Hook & Slice June 2024

Hook Slice

Southeast Michigan’s Premier Recreational Golf League

Vol. 1 No. 3

June 2024

The Front Nine Harbour Pointe Open preview The return to Lakes of Taylor GC

Making the Turn

How to win a playoff without striking a putt

The Back Nine

The 2 tournaments that were one and done

The 19th Hole Where are they now? 2-time HPOpen champ Rick Persichetti

Hook & Slice

Published monthly during the golf season

Editor-in-chief

Erika Fitzpatrick

Staff

Writers

Sandy Savashot

Anita Newpudda

Willie Makaput

Eryn O’McFitzCallaghan

Wendy Wildwood

Publisher

ELF Publishing Inc

Mulligan Tour Historian Lenovo laptop

The Front Nine Taylor Made

Long and Storied history for the Lakes of Taylor on the Mulligan Tour

Erika Fitzpatrick, Editor in Chief

TheLakesofTaylorGolf

Club opened in 1995 to great reviews. Owned and operated by the city of Taylor, the Arthur Hills design was considered a rare gem for a municipal course. But the greens fees were commensurate with the quality of the course and the fledgling

Mulligan Tour needed more affordable entry fees. So while the mid seasonratesdeterredthe Tour from using Lakes of Taylorasahostsitefora regular Tour stop, their fall rate did make the course attractive for one uniqueevent.

From1999through2006 the course hosted the

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Major Championships at Lakes of Taylor GC

2003 HP Open

Erik Meland 76 (+4)

2007 HP Open

Jeff Klipa 78 (+6)

2010 HP Open

Thom Bales 135 (-9)

2013 HP Open

Ray Nadell 144 (E)

2018 HP Open

Brian Lardin 142 (-2)

2023 PLAYERS Championship

Willi Hesse 70 (-2)

The Lighthouse Trophy

Harbour Pointe Open

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season ending Skins Game - a treat for 4 select players to enjoy at the end of the Tour’s regular season. The Skins Game was modelled after the PGA pro event of the same name that was quite a popular made-for-TV event shown on Thanksgiving weekend in the 1980’sand 90’s.

ButwiththeTourestablishing itself as southeast Michigan’s premier golf league, eventually the opportunity presented itself to add the Lakes of Taylor to theshortlistofpotential major championshipvenues.

In 2003, the Tour selected the Lakes course to host the Harbour Pointe Open. The layout would present the players with toughest test yet

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David Martin $28 John Stepek $28

2005 Central

Dennis Ersig $44 2005 West

Rick Persichetti $42 2006 Central

Greg Kline $44 2006 West

Bob Bruning $38

Open round - Saturday, June 8

Field cut to low-16 scores and ties

Championship round - Sunday, June 9

Cumulative 36-hole, net score

Purse = $235

Mulligan Tour Trivia

First place = $50

Which Mulligan Tour individual event tournament is the only one to have 2 winners declared ?

Answer on page 18

(Continued from page 5)

amongMulliganTourmajor championships.

Intended to push the players mentallyas well as physically, the Lakes demanded accuracy and length, and above all else, patience.

The set-up had the men playing a record 6,698 yards in length (ladies played 5,643 yards) with fast greens and plenty of peril.

Water hazards come into play on several holes, most famously the par-3 17th with a green that juts out into pond. There are penalty strokes for any shotsshort,rightorlong.

ErikMelandwonhis2nd HPOtitlein3 yearswhen he charged home with an inward 33 to finish at 4over par 76, 3-strokes better than Rick Persichetti and Craig MacBeth.

The HPO would return to the Lakes of Taylor 4 more times and in 2024 will tie Eagle Crest as the HPO’smostplayedvenue at6timeseach.

The Lakes course also hosted the PLAYERS Championship last year complimenting its current MulliganTourresume.

The Shortest Playoff

Willie Makaput, Staff Writer

As the Mulligan Tour openedthe2007season, Jeff Klipa was starting his 5th year on Tour and searching for his 2nd victory. A rookie season win at the 2003 Two-Stick Classic was followed by a 3-year winlessdrought.

But 2007 was Klipa’s breakout season. An early season win at the Sweet Sixteen was followed by a major victory at the Memorial Tournament with partner VicMcCoy.

That was followed by an improbable 2nd grand slam title at the Harbour Pointe Open in June.

