February 6, 2008

PERU, IN — The Captains Club announced Wednesday the plans for the traditional 4-man Scramble during the Carl Spackler Open Championship. The optional event will return on Friday afternoon teeing shotgun style in eightsomes.

The event will return to the tournament course, Rock Hollow, for several reasons including price, transportation time, course quality, lack of bag transportation, and beverage prices.

"We scrambled things up at last year's scramble," said Brian Flanagan, a.k.a. Butter, winner of the 2008 Golden Jacket. "We gambled and it paid off big time."

The scramble added a twist last June when it took driver and 3-wood from golfer hands to lengthen the very short Hills Heart of the Lakes Golf Course. The tournament will return to its previous format, which includes the use of two tee boxes. "We are pretty excited about the eightsomes and beverage prices," added Butter. "We have not entirely confirmed the exact rules yet, but pushing half the tournament field back to the tips sounds interesting. It gives the short guys a chance off the tee to contribute and the long hitters another view of a championship style golf course."

The tips would play 6,944 yards with Hole 6 extending to 601 yards. The 2nd hole, a 455-yard par 4, would be 30 yards back from the tournament tees. The 12th hole, a 466-yard par 4, would be 33 yards back from the tournament tees. The 8th hole would play 46 yards further at 219 yards. The biggest difference would be at the 18th. The tips are 37 yards back plus angled left exposing lots more water.

Butter was asked about the baseball bat. He replied, "Good question. Not sure. The first hole is a short 296 yards. Plays about 260 yards. The 13th is also very short at 332 yards."

The same reporter asked about the "throw" from last year's event. He quickly replied, "Are you kidding? Of course that will return. That idea is legendary because it adds strategy and team camaraderie."

A throw allows each participating golfer one chance to advance any best team shot by throwing it, tossing it, or rolling it. It is not a stroke, but an advancement of a team ball. A throw cannot be voided regardless of what happens to the ball.

"We hope our eightsome format continues to bring camaradrie throughout the evening," said Flanagan. "The key will be pace of play as always."

Lastly, the 4-man Scramble is expected to return with a point handicapping system, which equally matches teams regardless of size or skill.

"The new handicap system will allow a 5-man team to compete against a 3-man team," said Butter. "This is a critical improvement with 5-man teams winning the event in 2005 and 2006."

The handicap system does not consider long drivers and great putters, but does use golfer stroke handicap to establish target scores. "As an example, four Jason Ridgeway's are expected to shoot 19-under par," says Flanagan. "A team of four Rick Dosky's is expected to shoot 6-over par. The system converts these projected team handicaps to a set of usable points. It looks pretty good on paper."

Brad Green, Jason Watson, Matt Pritchard, and Rob Reustle won last year's event with 111 points. The team won with 9 birdies and two eagles shooting 13-under par. They were considered a -6.51 stroke handicap. They doubled their handicap with four 'throws' and shortened tournament course.

Jon Munksgard, Kevin Long, Trent Cooper, and Dave Osborne took second place with 103 points. The team carded birdies at 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Eagle at the first hole before carding birdies at 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. They finished 12-under par. They were considered a -6.56 stroke handicap.

Greg Long, Jeremy Myers, Bob Morris, and Tim Davis took third place with 99 points. The team carded 6 birdies and 3 eagles shooting 12-under par.  They were considered a -7.44 stroke handicap.

The 2008 Carl Spackler Open Championship is scheduled for June 5 in Peru, IN. Tournament registration ended several weeks ago. The second phase of preparations begin on March 8 with participant options and preferences.