“Give Me Clubs, a Cart, a Reasonable Tee Time, Opponents, a Partridge in a Pear Tree, and I Am In” - The 2024 Channels Cup Oral History

“Lawton, I don’t think you’re a fucking asshole”

This is the third installment of The Channels Cup oral history, in the fourth-ever Channels Cup. If you are still subscribed to my Substack and not reading Splinter, go check it out as that’s where I’m writing these days. If you’re outside the Slack and reading this gigantic oral history, bless your heart. If you’re still not familiar with how this goes, read the intro to last year as adding more words to this is unreasonable. As always, I sent everyone a Google Form with simple questions I have used as headers, and they answered them and I cut and pasted everyone’s responses below. Without further adieu, the 2024 Channels Cup Oral History.

What Do You Remember from Wednesdays Dog Logging Night?

Chris: What a night.

Aaron: I had been to see Abraham Lincoln with my best friend, I don't remember anything else.

Damon: I was an early arrival and quickly learned how the wonderful lack of humidity in Denver led to a craving for water that I never experienced before or after being there.

Joanna: I remember that we got off the plane and not a single one of the grown adults had a dog obtainment plan.

Damon: I spent the day constantly refilling my water glass and hanging out with Rocky and Annie while Jake was working. At some point Jake came out back with a J (some kind of frozen peach strain) and that’s probably why I remember everyone being there, but I don’t remember any specific details of the night. Pretty sure I had two hot dogs though.

Chris: The fellowship within our group is my favorite part of the Slack, and Hot Dog Summer™ was the virtual epitome of that fellowship throughout the entire summer. I think it’s clear that The Channels Cup is the in-person epitome of that fellowship, so it was really cool to have a ton of people at Jake’s house, logging dogs. I know I told my mom about it.

Joanna: So I project managed my way through, and me, Jamieson, and Bobby had to emergency plan and buy a cookout at the King Soopers on the way from the airport.

Jamieson: Joanna and I got in early, so we were among the first few people to roll up to Jake’s house, in a rented minivan, an absurd amount of groceries in hand. It’s always fun being among the first to one of these hangs.

Aaron: I'll also take this opportunity to say that maybe my favorite moment of the entire TCC was going shopping at the supermarket with my best friend Chris and Noodles, Rachael, Joanna, and Lauren (was Jamieson there??). I love going to the supermarket. The store! The store is just the best, man.

Jim: I knew there were dogs coming but as fast as they were cooked, they were eaten. I believe I pledged to eat 3 3/4 dogs but the crew was RAVENOUS. Or maybe Annie and Rocky were nimble around the barbecue.

Bobby: Logged a bunch of dogs. But more importantly, made friends with and pet a bunch of dogs. And logging actual good boys and girls > logging a few extra hot dogs for HDS. Sorry not sorry.

Josh: I arrived just after this completed so nothing specific to the dog logging. I was nervous/excited for Slack first impressions as I’d only met Shane in person before and while narrowly missing the party of the night, I actually think it worked out that I got a very nice welcome from Jake and then was just able to crash next to a snoring Damon and Bobby in headphones.

Lawton: I was not there, but I heard the number of logged dogs was impressive.

What Do Your Remember from the Thursday Practice Round?

Joanna: It was EXTREMELY not a course for Joannas lmao.

Jamieson: I figured going into the weekend that Coal Creek would be the more difficult of the two courses to get a handle of.

Lawton: That course is very deceptive, and I hit driver on every hole to see where it might work.

Jamieson: It’s tight, quirky, and seems like a place that would take a few chances to really understand the best places to hit the ball on every hole, particularly given that we’d be switching up tees.

Lawton: It did not work in very many places. I lucked into an eagle on #1 and it was downhill from there. It was a gorgeous day though and exactly what I needed.

Jamieson: My memory of the round was that I had a great time playing with Joanna, Aaron, and the spreadsheet says Noodles, though I have no memory of Lawton being in our group? (Sorry Noods.) I shot a 77, which was okay, but not great, and I did kind of have an impending sense of doom.

Jacob: I knew in my gut I was fucked because I played one of the best rounds I’ve ever played at Coal Creek, getting the closest I have ever got to a hole in one (twice!) and making a real golfer like Brett believe that everything he had been taught was a lie with my perfect and not at all unnatural driver swing that many people say is the greatest they have ever seen. I think I may have even been beating Brett outright through #7 or so. That’s when I knew I screwed up wasting this effort on the practice round.

Jamieson: My handicap kind of skyrocketed this year, and I had been struggling with a left miss for a few months. I was band-aiding over it by telling myself to really turn my body hard, but the tight course that took driver out of my hands made that even more difficult. (The only thing worse than hooking a driver into the woods is hooking an iron into the woods).

Damon: Practice round got off to a decent start. Hole #3 seemed like my best chance to finally hit a drive 300+ yards, but I only went 291.

Brett: I played with Jake, Damon and Pitzer, and I will remember seeing Jake's mind-boggling swing in person for the rest of my natural life.

Jacob: It was one of the best driver rounds I have ever had, highlighted by a 320-yard bomb from the elevated tips on #3 where Damon drove it near 300 and Brett put it right next to the green 390 yards away. This is the last time you will read me saying anything nice about my driver.

Damon: I felt good about the tee shot until Brett hit his about 360 and was just off the green.

Erik: I only was able to join for the back nine, but I saw Brett hit like 2-3 balls out of play, while Damon hit something like 7/9 fairways in regulation. The vibes were incredibly high.

Damon: The back nine went well, found lots of fairways, drove the green on the 11th (three putt par), and ended the practice round feeling good about the next day’s matches.

Jacob: I shot an 84 and watched Brett figure out the tricky course around #8 and knew that we made a mistake not trying to get the practice round at CommonGround instead.

Anthony: I really liked the course, but Rascal noted that with all the little nuances it might’ve been to more to our advantage to not have a practice round here.

Lawton: I was thrilled I played that practice round.

Josh: I enjoyed the course, really enjoyed playing with Jim (who would be my session 1 partner) and Ivan. I also remember organizing a quick $1 putting survivor challenge on the punch bowl green.

Anthony: I’m not sure what happened to me in the punchbowl green contest afterwards. I hit the exact putts I was trying to avoid and acquitted myself very poorly. I’m not good at keeping money on the golf course.

Jim: There was a hard-fought putting contest on the putting green - I forget who won but I'm sure someone here will know. I want to say Chris or maybe Rascal.

Josh: It was fun and (what would turn out to be) a rare win for Chris. Also, as I was still acclimating to the in-person Slack a good reminder that a lot of what brings is together is a love for these fun, silly competitions that we enjoy giving more meaning than they rightfully should have by themselves.

Anthony: Rascal and I decided to play a ball each, with us switching balls on each shot. I’m not sure this was the greatest use of our time, since we’d already kind of decided I’d tee off on evens because of the par 3s. Plus we were knocking down the domestos at a steady rate. I did get a spectacular picture of Rascal’s can with the downhill 3rd hole in the background though.

Aaron: Distinctly on #2, after putting one in the "native area" off the tee, into a gale wind up the side of a mountain, I remember thinking "I want to go home, I shouldn't be here."

Jim: I played in the first group out with Josh and Ivan - had a great time. I thought Josh played well so I was looking forward to him carrying me Friday morning.

Jamieson: Playing at altitude was fun, though, and I was happy to have a day to get the sense of the yardage difference. I think the 12% or so rule of thumb proved to be about accurate, and my biggest struggle with that would prove to actually be on mishits (did I hit that poorly, or did I just not get it into the air enough to take advantage of the thin air?)

What Do You Remember from Thursday Night?

Aaron: My wife arrived, which was nice.

Erik: Aaron sweating profusely (and honestly, warranted) from the insanely awkward Barney Cameo video.

Aaron: Ogled that tall fellow, uh, Pitzer. Hello Pitzer.

Anthony: Was the Barney video a little long? No.

Jacob: The Barney video for Aaron was perfect.

Aaron: Oh was this the night when the fella from Barney made the video for me? I was very touched by that!

Ivan: I've never seen Aaron like that before. He looked very uncomfortable. I thought it was funny.

Erik: And the food. Holy shit that was good catering.

Damon: Is this the night we had tacos?

Shane: For the second straight night, we were lucky to have a phenomenal host in Jake, who did everything right. Mexican night was incredible.

Jim: Great food - build your own burrito/taco/nacho platter.

Josh: Amazing Mexican food.

Damon: We had some damned good tacos.

Zac: Vibes were amazing, and the catering was even better.

Aaron: Also, the food was excellent.

Chris: The food (Illegal Pete’s, I think??) was so freaking good.

Lawton: The food was so damn good. It was like having Chipotle but actual high quality. Could have eaten much more than I did.

Anthony: The cookies were underrated. The food was properly rated (“excellent”).

Jamieson: This was the catered tacos, right? This might have been my all-time favorite Slack-involved meal. I said at one point that I want all of my future parties to be catered tacos (this has yet to happen).

Joanna: Great food, and an excellent time meeting Jake's amazing sister.

Anthony: Jake’s backyard rules. I forgot my swag bag somewhere though. Enjoy my Rick Mabighorn towel, whoever has it.

Chris: Again, Jake’s house was the perfect setting. So fun to have everyone together. I also remember the night ending kind of early, the excitement for the next day was palpable.

Lawton: It was my first night seeing everyone and I always enjoy getting back together. There's this insane camaraderie at these events. You'd think we'd all known each other our whole lives.

Brett: I remember being truly worried that Shane would be the turd in the punch bowl and succumb to his "symptoms" and remove himself from competition, but in true SR fashion it wound up being more mental than physical.

Session 1: Fourball

Joanna: I pre-made my biscuits so that worked out better for me on Friday morning. Pitzer was great company and a top tier bacon tester. Also, pretty sure Jamieson found one of my balls from the day before. (I lost so so many during that practice round)

Ivan & Shane (won 2&1) vs. Chris & Jake

Shane: Me and Ivan against Jake and Chris was a rematch of the first ever Channels Cup match, and it was always going to be a holy war.

Chris: As captain and hosting the Cup in Denver, I felt like Team World had a built-in advantage by having the Day One rounds at Coal Creek.

Shane: I honestly don't know if the altitude was getting to me or I was just being a major hypochondriac, but what I did know is that pretty much since arriving in Denver on Tuesday, I'd felt off, and little movements like bending over to pick up a ball made me feel like I'd just run up a steep hill. Everything I read online said that altitude sickness starts at about 8,000 feet, and we were well, well short of that in the city, but I couldn't shake the funk.

Chris: Coal Creek is not an easy course, and I feel like it’s the exact kind of course where you play poorly there your first time out, you still play poorly your second and third and fourth and fifth times out, and then finally you realize the little mistakes not to make.

Jacob: I have played in every single Channels Cup, and one might think that hosting one at a course down the road would increase the pressure, but this was the loosest I’ve ever felt making the trek up to #1. Coal Creek isn’t my favorite course, it’s just one of the cheapest in the area and it’s nice and nearby and isn’t too difficult to find tee times for, so I play it a fair amount. Especially the last month. It’s all I had played. I was confident.

Shane: Worst of all, I couldn't sleep; I'd wake up every few minutes not quite short of breath, but with a feeling like I was about to be short of breath. I don't think I got more than two hours of sleep any night leading up to Friday. At one point Thursday night late, I had typed out a message to the private channel on Slack basically saying, I'm really sorry, but the altitude is eating me alive, and I don't think I'm going to be able to play. I almost changed my flight that night too, because I saw that it would have been free to take off Friday morning.

Jacob: In hindsight, they had us right where they wanted us going into Coal Creek.

Shane: In the end, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was possibly (probably?) just being a baby, and also I would have screwed my team and probably the whole Channels Cup completely by leaving. So I didn't send the message or book the flight, but my compromise with myself was that I'd give it a shot on Friday morning, and if I was still sucking wind after doing basically nothing, I'd call it quits and go home. So basically, my mindset was terrible Friday morning.

Chris: What I failed to take into account, is that Team C&C is made up of a bunch of absolute fucking cowards, who play cowards’ golf, and we had inadvertently played into their biggest strength.

Shane: But the beauty of the Channels Cup is that the adrenaline is so real that despite being bone tired and being dogged by the creeping fear that I was about to keel over, I was still excited to play.

Chris: My inability to see this coming is going to haunt me for a long time, and I wish I had done better as a captain in this respect. In our match - Jake and I with our attempt to exact revenge on Shane and Ivan from Hillandale three years earlier - I remember I had been thinking about my tee shot on #1 for weeks. Months, even.

Ivan: I take pride in having hit the first shot of the 2024 Channels Cup.

Jacob: I could hit my driver on #1 with my eyes closed, and I did the day before in what Brett said was “the greatest athletic achievement I have ever seen in my life” with my patented spinaroonie three hundo drive technique. But the problem on #1 is that driver is the club it really wants you to hit so it can fuck you over either with the houses to the left of the narrowing fairway or the woods and bunkers off to the right. You can be a total coward and go wedge-wedge-wedge the whole way on this hole if you want, but I like being a hero and going for driver-hybrid so I can say I missed an eagle putt.

Ivan: It split the fairway. I used a special club I made in my garage: half pick, half shovel.

Chris: I knew I wanted to take an iron, play things safe, and I executed the shot perfectly the way I wanted.

Jacob: I got yelled at for this opinion in our scouting session, rightfully so, although I think Jamieson is good enough that he shouldn’t be afraid of driver on that hole and he can turn it into driver-wedge/short iron, but the rest of us midcappers are really tempting fate with driver, so I did the right thing and went the conservative route, knowing that I could get a two or one putt like I have so many times before on that green, including my birdie in the practice round yesterday.

Shane: And as it happened, early in that first Fourball round was the exact moment when my body decided it had adjusted to the altitude. It made sense—everything I read said it took about three days—but it came just in the nick of time. I felt we would win—I love playing with Ivan, because no matter the situation, he's always such a gamer, and there's a feeling of security when we get after it. I liked us going out, because in past Cups, the first match has always been a bellwether–not only has the winning team gone on to win the Cup, but it's also been a pretty stark measure of form. I also had no idea what to expect from Chris and Jake, whether we might see the Cape Cod version or the less impressive Spartanburg version.

Chris: I then completely botched the second shot.

Jacob: I hit my first putt, a twenty-footer…about six feet. It was the opposite of Channels Cup nerves. I was so loose and excited I was worried I’d fly it by the hole on these fast greens, and so I adjusted, uh, a bit too much.

Chris: But we still made par to split the hole.

Jacob: While there was some back and forth, #6 was pivotal. Chris and I both hit tee shots to put us in business after Shane put his in the drink and we thought Ivan put his in the trees. Luckily for C&C, it was at the base of the trees, and Ivan had most of a swing out of it. After I got on the green with an eagle putt, I missed a chance to win a hole, which was my theme of the round. Chris gave himself a makeable putt for par, so I figured we were good just so long as Ivan didn’t drain his birdie putt, and guess what happened.

Chris: It got a bit nervy, but even after #7 it was still an All Square match.

Shane: We see-sawed on the front nine, but I could tell we were positioned well to win—Jake wasn't looking like his Cape Cod self off the tee, and it felt like Ivan and I were the better team even as they scratched back from a 2-down deficit. Number eight was when things started to turn.

Jacob: Up to this point, Chris and I had done a good job ham and egging it. These next four holes, we did not, as my game collapsed, Chris’s fell apart too, all while Shane put on the jets.

Chris: At that point, it felt like both Jake and I forgot how to hit a tee shot, which is really bad news at a course like Coal Creek, especially so when your opponents are farting their way into the middle of fairways like the old men golfers they are.

