Nobody Read the Bargain's Fine Print ๐
adjusts headset Eleven players walked into Dragonfly's narrow, marsh-lined corridors on a cloudy 52.8ยฐF average with wind touching 11 mph, and Week 6 of 9 โ Pocket Bargain โ handed every one of them a line that looked cheaper than it was. The vigil is over; this chapter is about what you're willing to pay for a stroke.
Front Nine Bought, Back Nine Foreclosed
RAH Blue belonged to Dillon Mueller on the strength of a front nine five strokes better than his back, a five-hole par train from 8 through 12, and the field's only birdie on hole 2 at 346 feet while everyone else averaged +0.2 there. He closed -3 on a 943 rating, 20 points above his 923. Chris Fox answered with a 39-foot Circle 2 putt on that same hole 2 and a bounce-back birdie on 4 after a double on 3, finishing even at 909 with a clean back nine. Mueller led through hole 18 and still settled 4th event-wide โ the bargain paid early, then billed him late.
Seventeen Was the Price Tag
Kieran Buhler pulled even with Kellan Brooke through hole 14 and took the lead through 17, the hole where Brooke's bogey dropped him out of the share. Buhler finished +3 on an 874, Brooke +5 at 851 after a seven-hole par train from 10 to 16. Kyler Gibbons carded +7 and an 827 โ 26 under his 853 โ with a nine-hole par train to open on 1 through 9 and a seven-stroke front-to-back split. Buhler's OB scramble on 9 was the only real scare in the bunch.
A Hundred-Point Apology
Tongia Vakaafi pulled even with Eric Pearson through hole 12 and took the lead through 13 when Pearson bogeyed, closing -5 on a 967 โ the event's round of the day and a 111-point reversal from last week's 856. Pearson and Chris Norman tied at -4, both 955-rated (Pearson 32 above his 923), both on the wrong side of the last cash spot; Pearson's solo birdies on 3 and 9 and Norman's field-only birdie on 5 kept the pressure on. Kenneth Oetker finished +1 on an 897, 64 below his 961, salvaging the field's only birdie on 18. John Ashworth rode a five-hole par train through 3 to 7 to even at 909.
A Par Train With One Passenger
RAD White had one entry: Adam Gibbons, +1 on an 897 with an 11-hole par train from 7 through 17. Eleven pars with nobody watching is its own kind of discipline โ and an open chair for anyone who wants to test it next week.
Three Grand, Still Unclaimed
The Super Ace Pot sits in split mode: 10 contributors at $20, an active prize of $2,999.91, and the balance moving from $2,640 to $2,660. It rolls on, untouched, which is either patience or a very expensive group project.
Every Back-Nine Skin, Repossessed
Two cards, three players, $22.50 exchanged. Vakaafi swept every back-nine skin โ 18 skins for $4.50 at a quarter apiece, the Back Nine Sweep โ while Mueller took 11 for $11.00 and Fox 7 for $7.00, including the four-skin carryover scoop on hole 11. Full rules in the skins playbook if you want to know what you're signing.
Fifty-Eight Percent and Climbing
The Dragonfly course fund took in $5.50 this event through registration contributions, putting the league at $585.00 of a $1,000.00 goal โ 58%, with $415.00 to go. Details at the course page.
The Curse Sends Its Invoice
No tag spotlight this week, so the ladder holds its breath. Vakaafi's 967 and Oetker's 897 are the two threads worth carrying into Curse Spent โ Week 8, November 6, and a venue change back to Art Dye on the Gold pins, where the season's accumulated strokes finally come due and the last rung before the finale gets claimed or contested. Final-ceremony preparations are already underway.
And the theme is that thirty coins have to be returned honestly to lift a curse, which is a lot of accounting for a sport where the discs are already plastic and the coins were never real.