July 2009

VOL XIII No. 1

27th ANNUAL SHUG FISHER MEMORIAL CLASSIC

On June 11th at Buenaventura G.C. the predicted June gloom

Mr. Sabbe

never materialized. Instead a mild and sunny day greeted our dedicated field of 32 players gathered to honor the tradition of this Annual Classic for the 27th consecutive year. A cacophony of on-course heroics followed by a sumptuous buffet, along with the excitement of our Annual Awards and then our raucous Raffle give-aways, made for another memorable event in the on-going history of the Thursday Golf Group. The day's individual results were highlighted by Jim Sabbe's 74 Super Low Gross win, a slim one-shot victory over the 75 posted by our newest member, Les Kovacs. The hearty wager pots boosted Jim Jacobs' top dollar take to $110 after he notched a Porter Low Gross win, then placed in Low Net & Low Putts, plus a solo $50 blind-drawn birdie on Hole #2. The remaining three $50 birdie awards went to John Moskoff's solo deuce on the designated Hole #5, Ron Troncatty's solo trey on Hole #3, and a blind-draw on the Par 5, Hole #4 shared by Ken Zeiger and guest player Greg Itzen. In the Low Putts competition Jim Dodds helped himself to 46 big ones with a 28-putt winning total augmented by also placing in Porter Gross & Low Net.

Mr. Simon

The Low Net honors with matching 66's were shared by the two Dicks, Harwood and Raguse. Finally our Par 3 special once-a-year "Closest-to-the-Pin" payouts of $20 apiece went to Sam Strangis, Jim Jacobs, Mark Kourtjian, Les Kovacs,& "Cat" Ballou in that order. Master of Ceremonies Jim Raymond opened the ceremonies with our traditional toast To Absent Friends and then introduced our esteemed guests, Judy Belson, Joanne Dodds, former members Al Giordano, who flew in from NYC to attend, and Karl Grey, who motored down from San Fran to serve as Official Photographer. A non-playing Michael Rhodes, still on the IR list after shoulder surgery, also joined the festivities expecting to return to the Tour in the near future. As always a highlight of this affair is the presentation of the Don Porter Trophy for "GOLFER OF THE YEAR". The honor this season went to the well deserving Mr. Bruce Simon who was otherwise engaged this day with his Assistant Directing duties on a feature film in nearby Ojai. For those non-attendees, the Annual Award Trophies & Gift Certificates for Most Wins in the various weekly wager categories went as follows:

SUPER LOW GROSS 1st Dan Chambers 2nd Gordon Crook	PORTER LOW GROSS 1st Jim Jacobs 2nd Bob Stone
LOW NET 1st Bruce Simon 2nd Jim Jacobs	THE EDDIE FIRESTONE PUTTING TROPHY 1st Jim Jacobs 2nd Gordon Crook

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AND THE WINNERS WERE
OLIVAS LINKS G.C.- 6/04/09:

Mr. Whorton

This outing proved to be the swan song for our appearances at the Olivas venue. A succession of exceedingly low turnouts coupled with the on-going lack of on-site amenities has led to the replacement of the remaining two 2009 events at Olivas Links, Aug. 13 and Dec. 10, with far better attended courses like Camarillo Springs and Los Robles Greens on those dates. Rich Whorton and Jim Sabbe took the measure and main monies from the meager 15-player field. Mr. Whorton's 78 Gross score easily claimed FIRSTS in Porter Gross, Low Net, and Partners whilst his share of TWO separate birdie pots boosted his top dollar amount to a sizable $61. Meanwhile Mr. Sabbe's 1+1/2 birdie awards and a Low Putts win pumped his purse up by $58. Low round of the day was Gordon Crook's fine 77 Gross that unfortunately brought him only 14 bucks. Another six anonymous players shared in whatever dribbled out of the remaining wimpy wager pots.SANTA ANITA G.C.-6/18/09: On the week following our big annual bash this well-groomed old-school course in Arcadia attracted a sparse 17-player field. The day's two best scores appropriately garnered the big bucks. Money leader at $42 was Jim Sabbe with a Low Gross winning 73 shot total that included a solo blind-drawn birdie payout. Just a shot behind came Dan Chambers' 74 good for a $34 take-home, likewise with a solo "designated" tweeter. The remaining "designated" reward of $30 was snared by Ted Winship with a daring deuce on the tough 15th Hole guarded by that huge yawning bunker directly in front of the green. The Porter Low Gross competition provided an interesting tie between Bob Stone and Rich Whorton at 80 pops apiece. A nice surprise in the Low Putts category featured Mark Kourtjian collecting $20 for a 28-Putt effort. CAMARILLO SPRINGS G.C.-6/25/09: The course played "heavy" due to well-watered thick grass throughout and verticut greens so the scoring responded accordingly from our modest field of 19 players. The solo sub-80 round of the day, a 78, was posted by Jim Sabbe and that earned him on a paltry $10 in birdie-less reward monies. Despite scoring on the far side of that 80 mark Gordon Crook nevertheless still glommed onto TWO solo blind-drawn birdies that added up to a huge $64 and #1 on the money list. The remaining tweeter on "designated" Hole #8 was orchestrated by Fred Murphy who parlayed that and places in both Low Net & Partners into runner-up monies of $43. After finally unleashing his hidden potential on the links, Mike Belson slammed home a startling 63 Low Net to easily claim that category's $14 and then humbly accepted his award amid a chorus of razzies from the assemblage.

MOTION PIX & TV FUND DONATION
We are please to report that on June 12th once again The Thursday Group sent our Annual $1000 Donation to the MPTF in memory of our esteemed founder, Mr. Don Porter. A huge expression of our gratitude goes out to Marilou Miller for regenerating and conducting the weekly MPTF Raffle that makes up the major portion of this worthy donation.

GIGS N' STUFF
Look for Ted Winship to win some bucks at Victoria Lakes on July 2, which marks he and Zanne’s 54th anniversary. At Camarillo Springs, Mr. Belson won low net on his 19th. Val Mayer & Nancy Dussault returned from Boston just in time for the V.L. date. Happy Birthday Nancy. -- Peter Stanford & Dick Harwood participated in the 2009 Senior World Series Of Poker last month. Dick lasted just 4 hours until he went all in and his opponent flopped a full house. Looks like we will have to wait until next year for that free trip to Vegas. Peter also got eliminated on the first day, but found it a great experience. After her 7/2 eye surgery, Bonnie Strangis will once again be able to watch Sam like a hawk. Bruce Simon continues his gig for Sony/Screengems in Ojai thru late July and thanked the membership for his recent P.O.Y. honor which was presented post-Shug by local resident Mr. Zeiger. Although his schedule has kept him away from the links, Bruce is looking forward to an upcoming weekend round at the O.V.I. with cast member Malcolm McDowell at which time he plans on touting membership in DPTGG.