Shane: We won two holes in a row to close the back nine and take a 2-up edge, one courtesy of a sand save that would not have been possible without Brett teaching me how to hit out of bunkers in an impromptu lesson that morning.

Jacob: I made a dogs breakfast of #8 and went 4 over, made double on the very gettable #9 with a three-putt, after watching what I thought was a perfect chip instead roll all the way off the green, then I missed another putt with a chance to tie the hole in the middle of the Shanesplosion on #10.

Shane: I bombed a drive on number 10, hit a great approach, and made a very standard par to take us 3-up, and then on no. 11, the short par-4, they did exactly what I knew they would do, which was to try to reach the green.

Chris: By #11 green, we had lost four holes in a row.

Jacob: On the short par-4 11th I thought I hit a very safe hybrid well left of the bunkers left of the hole away from the water, and instead it kicked off the hill and into the sand. I saved it, and yet again, I had a putt to halve a hole, and yet again, I fucking blew it.

Shane: This wasn't the smart play, and after an average iron onto the green, I made another easy par for a 4-up lead. At this point, everything seemed perfect. I was the best player on the course and we were dominating them.

Jacob: I sacrificed a ball to the water and Joanna interviewed Chris and I, utterly demoralized as what was a hard-fought back-and-forth match just slipped through our fingers across four calamitous holes.

Shane: On #12, I hit another great driver, bagged another green in regulation, and felt we were on the verge of going 5-up with six to play. You could tell their energy was at rock-bottom, and I think even halving that hole could have ended them. Enter the undying competitive nerve of Jake Weindling. I have to give him so much credit for what happened next.

Jacob: #12 is where I got my mojo back, and after hitting a drive ten million feet up in the air but still safe, I was able to get up and down for par with a greenside chip to take a hole back from Shane and Ivan.

Shane: By #12 green, he hit an excellent shot to maybe three feet, and buried the par. My lag was very solid, but then I did the unthinkable—missed a downhill putt that, if it was longer than a foot, wasn't much longer than a foot. This was Rory on #16 at Pinehurst shit—a complete round-changer. It was a classic case of having a team on the ropes and then giving them just the shadow of a prayer.

Jacob: On #13, Chris got his mojo back, and we both were on the green in time with putts to win, and I finally drained a putt with the hole on the line to get us to two down with four to play. Game on.

Shane: I think I did pretty well putting it behind me, but in the back of my head I knew that missed putt could be a really big deal. I can't remember what happened on #13, except that we lost, but I'll never forget what happened on #14.

Jacob: Then on #14 I really believed that Chris and I were gonna do this.

Shane: Now just 2-up, we were all on the green on the short par-3, I was closest at about 18 feet, and I figured if I could just two-putt, we'd have a great lead with four holes to play.

Jacob: Putting the tees up front is a great idea for this hole because it has a huge valley cutting through the middle of the green, and it’s not as easy to see how dramatic it is from the back tees. With the pin at the back of the green, you needed to get a good shot up there, but not too good, as the back drops off quickly while the rest of the green is designed to roll back towards the tees. I put it on the very back of the green and left myself a downhill right to left 18-footer per Arccos. I’ve made it on that course before, but not often, and putting downhill into that mess is one of the more terrifying shots on the course because if you roll it back down into death valley you bring a ten putt into play. I had just made a clutch putt on #13, and I knew I had to have this one because Shane had a similar putt to mine.

Shane: Instead, Jake did what Jake does in these situations.

Jacob: And I fucking buried it.

Shane: And buried his long birdie putt. I put it at maybe 25 feet, and watching that thing go down, and watching Jake cheer, was devastating.

Jacob: I try to keep my composure in the Cup both because it is a gentleman’s game and a war of attrition you must pace yourself through, but I let loose after that putt to cut their lead to one.

Shane: I missed mine, Ivan missed his, and now it was a 1-up lead with literally all the momentum on their side. Weirdly enough, I don't remember much from the conclusion of this match.

Ivan: We were concentrating on beating Chris and Jake, sure.

Chris: We put a run together, winning three holes in a row of our own, but it just wasn’t enough.

Ivan: But we were also following the other matches' scorecards. A lot of, "My God, it's happening again."

Shane: The scoreboard tells me we won #15, but I don't remember how—Ivan must have done something good—

Jacob: I usually suck at #15 and that remained true again. I got in trouble then hit a really nice 5 iron half-swing recovery shot from under a tree to get me to ten feet of the pin…after hitting my first 5 iron half-swing recovery shot from under a tree about five feet in front of me, and I wound up tripling after my moment of glory. Chris did his best to salvage the hole for us, but Ivan played it well and got one back for them.

Shane: I do remember that we halved with pars on #16, though either Jake or Chris or both had a chance to win that hole too with shorter putts.

Jacob: I made par on #16, but again missed a fifteen-footer I needed to make that could have brought us to one down going into #17 instead of dormie.

Shane: It ended on #17, but one of the other players will have to fill in the blanks there.

Jacob: Shane yanked his tee shot into the water and said “Ivan, I suggest you do well this hole,” and boy did he ever. Jamieson correctly pointed out that #17 is a shitty hole because it’s all risk and no reward, as the trees up the entire right side block off the green, including from the fairway up the right side. You just have to bite your tongue and muddle down to the wedge entry zone in two shots and make a putt. Again, I missed a putt that could have won the hole, while Ivan hit a crucial two-putt, and that was that.

Chris: Those fuckers just didn’t make mistakes, and we couldn’t come up with enough firepower on our own.

Shane: I give us credit for holding strong in the face of adversity, and we were never going to fold in such a high-stakes match. But it's funny how the brain works, because I remember feeling a little disappointed that we hadn't closed them out in style after the flurry from holes 8-11, and despite getting a point, my two enduring memories are my missed putt on #12 and Jake's dagger on #14.

Brett & Dylan (won 2&1) vs. Damon & Jamieson

Damon: You really can’t beat being paired up with Jamieson for Fourball.

Jamieson: I remember getting off to a slow start.

Damon: The hope was that I could do something exceptional and contribute in some fashion, but we all know who is doing the heavy lifting here.

Jamieson: We parred the first hole against a birdie by Brett, who was swinging aggressively with driver off the first tee.

Brett: Obviously the fucking bobcat on hole #1, that was my "welcome to Colorado" moment.

Damon: First hole, my tee shot is shorter than I hoped and off to the right. I avoided the bunkers, but I was in some tall grass. I heard something rustling around in the shrubbery and there just a few feet away was a bobcat.

Jacob: I heard early reports of a bobcat on the course and my blood ran cold. Do not fuck with bobcats, people.

Damon: My first thought was “ooh…kitty” and I wanted to make friends with it, but then quickly remembered that a bobcat can f*ck you up pretty good. Jamieson said that he would keep an eye on the bobcat while I was taking my shot and that if it was about to attack me, he would let me know as he was driving away in the golf cart. We were down one going into hole #3. I put my tee shot into the bunker, managed to get out of there with a nice shot, and made a par putt. We halved that hole.

Jamieson: We traded pars on the fourth, and lost the short (very short, on this day) par-five 6th hole on an eagle against my birdie, and then lost the sixth when Dylan was the only member of the foursome to make par. We clawed one back when I birdied #9, but that was only enough to get us to 2dn.

Damon: Hole #11 became one of my all-time favorites. I didn’t drive the green this time, but I was able to get a birdie, and while that didn’t win us the hole, we halved and avoided going down 3 (for a couple more holes).

Jamieson: Damon came up big on the (very short) par-four 12th, with a birdie to match birdies by Brett and Dylan after I hooked my tee shot into a backyard, but we were never able to get it much closer. They took the winding par-five 13th with a par (a hole I still don’t really know how to play), and while we won #15 and #16 to make it interesting, all they had to do was win the 17th, which they did easily, to put us away.

Damon: I know it was #17 (but honestly can’t remember if it this round or the practice round) when I tried to do something extra on my tee shot and strained my IT band or something and I was in quite a bit of pain. Thankfully the Advil, lidocaine spray, and medical properties of marijuana, allowed me to continue to play.

Jamieson: It was a frustrating round - I didn’t feel like I played poorly, but I played conservatively, and didn’t make enough birdies (or even pars) to keep us in it. Even when the tide seems to be turning at the end, we ran out of time.

Shane: Elsewhere, it was another big yikes—4-0 to Team C&C. It wasn't even close, and the biggest result I think was Brett and Dylan beating Jamieson and Damon. Brett was clutch as shit all week, and that was a really rough loss for Team World, maybe even bigger than the final score, and a definite sign of things to come.

Jim & Josh (won 3&2) vs. Anthony & Bobby

Jim: We were hanging around the kitchen finishing up breakfast when Shane got a call from the course - our spreadsheet had the wrong tee times and we were about 30 minutes late! There was a mad dash to the course.

Anthony: I considered this the best chance to break my duck after going 0-4 last year, since my next two matches would be against Brett, and in singles I’d be going against Shane, who had proven himself to be a singles monster.

Jim: We were at the first tee when Anthony told me he requested a match against me; let’s see how that turns out. Josh is a better player than me so if I can win a couple of holes, I think we have a chance.

Josh: Well, the first hole was a trip. I was curious how I’d respond to the nerves of the first tee and, as it turned out, not well.

Jim: On #1 Josh had rookie nerves and was out of the hole early, and I think Bobby made bogey or double. Anthony was on in 3; maybe 20-25 ft for birdie.

Josh: A pull OB to start and then topping the follow up in the fairway. It got ugly fast. But, in an omen of things to come, it somehow worked out anyway.

Anthony: After Jim hit his #1 tee shot about 160 yards and Josh topped his, I started imagining how glorious that feeling would be. To finally put a point on the board for my team.

Jim: I was on in 4 with ~12 feet for par. Anthony’s birdie putt came up about 3 ft short.

Anthony: Then Jim got up-and-down by making an 8-footer for par, and I capped off a three-jack by missing from two feet.

Jim: My putt hit the back of the hole, popped up and fell in for par. We’re 1 up and we feel like we stole that hole.

Anthony: I was DONE. OK not really.

Jim: On #2 Bobby and I were out of the hole early, Josh was in the greenside bunker in 2, and Anthony was short of the green in 3. Josh made a great bunker shot and it looked like he was going to save par, and we’d move to 2 up.

Josh: Anthony played great the whole round and stole hole #2 with a shot from the fringe.

Jim: Not so fast … Anthony chips in and Josh misses his par putt - Team World steals one back!

Anthony: We took #2 and #4, but Jim on his own took #3 and #5 (again with a putt made from outside my miss).

Jim: And it goes like that through the front 9, both teams ham-and-egging it.

Josh: But Bobby was off to start the round and Jim and I were able to do enough to build a lead on the front 9.

Anthony: Josh arose to birdie #6 quite easily, and we didn’t know it at the time, but that was a lead they’d never relinquish.

Josh: I remember on the 7th hole, Bobby was reaching a breaking point, and we were 2-up. After a tee shot into the bunker he thought about tossing a club, and duffing the bunker shot was enough to send his wedge across the green. Obviously not great, but it did seem like the release of negative energy (and some encouragement from Anthony) settled him in and he was much sharper from there.

Bobby: The frustration of playing Jim and Josh, in that while neither was completely consistent, was that they were never bad at the same time.

Anthony: We stayed within 2 until the short par 4 #11, when, with C&C holding on to a 1-up lead, Bobby and I smashed our tee shots to within 25-30 yards of the green. Josh hit his too far and found water, while Jim hit his straight and had about 60 yards in. Jim hit a very decent shot to about 15 feet, while Bobby and I hit relatively poor shots to leave much longer birdie putts. And after we failed to really scare the hole with either of our putts, Jim poured in his birdie putt. It was a spirit-breaker.

Josh: Still, we were sharp to start the back 9 and got to 4-up thru 13 holes.

Anthony: C&C took #12 and #13 in equally painful fashion to stretch their lead to 4, and even though Bobby hit the greatest putt I’ve ever seen to steal #14 with a birdie

Josh: Going into #15 green they had the advantage. Bobby had a long birdie putt while the other 3 of us were not on the green after 2 shots and we ended up with par putts from further away than the birdie putt.

Anthony: He followed it up with a 3-putt on #15 that could’ve brought us back to within 2, and Jim closed it out with a regulation par on #16.

Jim: Careful what you wish for Anthony 😀 !

Bobby: Once we got behind, they made it extremely hard to come back, because at least one of them was good on every hole.

Anthony: It was a painful reminder of how fickle match play can be.

Josh: After that display, we got on the par-3 green, and I made a 4ft par putt to take my first channels cup point. Playing with Jim was such a perfect way to play my first match as his steady presence was easy to ride along with.

Aaron & Lawton (won 4&3) vs. Erik & Zac

Lawton: I had been looking forward to this round for a while. I had not had the opportunity to be paired with Aaron before, and I knew we'd be a match made in heaven.

Erik: This was my first time playing golf west of the Mississippi. Low and behold, the literal hole #1...a fucking BOBCAT runs across the fairway.

Lawton: He just kept me so calm the entire time. He beats himself up over his game, but it's solid and he contributed enough for us to be comfortable.

Erik: No one else seemed alarmed, so okay, fine, whatever, play it cool Pitzer. It ends up just parking itself on the side of the fairway. (??) Like I'm not about to just stroll up past that.

Lawton: Zac and Pitzer gave us a hell of a match, but it started with the appearance of the cutest death machine.

Erik: AND THEN minutes later we see two little bobkittens scamper across the fairway to join their waiting mother. I don't think many people realize how close we were to ending the 2024 Channels Cup on hole #1 if anyone got between mom and her babies. Anyways, golf was played, and I was surprisingly locked in.

Damon: We later found out that the bobcat was a mother with two babies and I remain very disappointed to have missed seeing the baby bobcats, but I’m certainly glad I didn’t hit any of them with my golf ball.

Lawton: Unlike the practice round, I was committed to keeping the ball in play throughout the round. I knew Zac would have a tendency to be wild off the tee, but Pitz was solid as a rock. Just a pure tempo swing.

Aaron: Noodles was playing very, very well. Like, exceptionally well.

Zac: Lawton went super Saiyan and summoned 2008 Tiger Woods into his body. It was unreal.

Aaron: Pitz was playing a bit better than me but frankly, Rasc was not playing too well.

Zac: It was unreal. I was dealing with marital problems and Erik and I waited WAYYYYYY too long to hit the booze.

Erik: I parred hole 1 and birded hole 2 to give Rascal and I a 1up lead through two. Vibes were high. Little did I know at the time, that would be our peak for the round.

Zac: Then we may have overcorrected a bit.

Erik: I blasted my next drive into lost ball territory, and at some point during the front nine I noticed Rascal had WAY too many texts from his wife any time he pulled up his phone. He played some of the worst golf I have seen from him during that front nine.

Lawton: The front 9 was very tight with them holding a 1up lead until the 7th hole. It was a mid-distance par 3.

Aaron: The hole before that, #6, I had completely fucked my iron off the tee and was more or less out of the hole. On #7, I hit an 8i on the green and then two-putted to win the hole. I am not sure I won another hole in fourball, but I feel like I contributed, and then Noodles did the rest.

Erik: But credit to Zac, he pulled it together as we approached the back nine.

Lawton: They teed off first and Rascal went into the water on the right, and I think Pitz went well left of the green. I had been making solid contact so I went first, chunked it and got it halfway there. With the pressure of missing an opportunity, Aaron stepped up and stuffed it to 5 or so feet. We're feeling good. Rascal walks up, drops a ball, and almost holes out from 100 yards. It would have been an incredible par, but it wasn't to be. Aaron knocked it in, and we were all square.

