April 1, 2007 — The Carambola Little Boys defeated the Buccaneer's Dem Boys on Saturday to claim the first Mongoose Cup, 7 to 5, at the Buccaneer Golf Club.
Little Boys came into Saturday's home-and-away competition with a one-point lead at 3 1/2 to 2 1/2. The win over Dem Boys by that very same score on Dem Boys' home course set the final margin of victory.
Most of the matches were very closely contested, and the outcome of the match-play event was not determined until the last match was completed.
With three matches left to play, Little Boys were assured of at least a tie at the end of the day after the team of Captain Frank Lange and Arthur Epstein blew away the Dem Boys team of Keith Crilow and Dave Holcomb, 4 and 2.
One more victory — or at least a halved match — and the cup would go to Carambola until next year.
Dem Boys, however, were not ready to concede anything just yet, and their comeback began with the fifth match, concluded just before the fourth. The team of Tony Dizon and Jurgen Wrangle (Carambola) conceded their match to Paul Andrews and Macks Blum (Buccaneer) after being down three with two holes to play.
The Dem Boys comeback continued with the fourth match between Brad Thomas and Eddie Lavarini (Buccaneer) and John Beagles and Ron Barr (Carambola). This match came to the 18th hole all squared, but on the 18th green, Dem Boys saw a ray of hope: Lavarini, the high handicapper on his team, sank a par putt to win the hole and bring Dem Boys one point closer at 6 to 5 with one match left out on the course.
Now with five matches in the books, the last match also came to the final hole, all squared. A halved match would not do Dem Boys any good; they needed a full point. It was not to be, however, as the team of Bobby Goldman and Carl Rasmussen won the final hole and the match one up to give their team the outright victory.
Little Boys' team captain, Frank Lange, was elated over his team's hard-fought victory. He kept his pre-match advice simple, without a pep talk: "No, no special talk. I just told them to eat a good breakfast and get here early."
Dem Boys' captain, Paul Andrews, had nothing but praise for the event: "As we all saw, it was a great event. You see what can happen when Frank and I have a couple martinis together — great ideas are born. All in all, it was a great match and we did our best. We lost, but we will be back next year."
Match play results:
— Gary Sturdyke and Bruce Zaveloff (Carambola) beat Raphael Bonet and Dave Davis (Buccaneer) 2 and 1;
— Tyrone Seales and Mike Monagle (Buccaneer) halved with Jim Kasin and Jose Manibo (Carambola); — Frank Lange and Arthur Epstein (Carambola) beat Keith Crilow and Dave Holcomb (Buccaneer) 4 and 2;
— Brad Thomas and Eddie Lavarini (Buccaneer) beat John Beagles and Ron Barr (Carambola) 1 up;
— Paul Andrews and Macks Blum (Buccaneer) beat Tony Dizon and Jurgen Wrangle (Carambola) 3 and 2; and — Bobby Goldman and Carl Rasmussen (Carambola) beat Rich Carey and John Zierman (Buccaneer) 1 up.
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