Nobody complained about not playing it all the way back.
With steady 20 mile per hour winds challenging players to "pick the right club and commit" it was obvious that no lead (even the 6-stroke margin enjoyed by Andy Kitchen and Paul Rice of Redlands, California) would be safe. After starting with a birdie (Rice from 20 feet) the leaders made three bogeys and closed with a 38 on the front nine before settling into 6-straight pars on the difficult back nine. With their playing partners Chris Brauner and Pete Wlodkowski struggling with wind, water, and sand on the back nine, Rice and Kitchen had only a brief moment of worry on No. 17 (a team double) before closing with a solid par when Rice got up-and-down from the front of the green to stop the bleeding and ensure that a low final round would have to be posted by anyone else in the field to catch them.
Mark Gardner and Ted Lyford, traveling mates of Kitchen and Rice (with a few side bets on the lines) posted the low round of the day (72) to climb into second place.
In the Net Division, brothers Eric Czarnecki of Mt Pleasant, South Carolina and Kevin Czarnecki of Marlborough, Connecticut fired a final round of 2-under-par 70 -- spurred by two net "aces" -- to win by two over Mike Casey of Brentwood, California and Bob Paulson of Oakley, California. Casey and Paulson had the low round of the day, at 5-under-par 67.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
- Pete Davison of West Hartford, Connecticut posted an amazing 6 birdies on the Ocean Course to answer his partner Don Miller's retorical question "where's the REAL Pete" from the first two days. Pete birdied Nos. 2, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 16.
- Jim Gentile, also of West Hartford, almost aced the difficult par-3 fifth hole with a 5-wood that finished a maddening 8 inches behind the hole. He made the putt, and also scored a birdie 2 on No. 17.
- Special thanks to Ocean Course First Assistant Mark Schaffer for helping our group with rules and scoring all week. In addition, thanks to Dave Selner, Christian Hartsel, and the entire staff at the Kiawah Island Resort for their hospitality this week.
* * *
Final results from the amateurgolf.com Kiawah Island Two Man Championship follow. Today's round was played at The Ocean Course, with the Championship Division at 6744 yards and Net Division at 6105 yards:
| CHAMPIONSHIP | |||||
| Team | Rd1 | Rd2 | Rd3 | Tot | Pos |
| Andy Kitchen, Redlands, CA -- Paul Rice, Redlands, CA | 70 | 67 | 77 | 214 | 1st |
| Mark Gardner, Redlands, CA -- Ted Lyford, Redlands, CA | 71 | 74 | 72 | 217 | 2nd |
| Keith Holmes, Macon, GA -- Rusty Strawn, Mcdonough, GA | 74 | 72 | 73 | 219 | 3rd |
| Peter Davison, W.Hartford, CT -- Don Miller, Norcross, GA | 74 | 74 | 74 | 222 | 4th |
| Chris Brauner, Austin, TX -- Pete Wlodkowski, Carlsbad, CA | 72 | 71 | 80 | 223 | |
| David Humphreys, Charleston, SC -- Carl Everett, Havertown, PA | 76 | 77 | 77 | 230 | |
| Jim Gentile, W. Hartford, CT -- Terry Huffman, West Hartford, CT | 82 | 75 | 77 | 234 | |
| Carl Ross, Katonah, NY -- John Vignola, Hopewell Junction, NY | 77 | 79 | 84 | 240 | |
| Rick Bowers, Rogers, AR -- Bob Kalbfell, Katonah, NY | 78 | 77 | 89 | 244 | |
| Steven Dyer, Summerville, SC -- Allan Holmes, Charleston, SC | 82 | 79 | 83 | 244 | |
| NET | |||||
| Team | Rd1 | Rd2 | Rd3 | Tot | Pos |
| Eric Czarnecki Mt. Pleasant, SC -- Kevin Czarnecki, Marlborough, CT | 74 | 69 | 70 | 213 | 1st |
| Mike Casey, Brentwood, CA -- Robert Paulson, Oakley, CA | 70 | 78 | 67 | 215 | 2nd |
| Lacy Hayes, Charlotte, NC -- Ernest Humphreys, Barrington, RI | 74 | 74 | 72 | 220 | 3rd |
| Morrie Birnbaum, Concord, CA -- Charles Chavez, Half Moon Bay, CA | 74 | 68 | 80 | 222 | 4th |
| Daniel Germain, Charlotte, NC -- Dan Thome, Sparta, MI | 71 | 78 | 74 | 223 | |
| Gregg Dennington, Sterling, CO -- Bart Goldie, Oakland, CA | 76 | 70 | 79 | 225 | |
| Howard Rosenberg, Weatogue, CT -- Michael Vegis, Kiawah Island, SC | 78 | 75 | 72 | 225 | |
| Brian Adair, Lafayette, CA -- Shawn Brown, Moraga, CA | 78 | 79 | 73 | 230 | |
| Jim Bradley, Bethany Beach, DE -- Paul Robino, Wilmington, DE | 78 | 75 | 78 | 231 | |
| Don Corken, Florence, KY -- Jeff Corken, Florence, KY | 77 | 78 | 80 | 235 |