Erik: But no one could stop the force that was Noodles. I'm not even sure two of our best rounds would have beaten Lawton on the day.

Aaron: Did I cause the start of the incredible Noodles hot streak with that one shot on #7? Yes. Yes, I did.

Lawton: We'd never trail again. On the eighth hole, a shorter par 4, I hit a great 3 wood, followed by a wedge and a 2 putt for a par to go 1 up. We got it to 2up on #10 but I do not remember anything notable from the hole. This remained the same until #13.

Lawton: I continued to marvel at Pitzer's rhythm, and I think it kept my own swing under control. I hit a great drive on this one and was able to get to just short of the green in 2. A chip and a putt with a birdie put us 3up. The big moment of the match occurred on hole #15.

Josh: On the 15th tee, we watched Rascal look for his ball and ultimately take the hilarious shot from the water.

Lawton: This was another fun hole.

Aaron: We closed them out on #15, and Rasc took his shoes off and waded into a pond and got very very wet. I think he was probably frustrated more than trying to do a good golf thing.

Lawton: You had to keep it pretty straight to give you any shot at the green. You didn't have to be long though. Both Aaron and I put our balls in a good spot. Rascal hit his just to the left of the fairway, while Pitz went way right and was dead.

Josh: We didn’t know the exact situation, but figured that had to be good for us.

Lawton: Now, to the left of this fairway was a pond with some marsh. Rascal locates his ball pretty easily but it's just into the marsh. He says, "Well I don't have another choice."

Lawton: I think in his head he was 4 down if he dropped, which I felt was a little premature. There's so many twists and turns, but I'm glad he committed to wading into the marsh. He seems confident as he sets up to the ball and takes a mighty lash....the ball moves maybe an inch. He gets it out a couple swings later and the match is basically over. We win 4 and 3. Very good way to start the cup. As it was going on, we were aware that a possible 4-0 start was on the cards. We finished before the first couple of pairings, so could follow them around. I love watching the other guys play and especially enjoyed watching them begin another cup with a whitewash.

Session 2: Alt-Shot

Joanna: The best interview I've ever had - Mattingly.

Also Lauren's bold line of questioning during fit checks nearly killed me.

Josh & Shane (won 2&1) vs. Chris & Jamieson

Josh: This was the session I had thought the most about before the event. Shane and I had messaged a bit, and I knew alt shot was the one he was pumped up for.

Shane: Me and Josh against Jamieson and Chris in alt shot is quite simply one of my best memories ever in golf.

Jamieson: This is probably going to be the one that haunts me the most (check that when I finish writing my singles section) because we seemed to get off to a good start.

Chris: Not gonna lie, I was pretty bummed that after a year of wanting a great start on Day One of the Channels Cup, this time at home, that we were staring down yet another 4-0 deficit. What can you say?

Jamieson: I remember telling Chris on the opening tee that he should smack me if I wasn’t swinging aggressively, but it’s difficult to swing hard in alt shot.

Josh: Playing against Jamieson made it one where it felt like a win would be a bonus, but playing 4-ball with Shane meant there was still a good pressure to play well. Now, it did help that we were up 4-0. Worst case, we lost and maybe we’d have a more competitive event. But ideally, we clutched up for a win and added to the World misery.

Shane: From start to finish, it was an absolute joy in every way. After Cape Cod, an important lesson was learning that simply handing Jamieson a win in order to jockey for advantages in other matches was a bad idea, and this year especially we had the goal of dealing him two losses to start the Channels Cup. Brett and Dylan had gotten the job done in the morning, and now it was our turn to keep it going in his most vulnerable format, alternate shot, where he'd have to rely on a partner.

Chris: What we couldn’t say is that we hadn’t been there before. Lunch was good though - shout out to the crew who got New Jersey Michael’s for us.

Shane: Josh and I blended together so well. We had the same mission in mind, we had the same positive outlook, and we laughed and joked our way around the course while never losing focus for a minute.

Chris: My foursomes match with Jamieson against Shane and Josh (remember, foursomes is all about sharing with your partner, this is Alternate Shot) started oddly, as it was a very sloppy hole.

Josh: Again, hole #1 was not kind.

Jacob: I was standing behind them, waiting to tee off, amped up and ready to erase our 4-0 deficit. Then I saw Chris launch their first shot towards the woods and I looked to the heavens wondering why they hate us so much. Seeing the result on the leaderboard a few minutes later was a nice surprise that gave me a boost going into our alt-shot match.

Josh: Jamieson was out of play off the tee, and we played a clean 3 shots to the green side rough. Jamieson and Chris recovered nicely to make 6 and we made a bit of a mess of things to leave a 3-footer to tie.

Jamieson: We won the opening hole, and the vibes were strong.

Josh: I promptly shoved that putt to the right of the hole, and we (mostly I) had gacked to go 1-down.

Chris: Ok, nerves are settled, let’s get a win.

Josh: But on the second we righted the ship by stealing a halved hole to stay 1-down. Stealing that one made us feel like we had karmically balanced the hole 1 disaster and we got on a run.

Jamieson: But they immediately won the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the eighth, and we were 3dn despite again not feeling like we were playing poorly.

Shane: After squaring it on three, we never lost the lead again.

Chris: Unfortunately, my woes off the tee continued and our C&C opponents continued their mistake-free bullshit from the morning. Really it should be C&C&C, Carolinas and Canada and Cowardice.

Shane: My memories from this match are broad, but mostly I just remember how solid Josh was the entire round, and how we played off each other perfectly. It was easily my best round of the whole Channels Cup, and maybe his too.

Josh: I had kept driver in the bag most of the day, but thought I’d try it out on the long and fairly wide 10th hole.

Jamieson: When the round turned to the back nine though, we started rolling a bit.

Josh: The driver did not reward this faith as we found ourselves OB and when Jamieson stuck their 2nd shot to 4-feet, we conceded.

Jamieson: I hit one of my best tee shots of the weekend on the ninth tee, and we made an easy birdie. We did the same on #12 (I don’t think I’ll ever hit my 3 driving iron longer than that tee shot), but they matched us with a birdie of their own to keep us 2 back.

Josh: This started a stretch of 7 holes without a halve.

Chris: We found ourselves down 3 after #11, but again fought and clawed our way back to only down 1 after #15.

Shane: We didn't give them much daylight.

Josh: It basically was a case of Shane and I staying steady and the holes swung on Jamieson and Chris’ play. They hit several good shots (won #12, #14 and #15), but also gave us some openings (we won #11, #13 and #16). The win on hole #16 was particularly big.

Jamieson: That hole was listed as 184 on the card, but it was playing shorter, and the thin air and slight breeze gave me a final number of 155. A miss short to a back pin would be fine, but a miss long would kill us. The way I was swinging, 155 was a hard 9. I pulled 8, put a good swing on it, and watched it fly dead at the flag and way over the green. I think this was the only time all week that I messed up a yardage calculation, and it came at the exact wrong time.

Josh: We were basically in for 3 and Jamieson had a long birdie putt. Shane and I were watching him over the putt and talking about it beforehand we thought it might be one that he’d run past as it was similar to some other ones where he’d struggled with the speed. Sure enough, it blew past the hole and when Chris couldn’t make the 10+ ft come-backer we were dormie.

Jamieson: We made a 5 that wasn’t too bad from where we were, and my memory was that they struggled to make the 4 that beat us, but we were sunk.

Chris: But we lost #16, and couldn’t muster a must win on #17, and that was that.

Josh: We nearly lost our ball on #17, but we found it in a thick lie and I was able to thrash it forward to keep us in the hole. After 4 shots, Shane was looking at a long (60’) par putt for us while Jamieson had left Chris about 15 feet downhill sliding for the same par.

Shane: Then on the #17 green I hit the lag putt of my life to secure the win. We were great together, and I think it was a defining match of the entire Cup—we won that session 3-1, and for the rest of the team to see Jamieson go down again had to be deflating.

Jim & Lawton (won 2 up) vs. Erik & Jacob

Jacob: I knew this would be a great vibes match.

Erik: This round almost broke my spirit.

Jacob: I was excited to play with Erik because he is the chief vibesman, and that is the key to getting through alt-shot. It’s a dispiriting grind and you need to stay positive because you will fuck your partner over at some point and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Erik: I was paired with Jake and the vibes were just immaculate for 15-16 holes. I might have played the best round of golf of my life thus far in this round.

Lawton: Going into this, I was pretty confident.

Jacob: Lawton wore a shirt that looked more like a Team World orange than a C&C yellow and I’ll admit it got in my head a little bit.

Brett: The comedy of just how orange Noodles’ "yellow" shirt was next to Jamieson's "orange" yellow shirt was great.

Jacob: But the vibes turned to shit in the blink of an eye, and this became the Lawton-Jim alley-oop round that potentially could have been avoided by a shot that 99.99999% of people miss 99.99999% of the time.

Lawton: I love playing against Jake. He's such a good golfer and the bizarre swing is just a marvel to watch. Pairing him with Pitz and his metronome was a fine dichotomy.

Jim: It’s almost a replay of Friday afternoon in 2023 when Lawton and I beat Jake and Rascal 3 and 2. I believe someone chipped in from a bunker for birdie to close out that match.

Lawton: Jim and I have made such a great team before, and I thought it would go well again. The big thing was to make sure the morning session wasn't for nothing. We had the lead but let's keep it going. If I'm being honest, I was a little nervous about C&C being up big again. There was definitely some angst last year and I didn't want the nighttime fun to be awkward if we were up big again.

Jacob: The match started off well enough, as we played #1 to perfection and went 1 up, feeling good about our distance advantage we had just proven. Then #2 is where my conception of reality shattered.

Lawton: One of my moments of the weekend occurred on hole #2. We had lost the first hole, and I was worried about a slow start. It's a short par 4, but if you miss the fairway, you're in trouble. I hit a good drive, and Jim hit a good approach, but it went a little deep into the green that has three tiers. We're firmly in that second tier and it steeps sharply towards the front of the green.

Jacob: In the morning, Shane beat us on #2 because he was talking about a lesson he learned putting along hills. He was on the far side of the bottom tier of the green, he rode the hill and settled a foot near the cup. Erik and I had a chip just off the green from the exact same angle, so I took the exact same route that Shane did in the morning. I put it to two feet thinking we were about to be 2 up because Lawton had a putt I’ve never seen anyone keep on this sadistic green designed by someone who clearly has severe emotional trauma with their putter, let alone hole out. Shane was on the tee on #3 and I turned and yelled “thanks Shane!”

Big mistake.

Jim: Really the only memory I have of the front 9 is that Lawton made a long downhill putt on #2 to win the hole for us.

Jacob: I still can’t fucking believe this shit. I didn’t want to talk about anything else the rest of the day. I just wanted to run up to random people on the street in Boulder and grab them and shout in their faces “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE NOODLE MAN DID ON TWO?!?!?! DO YOU??? IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!!”

Jim: Down at least one green tier and probably more than 25 feet.

Lawton: They're in a good spot to get a par, so I know I've got to try to give Jim a go at a par putt. I take my time and line up the break as best I can.

Jacob: Lawton steps up to the most impossible putt on this or any course in the Boulder area, and I swear that if he hadn’t holed it out, it had such perfect pace that Lawton would have become the first person in Coal Creek history to keep a missed putt from the top two tiers on the front of the green. Every mortal rolls off the base of the green because that’s just how physics works.

Lawton: I feel like I've hit a good putt and when it catches the second break, I know it's going to be close. It drops in the cup like a perfect speed 5-footer.

Jacob: It’s the greatest shot I’ve ever seen anyone hit on that golf course.

Lawton: Loudest yell from me of the weekend.

Jacob: Erik and I took #3 back where he really won Lawton and the rest of us over with his sexy tempo, but I’ll be honest, I couldn’t stop thinking about Lawton’s putt. If he hit the same putt I’ve seen every other human hit from that spot, we would likely be 3 up through 3 right now, at worst 2 up. Instead, we’re 1 up and my soul has partially evacuated my body before the match has even begun.

Lawton: This was another tense match. Was again thrilled to have a calm partner. I'm not the most vocal golfer or a club snapper, but I can get down on myself and without a calm partner, it can spiral.

Jacob: We halved #6 and then I put the superhero cape on for #7. I was Tiger as far as this hole was concerned during TCC, as I missed a hole in one by a few inches in the practice round. Erik’s tee shot was a little fat, and I was concerned it was headed water-bound short right. I underestimated his strength, as it settled calmly on the six feet of rough in between the water and the bunker. After apologizing for his tee shot, I jokingly said don’t worry about it, this is going in, as I grabbed my trusty 58 degree while forgetting to grab my putter (but don’t tell Erik that, I totally meant to only grab my wedge), and guess what, I hit it perfectly and it rolled right up the green and went right in. 1 up Team World, but all I could still think about was how it should be more than that.

Jim: This match was a little tighter - through 12 holes we could not get ahead but also, we were never more than 1 down.

Jacob: After halving #9, I was feeling worn down, and Lawton or Jim, I can’t remember who, made the colossal mistake of buying us beer, giving us a jolt going into the back 9 of our friendly war. Around here is where my driver really began to abandon me on the weekend, but it was fine because Erik was striping his irons and balling out and keeping us alive.

Erik: I remember my three errors: two drives that juuust ended up on the edge of tight tree lines and were nowhere to be found, and a 3-foot putt on #17 that was hastily taken. And that's it. When you were playing Noodles in this Channels Cup, you couldn't have three errors.

Jacob: On #12 both teams were in trouble off the tee, but unlike so often in the morning, I hit a big putt to win the hole. As a frustrated Jim and Lawton gave an interview to Joanna, I like to think during this they subconsciously felt what I felt: that there was a thin line between this close match and it being less competitive, and that line was back on the second green along with my brain. I believe I heard Lawton say, “I just need to play better,” something that felt like a throwaway line at the time but in retrospect was a harbinger of doom.

Lawton: On #13 Jim hit a tee shot just to the right which gave us a tough 2nd shot. He tried to get me to do the smart thing and punch it out so he could then have a long shot to the green. Buoyed by my performance on the same hole in the morning, I told him I thought I could get it over the trees and into a good spot for him. I hit a pretty good shot, but it caught one of the trees and ended up a foot out of bounds.

Jacob: After Lawton went OB and we won #13, it felt like maybe, just maybe, we were going to help turn things around for Team World.

Jim: On #14, a short par 3 the momentum changed.

Jacob: Instead, all it did was wake Lawton up, and the next five holes of golf are the most traumatic sporting event I have ever played.

Lawton: I'm pretty upset with myself as we head to an incredibly short par 3 14th. I'm probably still in my head about the previous hole.

Jim: I think the tees were “up” for the afternoon - playing to about 80 yards IIRC. Jake was teeing off for Team World.

Jacob: Returning to the site of my heroics earlier in the morning, I was licking my chops to really try to put Jim and Lawton away here. I hit an approach to basically the same spot on the back of the green as the morning, and after Lawton chunked his about fifteen yards off the tee, I thought I might have heard the fat lady warming up in the distance.

Jim: Lawton takes a divot that is only slightly smaller than Rhode Island and we have ~50 yards left to the pin.

Lawton: The chunk of turf I take out of this tee box should be framed somewhere. A 90-yard hole and my tee shot goes maybe 30 yards.

Jim: It’s looking grim for Team C&C; if we lose this hole, we’d be down 3 with only 4 to play.

Lawton: Jim, the one who should probably be upset about the previous hole calmly steps up and hits his shot to 15 feet. This leaves me with a putt to put pressure on them to make their putt.

