First Annual Vukelic Cup Tournament

Shortly after winning the British Open, Jim decided to sponsor his own tournament in Bismarck.  The event featured a Ryder Cup format with teams playing alternate shot, best ball, and scramble on the front nine holes, and head-to-head match play on the back nine.  The tournament took place at Tom O'Leary Golf Course on a cold, extremely windy Saturday.

Jim divided the ten participants into two teams, The Force and The Dark Side.

Members of The Force were, left to right, Bob Freed, Bruce Mikkelson, Curt Dahme, Leon Ripplinger, and Jim Vukelic

  Members of The Dark Side were, left to right, Dave Cantrell, Dale Hoerauf, Scott Halvorson, Dennis Steele, and Jim Potter.

  One thing you can count on: no matter how adverse the weather, Dave "Control" Cantrell will find the fairway off the tee.  His shot off the first tee amid heckling and 35 m.p.h. wind gusts was--ho hum--down the middle. 

  Bruce Mikkelson tees off on Number One at O'Leary.  Since there were only ten players, we could not make three four-person matches, so Dave and Bruce played a straight match on the front nine.  It went down to the wire, with Bruce winning on Number 9.

The first team match pitted Curt Dahme and Bob Freed against Jim Potter and Scott Halvorson.  They halved their match.  In the second group, Dale Hoerauf and Dennis Steele played Jim Vukelic and Leon Ripplinger (wearing the yellow cap).  The latter duo won that match.

  Scott Halvorson takes out the lumber at left.  On the back nine, Scott had a three-hole lead over Curt Dahme  when his opponents cajoled Scott into using a driver on Number 15.  There was a tail wind and Scott is long enough to clear the creek.  However, his ball wandered a bit off line and was never found.  It was a bright moment for The Force.  Alas, Scott  came back with a great chip off the side of a hill south of the Number 17 green to halve the hole and close out Curt.

  Two of the big hitters, Dale Hoerauf and Bruce Mikkelson, drove it over the creek on the fly on Number 15.  Bruce won a tough match.  Here, Dale   is shown attempting a tricky little pitch on Number 18.

   Spectator Charles Ortlip watches the closing hole activity.  Note the wind.

  Jim Potter and Bob Freed were all tied coming up Number 18.  Jim drove right of the fairway and had a relatively short pitch to the green, but from the wrong side of the viaduct.     Another big hitter, if a tad erratic, Bob drove just left of George McGovern off the 18th tee and found himself playing a short pitch shot from near the 17th tee box.  Undaunted, Bob is shown here as he sinks a putt for birdie to win the match.  Vukelic closed out Dave Cantrell in similar fashion on the last hole.

Meanwhile, Dennis Steele beat Leon Ripplinger, one of the few highlights for The Dark Side. (Check out Dennis's nice finishing stance)

Final tally:    The Dark Side - 9    The Force - 21

Afterward, the men wolfed down some chili at Vukelics.

Scott Halvorson, admires his prize for the Longest Drive on Number 10.  Next year, Vukelic promises better weather and more chili.

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