Week 20 Recap

The league leader didn't wait around. Orlando Flores won each of the first four holes, and Brit Harvey made double or worse on every one of them, which is a rough way to open even with 8 strokes in your pocket. To his credit, Harvey fought back, taking No. 5, No. 6 and No. 8 around a halve on hole 7. Flores had his own wobbles, with doubles on No. 5 and No. 8, but he closed out hole 9 and carded a gross 42, net 41, to Harvey's gross 53, net 44. The loss snaps Harvey's three-match winning streak, and he'll be thinking about that opening stretch for a while.

Todd Sewell kept pace in second with a steady gross 42, net 38, and he was sharp early too: his tee shot on hole 2 won closest to the pin. Kevin Nicholson made a real match of it, splitting the middle holes, taking No. 4 and No. 5 and grabbing hole 9 with a stroke. But Sewell won No. 2, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 7, and Nicholson's six double-or-worse holes made the difference. Gross 50, net 41 for Nicholson, who'll wonder how close this gets without a couple of those big numbers.

Call it an upset that didn't look like one on the scorecard. Doug Baird, ranked 15th coming in, made double or worse on five holes and still beat 10th-ranked Jason Maxwell, because Maxwell matched him blow-up for blow-up. Baird won hole 1, then ran off No. 3 through No. 6, using his strokes to win holes he was doubling. Maxwell took No. 2, No. 8 and No. 9 late, but the damage was done. Baird's gross 52 became a net 38, good for low net in the match, against Maxwell's gross 50, net 43. Not pretty, but it counts.

Joe Olson got a stroke on every hole against Jeff Hunt and made the most of them early, winning No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 for a fast lead. Hunt was the better ball-striker, posting a gross 41 with just one hiccup, a double on hole 5, and he rallied to take No. 6, No. 7 and No. 9. It came up short. Olson's gross 48 worked out to a net 37 against Hunt's net 39, and the low-net point sealed it. That ends Hunt's three-match winning streak.

This one was an adventure for both men, and it went down to the last point. Tom Pehr picked up on hole 1 and still halved it, since Jimmie Rains picked up there too. Rains also picked up on No. 4 and No. 7 and made double or worse on every hole except No. 8, yet a stroke on every hole kept him in it. Pehr controlled the middle, winning No. 4 through No. 7 after taking No. 2, while Rains won No. 3, No. 8 and No. 9. Rains even took low net, 42 to 43, off a gross 56, which takes some doing. Pehr's gross 47 and his hole wins were just enough to edge it.

The match of the night, and the round of the night. Andy Dean shot a gross 37, net 33, his best of the season, with no doubles and the only birdie in the league, on hole 5. Jeff Kardas didn't play badly at all. He posted a gross 40, net 34, which wins most weeks, and he took No. 4 and No. 8. Dean answered by winning No. 1, No. 5 and No. 9, with the rest halved. Kardas can take some comfort in his wallet, winning closest to the pin on hole 8 and longest putt on hole 9, but the third-ranked man got knocked off by the eighth-ranked guy on a night when he was on his game.

Dennis Candelaria, ranked 9th, pulled the upset on 5th-ranked Thomas Jaramillo by bookending the round. He won No. 1 and No. 2, then No. 7 and No. 8, with Jaramillo's only wins coming on No. 5 and No. 6. Both players had their share of big numbers, but Jaramillo had six double-or-worse holes to Candelaria's four. Gross 47, net 38 for Candelaria against Jaramillo's gross 51, net 40.

Paul Rael drew the league leader's card and played it to a standstill, 5–5. He jumped out by winning No. 1, and from there the two traded punches: Flores's card answered on No. 2, Rael took No. 5, the card got No. 7, Rael grabbed No. 8 and the card closed things out on No. 9, with No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 halved. The back stretch was an odd one. Rael made double or worse on every hole from No. 6 through No. 9 and still squeezed a win out of No. 8, where the card had a double of its own and Rael had a stroke. He finished at gross 50, net 41, the same net 41 Flores posted, so even the low-net point got split down the middle. Six double-or-worse holes in all means Rael left a win sitting on the table against a card that was there for the taking, and he'll hear about that one at the bar.

The prize pot came to 75, split three ways. Todd Sewell took closest to the pin on hole 2, and Jeff Kardas collected the other two, closest to the pin on hole 8 and longest putt on hole 9. That softens the loss to Dean, if only a little. The two win streaks that came into the night, Brit Harvey's and Jeff Hunt's, both ended at three.

Nobody in the top five moved. Orlando Flores closes the regular season as leader with 109 points, ahead of Todd Sewell at 104, Jeff Kardas at 101, Tom Pehr at 99.5 and Thomas Jaramillo at 96. Flores and Sewell both won, while Kardas and Jaramillo lost and still held on. With no regular weeks remaining, that's the final regular-season order, and Andy Dean heads into whatever comes next with a 37 he'll be talking about for a while.