Jacob: Instead, Jim hit a great recovery shot to the top shelf, and left Lawton a similar putt to the one I hit in the morning. Erik did yeoman’s work to get our downhill putt close without falling into death valley below to keep it at tap in distance, and after giving us the par, I watched Lawton step up to what felt like their last stand.

Lawton: This is when this match got drunk.

Jacob: Yet again, Lawton fucking drains a difficult downhill putt with certain doom below it right in our eyes.

Lawton: I roll a perfect putt that drops in the center of the cup.

Jacob: Halving the hole and giving them some life going into my usual nightmare hole of #15.

Jim: And we’re breathing… a little.

Lawton: Hole #15 I honestly don't remember much of, other than we won the hole and we could feel a bit of a vibe turn.

Jim: I think Erik’s tee shot was lost so we win that hole; down 1.

Jacob: We still went into the par 3 16th feeling good, albeit a bit nervy given how many opportunities to fold that they had staved off. I had played the par 3s at three under between the practice round and the morning, I was striping my irons and Erik had the greens down pat. We thought we were in good shape.

Lawton: My first time headed to #16 on the day, it's a par 3 and all I can think is that I chunked the shit out of the last one. I hit a 5 or 6 iron, I can't remember.

Jim: Lawton’s tee shot much was improved over the one at #14, as he took dead aim at the pin.

Lawton: And it cuts perfectly towards the hole to around 10 feet. By far my best shot of the day, and up there for best shots of the weekend.

Jacob: If Lawton hadn’t hit the greatest putt in the history of golf on #2, this would have been the shot of the round.

Lawton: Jake hits his to the far left side of the green. I'm thinking we have two putts to square this match.

Jim: There are at least 2 breaks between their ball and the hole. A 3 putt looks quite likely here.

Jacob: But Erik hit another awesome putt in a day filled with them, and put a 60-foot lag close enough that it looked like it may roll in at one point.

Jim: Pitz hits a beauty that I don’t think was within gimme range but also close enough that Jake is likely to make it; maybe 3 feet. We felt we needed to take the opportunity here to get even.

Jacob: An incredible putt under huge pressure to take some momentum back to give us a not quite gimme and really put some pressure on Jim.

Jim: I make the birdie putt and we’re all square.

Jacob: What felt like one putt away from a near semi-comfortable victory for us a few holes ago now looked like it could be the match of the weekend.

Lawton: This is the match of the weekend.

Jacob: This is where in my memory, Lawton is just throwing alley-oops to Jim the last three holes as Jim dunks them on our heads.

Jim: #17 - par 5 dogleg right. My tee shot is safe but short on the right side of the fairway; Erik’s tee shot is ok down the left side.

Jacob: We’re cruising down the side where you should be on this hole, and they’re feverishly talking across the fairway where you shouldn’t be. We still felt good.

Jim: But Lawton’s second shot doesn’t give us a line to the green; Jake hits a good layup short of the creek.

Lawton: I'm trying to get it down to the end of the fairway so we have a nice wedge into the green. I top it and it only goes 100 yards. This means Jim has to lay it up to the end of the fairway, while Team World is sitting on the front edge of the green in 3.

Jim: I hit our third shot safely to about 100 yards out, Erik hits to front-right of the green for a back pin. Advantage TW.

Jacob: At no point in that hole until the Noodle man created one more nightmare did I ever think we would lose it.

Jim: Now it’s Lawton’s turn for the great wedge shot.

Lawton: I had spent time on the range in the morning figuring out what a full sand wedge would go. It was 85 yards. What did I have here? eighty...five...fucking...yards.

Jacob: Lawton a-fucking-gain sticks it on the cup, while Erik gave me a makeable uphill 20-footer that I have hit multiple times before (this is important context for when I become a psycho in a minute).

Lawton: I pull it out and it goes perfectly. Stuffed inside 5 feet just past the hole.

Josh: From there, we watched Lawton rip out the hearts of Jake and Pitz.

Jacob: Driving up to the green and just processing the last three holes, I realized I had to make that putt. That was it. That was the whole match. I could end this dunk contest and stop all their shenanigans by just hitting a fucking putt to go dormie, something I had not done much of that day given the immense number of opportunities I had. That putt was the most nervous I was during the Cup, as I could feel the entire weight of Team World’s comeback on my shoulders in that moment. The millions of simulations I did in my mind driving to the green told me we win 0.01% of the time if I miss this putt. I hit it with really good pace, but it was just offline, and it rolled off the wrong side of the hill.

Josh: And by the time Jake cursed his long putt on #17…it seemed like this was over.

Jacob: I screamed “FUUUUUUUCK!” so loud that Deion probably heard it just up the road on 36. Jim made his five-footer, giving us a do or die moment.

Lawton: This leaves them a short one to halve AND THEY MISS IT. WE HAVE A LEAD!!!!!

Jacob: I feel bad for Erik that he missed that putt, because we wouldn’t have been in position to defend this lead that Lawton Woods and Jim Nicklaus evaporated in the span of a few holes without him figuring out the greens faster than I saw any other out-of-towner at the Cup do it. Erik was great all day and deserved a moment of glory, not anguish, but that’s golf, I guess.

Erik: I wish I was writing about celebrating all of the amazing set up shots and short game closeouts from Jake and I, but memory is a bitch, and the missed opportunities hold those.

Lawton: Three holes ago we were 60 yards away to their 15 feet from going 3 down and now we're 1 hole away from a full point.

Jacob: All I remember from the haze of #18 is my putt that that could have halved the match went 1.5 times around the Cup. I watched the video of it back after the Cup and Joanna’s line of “how did it do that?” is going to play in my nightmares forever.

Jim: Once again Lawton and I have a very memorable match vs. Jake.

Jacob: I would play a round of golf with Lawton and Jim any day, but I’ll be honest that they and Ivan own almost all of my TCC PTSD (more on the latter later!).

Lawton: The best team performance of my Channels Cup career and I'm thrilled. We also took 2 other matches and lead 7-1. The Cup is probably over at this point, but the vibes don't seem as bad. Most matches are close and hinge on a shot here or there.

Brett & Ivan (won 3&1) vs. Anthony & Zac

Brett: Ivan and I were straight vibing from the jump honestly.

Zac: Brett is the best dude, amazing golfer, I remember saving his UNC Driver Cover and returning it when singing the UNC fight song.

Ivan: Brett is a good golf player.

Anthony: Rascal and I claimed a small victory before the match by getting Brett and Ivan to take a tequila shot with us.

Ivan: Anthony and I both had to pee a lot.

Zac: The tequila shot opened the floodgates for them, apparently; they peed A LOT.

Ivan: One time, we both had to pee on consecutive holes. I don't remember which ones.

Zac: Ivan thought he could absorb some of Brett's skill via osmosis?

Ivan: Apparently, I stepped in his urine.

Zac: Ivan is just the best to play golf with.

Anthony: After basically duffing our first two shots, we could’ve just surrendered #1

Ivan: Anthony and Zac were in all sorts of trouble on #1, but they managed to halve the hole.

Anthony: But we salvaged a bogey and watched the C&C guys three-jack from about 12 feet.

Ivan: Then they won #2.

Anthony: Then we won #2 after Ivan lost his tee shot, I stuck mine in the fairway and Rascal nailed his approach to stress-free par distance. It was the first time I’d led in a Channels Cup match since after hole 3 of the first session…of 2023.

Ivan: I was worried.

Anthony: Then Brett turned it on, and we struggled to keep up. We were still within 1 after stealing #10, but then just like in fourball, I watched C&C take #11-#13 to pull away. It led to a handshake and a presumed 5-and-4 C&C victory after #15.

Brett: And though we tried to make things interesting by holing the wrong ball on #15.

Anthony: Brett looked at the ball he’d pulled from the cup and realized they’d played the wrong ball at some point in the hole.

Ivan: I don't remember how exactly I managed to putt the wrong ball. Maybe Brett remembers. Brett, do you remember?

Brett: Then four-putting on #16 to go from what would've been a 4&3 win to 1up with 2 to play.

Ivan: All I know is that when they followed the debacle on #15 with a win on #16, I got a little worried.

Anthony: We further staved off victory by staying dry on #16, but

Brett: We were able to wrap things up with a tidy birdie on #17.

Anthony: We took about 13 shots to reach the green on #17 and that was that.

Zac: It's just a shame that Brett being so good for team C&C watered down the performance Lawton put in, because honestly, they were playing on the same level that day. Lawton was out of his mind.

Bobby & Damon (won 3&2) vs. Aaron & Dylan

Damon: We got off to a pretty bad start in Alt-Shot.

Bobby: What's the #1 foursome pairing you don't want to see if you're a member of Team C&C? That's right. Cherico & Gottfried. Foursomes legends.

Bobby: On paper, it shouldn't work, but get us out on the course and watch the magic happen. We fell behind early, but did we panic? Of course not.

Aaron: THE TECH BROTHERS isn't so funny now that Trump is president and Elon Musk is maybe also president? I don't know, I don't watch the news.

Damon: Aaron and Dylan won the first two holes. I was up on the tee box at hole #3 and remembering my practice round tee shot. Those memories were gone quickly as I hit the ball into the thick BS on the left side of the cart path and umm… not very far. I am fairly certain that Bobby wanted to kill me at that point, and I honestly would not have blamed (or tried to stop) him.

Bobby: But we just calmly won 6 of 7 holes on the back to wrap things up a couple holes early. As we do.

Damon: We were down 3, got it back to 1, then we were down 3 again after Hole #9 but that back nine proved to be friendlier and we went on to win three holes to square the match, halved #13, and then won #14, #15, and #16 to take the match. Team World was not dead yet!

Aaron: Man, I played pretty good during alt-shot and Dylan was hanging in, but Damon and Bobby were too strong in the end. I guess I had to lose to Bobby once, right? For old time's sake?

Shane: As we scoreboard-watched after the win, things happened quickly; we won the first three matches, Bobby pulled through with Damon to win the anchor for Team World, but it didn't matter: 7-1. Not quite the 8-0 start at Spartanburg, but definitive. We knew, at that point, that we were going to win the Channels Cup, and become the first team to take the trophy on the road. It felt good, but also a little sad, because it was essentially just a repeat from a year earlier. I tried to take a lesson from Spartanburg, though, which was to enjoy this moment, and this win in particular, because it wasn't going to get any better. This was our big team win, even if we hadn't officially crossed the finish line. To judge by recent history, Saturday was going to be a slog, the outcome already certain, and any kind of team celebration would be extremely muted both out of respect—nobody wants to taunt—and because there's not much energy to muster when you win by ten.

What Do You Remember from Friday Night?

Chris: I remember getting ready back at Team World house, and we were all ready to go, but then Damon got his chain all twisted and we had to wait for him. (It’s possible the chain incident was a different night, and if so, Damon I apologize. It must have been a different reason why we had to wait for you on the Friday night.) We arrived at Team C&C’s house and we were looking forward to the pizza. What happened next is easily the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

Zac: Yes, we were butthurt from the results from the day, but we walked in and they were all down in a pit watching media highlights from the day INSANELY loud. Like so loud they didn't hear us come in and say hi and until someone walked down and sat with them they had no idea we were even there.

Chris: We walk in, and Team C&C is, in its entirety, sitting down in the living room area. It is complete silence. No one greets us. That day’s OWN+ videos are playing in a playlist, on the big screen. Complete silence, still, except for the videos playing on the TVs. You won’t find a bigger OWN+ supporter than me, but this? Complete silence while watching the videos? Was this compulsory? Were there threats? If this was a bit, and they were doing it to psych us out - congrats weirdos, it worked? But I don’t think it was a bit, and this window into the operations of Team C&C has shaken me for months. It’s now 2025 as I write this, and it doesn’t look any less weird from this side of the calendar’s flip.

Erik: Honestly, the vibes were off.

Zac: Vibes were real off.

Anthony: Honestly, vibes were a little stiff and artsy.

Damon: The Team C&C house definitely had some kind of vibe.

Erik: Admittedly, this may have been from my personal frustration from the results of the day, but it felt like we were just steps away from a repeat of 18-2 and no one really knew how to act.

Damon: That’s not on them, that’s on the house itself.

Joanna: I think everyone was feeling the altitude lmao.

Jacob: Some folks said the vibes were off, but I didn’t feel it, but I also wasn’t there for the weird OWN+ thing and the only cursed vibes I felt were from the schizophrenic C&C house that had 100 different styles of art.

Anthony: I’m blaming the mural, which was too powerful and overpowered the general vibes. I’d bought a bottle of Bullit that no one touched, and even jumped into the pool with Shane, but I think we were generally feeling a bit of déjà vu down 7-1.

Josh: As someone who hadn’t been there for 18-2, I was interested what the vibe was going to be at 7-1. All things considered, the vibes were good.

Chris: Ok the results from Friday’s golf weren’t great. Whatever. I was looking forward to putting that aside and getting some fellowship in with everybody again.

Erik: Still enjoyed some bourbon and chill company to close out the evening. No real complaints.

Josh: It seemed like the tight matches and generally fun golf were enough of a counterbalance to the lopsided margin.

Jim: Is this the night Shane lost his phone (or the only night he lost his phone)? Could be! We got the fireplace table working outside and several golfers-turned-moths crowded around it.

Shane: Me and Anthony spent some really good quality time in the pool. If he ever wanted, he could be a great cold plunger.

Jacob: My biggest memory from the night was just hanging out around the fire outside while Shane and Anthony swam in the pool. It was the kind of vibe that reinforces how it feels like we’ve all known each other our whole lives.

Shane: Also, the pizza was very good.

Ivan: The pizza had a fair amount of crust on it.

Jim: The pizza was good.

Jamieson: I mostly remember that pizza. I would eat that pizza again so hard.

Bobby: Beau Jo's! Beau Jo's! A Colorado tradition! I hadn't had it in years and was so excited to see it show up.

Damon: The pizza was good, but extremely filling. I feel bloated just thinking about it.

Bobby: In fact, I overindulged, because my stomach was not thrilled with me after, and I ended up having to call it an early night to prepare for day 2 of the Cup.

Lawton: The pizza was incredible. A unique pizza experience with the hot honey although I think it might have killed Rascal. If it hadn't been recommended by Team World, I'd have had questions about whether Rascal had been sabotaged.

Zac: I was not a fan of the pizza. I remember not feeling well and left early, shoutout to Lauren for giving me a ride home.

Erik: (Also the thick pizza crust and honey was mid at best, sorry.)

Josh: The honey on the pizza crust was a bit overhyped, but the pizza was very good, and it was a lot of fun to circle up around the fire and talk about the golf, but also continue to get to know everyone better.

Aaron: Do you want to know something? The little red pepper flake packets that came with the bread-pizza? I took about 30 of them. I am still using them. They are hotter than normal red pepper flakes. I opened each packet individually when I got home and poured it into a little shaker. Thanks, everyone.

Lawton: It was a fun but more chill evening. Team C&C was definitely aware of the altitude and didn't want to go too hard. I imagine this was viewed in some circles as being lame. I cannot argue this point.

Brett: I had never been more on the same page with another human being as I was with my teammate and partner Ivan when we went to bed at like 9:30.

Lawton: Great picture of Lauren mimicking the insane mural on the Team C&C house. It did continue to solidify how much I love this group of people. We're competitive, without question, but it never seems to interfere with the fun.

Damon: Definitely a good time as it is any time we all get together.

Session 3: Scramble

Joanna: I made some breakfast burritos, once again Pitzer a top tier meat tester, this time sausage. I remember also being extremely sad I didn’t get to play at this particular course, because it was WAY more for Joannas.

