2018 Bald Mountain “BIG Champion of the Year Brian Hart”

A familiar “close but no cigar” participant, Tony “the Fish” Locascio lit up the majestic Rumbling Bald Apple Valley course on Day 1 to the tune of +8, registering his lowest score ever in any BIG round with an eye-popping round of 77. This gave him Day 1 honors with a 1 shot lead over class of 2017 newbie, Brian “the Lion” Hart (+7).

Round 2 featured another quality round by the first round leader as TLo (sporting his red “G” attire) followed up his career day 1 round with a solid +4 score, putting himself in PRIME position to become the first WIRE TO WIRE champion in BIG history, and in the process taking 10 more Graham bucks to go with his day 1 – 15 Graham bucks bounty (rat bahstahd!). The top scores of the day (+7) were posted by a pair of 2016 newbie brothers – Scotty “real men don’t wear stripes” Depiazza and Woody “do I talk to much?” Matthews.

As is Day 3 tradition, the feature group teed off in the final time slot and consisted of TLo +12 – Woody +11 – Scotty and BrianH +7. TLo, sporting his garnet and gold, saw his hopes of wire to wire fame dissipate mid round in the face of fierce pressure applied by Woody and Brian, both playing some brilliant golf. Tony and Scott eventually both faded as they matched -3 rounds on the day. Woody, on the other hand, played steady all day long and if not for a few critical putts lipping out down the stretch, could have easily hoisted the Cup. He finished his final round in respectable +1 fashion and a 3-day total of +12. And then there was the kid from Arkansas…trailing by 5 at the start of day, “the Lion” Sir Brian Hart, found the zone and his impeccable 100 yard and in short game absolutely lit up the course. He finished with a blazing career round of 73 strokes, scoring an incredible 35 points, and going +7 on the day to edge out Woody by 2 points. It was an epic finish by a class act. Congrats Brian Hart, the 2018 BIG Stogey Champion!

Speaking of class act, feeling bad for my boy TLo, who so valiantly tried to go wire to wire but failed miserably, I graciously tried to cheer him up by reminding him how good he looked and how well he played in the previous round wearing one of my GEORGIA BULLDAWG golf shirts. My golf tip to him was “wear one each day if you want to be BIG champ!” To date he hasn’t followed my advice. Perhaps he’ll grow wiser with age. Ohhh, and for those wondering, I won back 15 Graham bucks on day 3. (- :

2018 was the first BIG with no newbies attending. The teddy stayed home that year! Sorry Bobby Magee, if uncontrollable circumstances had not forced you into a last minute BIG event cancellation we were all willing to let you sport the pink again! As Rod Stewart sang…you wear it well! The 2018 BIG tournament did include TonyV, DarrellV, BrianS, SteveS, WoodyM, RickM, RyanM, TonyL, KailashK, BrianH, WilliamH, CharlieG, PaulG, ChrissyG, FreddyE, ScottyD, Steve-ohC, JackyC and my main man Larry “the bear’ A.

Shakey Earl presented the “Spirit of the BIG” Griffin Cup to a most worthy recipient, Freddy Evans. Fred has been with the BIG since it’s inception. I asked Shakey, what made you decide on Fred? He said, because he makes me laugh. Fair enough!

KK’s stellar -16 play earned him his first “game as dead as this prez” $1 award as he fended off the fast-fading 2017 BIG Champ Charlie Griffin. Normally, I wouldn’t post this award presentation but Charlie just seemed so pleased that he didn’t win it that I had to! Sorry KK, I promise I will try not to mention that you presented the Prez to your best friend Paul the following year.