CHUCK TOLLIVER

Shark-infested Waters

With the pool of players becoming larger in this 2021 season, it was inevitable that a few sharks would find their way into the calm waters of the Houston Golf League's ocean of tranquility. This reminds me of a few old horror-thriller films from Jaws to Sharknado.  The sharks from Jaws were great white.  This shark uses a spy-hopping method to examine its prey by lifting its head from the water. That's how Blanton Hansen scoped out the field accessing an attack, but he found it very difficult to catch the faster-moving fish in the field. His five birdies were all covered, and his one-under was two shots from getting into the purse. This left him with a hunger that leads him toward warmer water at Cinco Ranch this week. 
Now, there's another shark called a Megalodon.  This shark was formerly thought to be a close relative of the great white, But it is an entirely different beast ten times the size and must more aggressive.   Mike Megalodon McCaffrey approached the pool of players the same way. He made his ominous presence known from the beginning with three straight birdies on the first three holes, which placed him on the top of the surface of the leaderboard, with two skins in his belly at the turn totaling over $600. The Megalodon turned his enormous appetite toward the first-place prize of  $1,100. Several players found themselves in the jaws of the beast as he lurked on the two most challenging holes--12 and 13-- on the back nine. Adam Orta, Ethan Bulthouse, and Blaise Brandon all fell victim to the same spot. Ethan lost four-shot, and Blaise lost three short. Adam's wounds were fatal; he gave up seven shots to end up moneyless in 6th place. Ethan and Blaise managed to survive and swim back to shore to finish with a pair of 71s.  As the saying goes, "he who fights and walk away live to fight another day."  Now in every classic thriller, we have the heroes that play pivotable roles.  In the original Jaws, Sherriff Brody enlisted the aid of Matt Harper, a marine biologist, to protect the people from the shark.  Last week, we needed Sheriff Brody aka Chuck Tolliver and Matt Hooper aka Robert Martinez, to save the day by convincing our Houston Golf League players to go back into the water. Tolliver and Martinez mirrored each other all day, and at the halfway point with a pair of 40 on the front and on hole 18, Martinez was up one shot over Tolliver with two over the killer man-eating shark, Mike McCaffery. It looked like Robert Martinez would be the hero because he was up one on 18 over Chuck Tolliver, but Chuck had his lucky charm, his good "thang" with him--his daughter. Her presence appeared to calm his nerves. He was able to play solid the whole round and keep the big numbers off his scorecard. If he wanted to win, he would have to do something that no one else in the field has done.  This was Chuck's best round since his victory two years ago at Eagle Pointe. He delivered with a Birdie number 18, one of the most challenging holes on the course. Next, he drove it deep down the middle, and his six-iron never left the stick, 4-foot putt walk it in...BAM!! Game over!!Congratulations, Chuck Tolliver, on a great win. You are the 2021 PGA Champion!    

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