Phi Alpha 2008: Tournament Summary

Monday, May 5th, 2008

The goat of the 2007 PAC, Jeff Eaton, came up big to help edge Team 98 to victory in the 2008 Phi Alpha Cup, the closest contested Cup in history.

2008: and you thought it couldn’t get any better…

May 5, 2008
In the most exciting Phi Alpha Cup to date, an erratic Team 1997 saw its chances to retain the Phi Alpha title lip out on the final hole of play Sunday afternoon as Chandler Willett, who battled a highly-publicized “tooth issue” earlier in the week, barely missed a 6-foot putt on the 18th hole, giving Jeff Eaton a 1 up win and Team 1998 a 51⁄2 to 41⁄2 victory. Injuries, distractions and dissention within the Team 97 camp opened the door for Team 98 to overcome a Friday shutout and win their first Phi Alpha Cup since 2006.

The drama-filled three days of action left sports fans wanting more and left Team 1997 wondering what might have been. The much talked about hip injury to Andy Sands proved to be a significant obstacle for the courageous athlete to overcome, limping considerably throughout the tournament and struggling to swing his long and mid distance clubs effectively.

In addition to not being able to get the contribution from Sands that Team 1997 has been accustomed to in past Cups, rumors surfaced that a heated argument between Steve Burr and Sands occurred Friday night sometime after the Phi Alpha Champions Dinner. Witnesses reported seeing team members out late at a popular nightspot in Wrightsville Beach mere hours before teeing up in Saturday morning’s Best Ball matches. Photographs and witness accounts hit the media wire before play Sunday morning, suggesting that on Friday night, Burr not only verbally attacked Sands, but wildly went after other teammates and Team 1998 members (stirl pic) in what appeared to be disagreements over non-golf related issues. While Team 97 members had no comment on the incident(s), the squabbling had a detrimental effect on their play, as they failed to put together a winning team effort in any of the weekend’s remaining competitions.

Highlights from the tournament included stellar all around play from David Johnson, who helped carry his team and also carded the first hole-in-one in Phi Alpha Cup history during his Sunday Singles match with Sands, fading in a 9-iron to ace the 148-yard 14th hole.

However, most of the post-Cup discussion has centered around the decisive Eaton-Willett Singles thriller, which ultimately decided the 2008 contest. Down 3 with 6 holes to play, Eaton put together a run of holes that left Willett with little chance to close out the match. All square on the 18th, and with Willett needing to halve the hole to give Team 97 the Cup, Eaton dropped his 3rd shot on the Par 5 to within 12 feet for a putt to win the Cup. After Eaton grazed the hole and ran it by a foot and a half, Willett, who had chipped his 4th shot to within 6 feet and suddenly had new life, had his own chance to win the title for his own team. After much consulting and deliberation on the putt’s line and speed, Willett lined up and hit a beauty. But the putt lipped out at the very end, sending Team 1998 into a hysterical celebration reminiscent of the United States’ bum rush of the putting green in the Ryder Cup at Brookline.

Eaton has welcomed his team’s praise after fielding considerable criticism from golf critics and teammates alike in 2007. It was widely considered among those who watched the ’07 matches that Eaton cost Team 98 the 2007 Cup by fielding a cell phone call from his wife during a pivotal point in another decisive singles match against Willett, which he ultimately lost (See Story: “The Call that Lost the Cup”).

“I had a lot to prove this year to myself and my team,” Eaton told reporters after the matches. “I took the necessary steps in the off season to prepare for this year’s Cup: I reduced my mobile minutes and planned hour long conference calls before and after each round. Also, we’ve solved a lot of the issues I was dealing with last year. Matching throw pillows to curtains isn’t just a trivial problem among most American households. But we were lucky enough to put those dilemmas to bed – a 4-poster European mahogany bed to be exact – and I have been able since to focus more on my golf during my rounds.”

As has been the case in the three previous Phi Alpha’s, Team 1998’s Permanent First Alternate, Jeff Cohen, was not present and therefore unreachable for comment.