ReturningtotheLakes of Taylor for a 2nd time, the HPO was notorious for setting up a difficult test for the players. The course measured 6,698 yards for the men and a winning score under net par had become rare. Noplayer had finished in red numbers in more than4 years.

An early morning shotgun start had Klipa in the B group starting on hole #1. Finishing on 18 allowed Klipa to get in the clubhouse before most of thefield.

And while Klipa led the field with 4 birdies, it was a pair of front-nine triple-bogies that inflated his final score to a 6overpar78. Probablynotgood enough, he thought. “The course was playing super long, and the rough was punitive”, recalledKlipa.

The Tour’s real time scoring system was still 6 years away

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Jeff Klipa’s run at the 2007 Slam Memorial WIN HP Open WIN PLAYERS Ch 3rd * TOUR Ch 13th * missed playoff by 1 shot

10

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so he had no inclination of where he stood against the field. But in the clubhouse, Klipa found Bob Bruning, having played in group 1A,alsosignedfora78.

“We were the leaders in the clubhouse and I remarked that net 78 would never hold up”, Klipa surmised. “He agreed, and after a few minutes he announced that he had an appointmentforahaircut andleft. IdecidedthatI'd wait at least until someone posted a lower score”.

Nooneeverdid.

When all the scores came in and the final checks and verifications were completed, Tom W Litzler had carded a 79 and 3 others tied for 4th with 80’s.

So a 4-hole putt-off was needed to determine the “champion golfer of the year”.

ButBruninghadleftthe course some 30 minutes earlier. A one-sided playoff meant that Klipa was declared the winner without ever having to makeaplayoffputt.

Oddly, it was the 2nd time in 2 years that a player that tied for lownet score was declared the winner when the other competitor was not available for the playoff (2006PlymouthOpen).

But this was a first for one of the majors, though it has happened to a number of other tournaments over the years.

Klipa’s run at a Grand Slam would end in September when Klipa finished just 1 stroke shy of joining a playoff at the PLAYERSChampionship.

What are the Odds ?

2024 Harbour Pointe Open

Las Vegas weighs in -

Corey McCUE

+750

Primed and ready for another major

Tyler FLOYD

+900

Overdue for 2nd major

Tim

Jeff PASZ

Erika

Don

Greg

The Back Nine

Short History

The 2 tournaments that did not make it past the inaugural stage

Sandy Savashot, Staff Writer

As the Mulligan Tour was developing and expanding during the 2000’s, many new tournaments and events were created. Most of those events continue to this day, filling the Tour schedule with over 40 eventseachseason.

But some tournaments didn’tliveon. Ahandful of tourneys were discontinuedforavariety of reasons. And some others continued on in some incarnation of a tournamentbeforeit.

But 2 tournaments had a “oneanddone

Greg Kline and Bob White (shown here at the 2006 Memorial) Winners of the 2005 U&B Golf Classic

One of those was the U&B Golf Classic held at Shady Hollow GC in Romulus in July of 2005. U&B Computers was the title sponsor and the preferred IT support resource for the Tour’s CFO at the time, Sue Meland. The tournament used the 2player scramble format and had a large field of 24 teams, 12 Mulligan Tour pro teams and 12 amateur teams that

included friends, family and clients of U&B Computers.

Greg Kline and Bob White, partners at previous Memorial tournaments, teamed up again and scorched the relatively benign Shady Hollow course for 9 birdies and 9 pars. The net 62, 4 strokes clear of thenextteam,wasalsoa gross 62 as the two posted a score without

(Continued on page 14)

Shady Hollow GC

Romulus, MI (1952-2006) Par-71 5,919 yards

(Continued from page 13)

the aid of any handicap strokes.

The tournament was also noted for witnessing the Tour’s first ever holein-one. DeVonne Mowry recorded an ace on the par-3 5th hole playing at 116yardsfortheladies.

Unfortunately for U&B, Shady Hollow GC would not survive another season as the property was sold off, presumably tomakeanew residential development, though it nevermaterialized.

And, unfortunately for the Mulligan Tour, U&B could never agree on another host site in 2006 and eventually became disinterested in hosting anothertournament.

