Weekly Recaps

TONAWANDA, NY – "Hostile." That was how Jeff Luke described the environment before the 6^th Annual PIH Masters teed off on Thursday.

“The energy in the air was hostile. There is no other way to put it.” said Jeff Luke after shooting a personal best 34 with 2 holes-in-one, one hole-in-one short of the course record set the previous week by Jason Cox.

“It started at the Grill and it ended in the hallway.” Luke continued. “John Coyle came in all hot and bothered about his lack of press coverage and started taking shots at me. I told him ‘I have no control over the press and what is written in the recap each week. Maybe finishing 12^th in week-1 had something to do with the lack of coverage.’ He’s a second-rate attorney that can't handle the truth and a third-rate putter that can't handle the links. Put that in the recap.” Luke shouted at the press gallery as he took another sip from the crystal chalice the winners drink from after taking the green jacket.

And the hostility and anger towards Luke didn’t stop there. It only accelerated. “Leaving Coyle to pout, I proceeded to get the pairings on the course when I had to deal with a few late scheduling changes that forced me to wait for (Mike) Mondoux and have to putt with him.” Luke explained. “The pairings are set and if everyone shows up on time there wouldn’t be any issues. But guys like Mondoux think the league revolves around him. Well, it doesn't.” clarified Luke clearly agitated by the lack of respect the league continues to show league officials at the starter's hut. “Mondoux shows up late and didn’t have time for a drink. He's all pissy in the hallway and it continued from the first putt. He misses a few putts and by the 7^th hole he was blaming me for his shitty play.” Luke explained. "This energy gave me greater focus. I hope they bring that energy every week."

The 6th hole was the turning point for Mondoux's. The 7th was it for Luke. Draining his 5^th consecutive hole-in-one on the 7^th hole (3 in week play, 2 in practice rounds), there was no turning back from there. Luke had honors from the 1^st hole through the 18^th hole, where he drained yet another hole-in-one to close the round and secure a record 3^rd PIH Masters title in as many years.

“It feels good to be on atop the leaderboard again.” said Luke as the standings were announced. But Luke’s winning night wasn’t over just yet. With 13 putters participating in hallway putting, Luke took home the victory there too.

“Look at bitch-boy leave.” said Luke pointing at Mondoux storming out of the Dome. “He has no one to be angry about but himself. Putting is an individual sport that takes a high-level of athleticism. Maybe Mondoux has to realize that his days have passed and his game isn’t what it used to be.”

Mondoux went into the Masters in 5^th and now sits in 6^th place, just 0.25 points ahead of his mentor and fellow has-been-athlete Shawn Conschafter. Vegas prognosticators have Mondoux’s slide continuing in week-4 with a +1450 to win the green jacket next week. That is surely a bet no one will want to take given his mental state.  

With the victory, Luke now sits in 2^nd place overall, just 3.75 points behind the leader, Jason Cox who finished 4^th with a pre-putt 37-2.

Finishing 2^nd was Coyle, who did his best to be part of the story, on the course and off, by shooting a 36-2. Coyle now sits in 4^th place and Vegas has no faith in him finishing in the money come year’s end. Vegas has Coyle at +1750 to finish the year out and in the money.

Pre-putting a 36-1, Chris Wilkinson finished 3^rd and moved to 5^th overall in the standings. Despite having the 2^nd best career average score (38.99; Mondoux 38.67), Wilkinson has yet to win a green jacket. Many question how such a consistently good putter hasn't claimed the jacket.

Newcomer, and Wilkinson fanboy, Scott Lis offered his opinion on what's holding Wilkinson back. "He's always been average. Average at golf. Average at softball. Average at bowling. In fact, his wife tells mine he's average at best in bed too. I think that's just who he is." Not a great rep to have but, given his putting performance, it may not be far from the truth.

Finishing tied for 4^th with Cox, and rounding out the top-5, was Nick Keil with a career best 37-2. This was Nick’s first appearance in the money in his career…and likely his last.

And rounding out the 32 putter was not Kelly Caito but rather Brenan Dracup with a 49-1. Dracup’s performance moves him down to 29^th overall, making him Coyle’s tag-team partner and another thing for Coyle to bitch about.

In other news…

Joe Neeson, Shawn Traci, and Brenan Dracup were all BAP’ed in week-3 with scores higher than the BAP Line of 44-0.5.

Jeff Luke, Jason Cox, and John Coyle sit atop the leaderboard for most holes-in-one with 6 through three weeks of play. Only one putter, rookie Tim Kazkiewicz, has yet to sink a hole-in-one.

For the 3rd week in a row, no one made a hole-in-one in the hole-in-one challenge. The total pot is now at $125.

The tag-teams are set and there are some interesting pairings. Vegas has The Moondogs, The Islanders and The Legion of Doom as the early favorites to take home the inaugural PIH Tag Team title.

On the flip-side, Vegas has little confidence in Nothing But Cox, Money Inc., and The Golden Grahams finishing anywhere near the top.

Several putters had asked for the average score by year. 2023 numbers are YTD. All other years were the year-end average.

Wondering how your career average score compares all time? Wonder no longer. Some names will surprise you at the top and at the bottom. While others wont surprise you at all.