by Dr. Robert Hamilton
(L-R) Tyler Rogers, Cody Hyden, and Berea’s Chad Perrugia watch Steve Haddix tee off on the first hole of singles matches.
The Alice Lloyd College Eagles golf team faced off with the Berea Mountaineers in a Ryder Cup-style friendly match on Saturday, April 12th at Gibson Bay Golf Course in Richmond, KY. The weather and course conditions were excellent. At stake was a shovel to symbolize the match between two work colleges. The ALC Eagles team consisted of Cody Hyden, Randy Smith, Tyler Rogers and Tyler Hayes. Representing Berea were Chad Perrugia, Steve Haddix, Austin Worley, and Ben Piercefield.
The Ryder Cup format includes three types of match play-style competitions. One is “fourball,” one is “foursomes” and the third is “singles.” “Fourball” and “foursomes” are matches between teams of two, and “singles” is individual match play. For the friendly with Berea, the Eagles played 18 holes of matches between 2-man teams and 18 holes of singles matches. The 18 holes of matches between 2-man teams were divided into 9 holes of “fourball” (each golfer plays their own ball and the lowest score of the two for each hole is a team’s score for that hole) for a half a point, and 9 holes of “foursomes” (each team plays one ball and team members alternate taking shots) for another half a point. Each of the 18 hole singles matches was worth 1 point.
Teams were Hyden/Rogers for the Eagles vs. Peruggia/Haddix for the Mountaineers and Smith/Hayes for the Eagles vs. Worley/Piercefield for the Mountaineers. Peruggia/Haddix defeated Hyden/Rogers 1 up in both 2-man matches to earn a point, and Worley/Piercefield defeated Smith/Hayes 1 up in the fourball and 3 & 2 in the foursomes to also take a point, leaving Berea up 2 – 0 following the team matches.
Singles matches featured Hyden vs. Peruggia, which was won by Hyden 1 up; Rogers vs Haddix, won 5 & 4 by Haddix; Smith vs. Worley, which was halved; and Hayes vs. Piercefield, won 3 & 2 by Piercefield, giving Berea 2.5 points and ALC 1.5 points for the singles matches. The final tally was Berea 4.5 – ALC 1.5.
Most matches were as evenly contested as possible, and players on both teams displayed the character one would expect from students of both schools.
The ALC golf team will now prepare for the final tournament of the season, the KIAC Conference Tournament at Gibson Bay Golf Course in Richmond on April 22nd and 23rd.