FATHERHOOD IS VERY GOOD FOR APSEY

Myrtle Beach, SC   Mike Apsey, father of Ike Apsey, proved that fatherhood could be beneficial to your golf game. In a display of golf never seen before in the history of The Boystowne Invitational (and there is some history), Mike Apsey destroyed the field. Taking Low Net honors, Low Gross and running away from the rest of the field with teammate Mark Slominski hardly describes the dominance of the Knightdale Assassin. Playing up to potential that was rarely seen in his previous 5 years, Mike made sure that there would be no one standing in his way in his quest for his first championship. His partner, Mark Slomo took home his 2nd Boystowne Championship.

Getting lost in the wake of the Apsey powerboat was some other fine play. Perry Willis, in his second Boystowne, carried his partner (Scot Bytnar) to a second place finish and a Player of the Year honor (in the closest vote in history). The team of Rod Mangrum and Mike Baker came from out of the pack to take a third place finish. Brian Barco, who shot the low round of the tourney, and his partner, newcomer John Sucin finished in the money with a 4th place finish. (One note: Due to their unforgivable choice of picking the pairing of Mike and Mark, we are not going to be inviting back Scot and Perry. I cannot believe they would do that. On the other hand, wait until you see the plus 5 handicaps that both Mike and Mark will each have next year.)

As usual, there was some unforgettable play that cannot go unmentioned. Our Senior Player of the Year honor went to Bob Long (in what some would consider an upset, and others would consider grounds for suicide), and our Rookie of the Year honor went to newcomer Chris Theiss. Bob Long and partner Norm Willis also took home Stableford honors (with help from handicap and short pants). Some play that needs to be forgotten includes: the play of the SUPERTEAM of David Bytnar & Otis Hamm: almost pulling the historic (and I mean historic) double of finishing in last place for the tourney and finishing last in the Stableford event (fortunately, they were saved by the odds on favorites in this event of Jeff Parkman and Mike Walton, who had a little trouble getting out of the negative numbers); and Jim Baker and Frank Dray, a couple of newcomers, who did not distinguish themselves as they would have liked and learned what Boystowne pressure can do to your golf game. I would be remiss if I did not mention the author of this piece for his remarkably unremarkable play and letting his partner out there all on his own (sorry Mat) and of course, we must mention the play of Skip Harrell, for whom Myrtle Beach has become Myrtle Hell. I must also include the play of Greg Bytnar, who played well, but not great, just because he feels the need for recognition (due to his 14 failures in 15 attempts in The Bytnar Family Championship).

Overall a good time was had by all. The weather was, well, Boystowne weather, rain on one nine, cool temperatures on the opening day, but sunshine for the rest of the week (get over it, we been going through this for 6 years). Next year, we look for the return of Marc "I’m leaving" Ballard, Kenny "great free stuff" Lukes and Lloyd "I came, I saw, I conquered" Worden. We wish (but don’t expect) the return of Skip "My wife still wears the pants" Henricks. See you next year and don’t forget to send the commish his props should you desire favorable treatment regarding partnerships and handicaps for the coming years gathering. And if I did not mention your name in this article, you probably should have slipped the commish a few bucks.