The Fifth Cave Cup

After three years of black reign, the Cavers embarked on their first flight, a trip to the Legacy on Lanier Resort in Buford, Georgia for the fifth rendition of the Cave Cup. Down 3-1 in the Cup, Red Captain Sean Hennessy felt pressure to bring home a win; Black Captain Matt Taylor was trying to keep the train rolling and survive the Georgia heat in his pants. In the now customary turn of events, both teams scrambled to fill their rosters at the last second after personal reasons sidelined the Houlihan brothers. After these last second roster changes, a night of shenanigans in Atlanta, and about 100 free pimento cheese sandwiches, the 2019 Cave Cup was underway.

 

In unprecedented fashion, the first pairing out in the 100+ degree temperatures featured three first time Cavers: Luke Andrade and Jon Keating for Black vs. Jeffrey “Jizzwater” Johnson and seasoned veteran Ryan Penders. The matched halved and the Cup was underway. Red Captain Sean Hennessy followed that pairing with the winningest pairing in Cup history with Adam Hall and Ryan “Chex” Andrichik defeating Sean Truesdale and Andrew Spesia 4&3. Red took another point early with Captain Hennessy and Shai Weinstein defeating Jer Wallace and Nick Fox 3&2 in a back-and-forth battle. However, Captain Matt Taylor’s Black Squad stormed back winning the next three matches: Captain Taylor and Pat Hall defeated Matt Truesdale and Max Malecki 4&3, Corey “Bing” Bingham and Joe “Toes” Spesia smacked Ethan Nash and Paul Marconi 6&5, and Mark Krull and Corey “Cactus” Marks defeated Nick “Fogie” Foglton and Bryan Hennessy 2&1 in a match where Krull would later describe his partner Cactus’ play as ‘absolutely dialed’ and that ‘he carried the match’. After the morning scramble round, Black had the lead 3.5-2.5, and the feeling was all too familiar.

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As any Caver knows, things can get weird in that Saturday afternoon alternate shot round. Red quickly evened the score after an absolute beating was delivered by A Hall and Jizzwater 9&7 over Andrew Spesia and J Wallace. However, black quickly answered with two points when S Truesdale and Captain Taylor defeated Captain Hennessy and M Truesdale 5&3 and Marks and Andrade defeated Penders and Weinstein 3&2. Red answered back with a 6&4 victory from Nashy and Chex over Krull and Joey Toes. P Hall and Jon Keating countered for Black Squad with an 8&6 drubbing of Malecki and Marconi. But then … it happened… the moment that changed the Cup for the Red Squad and birthed a legend. After blowing a 5-up lead with 6 to play, Fogie and B Hen were all square with Bing and Fox heading into 18. Staring at a possible 2-3 point deficit heading into Sunday, Fogie stood in the greenside bunker with his yellow ball sitting up in the sand. The same man that holed out against S Truesdale on Sunday back at the very first Cave Cup, did it again. Fogie jarred the bunker shot; B Hen delivered a tackle Coach Dough would have been proud of; and the Red Squad, a dogpile and flurry of Red piled high, pulled within one: 6.5-5.5.

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Sunday pairings produced another iconic Cup moment. Upon hearing his matchup against A Hall, Corey “Cactus” Marks smashed a plate over his head and announced that A Hall was the “sorriest golfer here!” Feeding off that spark from Fogie the day before, Red came out firing with three straight points. The first pairing out was A Hall vs Cactus. After A Hall’s tee shot on one found the trees, Marks proudly boasted “Welcome to your funeral!” Unfortunately, for Mr. Marks, it was his funeral that day, as A Hall put the beating on him 5&4. The “sorriest golfer here” had gone 3-0 without ever playing a hole past 15 that weekend. That victory was followed quickly by wins from Jeffy Jizz over Bing (2&1) and Chex, who outclassed the talented rookie Andrade (7&6). Down two points on the live leaderboard, Black made a Sunday charge when Tiger, himself, Captain Matt Taylor, defeated Penders. Red immediately got that point back when M Truesdale defeated Fox 4&3. Black evened the Cup winning two straight: Krull over Captain Hennessy 2 up and S Truesdale over yesterday’s hero Fogie 3&2.

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Rumors started to spread throughout the course that of the last 5 points remaining, a lot were turning red in a hurry. But, despite that speculation, Weinstein and Wallace remained locked in a tight battle when, on 17, a heroic shot out of the trees by Weinstein (after his final driver off the deck of the weekend was sliced into oblivion) gave him life. An all-time Cup debate was avoided after Weinstein forgot what Jer was putting for and picked up his golf ball… after much deliberation (and by deliberation we mean everyone profusely and vehemently explaining that he MAY NOT re-drop and play because “he knew where his putt was from”), Weinstein proceeded to drop his ball back down and attempt to make his putt anyway- thankfully it did not go in, and the crisis was averted. Weinstein and Wallace went on to halve the match, putting the Cup at all square heading into the final 4 groups. Those final 4 groups delivered a red wave Marconi would be proud of: Nash defeated Andrew Spesia (5&4), Max defeated P Hall (4&3), and B Hen defeated Jon Keating (3&2). Toes defeating Marconi (2&1) was the only point of the final four that the Black squad secured. It was finally over- Red had finally done it! The Black reign was over.

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What ensued at the Red House can only be described as the best Cup celebration of all time. From Matty Trues dolphin diving through the door, to a tradition that haunts Black squad to this day being born … no party has topped the Lanier victory party... until next time… A Hall, play that shit... FIREBALL!