Gurley Claims Millenium Boystowne


Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.    Throughout the first decade of The Boystowne Invitational, Lloyd Gurley put in a workman-like effort, nothing spectacular, but steady, lurking near the top of the leaderboard occasionally depending upon his partner's play. With the end of the century approaching and a new millenium around the corner, Gurley decided to put his signature on the Invitation. With a domination not seen since Mike "It happens once a century" Apsey smashed the field a few years back, Gurley took home every award that could be placed upon him, including Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year. He also destroyed the field in a manner similar to Sherman going through Atlanta, though Sherman did not have the handicap of bringing Eddie "Aren't I lucky to have picked Lloyd for a partner" Sternberg along for the ride. In fact, Gurley was the only player to finish in the red for the tourney.

Though Gurley outran the field, others had a very good tourney as well. Steve "Once the building closes I probably will not get invited back" Sandvig and his partner Mike "Every other year" Walton finished strong and took home second place money as Steve took advantage of a generous handicap (and as long as the prizes keep coming, he will continue to do so). Newcomer Jay "They will have to take my #1 ranking from my cold dead fingers" Lynn and Mat "I just can't make it on 3 million per year, so I'll go find another job" Martinides finished just one shot back in third. Coming in fourth, just 5 shots out of the money, was the team of Double D. David "No, this ain't no typo" Bytnar and David "My back is killing me" Phipps. The defending champions, Greg "I'm trying to win player of the decade" Bytnar and Kevan "Trying to locate a virus so I can get Bob Long type handicap" Bytnar had it going pretty well until the wheels came off and various body parts were last seen somewhere near the third hole of the Long Bay golf course, snuffing out any chance of successfully defending their crown.

An early Vegas line favorite, Brian "I'm here for the camaraderie, it doesn't matter until I get shots from Greg" Barco and John "I have the perfect nickname" Sucin turned in a performance similar to that of WaterWorld at the box office, finishing just one shot back of Marc "I'll be back to get my #1 ranking in 2001 unless I do something really stupid and will not be able to play" Ballard and Chris "Maybe I'll try to do something stupid to get more handicap next year" Theis. They did manage to tie the team of Lloyd "Please check the teammate roster again" Worden and Bob "From now on I will never question the wisdom of the commish again" Long. Jim "Family man" Baker and Jim "I can't seem to get back my Senior player of the year award form" Vaughn did manage to stay out of the basement, though not by much. That dubious honor went to Skip "I had laser surgery on my eyes but I think they missed and hit my golf game" Harrell and his partner, Rob "I thought I was doing really well, here is 5 bucks for a new partner next year" Taylor. Unfortunately, somebody has to finish last and there is not a lot that can be done about that any time soon.

Final thoughts: Maybe next year, Mark "I think I'll try to win player of the decade" Slominski and Scot "I get all the best nicknames" Bytnar will be partners again, for the 7th time in history of Boystowne. Or, may Mike "I only play once a year" Baker get a partner that can carry all the expectations of the Baker family to victory without having to bribe anyone to achieve that lofty goal.