Oneanddone. One other tournament had a “first and only” story. The Ménage á

Barb Rothfuss, Mike Prieskorn and Karen Stockdale 2014 Ménage á Trois Classique winners

Trois Classique was the brainchild of Tour founder Erik Meland. The tournament was played in early September 2014 at the Harbor Club GC in Belleville.

The event used a rarely seen 3-player scramble format. There were no handicapstrokes,butthere were a number of mulligans granted to each

team based on gender make-up.

A team of all-female players was called a “perfect threesome” andwasgivenatotalof 9 mulligans for the team to use. A “balanced threesome” included 1 male and 2 female teammates and was given 6 team mulligans.

Therewasalsoateam dubbedan “unbalanced threesome” (2 males,1

female getting 3 team mulligans)andateam called a “grotesque threesome” (3 males and0mulligans).

Tour pro Mike Prieskorn, along with his sister-in-law and her friend, scrambled

for 5 birdies in their final 6 holes to charge up the leaderboard and post a 4-under par 68 and a 1-shot victory,

TheMénageáTrois had a place on the 2015 silly season schedule but did not secure the minimum number of teams to warrant a 2nd tournament.

Evidently, the event’s trophy, a wrapped package of 3 bottles of Ménage á Trois wine, was notenoughtoentice a field of threesome competitors.

Rick Persichetti put family first as kids grew older

Erika Fitzpatrick, Editor-in-Chief

When Rick Persichetti joined the Mulligan Tour in 2003, he made an immediate impact by stirring up the competitive juices of the membership.

“Perch”, as he was known, loved the competitive spirit of the young Mulligan Tour and he pushed himself to play well and collect hardware. And his successes pushed others to try andtophim.

Perch played in all 14 tournaments of the Tour’s 2003 campaign, the only member of the Tour to do so, and finished in the Top-4 7 times, winning the Strokes on a Rope

Rick Persichetti

2nd Commissioner

and Quad-Tour Challenge events and ultimately the 2003 Money Title in his rookie year.

Persichetti would count the HPO and the Memorial Tournament among his 3 wins in 2004, and finish T-12 at the PLAYERS before ending the season as the Match Play runner-up and securing a 2nd consecutive Money Title.

Appointed to be the first West Division Commissioner in 2005, he would win the 2006 WESTERN Championship and guide Team West in capturing the 2nd Commissioner’s Cup Matches.

“The excitement the tour bought into my life at that time is forever etched into my heart”, exclaimed Persichetti in a recent interview.

With a young family of 2 sons and 2 daughters growing and starting to play organized sports, Persichetti eventually pulled away from the Mulligan Tour after the 2016 season to

Kelly and Rick Persichetti

focus on his home life. He has been with his wife Kelly for 32 years and they are looking forward to retirement and a move southward.

“I definitely look back on my career as a success. I accomplished almost everything I set out to do on tourwithafewexceptions.”

Kevin Gregoire

Thankstoallthecompetitorsat thePlymouthOpenforraising$660for

Mulligan Tour Trivia

Answer: The 2005 Holy Grail, played at St.Johns Golf Club in Plymouth, was shortened to 12-hole scores when thunder and lightening stopped play. Jeff Kellstrom and Randy Norman shared the low net scores of 2-under par 47 but neither was available for a playoff and the 2 were declared co-winners.

Jeff Graunke

Making the Cut

The 2010 HP Open at Lakes of Taylor was the first to have 2 rounds and a cut

Eryn O’McFitzCallaghan, Staff Writer

By the end of the first decade of the Mulligan Tour, the Harbour Pointe Open had established itself as the premier tournament on the schedulewiththestrength of a great title sponsorCommercial Underwriters Risk Management - and status as a grand slam event.

But a rain shortened 9hole championship in 2009 left an unsatisfied feeling for such an important tournament. The solution was quickly

realized and immediately implementedthefollowing year - maketheHPOa36holeevent.

In 2010, the HPO would return to the Lakes of Taylorforthe3rdtimeand become the first contestedover2daysand requiring the competitors to “make the cut” on the first day in order to continue and finish the competitiononDay2.

Thom Bales led wire-towire,followinganopening round 65 with a championship round 70, fora13-strokewin.

2024 Mulligan Tour Results / Schedule

Apr

Apr

Apr 20 Animal House Classic Tom W Litzler 74 (+2) G.Kline / J.Cubel

Apr

Apr

Apr

May 4

May 11

May

May

May

May 25

June