North Bay Golfers win Home and Home Challenge

The North Bay Golf and Country Club has retained the Cup in the second annual Home and Home challenge which took place on the weekend at the local golf course.

The North Bay team which met up with golfers from Sudbury in a series of matches that were dominated each day by the home club North Bay came out on top 18 ½ to 13 ½.

Saturday morning’s better ball matches were held at North Bay and the home team didn’t disappoint. The early matches were dominated by North Bay lead by Jeff Mancini and Mark Lucenti in one of the day’s marquee match ups. Two of North Bay’s long ball hitters played explosive golf starting off with birdies on the first 3 holes for an early lead.

“Not only were we hitting it Tiger Woods long, we were suffocating them with our putting," said Lucenti.

"We played against two top rate guys from Sudbury, very strong golfing talents, however our local knowledge proved too valuable."

This set the tone early and the rest of the team delivered as North Bay went 6-1-1 to lead 13-3 after a day of solid play.

Day two followed much of the same pattern as the 16 singles matches were contested at Sudbury’s Idylwylde Golf Club. The Sudbury players came out fast and furious, determined to dominate on their home turf as North Bay had the day before. The day was filled with solid golf, amazing shots, and an epic comeback by the Sudbury squad. Highlights of day two included an albatross on hole #1 by North Bay Head professional Jeff Mancini.

“I hit good drive into the fairway, then holed a 6 iron from 195 yards for a 2. It wasn’t enough to carry me to victory but the shot was magical,” Mancini said.

In the feature match of the day former Ontario Juvenile champion Ricky Allen was pitted against Northern Ontario golfing legend Vince Palladino. In a match reminiscent of Tom Watson vs. Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach, Ricky was able to make one more birdie than Vince and won 2&1 in a match where both players finished the round under par.

The day, however, belonged to Sudbury as they won 10-5-1 to make the tourney very interesting.

The competition was held in the true spirit of the Ryder Cup with camaraderie paramount and the competition secondary. Captains Robbie Coe of the Idylwylde and Jordie Leggett of North Bay declared the second annual event a success and preparations for next year's event are already underway.

Members of the winning North Bay team were: Jordie Leggett, Ricky Allen, Jeff Mancini, Brandon Moffat, Peter Moffat, Dave Byers, Mike Anello, Len Pappano, Grant Fullerton, Rob Gribbons, Gord McGuinty, Gord Morland, Bill Stevanovich, Dan Lindsey, Greg Mann, Mark Lucenti.

Submitted to BayToday.ca