On the Saturday before Father’s Day, the three teams left standing on the final hole of the Tellico Village Men’s Member-Guest Tournament were all father-son teams.
Bill and Kevin Langford emerged from the first tee group, Joe and Joseph Mulherin from the second tee group and Dean and Steven Blemker from the third.
The Mulherins and Blemkers tied the first play-through of the 18th hole, then tied again on the second play-through to force a chip-off for the championship. Inches separated each of the shots, but Joseph Mulherin’s was the closest in the end.
“I would say they’re actually better players than we are, and that was fortunate,” Joseph said.
The short game was on the side of the Mulherins in the championship shootout. The group survived a chip-off on the first hole of the playoff before winning the final hole the same way. Joe Mulherin also needed two big chip shots to keep hopes alive on each playing of the 18th hole.
On the first play-through he hit from the bunker on the left side of the green, setting Joseph up with a put to tie the game. On the second play-through, he hit from a dip on the right side of the green.
The second chip was vital for the team, since Steven Blemker’s approach shot stuck on the green just a few feet from the hole, setting his team up in good position to go for the win.
“On this last couple of holes (we were) absolutely (successful),” Joe Mulherin said about the team’s short game. “Throughout the tournament not so much, but on these last couple of holes, far better.”
While playing through the final hole twice before going to the chip-off might have been an exciting way to finish the tourney for those in attendance, the game was “nerve-wracking” for him, Joseph said.
“I don’t know if I would say all that’s fun,” he said. “It’s pretty nerve-wracking as judged by a couple of my bad shots. But the whole thing is fun. ... They were great opponents on the last hole, and they deserved to win as much as we did.”
For the Mulherins, winning Saturday was a long time coming. Joe Mulherin was a longtime member of the Member-Guest tournament committee and Saturday was the team’s 12th year playing in the tournament.
“We’ve been playing in this for 12 years, and this is the first time we’ve even won our flight,” he said. “So it’s a question of perseverance at this point.”
Winning a day before Father’s Day and celebrating with his son and grandchildren made the experience an even better one, he said.
“Doesn’t get any better than that does it? Not at all,” Joe said. “I’m very proud of (Joseph). He’s come a long way the last couple of years. He’s taking the game serious, and he’s going to be a really good player.”
Saturday’s shootout wasn’t the only part of the tournament that provided close competition this year, Tellico Village Property Owners Association Director of Golf Jim West said.
“In the preceding days we felt the effects of a significant change we made in the scoring,” he said. “We eliminated the extra point for winning the match (each day), which tightened up the competition in the flights significantly, giving almost every team in every flight a chance to win going into the final day. So the change had it’s intended effects.”
With a crowd of hundreds watching the final hole, cheering on good shots on what was a sunny but temperate Saturday afternoon, West said it was easy to consider the tournament a success.
“It was a great event, great weather, great support from the community and our sponsors,” he said. “Just awesome.”
