September 25, 2007

ALPINE LAKE, WV — Mark “Sleepy” Kaniecki rode a MELC point tidal wave on Stogie Friday at GXI in which he matched 2-Man Best Ball partner JT Thomas for 78 points apiece.  Their impressive rounds, which left behind them a trail of at least one cigar butt on every tee box, tied for the best scoring rounds of the tournament.  â€œI’m not saying it was the cigars that did it,” chuckled an elated Sleepy, “but I will say that stogies will be incorporated much more into my game next year.”  On Sunday morning, Kaniecki’s skin still looked a little green from all the smoking, but the golden glow of the MELC Trophy, as he carefully tucked it into the backseat of his car, overshadowed it considerably.

Sleepy began the final round scramble with 126 points, which put him just one ahead of JT, two up on Jeff Blankenburg, and 4 ahead of Stacey Bartlett.  Bartlett stunned the entire field with his dominating triples and doubles, sprinkling in a few bogeys and pars, and shockingly climbing the leaderboard.  â€œThey all think I don’t know what I’m doing out here,” Bartlett lamented, “but who else out here among this field has figured out how to score 4 points for a triple?”

Sleepy and Melick steadily navigated their way to a front-nine 39 and then faltered at 12 with a 0-point double bogey.  The team held it together through 15, and then probably slammed the door shut on the field with a long-putt birdie at the short, yet dangerous, 16th hole.  The birdie was likely dropping at about the same time Bartlett and Slick were busy costing Bartlett the MELC by missing a 3-footer for eagle at 11.  Consequently, they also had missed eagle from inside 6 feet at number seven.  Bartlett blamed himself for the loss of both the scramble title and the MELC.  â€œIts no secret that Slick is the worst putter in the field.  We have an arrangement.  We play together on Saturday every year and his job is to get the ball on the green and I putt it in the hole.  I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain today.  I’m not terribly happy that Slick’s tee shots had us playing the entire front nine from the woods, but even with that, we had our chances.”

Blackbush and JT never had a good run on Saturday.  Jeff and the Chef played 2-under through seven holes and then played themselves right back out of the tournament with doubles at both 8 and 10, with Blackbush finishing the MELC tied for 5th.  JT was probably the most disappointed, shooting an 83 with Minardi, despite having carded a personal best round in a major, 79, on Friday.  Rounding out the MELC top five behind Sleepy and Bartlett were Jonathan “Kerchak” Gordon, who tied for third with Bro.  Bro climbed high up the leaderboard on Saturday through some inspiring play with partner GStan, who also tied for 5th.  

Sleepy had one final comment on his victory.  â€œI don’t know if one has to do with the other, but this is my first MELC cup.  And with the exception of holes 13 through 18 on Thursday, which I will now forever affectionately remember as 'The Jaeger Holes', this was the first year I wasn’t trying to win the Squib Award.  Go figure!”