Weekly Recaps
Post-round write-ups from the commissioner
Tonawanda, NY – Heading into week-5 of the season, the 2017 championship still appeared up for grabs for many of this year’s putters. But after Shawn Conschafter turned in another winning performance in route to his 2nd green jacket of the season, 3rd of his career, it seems like only Conschafter is destined to win it all.
Conschafter started things off with a hole in one on the very first hole and followed that up with two more for a 19 on the front-9. Though he didn’t score a hole in one on the back-9, he did match his front-9 score for a 38 with 3 holes in one, and is clearly on his way to the unthinkable Putter-In-Hand Grand Slam. “I wasn’t much of an athlete growing up.” Conschafter confessed after the match. “In fact, I wasn’t much of anything to be honest. I was picked on a lot for being short and scrawny. This is the greatest athletic achievement in my life and now that I know what it’s like to be a revered competitor, I want to win the championship and bring home my 1st trophy to show my kids what their father has become.”
With victories in both Majors, Conschafter has taken a 4.25 point lead over Tom Barbops who finished the day with a 40 and no holes in one, good for 4th place. Before the match had started, Barbops had predicted Conschafter would win it this week but wouldn’t place money on the putter saying he didn’t want the wager to distract his game.
For the 3rd straight week there was no 2nd or 3rd place payouts as Jeff Luke and Joe Neeson tied with 39’s and two holes in one each. Luke took a risk on 15 and missed a tap-in on 16 to cause him the jacket while Neeson finished the round with 4 straight 2’s. These 2nd place finishes put Luke at 3rd place overall while Neeson moved up 5 spots to 11th. Despite sitting just two spots behind the leader, Luke’s point total is double that of Conschafter and needs impressive showings in the final two majors to repeat as champion.
Sitting in 4th place overall is Cheatin’ Jeff Hewett who recorded a 42 with 1 hole in one. Hewett’s game is not what it once was and as a result he has filed a petition with the league to lift the “Translucent Ball Band” which he claims has unfairly been placed on him in an attempt to ruin his image and his golf game. The PIH Rules Committee (Jeff Luke) has called for a hearing to take place in Nashville, TN on the 16th to decide the fate of Hewett’s balls and will inform Hewett of their ruling in the days to come.
And rounding out the top-5 and paired with Hewett was another accused cheat, Tony Rotella, who sits in 5th place overall and is still the only player in PIH history to record (never witnessed) holes-in-one on the 18th hole with the new pin placement (a fact the author of this site will not live down, infuriating Rotella). Rotella shot his worse round of the season, a 44, with no holes in one (not even on the 18th).
With several putters likely already out of contention, and it being the last non-major of the season, every putter should focus on winning this week as the weekly pot has grown to $80. How that is divided will also be interesting as 1st place is worth $20, 2nd $40, and 3rd $20.
(Editor’s Note: With a busy weekend schedule and the Rules Committee meeting in Nashville, this week’s recap was kept brief.)
Week-4 Fun Facts:
- Average Score: 42.76 (up 0.6 from last week)
- Holes-in-one: 16 (down 5 from last week)
- Best front-9: 19 (4 players)
- Best back-9: 17 (Wilson)
- YTD leader in Holes in One: Conschafter (12)
- Remy is the 1st putter in league history not to score a hole in one through the 1st five weeks of the season
- Hewett is in 3rd place despite having the 7th best total stroke score
- Barbops & Conschafter are the only two putters to have a sub-40 average; Luke is at 40 exact.
- If John Coyle and Harald Rehm post-putt and score 47 or better, Bryan An will fail his goal of not finishing last in a given week.
- Neeson improved his positioning by 5 strokes from 16th to 11th
- An, Trzewieczynski, and Coyle (should he not post-putt) dropped the most spots (3)
- Only 4.25 points separates 1st from 2nd place; 13.25 points separates 2nd from 3rd, while 3rd place is more than double that of 1st