Lawton & Shane (won 2&1) vs. Jacob & Zac

Lawton: Star of the show for this round and the next was CommonGround. A completely different experience from Coal Creek. Much more wide open but just a spectacular venue.

Zac: Man I loved CommonGround. Everything about it, except for the dick starter.

Shane: Traditionally, I just don't play well on Saturday mornings, the round gets increasingly maddening, and unfortunately nothing changed this year. I should figure out what the hell is up with that.

Lawton: Scramble is always a weird format for me. You end up taking risks you wouldn't otherwise and my success at Coal Creek was based on playing my game. Scramble just doesn't suit that. I don't really have a particular scramble weapon, no big drive, not a great putter, etc…and this resulted in my weakest round of the weekend by far.

Shane: I was pumped to get my second chance to play with Lawton, our previous attempt being an alt shot loss in Cape Cod to Jamieson and Jake, but even though Noodz was brilliant all weekend, I don't think I'm telling tales out of school to say that this was also his worst round of the Cup.

Jacob: As much as the alt-shot round haunts me, this one is worse honestly. Mainly because I have no one to blame for the loss but myself.

Shane: Here's the thing, though: I don't think either of us ever thought we were going to lose. And that's not to disrespect Jake and Zac, because they kept it really close and almost stole one from us.

Jacob: In alt-shot, Erik and I played really well, and Lawton just went full Tiger on us while Jim couldn’t miss a putt where we literally had one chance to stop them. Shane and Lawton played great here and deserved to win, but so did we, and it was such a tight match that really only three holes are etched in my memory, because if we had won them—and we should have won at least one of them if not for me making the biggest TCC mistake in history—we would have won this match.

Shane: But there's no other way to explain it than to say that although it felt frustrating pretty much the entire time, I also felt extremely confident that we were going to win, one way or another.

Lawton: This was somewhat the reverse of my prior rounds where we seemed to always be AS or 1 down.

Jacob: The horror story began on #1, as fresh off my range session with my driver that just two days ago had made Brett a believer in my black magic, I made a catastrophic fuck up. I had stopped to hit a few putts on this wet and sandy morning on my way to #10 (we opened on the back 9 to avoid another tournament - this will become important with a redassed marshal later).

Lawton: In this one we won #2, #8, and #11 while they won #7 and #10. I'm hoping the other three remember some key moments on these holes b/c I remember very little.

Jacob: After putting my drive where it should go, I stuck a wedge to near tap-in range. Triumphantly carrying my putter to the green knowing we’d begin the day 1 up unless they hit a long and difficult putt, I was excited to show Team World know behind us that all hope is not lost yet.

Shane: But this is the beauty and the terror of scramble.

Zac: Jake missed a 10 incher on hole 1 that really set the mood for the round.

Jacob: I tapped my ten-inch putt, and it went five inches.

Zac: It was brutal.

Jacob: I had failed to clean the sand off my putter. Rascal saw what happened immediately and in a moment of true leadership, instantly helped push me past this colossal mistake I knew we could not afford to make against Shane and a 5 handicap who had possessed Lawton’s body for two days.

Zac: I tried to pretend like it didn't affect me or matter, but I couldn't shake the feeling the whole round that that miss would be the difference.

Jacob: My gobsmackingly idiotic mistake wound up being the difference in the round.

Shane: Even though it happened, they still kept it close by ham-and-egging off the tee or just outright scrambling in tough moments.

Zac: They also kept getting so lucky. Lawton or Shane fired a shot into a sand trap that somehow ramped out and landed 10 feet from the pin on the green. I had the same shot that stayed in the trap. So many found balls for them. Again, it was the vibes from the first hole over and over.

Shane: And Lawton and I continued to struggle.

Lawton: It always felt like one group would be a little ahead on a hole and then it'd turn around and we'd halve. This probably says more to the nature of scramble. It's also the slowest format which some of the elder course marshals did not appreciate.

Jacob: The next hole I thought I had a moment of redemption, only for it to join the first in my house of horrors. I had a long putt to tie the hole, and I hit what I thought was a perfect one on a pretty straight line. It was a little fast but not out of control, and if it had hit the cup straight on, I think it would have fallen. Instead, it hit the inside of the cup just off-center and curled out. One down with literally a few inches separating us from being one up.

Joanna: I also remember a great moment where Shane and then Noodles swung and then yelled "Jesus Christ!" in succession.

Shane: I learned later that Joanna got a video of both of us hitting the same approach, and both saying the same thing after: "Jesus Christ." Plus or minus an expletive or two.

Jacob: We hung tough though, as we halved the next four holes then tied it on the 6th. Rascal was our hero, as my driver I knew needed to be special had completely abandoned me despite my solid range session.

Shane: Something I noticed with Jake the day before, and that I was noticing with Rascal now, is that both of them had an insane amount of rightward movement on their drives, to the point that I knew they'd hit some lovely long fades, but there would also be a lot of holes where they were either out of play or in really difficult spots.

Jacob: We were using Zac’s drives as I was searching for answers. Luckily, my new and improved iron swing with new clubs that actually fit me unlocked a part of my game I didn’t have before, and we had flipped our planned strategy on its head, with Rascal getting us in play off the tee and me getting us to the green from long iron distance.

Shane: Heading into the 16th hole of the day, we were holding onto a 1-up lead, and after we made it safely to the fairway on the par-5, Rascal hit one sideways into the water and Jake pushed his shot into the deep shit on the right. It felt like this is where we'd put the match away, but of course they found Jake's ball, and Lawton and I goofed on our third shot.

Jacob: I can’t remember if it was the 14th, 15th or 16th hole, but the third hole that sticks in my memory was aided by the old hardass marshal who I suspected did not like his younger boss telling him that all of us taking a little longer in a scramble was OK, and he had planned for this by starting us on #10. Said asshole marshal hounded us again to speed it up with the match hanging in the balance, as Shane and Lawton found themselves in a bit of a sticky situation with a partially blocked shot behind a tree with this fucking asshole waving at them from across the fairway.

Lawton: My big memory is us managing a half on #7.

Jacob: We were slightly in front of them and watched them escape the mild trouble with a great shot to get it on the green, and we gave ourselves a fifteen-foot pin-high putt. This one was a lot less straight than the other one that haunts my dreams, as there was a huge hill just next to the cup you had to time your descent off perfectly to hole it out, and we needed to hole it out. If I had put mine an inch or so lower on the hill, it goes right in, instead it again hits inside the cup but not straight on, getting yeeted out in what felt like a metaphor for Team World being close, but not close enough across so many matches. Rascal put his putt agonizingly close too, and we stepped back to watch Lawton take one more opportunity on the weekend to rip my heart out.

Shane. The yadda yadda of it all is that Lawton had to bury a really clutch hard-breaking putt of at least eight feet just to halve the hole with pars.

Jacob: We tapped in for a half, our spirits broken knowing that 3 razor thin putts separated us from a lead as we headed to #8 on the ropes.

Shane: It was representative of the whole match—a really great putt by him to keep us winning, but also disappointing because we thought we'd be dormie. The decisive hole came next, the short downhill par-4 8th.

Jacob: We had pegged this hole as a Jacob has to nail a driver hole before the match, as the 284-yard front tee made this green protected by bunkers on each side an enticing shot. I have hit that shot before, but I knew I could not hit it today.

Lawton: We headed to #8, which was playing as a very short par 4. Jake had complained most of the day that he could not figure out his driver, which as stated in previous days write-up, is not surprising given he spent more time looking at me, a fellow golfer, instead of his ball during his swing.

Jacob: We knew we had to win this next hole because we couldn’t settle for a tie, we had to win the match, which meant winning both the 8th and 9th holes. Rascal steps up and hits one of the most clutch drives in TCC history…but it was a little too clutch…

Shane: Rascal did a great job hitting a dead straight drive into a greenside bunker.

Jacob: …as it rolled into the greenside bunker around 270 yards from the tee. What came next was one of the more memorable moments in TCC history.

Zac: And no matter what anyone says, I know I was right to tell Jake to take driver on #8.

Shane: I put it in play, and the moment I'll never forget from this match was when Jake went to the tee with a hybrid—the correct choice, in my opinion, considering how he'd hit his driver that day.

Jacob: But Rascal believed in me.

Zac: We had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Lawton: Jake wanted to lay up and get something in play on the short hole and was over the ball when Rascal asked him to back up.

Jacob: Shane and Lawton were aghast, but I understood Rascal’s point.

Zac: I should have spoken up sooner so it wasn't SO late in his prep, but I stand by it.

Shane: Rascal stopped him just before he was about to hit—I mean *just* before—walked over, and convinced him to take driver.

Jacob: This was a continuation of our argument in the cart all up #7 over whether I should pull driver on the hole we needed me to pull driver on. He had a point, and I look back at that moment with warmth as Rascal was literally the only person on planet earth who believed in me in that moment. Had I hit that shot and we had won the hole and won the match, Rascal’s advice would have gone into TCC legend.

Shane: Jake and I laughed about it later, because I think we both knew right away that whatever this was, it wasn't going to end well.

Jacob: Rascal had given me a gift, a moment of redemption.

Zac: We needed to win the hole. A push was the match.

Jacob: A real opportunity to make up for all my sins of the day and put a mega-clutch drive on the green that a version of me was capable of hitting.

Lawton: When I say Jake’s next drive did not approach the fairway, I mean it visited parts of the course only known to the grounds crew and various wildlife.

Shane: I'm sure Rascal had his reasons, and he convinced Jake, but sure enough, the drive went far out of play.

Jacob: Instead, I shanked yet another driver, Rascal and I both hit very meh shots out of the sand to get us a putt from the rough, and we were so crushed that we conceded a shot early and Rascal went to shake Shane’s hand.

Zac: Did I concede early? Sounds like a Rascally thing to do. He he.

Shane: I told him not to—he still had a chance to make a putt, halve the hole, and take it to #9—and he realized it and withdrew the concession. But Lawton was pissed.

Lawton: As they're about to take their putt, Rascal goes to concede, which I am more than happy to let him do. Shane stops him to inform him they can still halve and play the last hole if they make it. They did not make it and we two putted for the win. Shane is very sporting I guess, but I very much believe that if someone wants to concede it is not my job to do their counting for them.

Zac: SUCKS TO SUCK LAWTON GIMME THAT HANDSHAKE BACK

Shane: He had accepted the handshake immediately, and his take was that if someone wants to concede an entire match, you don't ask questions. If we had gone on to lose, I have a feeling I'd be agreeing with him. But I didn't want it to end that way.

Jacob: I didn’t really care, it was over and Rascal and I knew it. I was still thinking about not cleaning the sand off my putter on #1.

Lawton: Would I maybe have felt bad later? MAYBE

Shane: The problem was, the margin was now 9.5—2.5, and for the second straight year the Channels Cup was effectively over before singles. It wasn't quite as bad as Spartanburg, but bad enough. For this and a few other reasons, my thought at that moment—not to get POLITICAL—was that we absolutely need to change the teams. But here we are, going with the same teams yet again next year in Hillandale.

Brett & Aaron (won 3&1) vs. Anthony & Chris

Chris: Alright, if the tricky little course ended up setting up perfectly for C&C(&C), maybe the wide open CommonGround would cause them more problems.

Brett: CommonGround was probably the top reason why I even committed to play in Channels Cup.

Aaron: Well, this was a blast.

Chris: We didn’t have any other choice, anyway. I remember that because of another big tournament happening on the same day, we had a late change and all teed off on #10 for the morning session. The downside here is that I spent the entire day confused mentally about how to remember which hole was which, because we played the course in different orders between the two rounds.

Brett: I was incredibly excited to see the course because of what it proves is possible from a public golf facility. My expectations were high and my hopes were higher, and even still I was absolutely blown away by the place.

Anthony: I had a little bit of hope being paired with Chris after our heroic tied match against Colin and Shane two years ago, but Brett had proven himself to be a different beast in alt-shot.

Chris: We knew we had our work cut out for us.

Brett: The level of golf in the match itself was kinda wild as well.

Chris: But that’s fine, and he and I had teamed up for a blinder of a match two years before against Colin and Shane in the same format. We halved that match, and could have won the damn thing. Why not do it again? And folks, I don’t know if you remember what happened that day at CommonGround, but Anthony and I played brilliant golf.

Brett: I think Chris and Anthony were a couple under on the day and kept us on our toes.

Aaron: Chris and Anthony played so so well, too.

Chris: Frankly I’m surprised we don’t get a lot more DMs and messages from all of you, “Wow Chris and Anthony, just wanted to say how freaking great you were in your scramble round?” We strategized our way around the course, picked optimal shots and put ourselves in the best possible situations time and time again. When the dust settled, we hadn’t made a single bogey the whole round. Imagine that! A bogey-free round for a two-man scramble!! AND IT DIDN’T FUCKING MATTER BECAUSE WE STILL LOST THREE AND ONE. THESE FUCKING ASSHOLES.

Brett: Aaron and I shot 65 as a team and had just a delightful time opening that can of whoop-ass.

Aaron: Lovely morning playing with Brett, Chris, and Anthony. Brett, it turns out, was quite good at the game of golf. His careful guiding hand led us to victory, and we may even have used my ball on a few shots.

Anthony: The first hole (#10) started with promise, Wurst putting the ball in a great spot with six feet for birdie, but using our proven strategy of me always hitting the second putt, I couldn’t pull through and we split it.

Chris: I have to say, for all the pressures and stakes of the day, this was an incredibly enjoyable round of golf. Brett and Aaron were fantastic competitors.

Aaron: I think my favorite memory, aside from how cool the course was and all that was maybe on #5? I think we went off the back so that sounds right. Brett told me to hit a putt kind of firm, and I was trying to do that but took a huge backswing and hit the putt (this is uphill, mind you) like 20 yards off the side of the green. Just absolutely crushed it. Brett wasn't even mad, he was laughing, like, what the fuck man, I can't believe I'm playing the same sport as this guy.

Anthony: Brett made an easy birdie against our meek par on the par 5 #11 to go 1-up, and I hit my one good putt of the day on #12 to win that hole. After a little bit of back-and-forth, C&C had a really tough time on the green on #17 (we’ll visit this hole again later) to hand us a 1-up lead.

Chris: It was close the whole way, and we even won 3 of the first 8 holes to take a 1-up lead after 8.

Anthony: Unlike when we took the lead in Cape Cod, I don’t think Chris and I felt any semblance of momentum, at least I didn’t anyway. That’s probably revisionist but in any event.

Chris: The ninth hole (#18 on the scorecard) was the turning point of the whole match. Brett hit one of his few wayward drives of the day, and after a hunt his ball was lost. Ok, great, our chance. Except Aaron had piped a great drive, and Brett proceeded to absolutely nuke his second shot to just short of the green. Easy birdie, and we couldn’t match it.

Anthony: Brett birdied the next three holes by himself to go 2-up, which included a near hole-in-one on #2, where I also hit an exceptional tee shot and couldn’t get my birdie putt close from 4 feet.

Chris: Then we halved the next four holes to keep ourselves in it.

Anthony: The next four holes were halved with stress-free pars, but when Brett practically drove the green on #8, 2-up, with Team World needing to win the hole to extend the match, the game was over.

Chris: They birdied and we couldn’t match it.

Anthony: It was a frustrating round of good-to-very good ball striking from both Chris and I, but my putter let us down mightily. We’d played seventeen steady holes, made 2 birdies and 15 pars, and that just wasn’t gonna cut it that day.

Chris: Again, that was that. Fair play to ‘em.

Bobby & Jamieson (won 4&3) vs. Ivan & Josh

Jamieson: I pushed pretty hard for CommonGround, and when we got there, I was glad I did.

