The Outlaw, our highly anticipated member-guest golf competition, blew us away this year—from the challenge to the camaraderie, this event was one to remember. Taking place on July 11 through July 13, the annual men’s match-play tournament kicked off with a welcome dinner where participants dined, wined and talked winner predictions before the games began. For those who missed it, or want to relive the excitement, we asked Victory Ranch Head Golf Pro Chris Brandenburg to share all the details on how The Shootout went down.
“The competition was heated by hole 16. After eliminating six teams between holes 10, 11 and 12, an impending storm placed extra pressure on participants as they fought for a chance to play hole 17. On hole 16, a net bogey from Wildt/Read caused the team to be eliminated. A net eagle from Miller/Jasinski moved them on to the final hole of the competition. Rowan/Smith, who posted an incredible gross birdie and Nolan/Nolan, who also posted a net birdie, competed in a chip-off to play for the Championship on hole 17.
Graham/Roeder would be the final team to finish the hole. Patrick Roeder was left with an up-hill, slightly breaking 15-foot net birdie putt to move on the chip-off. Patrick, quickly studying the putt, lines it up and looks at me to say, ‘I’ve got this,’ before proceeding to hole the putt. Next, we moved to the chip-off. First up, Marc Smith of Rowan/Smith chipped to 7’1”—a very respectable play from the difficult location chosen in the rough, short and left of the green. Second up was Sterling Graham, who rolls the chip up to 1’5”, nearly holding the chip. We do these chip-off’s blind, which means the chippers do not know where the competition ended up and have no clue how close they need to chip the ball to move on. Joe Nolan, the last to chip, comes out of the rough and the line looks great, but a gust from the gods stopped his ball just a hair short of Sterling’s chip. Graham/Roeder move on to the final hole against Miller/Jasinski.
With the wind raging left to right and the chance of rain looming, Jim Jasinksi of Miller/Jasinski is faced with the tee of hole 17. He hits his tee shot pure but the wind takes it over the right side of the green and deep into the native area. His team needed to take a drop. Patrick Roeder of Graham/Roeder is next on the tee and sees that he just needs to keep the ball in play. He hits a knock down shot, under the wind, and with just enough length to cover the quarry, short of the green 20 yards. Howard Miller, hitting 3 after taking a drop, hits a great pitch back onto the green, leaving his partner with a 20 footer on the left side of the green for bogey.
Sterling Graham pitches up to about the same distance on the green, short and right of the pin. Patrick putts up and over a ridge with great speed control to about 4 feet, leaving Sterling with a chance to make bogey. Jim Jasinski, being clutch all day, has a bogey putt to put the pressure on Graham/Roeder. He comes up short, to about five feet.
Howard Miller, who hasn’t missed a putt inside 15 feet all competition drains yet another for a 5 on the hole. Sterling Graham now has a 4-foot putt to win The Outlaw. He takes his time, talks about the putt with his partner, then nervously approaches the putt. His body language looks hesitant but his putt is true and confident, dead center cup for a 4 on the hole to win The Outlaw Championship.
Exciting competition from start to finish, this is The Outlaw of course, and to win, the team has to battle all the way to the end.”
Congratulations to all who participated in this year’s Outlaw:
Championship Flight: Brian Ehman & Chris Hendrickson
Remaining Flight Winners:
Billy the Kid Flight: Howard Miller & Jim Jasinski (runner-up in Shootout)
Butch Cassidy Flight: Grant Rown & Marc Smith
Sundance Kid Flight: Bill Engvall & BJ Szafran
Jesse James Flight: Sterling Graham & Patrick Roeder
Wild Bill Hickok Flight: John Pierce & Cole Sawyer
Cole Younger Flight: Joe Nolan & Tim Nolan
Doc Holliday Flight: Kerry McGonigal & John Harris
Johnny Ringo Flight: Shaun Wildt & Cliff Read
Frank James Flight: Dew Johnson & Jeremy Andrus
