Well, the 2008 Amateurs was as historic as any. The House of Mojo, lead by Captain Jason Holbrooks, held on to defeat the Sons of Thunder and Captain John Bryson in a match that went down to the wire. In a format designed for absolute parity, the final scorecard showed that Mojo finished with 26 points out of 38, revised downward from 28 out of 40 in the middle of the weekend so that certain Mojoans could argue that they did not stack the teams in order to win money from their friends.

Many improvements were made to the format this year, most notably the addition of several prizes and party gifts from random retailers and ministries around Memphis that support any group of 16 men coming together to play golf for a weekend. Many thanks to Founding Father Chris Hill for leading the charges in getting free stuff and Founding Father Blake Bourland and participant Kennon Vaughan who contributed. Another marked improvement from previous years was the catered dinner on Friday night, which eliminated the 3 hour wait for an overcooked steak and cold baked potato. While the steakhouse may be reinstated in the future, catfish night proved to be a big hit. Not improved from last year was the weather, which could not have been worse. However, weather has never hindered an Amateurs competition before, and it could not prevent this from being the best Amateurs to date. Muscle Shoals turned out to be a great venue due to its proximity to Memphis, affordability and durability under exorbitantly high numbers of strokes taken in 3 days.

Tournament Recap:
Friday was a typical first day at the Amateurs as everyone woke up early and excited and headed to the course around 7am despite the fact that RTJ Muscle Shoals was dead center in the path of a terrible thunderstorm that promised a day of rain. After an extended check-in time at the clubhouse, the Amateurs got underway around 11am on Fighting Joe. The first round and a half were played in standard Friday weather of torrential rain, wind and temperatures below 60. But Amateurs don’t back down from a monsoon, especially one with only intermittent lightening. Mojo was clearly better prepared for the rain and won both round 1 matchups by a total of 17 strokes. These victories gave Mojo an 8 point lead that would ultimately prove insurmountable.

In an effort to take advantage of their advantage in inclement weather, Mojo pushed to play the front 9 of round 2 in among continuing scattered storms that resulted in minor flooding on the course. Round 2 was ultimately suspended due to darkness after squeezing in 9 holes, but Thunder had already gotten its revenge as Asa, the team mascot, had squeezed out a mess on Kennon’s pants. Both teams retreated to Doublehead Resort to dry out and enjoy a catfish supper at Butler Cabin while Kennon looked for some stain remover.

After a good night’s rest, the rain moved out and everyone felt revitalized for Saturday’s rounds. The morning round was back on Fighting Joe for the second round of 2 man best ball. It came down to the wire, but ultimately all four matches were split evenly. With the Tiger game starting in just a few hours, everyone hustled out to finish round 2 from Friday. Although the first 9 were played on the front 9 of Schoolmaster, scheduling conflicts forced the second 9 to be moved to the front 9 of Fighting Joe. Thunder was able to shut out the distraction and come back to split the round 2 matches despite being down after Friday’s first 9 holes. This left Thunder down 8 points with one round to go that was worth a total of 16 points.



Everyone put the competition aside on Saturday night to root for the Tigers except for Holbrooks and Beckman, who went head-to-head on the grill. After celebrating the Tigers victory over UCLA together, a heated debate broke out about whether Memphis could have handled Davidson in the tournament. Needless to say, the stage was set for an epic battle on Sunday.

Thunder knew that they had to leave it all on the course if they had any chance of overcoming the 6-point deficit (revised downward from 8 on Saturday in an unprecedented move by Amateurs captains) in one round of golf. But then again, comebacks and clutch performances are what the Amateurs is all about. In typical fashion, the course dried out the weather was perfect for the final round of 8 individual match play matches. Both teams played with heart and passion, creating golf shots that defied physics and often destroyed beautiful patches of fairway. But when it was all said and done, Thunder came up short winning only 2 matches on the final day.



The big winners on the weekend were Dallas who won Co-MVP honors, Dallas who won Low Net Total on the weekend and Dallas whose team took home the grand prize. Kennon also won Co-MVP with Blake taking the Low Net Round of the weekend. Jim won the dubious honor of High Net Total.

All great Amateurs involve controversy and this year was no different. Rookie Andy Beckman, veteran William Martin, Tony Wade and A Thompson were among those in the heat of it. Firsthand details were not available at press time of this summary, but are of course welcome to be submitted in the comments.

Thanks to everyone who made this year the most successful in Amateurs history - we were able to raise more money from charities and ministries than ever before. Preparations for 2009 have already begun. We hope you all can make it.

2008 Amateurs Summary of Scores
2008 Amateurs Photo Album

[Article submitted anonymously by 2008 Amateurs staff writer]