Blue & White Challenge - blueandwhitechallenge

2009 MIAA Blue & White Challenge

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2009 Event Summary

The 2009 MIAA Blue & White Challenge
May 23-24, 2009

Eight schools including Boys' Latin, Calvert Hall, Saints Peter & Paul, Archbishop Spalding, Annapolis Area Christian, The Calvert School, Pallotti, and John Carroll gathered to participate in the Inaugural Blue & White Challenge at Penn State University on May 23rd and 24th. Twenty-nine students and seven coaches made the journey from Baltimore to Happy Valley for a weekend of fun, fellowship, education and competition. The event was designed to purposefully utilize the game of golf in order to offer a glimpse into the college life-stage for participants while at the same time promote goodwill between students and coaches of associated conference schools.

Participants and Coahes gathered at The Boys' Latin School at 6:30 AM for registration and announcements before hitting the road at 7:15. A bird's-eye-view from the interstate would have shown a line of buses, vans and SUVs representative of otherwise rival schools, progressing in assembly toward their destination - Universtiy Park, Pennsylvania, where a weekend of comradarie and competition awaited them.

Participants were greeted on-campus at 10:30 AM by G. Burch Wilkes, the professor-in-chare and director of Penn State's Professional Golf Management (PGM) Program. Considered the finest such program in the United States, Penn State's PGM Program has boasted a 100% job placement rate since its inception and has placed its graduates at such esteemed facilities as Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Baltusrol, Merion, and Pine Valley. A career in the golf industry is the aspiration of may young students, and a private overview of the experience by the man-in-charge was a special treat to kick-off the weekend.

Following the meeting's conclusion, participants traveled to the Penn State Golf Courses for a complimentary lunch provided by the University. As players finished their sandwiches, they were given a favor for attending the event - a Penn State hat with MIAA personalization. Players then gathered for announcements, including pairings and an overview of the championship's format.

Teams were comprised of players from all schools. No one team was designed to boast more than one representative of any given school. The field had also been segmented by scoring average - with Individual Championship scores and personal handicaps utilized to segment the field. Pairings were therefore not only fair in composition, but also designed for engagement of partcicipants. The same players who had spent the entire season battling each other were now finding themselves assembled as partners.

To further promote fellowship while also maintaining a competitive foundation, the event format was designed to shift every nine holes. Day One offered a front-nine scramble format followed by a back-nine one-best-ball structure. Day Two found teams playing a Shamble on the front-side and utilizing a modified scoring two-best-balls-halved format on the back nine.

In support of the event, Penn State agreed to display the MIAA Blue & White Challenge Trohpy year-round in the offices of the Professional Golf Management Program. A silver cup on a marble base, the trophy bears the name of the event and would be etched with the names of the tournament's champions each year.

With the pairings announced, the formats established and the trophy on-display at the first tee, players gathered at #1 as the tee times began. Calvert Hall's Alex Church struck the Championship's first shot - a towering drive that found the fairway's left side and an inviting angle to the flagstick. His partners in Team Pine Valley, AJ Billig of Boys' Latin and Niki Muma of Annapolis Area Christian, would combine to fire a first-round sixty-eight on day-one.

Their efforts would be bested by a pair of sixty-sevens, however - notched by the Pinehurst Team of Ben Whitman (Boys' Latin), Evan Cain (Calvert Hall) and Ryan Slenk (Annapolis Area Christian) and the Olympic Team of Trey Proifili (John Carroll), Mike Ercolino (Calvert Hall), and Jeff Mellin (Archbishop Spalding).

But the story of day-one was the remarkable play of Team Oakmont and its captain, Pallotti's Jason Clatworthy. Paired with the sweet-swings of Archbishop Spalding's Alex Eaker, Danny Murphy of Boys' Latin, and Calvert Hall's Sean Cavanaugh, Clatworthy stormed the Blue Course with force and fired a seven-under-par sixty-five on his own ball. No strangers to excellence on the links themselves, Clatworthy's partners aided in dropping a few birdies of their own, and when the dust had settled, the team's score of sixty-three found them the leaders in the clubhouse...by four shots.

After the last putt was holed, players boarded their buses and traveled to Prospector's Rib Company for dinner. A private room had been reserved and a fixed-menu experience awaited. Players had their choice of steak, chicken, ribs or pasta - and were also treated to salad, baked potato, drinks, and cheescake. After an afternoon of engagement and competition, the dinner produced more than a few appreciative and knowing smiles from the coaches - who took pause to watch as participants began to ignore school colors and instead focus on new-found roots of friendship as impetus for discussion and good-fun.

