2009 Jekyll Island “BIG Champion of the Year Rick Marshall”

The 2009 BIG returned to the Brunswick area, this time at the challenging and beautiful 54 hole Jekyll Island facility. It was a tournament that featured the battle of the Ricks (Marshall and Hart) and was held on the 3 different courses at the Resort. The final round will be remembered for the exciting fashion in which it ended! A fast charging, barely drunk, Rick Marshall parred the final hole to take a 3 point clubhouse lead over the field, with the final groups still out on the course. All watched anxiously as the other Rick, Rick “Thunder” Hart, went for the hero shot over the waste area and successfully reached the Par 5 finishing hole in two strokes. Not knowing exactly what his position was on the leader board, Hart boldly went for his 15-foot eagle putt, putting a great roll on it and watched the ball trundle beautifully toward the hole. Apparently afraid of dark places Hart’s ball slid by the right edge of the cup and wandered a knee-knocking 3 feet past the hole. After careful deliberation (thank goodness Aim Point was invented yet or we’d still be there!) his comeback birdie putt once again appeared perfectly struck towards the center of the cup, but breaking to the right at the very last instance, doing a 360 degree lap around the top of the cup, and coming to rest a tantalizing quarter inch from the edge of the hole. This left Rick Hart with a gimmie 2 point par, resulting in a stunning 1-point victory for the other Rick! This was Marshall’s first well earned BIG Stogey title, playing stellar golf on some quite difficult courses.

The 2009 event will also be remembered for the first “HOLE IN ONE” in BIG history (albeit in an afternoon giggle golf round – so technically an unofficial hole in one, but don’t tell Rick Marshall that. His “unofficial” bar tab for 12 Triple Vodka Tonics is still an official BIG record – I never realized they made triples, great idea TLo!).

Speaking of TLo, the 2009 BIG was newbie Tony Locascio’s first BIG fray, and thank goodness he was there! It was thru his dedicated newbie perseverance, newbie encouragement and newbie numerous phone calls to the owner of the closed 19th hole bar that TLo earned the “can’t say no kid” cult status that, by the way, he enjoys to this day. It didn’t hurt that he promised the cart girl a record tip from his great buddy Rick if she were to deliver said triple vodka tonics pronto. When she arrived, Ace boy and his 11 thirsty friends were still whooping it up at the Indian Mound par 3 hole # 2 and the unknown foursome in front of us came to join the party…I think the words “THE BAR IS OPEN” caught their attention! Rick may have won the Stogey that year, and made the first hole in one in BIG history, but let the party goers on hole # 2 tell you…2009 was all about our new friend, “the legendary can’t say no kid” TonyLo!

I later heard from Rick’s financial adviser that it only took Rick’s 401k a mere 3 months to recover the debt incurred that day. Looking back on it, I’m sure I speak for all my fellow BIGs that were lucky enough to be there that day, we all kind of still feel bad about that. How in the world 12 drinks and 4 beers plus tip cost $350 is beyond me! Must be some kind of record, especially for 2009.
The nightly entertainment once again was provided by our main man Cuz. Dat boi’ showed off his best fancy side-stepping dance moves around that pot of boiling hot peanut oil for the “Brunswick chapter of geriatric women’s convention” …and get this, not only with a drink in one hand, but also a cigarette dangling from his lips…and here’s the kicker, he DID NOT SPILL a single drop of his beverage, lose any cigarette butts in the oil, OR drop a single fish on it’s way into or out of the fry pot. Those 90 year old gals stated that they had never in their life enjoyed fried fish and dinner show entertainment that dang good anywhere on this good green earth, they did declare! Have TLo tell you that story, it’s an annual conversation piece worth having! Good times indeed…

The 2009 BIG tournament field included the aforementioned newbie TonyLo along with RickM, RickH, Cuz, Freddy, Crissy, Chuck, Larry, TonyV, and was rounded out with a trio of last minute sub-ins for Doug, his work buddy and Scarborough: Dave Ostrowski (friend of Fred), Will Bandyk and Carlos Ortiz (golf buds of Chris from Florida). The Jekyll Island trip was one of the more memorable for sure!