Weekly Recaps

TONAWANDA, NY – With Putter Gate 2018 behind the league, players were looking forward to an enjoyable, drama-free, night. But thanks to the ever-deplorable Grand Island Six, the league continued it's spiral down to the depths of despair the league has never seen. Players had gathered by the first tee like they do every week to hear from league commissioner, Jeff Luke, on league announcements and starting positions. Just as Luke was getting started, the GI6 and a few others took a knee in what was later learned to be a protest against the lack of a pre-game National Anthem. Yes, you read that correctly. Several members of the league prior to teeing off took a knee in protest for there not being a National Anthem played before the start of the week's play. Rather than discussing their issues with league officials, players chose to disrespect the league and PIH veterans by taking a knee during the pregame announcements. This act of disrespect is being dealt with by league officials and players are warned that they are subject to penalty and even deportation from the league for such actions in the future. With this gross act aside, players took to the greens to begin play. The feature pairing of Jeff Luke and Mike Mondoux proved to be the group to watch. Jeff Luke shot an impressive 38 with 2 holes-in-one but that was only good enough for a 3rd place tie as Mondoux won his 2nd green jacket in four career starts, shooting a 37 with 2 holes-in-one. Mondoux had to fend off his GI6 member Shawn Conschafter who shot a 38 with  3 holes-in-one. Conschafter was shooting a record-setting round when fellow GI6 member and couch-surfer buddy John Coyle filed a protest with the leagues rules committee for violating the "Roesch Rule". Playing behind Conschafter, Coyle witnessed Conschafter hitting a hole-in-one on the 10th hole while his playing partners Scott VeRost (45 0HI1) and Scott Mason (49 0HI1) scored twos. It was then that Coyle witnessed a rules violation when Mason on the 11th hole shot first, VeRost second, and Conschafter 3rd. Coyle immediately filed the protest citing the Roesch Rule which reads "The player who scores the best on a hole is to play first. Players intentionally not playing in this order will be assessed a 2-stroke penalty." Coyle's concerns were noted and play continued under protest as league officials informed league members that the infraction would be dealt with in the days to come. As it turned out, Conschafter finished in 2nd place which entitled him to 2nd place monies. However, league officials decided to withhold his winnings until the league ruling would be announced in the days to come. The following morning, league officials gathered and came to a swift and decisive ruling. Due to some ambiguity in the wording of the rules and contradictions in the stories of the threesome, the PIH Rules Committee has determined that Conschafter, VeRost and Mason are subject to a $10 fine and a final warning, whereby if any of the three violators knowingly or unknowingly violate the rules again their week's score will be disqualified without question. League rules have been updated to reflect this and now reads "The player who scores the best on a hole is to play first. Players intentionally not playing in this order will be assessed a 2-stroke penalty." Additionally, Conschafter was subject to 3-hours of community service for his continued disrespect to the league and league members. TMZ was able to capture him serving his community service the day after the violation had occurred. The $10 fine Conschafter was assessed, which is equivalent to the 2nd place winnings he was not awarded, will be carried over to week-5. The league appeared to be less interested in the infraction as it was the fact that Coyle would rat on his buddy. Is there a power struggle among the GI6? Is the old guard intimated by the play of the newcomers? Is it carry over from LukeOlympics where each of the three winning members declared them-self MVP? Or is it simply Coyle's shitty play and his "win at any cost" mentality? Whatever the reason, it doesn't seem to be helping Coyle as he shot a pedestrian 42 (1 HI1) and hasn't broke 40 yet this year. The self-proclaimed "best athlete in the PIH league" is sitting in 10th place overall which has him playing with Harald Rehm and newcomer Chris Wilkinson. If this isn't a morale killer we don't know what is. Rehm was back to his usual self and shot a 45 (0 HI1) while Wilkinson tied Luke for 3rd place with a 38 (2 HI1). Rehm sits in 13th place overall (and is happy with that) while Wilkinson moved to 2nd place overall, just behind Luke who remained in 1st place overall. In 5th place overall is Scott Wilson who continues his impressive year shooting a 39 (0 HI1). His playing partner, Jay Flemming, continued his roller-coaster year by shooting another 44 (0 HI1) which puts him in 7th overall. Flemming hasn't been able to put an entire round together but is looking to make a run at his first major in week-5. The threesome of Pat Holden, Tony Rotella and Tim Roesch proved to be an interesting grouping. Holden, who after the round informed the media "he's figured it out", shot a 41 (0 HI1) which was good enough to move him into the top-10, sitting in 9th place overall. After shooting his 2nd consecutive decent week, Holden was asked what he "figured out". He sheepishly replied "The key is to not play with any hot bodies. It distracts me playing with a mans-man. Weeks one and two I was paired with some real studs. Playing with Rotella (43 1HI1) and Roesch (48 0HI1) was a Godsend. Can I play with them every week?" It's unclear if his putting play or post-game hotbox was the reason for his ask, but Holden was disappointed to learn that the pairings are determined by the standings and not by how turned on or off a player is. We'll see if things work to his liking in the weeks to follow. Rounding out the groupings was Joe LaBuda, Tim Remy, and Brian An. LaBuda shot a grouping best 43 (1 HI1) while Remy and An recorded their first holes-in-one shooting a 44 (1 HI1) and 47 (1 HI1) respectively. Remy credited his improved play to the fact he intentionally used a house putter and steered clear from his usual pleated pants and sported some sweatpants this week. It's unclear what Remy will be wearing in week-5 as he attempts to win his 2nd green jacket, his first coming the first week of PIH history. After play, LaBuda is in 18th while An sits in 19th and Remy in 21st. If this group doesn't turn things around they'll find themselves playing together week in and week out. Not present this week, and pre-putting, was Tom Barbops, Frank Diames and Nick Keil. Barbops shot a 40 (0 HI1) and moved to 3rd place overall. DiJames shot a 42 (2 HI1) and now sits in a disappointing 14th place overall. Keil shot a 42 (0 HI1) and finished in 10th place for the 2nd consecutive week and now sits in 16th place overall. Week-5 is The US Open and could be a make or break week for many league members. Week-5 may also be a make or break for the league as the antics of a few, if continued, could turn this league into the defunct XPIHL the GI6 attempted to form years ago, something Coyle has been grumbling about starting again in protest of all the great things the PIH league offers its players. After all, Coyle hates great. Week-4 Fun Facts:

• Average Score: 43.402 (0.076 better than last week)
• Holes-in-one: 7 (Conschafter)
• 2 players haven’t recorded a Hole-In-One: Robinson & Geniti
• Barbops, Luke, Barbops, and Mondoux are the only sub-40 average putters
• Harald is in 13th place; he hasn't been this high since week-2 last year (No worries, he could drop after makeups)
• GI6: Avg. Score – 42.21
• Getzville7: Avg. Score – 44.61