Jacob: Credit to Jamieson for putting CommonGround on my radar. It’s in a part of town where there’s not many golf courses, and I used to live a five-minute drive from it. It’s hard to see too much of it off Alameda, a very busy street the first hole runs parralel to, and I had always assumed it was just some random podunk muni stuck in the middle of the city. Nope, it’s a jewel.

Bobby: I remember just being there to pick Jamieson up in the unlikely chance he faltered, and he didn't.

Josh: I remember asking Chris before the round where their heads were at and he said, “win the session and then anything can happen in singles.” Logic said the event was all but done, but that did put some added pressure on us to make sure we didn’t open the door for collapse.

Jamieson: CG definitely fit my game more than Coak Creek did, and I was able to really air it out all day. And yet, even though Bobby and I were playing well, Josh and Ivan seemed to always be making putts.

Ivan: Noodles and Shane took Josh and me aside at the house that morning and said, "Hey, go out there and fight, but lose the match, okay? For the optics." ---- Is what I wish had happened. Jamieson sank a ~15 footer for birdie on #1, if I recall correctly. Josh and I exchanged glances. "They are who we thought they were," our faces said.

Josh: I was playing with Ivan, who I felt like had a very similar personality and approach as me. I thought this would make for good vibes on the round (and it did), but I did also worry that neither of us brought as much aloha energy. We were both very well suited for balancing something like Shane’s gusto, but might find it harder to feed off of each other’s self-deprecation and steady vibes. However, I’m also not sure it was going to matter. The course was wide open, and Jamieson was dialed in.

Bobby: I contributed a few shots, which always makes me feel good when playing with Jamieson.

Josh: Bobby didn’t contribute a ton, but he was steady, and Jamieson bombed and darted us to death.

Bobby: He also complimented my "crispy" wedges, which is one of the best compliments I've ever received about my golf game.

Jamieson: We won the first hole, and I was on the second (really 11th, since we started on the back) in two, but we tied with birdies.

Josh: On the first par 3, Jamieson was a foot from the cup’s first ace. We had 1 or 2 chances to take a hole with a putt, but didn’t take them and when we somehow both lost our ball on hole 10, it was a slow march to death.

Jamieson: I nearly aced the 12th, but we were stuck at 2up through the rest of the front nine. We won the 10th (really the first), and the 11th to go 4up, but it took us until the par-3 15th (really the 6th) until we were able to put it away, when I rolled in a putt on the tricky, sloping green of the hole that was supposed to mimic Augusta’s 16th.

Ivan: We didn't win a single hole. BUT, we did halve 11 of them. I think this is the match, on #10, where I hit a ~220 yard 3-wood to ~2 feet. Bobby called it "the best fourth shot on a par 4 I've ever seen."

Josh: We fought, but never won a hole and finally ran out of holes to halve. Following the scores, we saw that our defeat was being offset by other C&C teams, and we gathered to watch the Jim/Dylan v Pitz/Damon match to see if C&C would ice the Cup before singles. Kudos to World as they did enough to carry the hope for a singles miracle into the final session.

Chris: I have to give a special shout out to Team World legends Jamieson and Bobby for earning a full point against Ivan and Josh, and to Erik and Damon, who halved their match against Jim and Dylan. Those 1.5 points enabled us to keep the Cup going into the Singles matchups. We were in with a chance, thanks to these Team World heroes.

Dylan & Jim vs. Damon & Erik (tied)

Erik: Despite the prior day's scoreline and a few comments of my own frustration, I woke up to a video from Gary in the Team World chat encouraging us to get at it.

Damon: I was really looking forward to this match from the time it was announced.

Jim: Looking forward to playing with Dylan. A cool morning at the course and also there was another team event with I think 46(!) players on each team (or maybe 46 total? A lot of golfers regardless.

Erik: I bagged a delicious breakfast burrito from Joanna and went on my way. I hit about 10 awful balls at the range, but I knew I was rolling with Damon, and the vibes would not be denied.

Damon: I felt like my golf game in the prior months was going to be good for a scramble scenario and playing golf previously with Erik, I knew the vibes were going to be great.

Erik: Unfortunately, I think Damon would be the first to admit he was not as consistent as his Thursday practice round back nine we played together. Nevertheless, we grinded with the best of them.

Jim: This was a very close match with only 4 holes won; two on each side.

Damon: This match was tight from the beginning.

Jim: I feel like they hit it longer than we did but often were in the rough, but managed to save themselves with miracle shots (maybe they felt the same about us!).

Damon: Jim and Dylan won the first hole, and it took us until Hole #6 to square things up. Team C&C was up 1 after #11.

Erik: My highlight was a solo birdie from the tips on hole 3 (#12), while Damon bailed me out of the native a few holes later with an absolute ~200yd stripe back on the fairway.

Damon: We were up 1 after #15 and I felt like we were in a good position to get the win.

Shane: A lot of us gathered to watch the end of the Jim/Dylan Erik/Damon match, and Team World did well to get a half point there despite Jim being the best player on either team.

Damon: But they took #16 and although we had opportunities on the last two holes, the match ended up halved.

Lawton: The Dylan/Jim vs Erik/Damon match came down to #18 and was the first match I remember being watched by everyone. Another insane match that had 4 total holes won, 2 each and ended halved.

Jacob: I remember watching Erik and Damon battle Dylan and Jim with everyone else in one of those moments that makes the Cup so great. Driving up to the last green, Rascal and I took a cute picture with Denver and the mountains in the background that’s now my Slack photo, and I stopped short of the carts ahead of us and surprised Bobby behind us who almost slammed into the back of our cart. Oops.

Erik: The match went to #18 with the entire Cup clinch on the line and everyone watching. "And what do we say to the God of Death? Not today*"

*this a.m. session

Jim: Our matched ends up halved. I think Coal Creek was better for me - I generally keep my ball in play and at Coal Creek there was a lot of trouble for long, crooked, hitters. At CommonGround the long hitters weren't penalized as harshly; I think that was to my disadvantage all day on Saturday.

Damon: It definitely felt like we let one get away from us here, but Jim and Dylan were both solid and it was a great fight.

Session 4: Singles

Joanna: Rachael bought me a great hat and now we are twinsies. Also letting other people go do interviews was incredible. My media team is UNTOUCHABLE. I also loved how many people shouted out other folks' wins in the videos.

Jacob: The Channels Cup confessionals were one of the best OWN+ ideas yet.

Lawton (won 3&2) vs. Chris

Lawton: I had been looking forward to playing Chris since the pairings had first been discussed.

Chris: Well, if I thought that I had done everything in my power in the morning round, only to run into a buzzsaw that was impossible to overcome, I had another thing coming. The captain’s matchup against Lawton, which hadn’t happened before in Channels Cup singles history, was something I specifically requested.

Lawton: It was not the initial thought I had but when he mentioned it, I couldn't turn down the captain’s match.

Chris: Lawton is a dear, dear friend, and I was looking forward to the chance to compete against him. I was also looking forward to hopefully vanquishing him.

Lawton: Chris is objectively a better golfer than me and I made sure in the lead up to mention that the pressure would all be on him. I've never even approached breaking 80 and my best round ever was an 87. (This is called foreshadowing)

Chris: He had other ideas.

Lawton: I started off incredibly well.

Chris: I honestly don’t remember very many specific details about this match. We both were playing very, very well, but Lawton was just playing better. Making putts, scrambling out of trouble, avoiding most of the trouble in the first place. It was a masterful round of golf.

Lawton: I won the first hole with two solid shots resulting in a par after having a moment where I began panicking, feeling like I had at Cape Cod. This passed quickly thankfully as on #2 I was in the greenside bunker approximately 1 mile below the green.

Chris: A few specifics I do remember, on #2, the short par 3, Lawton hit a world class shot out of the front-side bunker, and we halved the hole with par after I couldn’t make a long-ish birdie putt.

Lawton: Chris had 15-20 feet for birdie I believe so I needed something good. I executed the shot perfectly and it barely crests the bunker and runs towards the pin. I have no vision of it beyond that, but I hear it hit the pin. My shot of the day by far on a day full of great shots. He missed his birdie, so we halve and head to a par 5. On hole 3, I continue striping the ball and make a conceded birdie to take a 2-up lead. I felt good headed to hole 4, as I'd played it perfectly in the morning. Unfortunately, I pulled it and ended up in the shit. I had to drop in the fairway and managed to make a double that at least forced Chris to hit a solid couple of putts to win with a bogey.

On hole 6, it's a par 3, but the pin is the back center of the green on a plateau that I swear has 2 yards of landing area. I hit an incredible shot (for me) that I think manages to find this spot. Instead, it slowly starts trickling down a big hill to the front of the green leaving me about 30-40 feet back up this hill for birdie. Chris went a little over leaving a delicate chip back towards the pin with the devious slope right behind it. I go first and hit one of the best putts of my life that follows it and nestles up for a tap in par. Chris I assume fearing the slope leaves his shot short and can't make the second chip. At #9 I realize my total score is better than I've ever played for 9 holes. I'm somehow only 1 over through 9. Chris is by no means playing bad golf and he's 3 down.

Chris: On #10, I sprayed my tee shot way, way to the right.

Lawton: Hole 10 was a real kick in the nuts for Chris.

Chris: Luckily, I found it and it was playable, and I hit a miraculous shot onto the green, close.

Lawton: I hit my worst drive of the day topped to the left. I have no chance to get to the green, so I lay up short. He hits a glorious shot that I don't see land, but find out later is around 15-20 feet but significantly downhill.

Chris: I couldn’t cash in the birdie putt and could only muster a halved hole thanks to Lawton’s steady play.

Lawton: I hit my third shot a little long, so have to chip for my fourth before Chris hits his second. I hit a decent chip leaving myself like 5-10 feet for bogey. This is where Chris makes a mistake that I'm sure he's still thinking about. He tries to be cautious on the downhill putt but is way too cautious and doesn't quite make it to the slope. I believe his putt was inside my putt, so I had to make mine to put any pressure on him. I knock it dead center and he misses to halve the hole. This was a microcosm of the whole match. This ended up being massive because on the next hole I squander an opportunity to halve and make bogey to his par. It's now 2up, but it should be 1up with him having all the momentum.

Chris got one back at hole #13, but that hole will always be remembered for the insane outhouse that is positioned to the left of the teebox. I went in there during the morning round and can only describe it as "imagine being in the trenches of WW1 when mustard gas was released." I make an absolute mess of the par 3 14th to make double, and Chris has it back to 1dn. Now I'm starting to worry. Playing the best golf of my life but the last two holes have both been bad. Can I turn it around or has the clock struck midnight?

Chris: And then, we came to #16. I had won #13 and #14 to get it back to 1-down but then Lawton won #15 to make it 2-down. It wasn’t a must win yet, but it was a mustn’t lose. We both hit good tee shots, and my approach shot was right on line to a tough green, but ended up just short of the green.

Lawton: I hit a drive that leaks to the left but ends up in a fine spot where the fairway has a little peninsula before some fairway bunkers. Chris out drives me and is in what I’d call the main fairway. I go first and hit a great shot to the middle of the green, maybe 25 feet to the left of the hole.

Chris: Lawton was on the green, but on a different shelf from where the pin was. He was away, so he had to go first. I’m thinking that I’ve got a great chance to win this hole, as he could easily 3-putt from there, or at least survive to the next hole.

Lawton: Chris doesn't have the cleanest strike but is headed right at the pin. It ends up being about 10 yards short of the pin and off the front of the green. He's closer than me so I have to putt first. I have to hit this putt along a ridge before taking the slope down towards the hole. Much like #2 at Coal Creek during my alt shot match, I want to get the speed right and not have a long par putt. I hit the putt and feel good about it, but Brett has an angle on it as it catches the slope towards the pin, and I can see the excitement in his face.

Chris: What does Lawton do? Only steps up and absolutely jars the putt.

Lawton: It caught the slope perfectly and goes right in the hole. I shout so loud. I can't believe it went in. Putting has always been the weakest part of my game so to end the biggest match of my weekend with an amazing putt was like a dream.

Chris: I said, quite clearly, “Lawton, you fucking asshole.” before stepping up to my shot. Originally, I was going to putt from just off the green, with the idea to make it of course, but leave myself an easy par. Now that I had to make the shot to keep the match going, I switched to my 56-degree.

Lawton: Now, Chris did have a chance to chip in to keep it going. I calm down so I'm not bothering Chris as he lines up his chip.

Chris: I had to chip in, and I almost did. It was right on line, but lipped out. I walked over to Lawton and said, “Lawton, I don’t think you’re a fucking asshole” and gave him a big hug. He had certainly earned it.

Lawton: He hits an incredible chip that hits the hole but doesn't go down and the match is over. Chris played incredible. We finished the round and he shot 82 to my 78, an unofficial best ever. Went through the scorecards and I'd have lost to Jamieson 1up. It was an out of body experience and ended the best weekend of golf of my life.

Jacob: I will never forget the shock I felt when Chris told me he shot an 82 and lost. What the fuck Lawton? You asshole. CommonGround is a tough course, and Chris and I had played it earlier in the year right after it hosted a tournament and he shot in the low 80s and I was in the mid to high 80s. We both left feeling great and that if we could replicate those rounds, we’d have our singles matches won. Lawton walking on to a course he’s never played before and shooting a freaking 78 has got to be the greatest round in Channels Cup history.

Brett (won 3&2) vs. Jamieson

Brett: I felt pressure, really for the first time all week. Jamieson was obviously the big swinging dick at the cracker factory, and I was anxious early about how I'd measure up, which obviously showed as I lost 3 of the first 4 holes.

Jamieson: As much as I regret and am bummed out by the loss, the singles round match against Brett was one of the best I’ve been a part of. I won the first hole with a par, then won the third hole as well, and bounced between 1up and 2up for much of the front nine.

Brett: On #5 I caught a lucky break, having found my hellaciously hooked tee shot with a clean lie and a window to the green. I think I had about 170 to the hole, and I hit an 8 iron to about 15 feet and made the birdie putt, which settled me down and locked me in. I made birdies on #7 and #9 to pull even with the final boss.

Jamieson: But Brett pulled even on the 9th, and though I won the 10th after nearly driving the green, he won the 11th with an eagle to my birdie to pull it back square.

Brett: But I kinda knew things were breaking my way on #11; hooked my tee shot and came up about 2 yards shy of going in the water, fanned a 9-iron to about 60 feet and hit a putt that would have gone off the green into the water if it hadn’t hit the flagstick and fallen for eagle.

Jamieson: I could feel it slightly slipping away. My driver had started to act up, and when I missed the fairway on #13, things started to unravel. I did the same on #14, losing that hole to go 2dn, and started to press, bogeying #15 to go 3dn, and then tied #16 to lose the match.

Brett: I wound up shooting a 71, which was not only my lowest round of the year but the first under-par round of my life.

Erik (won 5&3) vs. Dylan

Erik: Though the Cup wasn't officially clinched going into this round, we all knew it was mostly inevitable. But it loosened up the mood. I was playing against Dylan, who I had just played against in the morning session. I knew my morning golf would have beat his morning golf, so I came out confident and just rattled off a 4up lead after 5 holes. Visions of early clinches danced in my head, but Dylan humbled me very quickly. He held serve with some monster drives and just chipped away at my lead, bringing it back to 2up as we got into the back 9. I'd love to tell stories of amazing hole outs at this juncture, but it was just a matter of grinding to get the result for Team World by hole #15.

Zac (won 2 up) vs. Jim

Zac: This was probably the best match I've played in my Channels Cup career.

Jim: I've played against him a few times in the two previous Cups and had pretty good success so even though he's the better golfer, I think if I get ahead a couple holes I might have a chance.

