablo Martin, against two of the guys that were at the U.S. Open qualifier, Jeff Overton and Michael Putnam. Jeff, Michael and Pablo were three of the four players that did not get to play in either practice round and were basically winging it as this was their first time on the course. In the end, Alejandro's experience won out as the Spaniards won five consecutive holes down the stretch, turning a two-hole deficit into a three-hole advantage. The Americans couldn't make up the deficit and ended up bowing out 2-and-1.

Cal 's (Un)official Match of the Round goes to the epic battle that was the last match of the round. Americans Ryan Blaum and Roberto Castro and Swedes Kalle Edberg and Alex Norèn went back and forth the entire match. Down the stretch on the back nine, the Europeans had a two-hole lead but the Americans came charging back to tie the match up on the 17th hole after a horrific half hour of monsoon conditions that left yours truly wet and very unhappy. After the delay, it all came down to the 18th hole, with Ryan and Roberto coming out as the victors, tying up the competition at 2-2 heading into the second round.

Another piece of equally amazing literary value will be available after the upcoming second round.