Sycuan Hosts a Generous Ice Bowl!

The first official tournament at the Olive Glen Disc Golf Course @ Sycuan Golf and Tennis Resort (say that three times fast!) proved to be a fun and successful day for the San Diego Food Bank, and a happy one for Carl Renda.  After doing the math, Tournament Director Mark Verrochi announced that the 54 players at Saturday’s event had purchased enough mulligan/raffle tickets to raise over $1,700 for charity.  The tournament was one of the many Ice Bowl events being held across the country this winter – which are held as fundraisers for local food bank charities.  The players were very generous, purchasing lots of $1 mulligans to make up for poor shots, but Sycuan also kicked in quite a bit by waiving their greens fees, covering insurance costs and providing some great concert tickets as prizes.

As for the competition, Saturday was “Beanieman” Carl Renda’s chance to shine, as he picked up his first win in a PDGA-sanctioned event.  Renda and 2nd place finisher Daniel Lichtman tied with totals of 79 after 36 holes, but Carl was able to cinch the victory in a one-hole sudden death playoff. Patrick Paramore won a CTP contest to break a three-way tie, one stroke back for 3rd place with A.J. Risley and Paul Morgavo.  Angel Garcia was the remaining member of a rather idiosyncratic lead card, finishing one more stroke back at 81.

In the Intermediate division, Matt Howard took first place with a two-round total of 84.  Kevin Christie found that the low-ceiling Olive Glen layout suited his style of play, as he took second place with an 88.  Josh Hesser (who also did quite well in the raffle) won a playoff with Glen Kluge for 3rd place (89) and Phil Jordan carded a 90 for 5th place.  Shonda Garcia fired a very respectable 106 to win the Ladies’ division.

Some disc golfers tend to look down their noses at mulligan-aided Ice Bowl victories, but for many in attendance at this and other events, a win is a win.  Patrick Paramore had this to say about Renda’s win: “Considering that we all used mulligans and were limited to 3 per hole, Carl did rightfully win this XC-tier event. He made some crucial putts that gave him the edge.”  Witnesses to Saturday’s rounds further pointed out that the tournament winner was probably not the top mulligan-user of the day.  But he was definitely the one who used the necessary amount at the right times.  And you would be hard-pressed to find critics at the San Diego Food Bank.  Food bank officials have stated in the past that each dollar donated can feed three hungry people, which means that there are 5,000 people who will get to eat a meal because of Saturday’s mulligan-hounds.  Take that nay-sayers.

The Sycuan Ice Bowl and the earlier San Marcos Ice Bowl were two stops on the 7-event 2012 Golden Sombrero Series of Ice Bowl tournaments.  This is the fourth year of the series, and this year’s collection of events will set records for charitable donations.  So far, the Golden Sombrero events have raised $6,570 (Redlands – $927, San marcos – $1,000, Chavez Ridge/L.A. – $2,538, Beaumont – $355, Sycuan – $1,750).  Remaining events include Wrightwood on Sat., Feb 25th and San Diego/Mission Bay Golf Course on Sunday, Feb 26th.

Full results can be found here.  Full Golden Sombrero Series standings can be found here.