Through the first seven years of the season-long CGA Team Interclub Championship, it became a trend that teams that had experienced success tended to do so for multiple years.
Even though each year there are dozens of clubs competing in the net match play event, the same ones tended to perform the best.
The CGA Team Interclub has been around only since 2010, but already five clubs have made two or more appearances in the finals, which pit two teams that both performed well during the regular-season round-robin and survived the single-elimination playoffs.
Lone Tree Golf Club has gone 2-0 in the finals, while Battlement Mesa and Todd Creek are 1-1, The Broadmoor 1-2, and Rifle Creek 0-2.
But this year, for the first time since 2013, the Team Interclub will feature two 12-man squads that will be making their first appearances in the finals.
Culminating five months of competition, the finals for the eighth annual CGA Team Interclub will match Murphy Creek/Saddle Rock against Glenwood Springs Golf Club. The matches will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday at CGA-owned CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora.
Both teams took improbable paths to make it to the finals. In what was supposed to be a four-team round-robin during the regular season, Glenwood Springs ended up the only club ready to compete, so it advanced to the 16-team playoffs. Then it won three relatively close playoff matches, 20-16 over Colorado National, 22-14 over Mariana Butte/Olde Course at Loveland, and 20-16 over Battlement Mesa in the semifinals. So in matches that were actually played, Glenwood owns a 3-0 record — all in the playoffs.
Murphy Creek/Saddle Rock went 2-1 in round robin play and finished second in the group behind 3-0 Lone Tree, which beat MC/SR 22-14. Then Murphy Creek/Saddle Rock defeated Meadow Hills 22-14 in the round of 16, beat West Woods in a tiebreaker after being knotted 18-18 in the quarterfinals, and topped Homestead 20-16 in the semis.
The bottom line is, every match that Glenwood and Murphy Creek/Saddle Rock actually competed in was close, with no double-digit margins of victory.
As for how the past champions fared this year, Lone Tree fell 19-17 to Mariana Butte/Old Course at Loveland in the round of 16, Battlement Mesa lost 20-16 to Glenwood Springs in the semis, and Todd Creek was ousted 22-14 by Battlement Mesa in the quarterfinals. The Broadmoor, Bear Dance and The Ranch did not compete this year.
Both Murphy Creek/Saddle Rock and Glenwood Springs advanced to the finals from an original field of 26 clubs (22 actually competed) as numbers were down from previous years. First, there was a regular-season round-robin of geographically-linked groups of teams lasting from May through mid-summer. The team from each group with the highest point total advanced to the playoffs — along with nine second- and third-place finishers in the round-robins. Playoff matches run from August through October.
Both in the regular season and the playoffs, teams of a dozen men each — of widely varying abilities — square off, with net singles and net four-ball matches held concurrently. Each individual match is worth two points — two for a win and one for a tie.
Below are the four-ball and singles pairings for Sunday. Among the competitors is four-time CGA Mid-Amateur champion Keith Humerickhouse, who will play for Glenwood Springs.
FOUR-BALL
Calum White/David Snow (SR/MC) vs. Keith Humerickhouse/Danny Schard (GS)
Tom Trueax/Joe Fabrizion (SR/MC) vs. Roland Gauthier/Mark Smith (GS)
Mike Desmarais/Julio Palacios (SR/MC) vs. Paul Nelson/Jim Roy (GS)
Jay Janzen/Craig Stephenson (SR/MC) vs. Kirk Blaszyk/Dave Sorel (GS)
Ian Culvershouse/Dave Henderson (SR/MC) vs. Jeff Austin/Jim Otto (GS)
Steve Brown/Mike Dormond (SR/MC) vs. Jerry Butler/Parker Hille (GS)
SINGLES
Calum White (SR/MC) vs. Keith Humerickhouse (GS)
David Snow (SR/MC) vs. Danny Schard (GS)
Tom Trueax (SR/MC) vs. Roland Gauthier (GS)
Joe Fabrizio (SR/MC) vs. Mark Smith (GS)
Mike Desmarais (SR/MC) vs. Paul Nelson (GS)
Julio Palacios (SR/MC) vs. Jim Roy (GS)
Jay Janzen (SR/MC) vs. Kirk Blaszyk (GS)
Craig Stephenson (SR/MC) vs. Dave Sorel (GS)
Ian Culverhouse (SR/MC) vs. Jeff Austin (GS)
Dave Henderson (SR/MC) vs. Jim Otto (GS)
Steve Brown (SR/MC) vs. Jerry Butler (GS)
Mike Dormand (SR/MC) vs. Parker Hille (GS)