Zac: Jim has long been a bugaboo to me, a 51st state to my 50 states if you will, and the battle we had that day was incredible.

Jim: I'm off to a bad start; Zac wins #1.

Zac: Jim won #2 to go back to AS, then we halved 5 holes.

Jim: I win #7 to go 1-up but Zac wins #8 through #10 so now I'm 2-down.

Zac: It seemed like every hole I was in position to win, and Jim would just play his steady game, and I'd miss a birdie putt. It was some great golf if I remember correctly. I remember being on the par 3 #12 and hit a great shot to like 10 feet and Jim hit it to like 30 feet, but he buried the birdie putt, and I hit mine for an insane halve. He got real loud when he hit that putt.

Jim: We halve a couple more holes before Zac wins #13 and now your hero is down 3 with only 5 to play.

Zac: Then I started trying to play conservative to try and win and that is not a good plan for ole Rascal.

Jim: I win #14 and #16 to get within one.

Zac: I need to stay in the GGG zone - Gotta Get Gressive. Jim won #14 and #16 and I was sweating. We get to #17 and I hit a ball short and I think Jim did too. My chip up was mediocre, and Jim tucked it in tight. I sank a probably a 25-footer straight uphill that if it didn't hit the middle of the cup would have gone 25 feet past, but it dunked in the cup WITH AUTHORITY. I think I got real loud here. I went into #18 ready to Get Gressive.

Jim: We halve #17 - Zac makes a great putt for the halve and we head to #18 with me 1-down.

Zac: #18 is a tough layout for Jim as we're in the back and there is a long carry to start.

Jim: Eighteen is a tough hole for me; long uphill par 5 with a long carry off the tee. I need to play the hole great, and it would help me if Zac imploded.

Zac: I hit my best drive of the day 250+ and clear it easily in the fairway.

Jim: I have honours and don't clear the hazard; Zac hits a good drive; I think maybe left side just off the fairway but not in the fescue. I find my ball, hit a decent out.

Zac: Jim doesn't make it over the carry, but finds his ball and hits a great out to lay 2. I hit my 3 wood very well to about 40 yards shy of the green.

Jim: But Zac's second is also a great shot - he's running out of time to implode!

Zac: Jim gets to about 80 yards shy laying 3.

Jim: I need to get up-and-down for par and need Zac to screw up.

Zac: But I chip onto the green to about 20 feet.

Jim: It was not to be as his third his on the green. My attempt to hole out for birdie and par were failures.

Zac: Jim can't get in in 2 so he's on bogey. I miss my birdie putt close.

Jim: Zac misses the birdie putt, but it doesn't matter; I concede the hole and he wins the match 2-up.

Zac: It was a great match and if we had started on the back like we did in the morning it might have had a different outcome.

Jim: I feel like for the first time in a Channels Cup match (other than a couple of fourball matches) I didn't play to my potential. I can remember a few mental mistakes that may have cost me the match. I suppose everyone thinks that when they lose but there were times when I felt like I was in a fog. Was it altitude issues? Could well be.

Zac: I really felt like I worked hard to stave off Jim's constant steady pressure and I was very happy with the outcome.

Josh (won 2 up) vs. Bobby

Bobby: What a battle Josh and I had.

Josh: Bobby and I were locked in a battle of mediocrity.

Josh: I was 1up on 9 different tee boxes, but never got to 2 up.

Bobby: We went back and forth, neither of us ever being able to take more than a one up lead. The match itself was extremely fun, and extremely competitive. We had a great time out on the course.

Josh: Hole 15 was a microcosm on the match as we both essentially topped the ball 7 times each as we slapped it to the green. We both lagged long putts near the hole and called it good-good from 3-4 ft to leave us AS thru #15. I won #16 and felt like I should have closed it on #17, but Bobby made a putt to leave it just dormie going to #18.

Bobby: No controversy whatsoever. What's that? I have to talk about the 18th hole? What would a Channels Cup be without a Bobby blow-up.

Josh: I hit a trash drive into the short brush and looked like I might have thrown away a winning chance. But there was a drop zone on the other side, and I took that gift and turned it into a win with a nice chip and putt to take a singles point.

Bobby: My frustration at the rule of the drop zone on #18 took me out of it a bit, but I had already put myself out of it by then. I felt the course had unfairly punished me for hitting a long enough drive and not giving me a chance to halve the match, which after the first 17 holes felt like the fairest result with how we had both played. Do I regret how I acted? Almost always. But, I tip my cap to Josh while also standing by my point.

Aaron (won 5&4) vs. Damon

Josh: I knew pretty quickly there would be no miracle for Team World. Aaron was on fire and Damon looked lost on the early holes.

Aaron: I played my absolute ass off and went up 5 by #7. I don't fucking remember, and the scorecard isn't helping. It could have been earlier. I am sorry Jake.

Damon: There was some added tension to my match against Aaron as there had been some hints (and outright threats) made against my life in the weeks leading up to this match and I knew that even if I played well, there was a good chance that I wouldn’t survive. I started off with an absolute trash tee shot that went into some native sh*t and it took me two shots to (barely) get out of there. Things didn’t get much better throughout the round. I was quickly down 3, won hole #4, then continued to shoot myself in the foot and lost five of the next six holes.

Aaron: Anyway, I hit an insane approach into a little bowl of a green and had a birdie putt. I feel terrible about this, because it was a downhill putt with maybe 2 feet of break in it. I absolutely mishit the putt and started walking toward the hole, but God is good, and the ball went in the hole and I got a birdie. I think it kind of crushed his spirit. I smoked my drive on the next hole, but it was a dogleg left, and I lost it in the native area because I hit the ball comically far in case you hadn't heard. I lost that hole, or maybe halved it, again, the scorecard is no help here. On the next one I hit an absolute dogshit drive but then hit a 4 iron on the recovery shot stiff into like a little saddle area on the green. Maybe that is the thing that crushed Damon's spirit.

Damon: Down by 7 after #10, I was fueled by a desire to not be the person that gave up the clinching point (and the fact that I had no feet left to shoot off) and was able to win three straight holes to almost delude myself into thinking I had a chance to come all the way back in the match.

Josh: I was wondering if Aaron might close it out in 10 holes…a slip up on 4 ended that dream, but he was still 7up thru 10 and it looked like Aaron might clinch the cup at any moment. But Damon dug in.

Aaron: He got back into it when I cooled off and he started playing better, but I am glad I built a 7-up lead haha. Sorry Damon.

Josh: Damon found a few shots and Aaron looked a little nervy trying to close it out.

Damon: All hope vanished quickly when I hit a 61-yard tee shot with my 7i on #14 and Aaron took the match.

Josh: 3 straight holes for Damon denied Aaron the clinching point, but Aaron still took Damon to the shed by the end of hole 14.

Aaron: I was really glad to win my first CC singles match ever (1-1) and I have no doubt my play in this round led me to shoot a 98 in October, when Chris drank 15 beers at Hillandale. I retired from golf after that.

Jacob (won 4&2) vs. Ivan

Jacob: We still had fight in us going into singles, and regardless of its impact on the Cup, this was a must-win for me personally after calling Ivan out. If I lost, I’d never hear the end of it and I’d deserve it. He and I played a legendary singles match at the inaugural TCC at Hillandale where he beat me on #18 after we were tied going into it, which going into this match still stood as my single best TCC round ever (84). I wanted revenge, and boy did I exact it.

Ivan: Shane and Anthony were having just a hell of a match. I wanted to be a good teammate, but I was so down on myself. Maybe I was a good teammate. I don't remember. I got frustrated with the pace of play and let it get the better of me. Jake, to say the least, did not.

Jacob: Ivan was in trouble on #1 and I got just off the green in time to two-putt for par and take a lead out of the gate. I hit a bad shot on #2 while Ivan hit the easy wedge into the green this hole asks of you, and we tied back up as I was wondering if we were about to repeat our legendary see-saw match from 2021.

Ivan: He played great.

Jacob: Nope. I won the next three holes with just one par as Ivan kind of gave it away a little, and then I turned it on. I pared four of the last five holes on the front nine, and while waiting to tee off on #10, Ivan looked up from his scorecard and indignantly said “you shot a 42?”

Ivan: I look forward to the rubber match.

Jacob: I did. I was four up and feeling good. I usually play the back nine better than the front, and I put my driver away to grab my trusty “lead protector” 4-hybrid that I had tormented C&C in Cape Cod with. Ivan did not go quietly into the night though.

Ivan: I chipped in for birdie on #13 [I think??] to get within spittin' distance. I had zero reaction to that shot. Drag me out behind the stinky bathroom and put me out of my misery.

Jacob: After Ivan’s perfect chip for birdie that hit dead center in the cup, I had a 15-foot birdie putt, and I so badly wanted to crush his spirit with it. But alas, it was not close, and Ivan got back into it for a moment on the next hole after I inexplicably pulled driver and lost my ball off the tee. All of a sudden, my impenetrable four-hole lead had dwindled to two with five holes to go and I was having Noodles flashbacks from yesterday.

Ivan: The Gen Z'ers behind us hated us so, so much. I think they stole my putter (well, Shane's putter that he had loaned me ~2 years earlier and I never gave back).

Jacob: The vibes were at their worst when I yanked my tee shot left on #14, and while Ivan was short, I didn’t know if I was going to find my ball. Luckily, I did, and I hit a clutch shot out of the shit to get me to within two-putt range, and after Ivan flubbed his chip, I exhaled as I took a hole back with a bogey. I played the 454-yard par 4 15th as a par 5, and it worked as I hit my “par” and tied Ivan to go dormie. I closed the match out in style with a classic Jacob two-putt with a chip from pin-high greenside to tap-in range for par. Ivan conceded, my teammates waiting for me just off the 16th green gave me a round of applause as I relished the moment I aimed for when I called Ivan out months ago, even if it was bittersweet in the larger context of the Cup.

Shane (won 2&1) vs. Anthony

Shane: Despite the Channels Cup itself being decided, which is a massive buzzkill that I'll talk about more below, I wanted to keep my undefeated singles record alive, and this one had some juice because I'd heard all weekend how good Anthony was.

Anthony: I’d struck the ball well enough in the morning to think that I had a really good chance at this. The only thing was in finding my groove I’d been dialing down my swing speed a bit and getting less out of my drives than what was really required at CommonGround.

Shane: That got my energy going, which was fortunate because between sessions, the exhaustion almost overwhelmed me. I remember eating a very good sandwich and just wanting to sleep.

Jacob: Shout out to Snarf’s for making the best sandwiches in Denver.

Anthony: I lost #1 off the tee, as I pulled an absolutely middled drive ever so slightly and never found my ball. On #2 I hit a decent tee shot but my birdie putt veered at the last second. I still felt decent, and both Shane and I hit safe approaches into #3 that left long birdie putts. I got home in 2, Shane couldn’t, and I was back all-square.

Shane: This was a deeply weird match. I had some awful moments, like when I lost a hole on the front nine because I hit my approach 30 yards sideways on what was supposed to be a practice swing.

Anthony: #4 was a disaster for Shane after he hit the ball with a practice swing on his approach and launched that wedge soon after. I was up, and felt like I had a shot at pulling away…but every green I hit was matched by Shane scrambling and vice versa. Shane took a lead on #10 after I had to aim right of the green because of trees, but I got one back on #12 after he lost his tee shot. #13 was a massive par 4 that left me a hybrid, which I hit to a really good spot about 10 yards short of the elevated green. Shane followed with a slightly better, but also short, approach. I thought I hit an A- chip to about 4 feet, and Shane hit an A chip to a foot. I knew my par putt was gonna immediately break hard back downhill to my right, and tried to talk myself into making sure my putt held the line I was looking at, but just couldn’t bring myself to hit it hard enough, and it was missing low as soon as it left the putter face. Shane knocked in his par to go 1-up. He pulled his tee shot on the par 3 #14 left, and I hit mine short, leaving an impossible chip or pitch over a mound. Shane then hit another A+ chip to gimme par range, and I couldn’t make my 8-footer for par, and all of a sudden, I was 2-down. I clawed one back on #15 after Shane called a penalty on himself.

Shane: In the thick of the tense back nine, I thought there was a good chance I made the ball move in the rough with a practice swing—in a lie where I really should have known that was a possibility—and had to concede an otherwise salvageable hole.

Jacob: Big time credit to Shane for being a stickler for the rules because I don’t think any of us saw the ball move, or even the ball at all given his lie, and he totally could have gotten away with not giving himself a penalty stroke.

Shane: Throw in a par-3 on the back where I pushed the ball about an acre right into fescue so thick I didn't even bother to look—"that's way gone," Anthony said—and another par-5 on the back where I had a massive edge from just off the green and managed to screw it up with one of my few bad chips, settling for a half...on paper, it seems like I was giving this one away. Also, Ivan somehow lost my Odyssey 2ball putter near the end and I had to let him use mine on the greens. But aside from all that, I was actually pretty clutch. I remember a lot of big putts (including a decently long par putt on no. 6 to salvage a half when I'm sure he thought he was going to go 1-up), some pretty steady ball-striking, and just being resilient in response to what felt like very solid play from Anthony. Most of all, I just wouldn't let him get a lead aside from a brief 1-up edge on the front that I clawed right back. But I also couldn't put him away when I had the chance—we both played well enough to frustrate each other, and poorly enough to frustrate ourselves. All of which led to #16, with me 1-up, when both of us hard short bogey (I think?) putts, but Anthony's was slightly downhill and a little tougher. I offered a "good good," thinking that any time you're leading that late in the match, halving a hole when there's any chance of losing it is a good deal.

Anthony: Shane generously offered a good-good with us both having nervy bogey putts on #16, and it was on to #17 with Shane 1-up.

Shane: But the speed and surprise with which Anthony accepted it made me think I'd made a mistake. My putt was flat and almost unmissable, but his, though maybe just an inch or two longer, was a few degrees harder. Oops. That brought us to #17, the uphill par-3 playing really long, and a bunch of people were gathered in carts watching from above.

Anthony: On #17 I hit a wipey 5-iron that ended up just off the right of the green, and Shane hit what I later heard Brett had immediately referred to as a “concession shot,” a weird half-swing into a grass bunker/valley/God-knows-what about 80 yards short of the green and way left.

Shane: Anthony didn't quite reach the green, but he was safely short right, at which point I hit my worst shot of the day and maybe the year. With all eyes on me, I squirreled it hard left, over some little hillock that shouldn't have been remotely in play, and down into an invisible valley. Ivan came with me to find the ball, which was, almost hilariously, in a "bunker" that was the width of a footpath and ran the length of the base of the hill.

Jacob: I honestly didn’t even know you could hit the ball to that spot on the course.

Anthony: I think mentally I switched off at this point, and Shane hit what he’ll probably call the shot of the round.

Ivan: The miracle bunker-thing shot that Shane hit on #17. Doesn't even need a full sentence. Just wow. I hope and assume he's written some 500 words about it.

Shane: So I was about 50-60 yards from the hole, in the world's tiniest bunker, staring up at a wall of grass with no view of the hole. And somehow, from there, I pulled my 54 and hit the absolute best rescue shot of my life. I could tell from the trajectory that it was going to be good, and it flew over the hill and (I found out), stopped about 15 feet from the hole. If the Channels Cup had still been competitive, this would have been one of the greatest shots ever. As it happened, about a dozen people saw my tee shot, but only Ivan seemed to see this one. Anthony chipped up closer than me, and I very, very badly wanted to sink the par putt. I made a great attempt, but missed by inches, and the 4 was conceded. Now Anthony had a putt to win the hole and send it to #18 all square.

