Autumnal Equinox Update: NCGAs, PDX, Silverado
Anybody from these Bay Area parts knows that our real summer begins September — hard to believe that over Labor Day weekend, San Francisco’s daytime high beat Las Vegas’. This is also a very busy time of the year on the Dragons golf calendar — the NCGA Associate Club Championship, the Chinese Golf Federation Labor Day Invitational, and our own penultimate event at Silverado.
Let’s begin with a quick review of the NCGA. Hoping to build on Tom Yee and Chris Chong’s triumphal run through the NCGA Four-Ball, the Dragons sent Davis Lee and Mike Gui to fill out our 4-person roster for the NCGA Associate Club Championship at Spyglass and Poppy Hills, August 28–27. The guys shot a two-day total of 265, and finished in the middle of the pack. The Caddy Club of Pebble Beach shot 250 to win their second title in the event.
The foursome quickly packed their bags again and headed up to Portland for the 2017 Labor Day Invitational, September 2–3. There, 8 Dragons competed in some blazing hot weather (too) at the Reserve and the OGA Golf Club. A full field led to 6 different flights of competition, and the PDX Chinese Golf Club was as always a classy host. It’s just not a Federation tournament if the Dragons don’t come away with hardware. This time, it wasn’t Uncle Loui — Mike Gui (68–66 net 134) and Davis Lee (72–67 net 139) finished 1st and 3rd, respectively in the A Flight. Those big time points Mike picked up matters, more on that later.
No rest for the road weary, the Dragons’ own schedule picked right back up with the September club tournament at Silverado. Up on the South Course, it was Steve Tsang who came through with an A Flight win — 82/net 71 — followed by Peter Lyu (80/net 72). Dragon Cup points leader Tom Yee picked up some serious Dragon Cup insurance by finishing third (80/net 72 card-off), and Brian Fong wasn’t driving back home to LA empty handed, finishing fourth (81/net 72).
In the B Flight, Song-Min Wang posted the only red number of the day in either flight — an 88/net 67 — to win. Mieko Sugimoto came in 2nd (90/net 73), with C.P. Liu (99/net 75) and Karen Fong (94/net 75) to follow.
So a whole lot of Dragon Cup points got awarded through all that, and where does that leave us, with just one tournament left on the calendar?
Well, Tom Yee’s once-ginormous lead is nearly all gone — he sits atop the Dragon Cup points list at 999 points, but Mike Gui, on the strength of his Federation tournament win, is now at 941 points, well within striking distance going into Poppy Hills in October. Davis Lee is at 839 points, and Chris Chong is at 697 — the latter is by no means out of it, as Chris has made it to the Finals of the DGC Match Play Brackets. 250 points will be awarded to the winner of the Match Play, as Chris waits for Mike Lum (684 points) and Rob Dang to complete their semi-finals match. Yes, Big Mike Lum is lurking too, again.
So, the Season Finale at Poppy Hills is going to matter, big time. Enhanced Dragon Cup points are in play for the Finale, and the registration deadline, to make a heroic run (or play spoiler for all them guys, LOL), is just hours away. The tournament will be on Saturday, Oct. 14, and recruits for 2018 Dragons are welcomed. If you didn’t play a single tournament at all — C’mon, man — show up, and have some fun!
