2009 proved to be another exciting year for the Amateurs due primarily to a great field of participants and perfect golf weather.  16 men took on the ultimate challenge of traveling to a small town in North Alabama to compete against each other and exercise their dominion over God's beautiful creation with little more than a bag of 14 clubs and a bunch of little white balls.

It all began at Broadway Pizza on April 9.  For the first time in Amateurs history, the teams were picked using a live draft format with captains Tony Wade and Preston Carpenter alternating picks.  Captain Carpenter took a unique approach of picking his team based on historical winning percentages while Captain Wade stuck to the more traditional plan of picking lower handicappers first.  Based on the draft results, Captain Wade's team chose the name Won at Broadway (WAB) while Captain Carpenter's team, known primarily for their creativity, chose to be called Carpenter's 8 (C8).



Everyone arrived at the Doublehead Resort on Thursday night, May 14th.  Captain Wade set the tone of the weekend early by going through his hour-long P90X routine on Thursday night as all 15 of the other competitors watched in amazement.  At one point, Vaughans tried to pick up on the workout routine, but he didn't last long and decided to call it a night after the wall-sit.

The competition began early on Friday morning with two 4-man best ball matches played on Fighting Joe. The Joe was in top condition and proved a formidable foe for the Amateurs as countless balls sailed into the waste-high grass never to be seen again. WAB won both of the 4-man matches to take home 4 points.

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Round 2 followed shortly thereafter and was also played on the Joe, but this time it was a 2-on-2 best ball competition.  WAB took 3 out of the 4 afternoon matches to take a commanding 10-2 lead into the clubhouse after day 1.  P90X paid off as Captain Wade shot 86-86 in his first 2 rounds.

After an exhausting day of hiking through the hyper-allergenic tall grass and trying to remember how many strokes they took in the sand, the Amateurs congregated at the world-famous Stanfield's Steak House which is best known for its variety of cuts of meat, all of which look and taste the exact same when served. 32 individual rounds of golf were recounted from various perspectives, and only one question remained at the end of the dinner:  what exactly was that gook in Vaughans's eye?  That question remained unanswered as all of the Amateurs headed back to Butler cabin to get rested for Saturday's matches...except for Captain Wade, of course, who completed yet another hour of his P90X routine.



C8 awoke Saturday morning with a renewed sense of purpose and ready to mount a comeback, but WAB had no intention of backing down.  Round 3 consisted of 4 more 2-man best ball matches, but this time the matches were played on the Schoolmaster.  The pressure was intensifying for C8.  At one point in the round, Andy Beckman was giving playing partner Jack Pierratt some pointers to which Jack solemnly responded, “Get out of the way of my backswing.”  The Schoolmaster affirmed the fact that C8 team members are more studious than they are athletic as they dropped 3 of the 4 matches and halved the 4th. Captain Wade's began to feel the effects of P90X as he fired a 98 on Saturday.  Day 3 ended with WAB up 17-3 overall, but C8 was still in the competition as Sunday's matches were worth a total of 16 points.



Through round 3, the 2009 Amateurs had been as competitive as ever, but before tempers got out of hand, everyone took a break for some friendlier forms of competition.  Six diehard golfers opted to play yet another round of golf despite the (relatively) light rain, while the remaining participants went back to Butler cabin to see who could knock down a pyramid of empty beer cans the quickest.  The empty beer cans apparently won, as the pyramid seemed to grow faster than anyone could knock it down.  Everyone reconvened Saturday evening to continue the Amateur tradition of a catered fried catfish dinner, complete with hushpuppies, french fries and banana pudding.



Sunday morning brought with it aching muscles and increased cholesterol levels.  Stamina was going to be a key to Sunday's matches, and P90X was no longer WAB's friend.  The weather Sunday was perfect for the final round of competition, which was played on the Schoolmaster.  C8 needed to win 7 matches and halve the 8th in order to tie the overall competition.  As the scores started to come in, it became clear that C8 had a chance to beat the odds and pull it out:

• Captain Wade continued his slide as he shot a final round 99 and lost to Captain Carpenter 2&1.
• Beckman fed off of Pierratt's fire from Saturday and halved his match with Bryson.
• In true DownLine style, Beckman passed the victory torch onto Vaughans who closed out struggling Founding Father Geer 4&2.
• While Marino wondered what happened to hsi glory days as Amateurs MVP, he still managed to maintain his pride by closing out Founding Father Bourland 4&2.
• Coming off of a career roudn on Saturday afternoon, Rookie Echols put up a good fight but ultimately fell to Pieratt 2&1.
• Holbrooks ran into a red-hot Walker, who found his swing on the back nine of the last round and closed out the match 3&2.

With 5 matches won and 1 halved, Captain Carpenter's draft strategy was beginning to make sense.  Rookie Byrd was locked in an intense battle with Matthews who is known for his killer instinct at the Amateurs.  The match came down to the final hole as they were AS after 17.  Rookie Byrd had a 3-foot putt to win the hole.  Byrd learned what the pressure of the Amateurs is all about as he missed the putt and Matthews won the hole.  It is not an easy place for rookies to win.



Ultimately, Byrd's putt was not a deciding factor as Founding Father Dorman continues is MVP-sytle play and eliminated Founding Father Hill 5&4 in one of the more talked about matches of the weekend.

While Sunday's performance raise C8's overall grade point average, WAB finished at the top of the class by securing 5 points and the overall victory.  The final score on the weekend was 22-14 as WAB took home the cup, proving once again that past performance is not indicative of future results.

The 2009 Amateurs lived up to all expectations.  Friendships were strengthened, rivalries were born, a lot of golf balls were hit and a lot of food was consumed.  And if you are like me and this recap leaves you hungry for just a little bit more, don't worry, the 2010 Amateurs is just around the corner...

Written By
Staff Writer Founding Father Dorman
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2009 Amateurs in Pictures
2008 Amateurs Recap
2007 Amateurs Recap