Cougle Repeats as Chapter Champ

The day was kicked off with Bill Wyatt’s rendition of the National Anthem as he would take the advantage of the Red Key to move up even closer than the senior tees that he had been accustomed to. He even dressed the part with the stars and stripes across his shoulders.

The day started with George Cunningham and a healthy 67 cent lead on the chapter money list over last year’s winner Matt Cougle and after the front 9, George looked to be in the driver’s seat for his first league championship of his career.

Buuuuuuuuut we play 18 holes in golf and the back 9 would be George’s demise. When Matt Cougle was asked what he was thinking starting that back nine, “well George and I were matching each other pretty much all day and I knew he had penalty strokes, so I was just trying to keep it close. Then he started dropping strokes left and right as his 7, 10, 8 scores had me chuckling to myself as I walked away listening to him complaining and knowing I just gained 10 strokes on him haha.”

Cougle managed to shoot a consistent 45, 44 which at the time he hoped would be good enough to be close to the top for the event. However, he met his ultimate goal of repeating as Chapter Money list winner with that score and George falling apart on the back 9. “The cherry on top was watching George tap in for a 9 on the final hole, ummm that was 4 worse than me on that hole, I think he found an update to his most mediocre moment for next year.”

The day was not over for Cougle as he found himself in a tie with Gross Award winner and member of Baltimore’s 5 timers club Bernard Settle. Chapter leader Noah Kiehle went to set up the longest putt off he could make on the practice green with the official Baltimore MGA putt off putter in hand. When asked how he felt going to the putt off Cougle said “oh I was ready, I lost a putt off earlier this year and have been looking forward to getting my hands back on that putter again. I just felt comfortable looking down at my ball lining up my putt. To be honest I took a few extra seconds staring at the alignment with the clubhead on the ball to mentally take in that sight.” Cougle would not be denied as his approach shot looked like something from the tee box as he swung as hard as he could to get the ball close enough. 3 putts later, the Championship would be his for his second career Big Check.

After the putt off Bernard was asked what he was thinking, and his response was clear “I’m happy for Matt, he has been a long time MGAer and if I couldn’t win, I am glad it was him. I still had a great day with probably the best foursome I could have been with. Noah, Will, and Jeff are great fun, and we had a blast.”

Ryan Reese went Long from the Blacks, Stacy ‘BamBam’ Malloy went Close, Derek Patro was most Mediocre, and Anthony Young’s 118 would be good enough for the Red Key. Chuck Wentz won the money hole but did not want to wind up in the hole, so he donated it to the guys who went out to Hysteria after the round.

George Cunningham’s epic melt down on the back nine and complete embarrassment had him realizing he is nothing without his 3 wood which he accidentally on purpose lost the first time here in the tall weeds of the 12th hole. Being the longest hitter in the Chapter means nothing when you are melting down by 12 strokes. Yes, you read that correctly, 12 strokes from front to back. Not to worry as he was not alone as Jimmy Wyatt also found himself with an impressive 12 stoke differential from front to back. This also marks the biggest meltdown of the season here in Baltimore as 12, yes 12 strokes got this reporter interested in a future dive into the archives to see how epic this meltdown was in comparison to those past meltdowns.

This concludes the 13th year of Mediocre golf here in Baltimore and the first under Chapter Leader Noah Kiehle’s command. When asked for comment, former Chapter Leader Garland Griswold left us by saying “the chapter is in good hands, and I got a feeling next year we will be ready for Vegas, and I expect big things from this chapter at Worlds in 2024!”