After dinner, the caravan moved to Toftrees Resort. Room assignments were announced at dinner and room keys distributed accordingly. After a long day of travel, golf, learning, and eating, naray a light had been turned off before the eyes had been closed. As one player said the next morning "the only thing that felt better than my putter yesterday, was the pillow under my head last night."

An early rise-and-shine greeted players on Sunday. Toftrees had prepared a special country-style breakfast boasting pastries, eggs, sausage, bacon, potatos, and juices. The aroma of coffee and the sounds of steel against china mixed with stories of the prior day's events as players energized for the upcoming second round.

Tee times began shortly-thereafter, and University Director of Golf Joe Hughes once again welcomed all players to the Penn State Golf Courses. Range balls were provided for warm-up and an announcement of lunch's availability at the turn was made. Players then moved to the first tee once again and announcements were made prior to the day's first shot being struck.

In an afternoon that found all teams attempting to catch the tournament leaders, a number of remarkable shots were executed.

Niki Muma of Annapolis Area Christian stood on the par three sixteenth and eyed the flagstick one-hundred-eighty yards away. Guaging the slope and wind accordingly, Muma clubbed-down and struck a forceful mid-iron that never left the flagstick. Landing short of the hole it hopped forward, struck the pin, and careened off the corner of the cup before coming to rest a few feet away. As his teammates raised their arms and widened their eyes, Niki Muma offered only a slight grin and a knowing wink.

On the seventeenth, a three-hundred-thirty yard dogleg-left par four with trees and bunkers guarding the green, Calvert Hall's Casey Taylor placed his tee in the ground with purpose. He had been asked by a coach a few minutes earlier how he was feeling, and had replied "Pretty tired, actually." The coached had asked him if he still had a few big swings left in him. A revived Taylor responded with renewed focus "Absolutely!" The coach offered a line to the green's front edge - saying that although the risk was evident, if it were struck properly, his ball might find itself on the front fringe. "Got it" Taylor said. A competitive stare erupted from behind his trademark glasses, and as his tee entered the grass and dirt, a near definitive sense of what was to come befell associated on-lookers. Seconds later, the wide-stanced full-force lash of the Calvert Hall top seed produced a shot that exploded toward the aforementioned target line - and as the blast-like recoil of his swing found the club held before him, Casey Taylor watched as his ball fell on the green's front fringe. As he glanced at the coach, he raised his eyebrows and exited the tee box. Two shots later, he had birdied the hole.

As his partners continued their fine play, Danny Murphy of Boys' Latin found himself in a track of consistency. Fairway after fairway welcomed the tee shots of the Boys' Latin Laker. Drive after drive was struck with sizable accuracy and ball-control. At day's end, Murphy would record total driving perfection - fourteen fairways hit, zero missed. His resulting back nine score of thirty-nine would be his personal best to-date; and aid sizably in his team's day two round of sixty-seven.

Round Two would find Team Oakmont expanding on its lead from Day One - and its total score of one-hundred-thirty anchored its place as the championship's victors for 2009. Jason Clatworthy, Alex Eaker, Sean Cavanaugh and Danny Murphy had won the inaugural event and posed for photos alongside the trophy - smiles abounding, pride apparent.

As the post-tournament ceremony closed and final announcements were made, players began shaking hands and sharing contact information. The 2009 MIAA Blue & White Challenge had been completed. And though it was understood that a weekend was closing, it was equally apparent that some relationships had just begun. As coaches recognized this reality, they shared their appreciation for the efforts to promote inter-school engagement and fellowship. Because at the end of the day, though golf gives us much in the way of competitiveness, its greatest provisions are born from the friendships it serves.

Videos

2009 Tournament Results

Oakmont: 63/67 = 130
Jason Clatworthy
Alex Eaker
Danny Murphy
Sean Cavanaugh

Pinehurst: 67/70 = 137
Ben Whitman
Evan Cain
Ryan Slenk

Pine Valley: 68/71 = 139
Alex Church
A.J. Billig
Niki Muma

Olympic: 67/72 = 139
Trey Proifili
Mike Ercolino
Jeff Mellin

Pebble Beach: 75/68 = 143
Max Farrington
Robbie Whitman
Zach Taylor
Kendall Newman

Saucon Valley: 72/72 = 144
Mike Devlin
Will Ellis
Stephen Sample

Augusta: 70/75 = 145
Casey Taylor
Matt Sherman
Jake Miller

Bethpage: 74/71 = 145
Eryk Bapisteller
Ben Levin
Anthony LaDonna

Merion: 69/77 = 146
Brian Petrosky
Chris Pascoe
Ryan Troutman

Blue & White Challenge - blueandwhitechallenge

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2009 MIAA Blue & White Challenge

2009 Event Summary

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2009 Tournament Results

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