Geneva 2026

Date: 8/04/2026  

From: Frank Alexander

BEST BALL WRAP UP

ONE CROWN IS NOT ENOUGH

     Sunday was like opening a can of normalcy after the revised format of the previous day. By 7:00 AM some were packing their belongings for the trip home. Others marched to Mary’s Kitchen to fill with eggs and bacon for fuel to tackle another day on the golf course. Mary can flip some flapjacks. The late-late nighters stayed an extra day and captured an additional hour and half sleep. When the sun struck 9:00, all gathered by the first tee box to address the matter of the day. Yes, even Legend Vince Gatto sat on the clubhouse bench waiting his turn to tee it up. The task was to win the Best Ball Championship.

     That appeared to be a daunting chore. The defending champions had firepower that would scare the jock strap off Seth “Freaken” Rollins. The team of Mike Pagnanelli, Dagon Abdon, Pat Dorn, and newly acquired Kerry Joyce (substituting for Kyle Willis), had an aura of invincibility after the way they lapped the field last year. The Legendary UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, preached, “Don’t lose sleep worrying about your competition. Let them lose sleep worrying about you.” So true. Despite stumbling back to his room at 4:00 AM, Dagon shot a 69 with 5 natural birdies and a net birdie on hole 17 using his lone handicap stroke. The team finished 11 under par. He could not get enough help from his partners to repeat as champions. According to simple subtraction, the rest of the team were credited with 5 birdies, 4 short of what was needed. The bed check police charted the fact that Pags, Creature, and Kerry were sound asleep shortly after the Commissioner’s Dinner. Draw your own conclusions.

     Along those same lines, Mini-Legend Jack Berger hashed out a curfew for Legend Frank Alexander, recalling last year’s 4:00 AM drink fest. Apparently, I stayed out a wee bit too long to win the title outright. Jack’s team consisting of Frank, Tom Black, and Mark Kovachy, finished 15 under par. The foursome walked off 18 green disturbed about missing birdie putts but still feeling confident they did enough to be the lone victor. 

     Ahhh! The disappointment came minutes later. We parked our carts behind the green. I remember looking Don Jander’s way and saw him sporting a shit-eaten grin. Sure enough, his squad of Legend Vince Gatto, Paden West, and Sam Kovachy also played the round in 57 strokes. Don made natural birdies on 17 and 18. His 3 on 17 netted the team a deuce. That strong finish slingshotted his group to a tie for the lead.

     One foursome remained on the course with a chance to win. Todd Abdon, Keith Boggess, Ray Ballard, and Jacob Davis gave the tournament a dramatic finish. They netted 4 birdies and an eagle from hole 13 through hole 17. They came to the 18th tee already at 15 under par. One more birdie and they become sole winners. Jacob Davis struck his game winning putt. If Ernest Lawrence Thayer was a golf writer instead of a baseball man, the poem would be a sad finish for Jacob Davis instead of Casey at the bat. The gallery watched. The ball tracked towards the hole. In God’s way of humoring Himself, the spectacular finish was not to be. There was no earth-shattering moment to guide the ball to the bottom of the cup. The game is over. John Wooden also said, “Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

     The consolation prize was a three-way tie for the victory. The difference from being the lone champions and sharing the title with two other teams was $45 a man. Each of these foursomes will get their chance next year to repeat. Besides competing against one another, there will be a new group of challengers to be picked by “D” flight players.

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