MGABoston -- Da Bear Captures 2nd Consecutive MGA Championship!

A whopping 11 Beantown medios headed to the Far Corner Golf Course in Northeast Bumf*ck, MA (although the website says West Boxford, MA) for the highly coveted MGA championship. There were probably more than a few reasons why we had our smallest turnout of the year, however the most obvious was the untimely injury to our Commissioner, Dr. Ferraro, causing many to stay home to mourn the temporary loss of our fearless leader.   For the second year in a row, tragedy struck the Boston chapter as one of our own was injured while playing in another lazy man's summer activity...softball.* Due to an unfortunate incident, Vincent "I still don't have a nickname" Ferraro, fractured his elbow and severely sprained his wrist trying to beat out an infield single. In a tremendous show of courage, Ferraro still managed to get his crippled assout of bed to make it to the start of the event to gather the chapter dues (cue Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run") and to wish us good luck for the round. Unfortunately for Vin, his absence would open the door for others to climb up the ranks - ultimately pushing him out of the Top 3 on the Boston money list.   After a very short moment of silence and deep tissue massages,        we made our way to the statue (ahem...) starter at the par 5 1st. There’s nothing better than having to tee off over water on the very first hole when your recuperating from a few hundred drinks from the night before. After a few unintentional sacrifices to the golfing gods, we were well on our way to what would turn out to be an up and down round for most.     The sprawling 27-hole course offers a variety of "championship-quality" golf with the abundance oftrees making things a little more interesting.   Few were able to utilize the tree-lined fairways to their advantage than Michael “Gatesy” Gates where almost every one of his errant shots into the woods on the front 9 somehow managed to find its way back on the fairway. The trees on the back 9 were not as forgiving to others...   {youtube}nnT48AL5dpY&feature=youtu.be{/youtube}   Word quickly spread through the groups that Tom “Smokey the Bear can suck it!” Spenard was badly scorned after his run-in with the trees on the back 9, prompting Bobby “Sprouts” Ferrari to exact his revenge.     Making his long overdue return was Joe Grasso who must have been lifting weights during his sabbatical - helping him earn the longest drive award on the front 9. Taking the longest drive honors on the back was Bobby “Sprouts” Ferrari with a mammoth drive on the 18th. Unfortunately, none of the medios on that day managed to make the green on the 190-yard par 3 4th hole, but we had our first ever tie for the closest to the pin honors on the 15th hole going to Berk and Spenard. No officials were available to verify the exact measurements but we'll take their word for it.     Shaoyu Xue, aka “PF Chang”, managed to bag two birdies in a row on the back 9 to finish with a solid score of 100 which was good enough for 3rd place – 1 shot behind “The Fuzz”. Finishing in the middle of the pack with 108 were Joe Grasso, Bobby Ferrari, and Kevin Hunt in a 3-way for 5th. Terry “T-Bone” Boland might possibly have had the worst showing of his MGA career, finishing in 9th place with a score of 110.     Jason “El Presidente” Clemente brought up the rear finishing with a 132.     The front 9 seemed problematic for most of the medios that day as only one player, Randy "The Fuzz" Peach, was able to break 50 however he was the only player to shoot worse on the back 9, finally earning the meltdown award he's always wanted. “The Fuzz” still managed to finish in 2nd Place - adding to his overall lead in the Boston money list.               Taking home the Gross Award once again was Matt Boland, shooting a respectable score of 102 to finish 2 strokes behind Shaoyu for 4th place, and the Most Mediocre award went to “Gatesy” for his 8th place finish of 109.                         Regardless of these other achievements, it has become apparent that Mike “Da Bear” Berk is in top form towards the end of the 2011 season and can now truly call this course his home as he has repeated as MGA Champ and ruler of Far Corner. It was a rather impressive showing for Mike shooting a gross score of 93 - 6 shots better than his closest competitor. He continues to climb up the leader board - giving the top contenders a run for their money. While we celebrate the atomic rise of “The Bear” in the Boston chapter we still ask that you take a fewmoments to pay your respects to the Commish who we wish has a speedy recovery.   {youtube}II9ZU6hovhg&feature=youtu.be{/youtube}   *Attention all Boston medios and prospects: Beginning in 2012, you will be required to sign and submit a release form stating that you will not participate in any physical activity (especially softball) leading up to, and during, the 2012 golf season.