This year's field was again highlited by the intense, sometimes bloody, rivalry between three time tour event winner Takeo `The Golden Bear' Kanade, and two time winner and defending VASC Masters Champion, Dean `The White Shark' Pomerleau.
The field also included Chuck `E-Cheese' Thorpe, Ben `I-haven't-played-golf-in-a-year-so-give-me-a-high-handicap' Brown, Dave `Monster Driver' Simon, Dirk `Bernhardt' Langer, and Katsu `Big Daddy' Ikeuchi.
Once again Pomerleau and Kanade battled it out for the lead. At the turn Pomerleau had a 2 stroke lead on The Bear and 9 over the next nearest competitor. But on the open and level back nine, The Shark choked on his dorsal fin, losing an incredible 5 strokes to The Bear.
But as in the past, controversey surrounded the event. After the Bear and Shark had finished their round, they went back to the 17th green. This wasn't all that unusual, as many of the tour players return to the course to provide encouragement to the rest of the field. But this year it turned ugly. Instead of cheering, they taunted the rest of the field as they played through.
They were especially mean to one of the amatuer players, Todd Jochem, as he teed off. They ridiculed his swing and called him a loser and a wannabe. Understandably, his first stroke went into the water hazard. Jochem's unfortunate and uncharacteristic shot seemed to fuel the nasty epitaphs hurled by the two boorish champions, who had now made their way to the putting surface. On Jochem's next attempt to tee off, the two louts launched golf balls at his feet, causing him to slice into the woods. The amatuer was obviously shaken, for he is known to have one of the sweetest swings and is one of the straightest off the tee in the junior circuit.
How short their memory must be. It was only a few years ago that The Bear broke down in tears as he left the Masters, vowing to never return. Without the encouragement he received from his fellow players, he could well be a bum on the street instead of a multi-millionaire professional golfer.
But Jochem avenged his golfing pride in a hastily arranged Skins game after the main event was completed. It was a high stakes putting event and Kanade, because he is recovering from his well known couldn't take part. (See 1993 VASC Masters ) Word has it that he was just chicken!! When the contest finally began, only Jochem, the tasteless and vulgar Pomerleau, and the veteran tour player Monster Driver Simon were involved. Jochem held back until an incredible 14 skins were on the line. At this point, he calmly sank a 30 footer for the win. Simon was graceful in defeat, but typically, Pomerleau stormed off in a (now usual) barbaric and graceless manner. What sucess does to some people!!
Complete scores, highlights, and photos follow.
Gross Net
Takeo Kanade 84 70
Dean Pomerleau 87 74
Dirk Langer 100 68
Atsushi Yoshida 101 84
Chuck Thorpe 102 78
David Simon 103 77
Nate 105
Ben Brown 105 78
Katsu Ikeuchi 107 80
Jeff Schneider 110
David Brown 113 82
Todd Jochem 114 79
Dave Duggins 131