Jacob: I had closed out my match against Ivan on #16 and wanted to keep playing because I was on pace to beat my best ever Channels Cup round of 84. After hitting a nice approach to give me a 20 foot putt on #17, I recoiled in horror realizing that my meaningless shot to everyone but me would give Anthony a perfect read on a putt to win the hole. Before I could even offer to wait, Shane asked me to hold off putting until they were done, and after realizing that I was dicking around during an incredible match at its absolute peak, I stopped caring about chasing my own score and just picked up and watched the drama unfold.

Anthony: I had already hit a crappy chip to about 12 feet for par, then had my DJ at Chambers Bay moment: Hammered my par putt, for some reason wanting nothing to do with leaving it short, rushed and missed my comebacker from about 3 feet, and that was that.

Shane: He was aggressive with it, and ran it by, leaving himself a short downhill tester. There was no way I was conceding this one—I had secured a half point, and wanted the whole kit and caboodle right there. I turned to Ivan and said, "You know that feeling when you're just praying that someone makes it easy on you?" In this case, I got lucky, Anthony missed the comebacker, and the match was over.

Anthony: I think Shane and I were both pretty stunned at how he’d pulled that hole out, and it hurts to know that if I had another 20 chances from where I was on my second, I’d score bogey or better 19 times. The worst thing was that we denied everyone watching a showdown on #18.

Shane: It was definitely the tensest singles match I've played, and while it wasn't all pretty, the quality of play was generally pretty solid from both of us throughout. And I'm very glad I didn't have to go to #18. Afterward, it was the perfect anticlimactic ending—Ivan and I tried to go find my Odyssey putter that the group behind us probably stole, failed, and by the time we got back any celebrations were already over and it was time to pile in the truck and go home. We did a quick olé dance with the trophy, and that was the Channels Cup.

What Do You Remember from Saturday Night?

Erik: Paper planes and amazing mini-golf and more paper planes.

Bobby: So many paper planes. More paper planes. A tray full of paper planes.

Brett: Very, very little.

Zac: The venue was amazing.

Damon: Saturday night was great. The bar had such a good concept but not enough of a crowd.

Ivan: There were some slushie boozy beverages.

Brett: Thank you, fruity frozen alcoholic beverages, you were wonderful.

Damon: Those Miami Vice drinks were tasty and endless.

Jamieson: I would bathe in Miami Vices if they’d let me.

Bobby: Darts. Bowling. Mini golf. A live podcast. Another live podcast interrupting the first live podcast.

Zac: The live podcast was great.

Chris: We had the absolute worst Uber drive of all time, who had no idea where he was going. Our crew coming from Team World house had to get out of the car in the middle of the road, run across a median and then 8 lanes of traffic to get to the bar. (It might have only been 2 lanes of traffic, memory is hazy). We might not have made it had we not performed these heroics.

Aaron: I am a terrible bowler.

Chris: The bowling was fun as hell, mini golf went on to become a highlight of the entire weekend.

Damon: Mini golf gambling, some bowling… and the group pic with leaping Rascal… priceless!

Jacob: Mini golf was a blast, but I’ll admit it brought back some horrible memories of not being able to make putts when I needed to.

Ivan: I had a cobb salad.

Josh: I was feeling ill, saved by ibuprofen.

Chris: The rest of the night was so, so good. What a perfect venue to all hang out together, get food and drinks.

Zac: The food was phenomenal. The darts were fun.

Chris: But the #1 thing, and maybe the highlight of my entire year, was recording the live episode of “Wake Up Slack Francisco” with Lauren and Joanna.

Joanna: The LIVE RECORDING of Wake Up Slack Francisco with our thirstiest and most loyal fan(s).

Chris: The adoring crowd? The persistent attempts at interruptions by the cast of “Wasko Wednesdays?” Getting to sing our theme song live? Whatever the hell else we managed to talk about for 15-20 minutes? I’ll remember it forever.

Damon: Being there for a live recording of Wake Up Slack Francisco was excellent. I will never forget the look on Brett’s face while Shane was singing the Wasko Wednesday theme song.

Josh: Live Slack pod was off the rails.

Chris: And then the photos we took. Holding Ivan in our arms? Trying to time the countdown from the phone to make it in time for the actual shot? Legendary, legendary stuff. The fellowship wins again.

Ivan: Josh defeated me at darts. I wonder who's going to have the best description of the Rascal photo. I'm gonna go with ... Chris?

Anthony: The group picture with Rascal not making it back was great

Shane: The photo with Zac is one of the funniest things that's ever happened.

Josh: Incredible vibes on the mini golf course with the best picture ever of Rascal.

Joanna: wheezing/crying/nearly dying during the group photo.

Jacob: Can’t remember the last time I cry-laughed that hard.

Zac: But mostly I remember the feeling of floating in midair for that picture.

Jacob: As much as the shitshow of a group photo is in everyone’s memory, I love the image of Rascal face down trying to pool cue his ball into the hole.

Anthony: I gotta give the award for best picture to one I took myself of a slightly buzzed/stoned Pitz, Wurst and Rascal during "Guess the Artist" back at our house.

Damon: I also remember there was a round of “name that tune” going on and I got up to get a drink or something and thought “my room is right there, I could just go climb into bed for a few minutes…” and that was the end of my night.

Jacob: For my money, Bobby wrote the tagline for the Channels Cup that night, although my memory is very hazy and please do not ask me to repeat exactly what he said, but I promise you it was fucking inspiring.

Josh: Bobby’s inspiring speech: “give me clubs, a cart, a reasonable tee time, opponents, and a partridge in a pear tree…and I am in.”

Damon: The only way this night might have been better is if the woman I met at the airport decided to show up. Her loss.

Jamieson: I know there’s a lot of planning that goes into the between-round lunches and the post-round dinners, and nearly without fail they are always incredible, but Jake, Joanna, and the rest of the Channels Cup Planning Committee really outdid themselves with Flyteco. The only things that could top the bowling were the mini golf and the live podcast recording.

What Do You Remember from the Sunday Sickos Round?

Aaron: Flight delays. Creation of the Deb / air travel pool.

Joanna: Gorgeous gorgeous day. Beautiful Colorado golf, and some excellent food afterwards and watching football with the bros.

Josh: Riding with Anthony was a blast. We talked about Houston and pickleball and in general was a great way to play golf.

Damon: The Sunday Sickos round was a good time. I felt like crap from all those Miami Vice drinks, and the injury from day one was bugging me, but the pressure of competition was off, and I just told myself to swing easy and have a good time. I should have given myself that same advice two days earlier because I ended up playing a decent round on Sunday. Lesson learned.

Jim: A beautiful day at Riverdale Dunes. I started red-hot with 5 pars and one double through 7 holes but promptly ran into an ugly stretch to get back to my regular pace.

Jacob: I remember Jim was playing really well and I was just trying to give him as much local knowledge as I could.

Jim: I remember being on the front of the green on #8 maybe, and the back of #9 when the pins were the other way around and I 3-putted them both. I think I finished with ~90 which is a typical score but certainly disappointing after the start I had.

Josh: I didn’t know what to expect as I’d cross the century mark for holes in 4 days.

Anthony: I almost jinxed Josh's round!

Josh: But breaking 80 was definitely not it. The course was immaculate and for the first 7 holes every golf shot went as planned. I don’t think I’ve ever been 2-under before, but when the birdie putt fell on 7, there it was.

Anthony: I was his cart partner and he started 2-under after 7, and when the guys behind us ran up into us on #8 tee, I finally blurted it out to Jamieson even though I knew it was a potential jinx.

Josh: We had a bit of a backup on hole 8’s tee and were joined by Chris’ group behind us. At this point Anthony couldn’t help but mention that I had a hot round going…I’m not saying that’s why I bogeyed 8, but…

Anthony: He held on for a 79 though.

Jacob: I was really happy for Josh but also kind of annoyed that yet another C&Cer walked on to a tough Colorado course they’d never played before and eviscerated it.

Anthony: Dylan missed like an 18-inch birdie putt on the dogleg par 4 over water, and then made a miracle birdie on the par 5 16th, which was also very very cool.

Josh: I had to hang on for dear life over the back 9, but stayed relatively clean and was at 5-over when we played the group hole 17. I scratched out a bogey there meaning I needed a bogey on #18 to break-80. We had to rush given the marshal mess, but that honestly may have helped me. A good drive, decent iron, and meh chip allowed me to hit 2 easy putts and take the 79. It didn’t make much sense, but was an awesome way to get my best score ever!

Jacob: Derek had talked in the Slack about challenging yourself in different ways by teeing off at different distances. Given that my driver was less than useless, I figured this would be a good day to try his idea out and play up a set of tees and just chill out with my hybrid. It was a nice day of cruising where I played well and reinforced what I learned at TCC, which was that I had become much more than just a driver/wedge Bryson wannabe and the iron lessons I took to teach me how to swing a golf club like a normal person really paid off.

Jamieson: I remember I went into the round knowing more about the scary starter than basically anything about the golf course (aside from the fact that it was a Dye design). I ended up playing with Joanna and Chris, and had a great time.

Chris: After playing two really great rounds of golf at CommonGround, but losing both of them, it was really nice to get out there and play a stress-free round. Like always, it was a treat to play with Jamieson and Joanna. And I kept playing great golf! I can’t remember the stats exactly, but I think I hit something insane like 10+ fairways, and even after 6.5 rounds of golf over the past 4 days, I posted a great score on a difficult course.

Jamieson: I don’t think Riverdale Dunes is the type of course that I would want to play every day (in part because of that starter), but it was really enjoyable to check off. The train along the second and third was a fun sight, and I really enjoyed the par-5 9th hole. It was short, with a green surrounded almost on all sides by mounds and a pin tucked into the back-right corner. (It didn’t hurt that I made an eagle).

Chris: Definitely a highlight was us all recreating a scene from the very first Sickos Round at Tobacco Road, where the first two groups loitered at the tee on the par 3 17th until we could all tee off together.

Jacob: The 17th hole was another perfect TCC memory.

Jamieson: One of the lasting pleasures of the inaugural Channels Cup was that, during the Sickos rounds at Tobacco Road, our whole crew joined up and played the last two holes together.

Jim: We had 3 threesomes to we decided to meet up on #17, a par 3, and play our way in as a 9-some.

Jamieson: We tried to recreate that at the 17th this year, and we might have pulled it off too if it weren’t for that meddling starter and his stupid dog (metaphorically).

Jim: We played #17 as a group but course management was having none of that BS.

Chris: Well, and this is partly my fault having played at Riverdale and seeing their insane marshals in action, they found us out because they noticed on their cart GPS trackers that there were all of a sudden 6 golf carts parked around the same green.

Jim: A course kommandant came to the 18th tee and made us play it as 3 threesomes.

Chris: The marshal drove up and said, in a hilariously annoyed tone, “So whose genius idea was this???” What could we say? We ended up playing #18 incredibly quickly, and I remember being in the second group to tee off where Jamieson and I hit drives over the heads of the group in front of us. We ended up finishing probably exactly at the same time as we would have without our 12some gambit. Those marshals can go fuck themselves. Joyless losers.

Jacob: We may have enraged the clubhouse wondering what that cluster of golf carts were doing, but the photos of all of us holing out together felt like such a perfect way to close out the Cup, as both teams washed away and there was the Slack hanging out on the 17th green like a bunch of Sickos.

Anything Else?

Joanna: After we had all crashed on Wednesday I thought "oh great I can sneak to the bathroom just in my tshirt bc everyone is asleep. WRONG. Josh had just shown up and I ran into him on the way to the bathroom. My first slacklemon with no pants on (But also just how grateful I am for all the extra folks who showed up and were extra hands, jokes, and fun <3)

Erik: Trying to reconcile the logic of wanting Brett to participate to every Channels Cup but also knowing Team C&C doesn't need that firepower.

Brett: Channels Cup 2024 will forever be a memory of overwhelming gratitude; from the obviously rigorous planning and logistics that went into every detail, to the camaraderie and competition within and between teams, I felt lucky to be there the whole time. I've been fortunate to go on many golf trips in my life, and my cherished memories of the best trips aren't the ones that featured the best golf courses or the ones where I played well, but rather the ones that I was able to share with truly incredible company. The golf was great, the win was even better, but without the immaculate vibes cultivated and created by those in attendance it wouldn't have been the same.

Jim: Another delightful Channels Cup weekend with the good guys winning, but the winning isn’t the only thing. It was great to get together again with a bunch of the slacker, pick up a few slacklemons, and witness some great golf. To those who couldn't make it - you were missed.

Anthony: How come we didn't utilize the karaoke room at the C&C house? I feel like that was a major missed opportunity. TW remains united and will be back to tear up durm in '25.

Shane: We'll see if the crooked Team World media has the balls to run this statement, which is not something I haven't said before, but which I still believe is critical to say for posterity despite the Debbie Downer-ness of it all:

Editor’s Note: All that foreshadowing from before? Let’s get to it.

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Shane: The Channels Cup is still a great hang between friends, but the last two years have shown definitively that the current teams are not competitive, and this perceived lack of competitiveness results in two predictable outcomes. First, a blowout on the course, which is fine for one year, tolerable for two years, but is going to start sucking if it happens for a third year in Durham. Second, it creates fights in the lead-up, usually based on the perception that I, Shane Ryan, as one of the de facto event organizers, am trying to fight for small or large advantages for Team C&C in lineup construction. This year it was based on adding Brett Fox, an admittedly very good player but one who was added both for handicap parity and to ensure we had a ninth player so that if someone dropped out, we'd still have a full team. I consider that part of the job of overseeing the event, doing whatever I can to make sure it actually happens without some annoying format compromise. As it happened, someone did drop out, so Brett became the eighth person, and it's going to shock you that while the accusations were flying freely at the start, there was a strange lack of apologies when the exact outcome I was guarding against came to pass. Luckily, I'm an incredibly humble guy with no ego and don't do this for the praise. In any case, Brett's addition would not have been a massive deal without the lingering bitterness from Spartanburg.

Weirdly, while this made strides toward lineup parity, Team World still had the handicap edge up and down the lineup, both person by person and in aggregate. That clearly did not matter on the actual course, but oh well. The point is, there is an obvious and easy fix to both of these matters, which is for the captains and organizers to choose new teams for 2025 with an eye on a competitive event. Not only does it fix parity and immediately erase any need to fight about team construction, but it also lets us focus on securing 16 players total rather than stressing about finding eight for each team, and enables us to add new players without the stress of worrying about who might be a ringer. And yet, despite how much I push for this, the responses from Team World are all on the order of "fuck you." (Sometimes slightly more polite, but only slightly.) Part of this I'm sure is a fuck you to me for not couching it all in more diplomatic language, and part is also their theoretically admirable team solidarity. What they seem to not realize or care about is that team solidarity in this case is ruining the event for the other team. It's brutal to enter the singles session with the Cup already decided, but it's more brutal to have one team—the losing team—staunchly opposed to fixing it. Hear me now, believe me later: one way or another, it will kill the Channels Cup if it's not fixed.

Jacob: Going into the Cup, I was kind of leaning in favor of breaking up the teams. I am sympathetic to the competitive aspect argument, as we don’t want every one of these to look like South Carolina where nearly everything is a boat race. Even immediately after this one, I didn’t know where I stood. It wasn’t until later in the night when Team World was having some of the most wholesome fun I have ever seen back at our house while Pitzer played name that artist for us that I came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t break the teams up, and looking at the Cup with a little more clarity in hindsight has reinforced this belief. We’re a real capital-T team and C&C is too and I think that helps make the Cup so special. C&C is always playing with each other and doing match play and such which probably does give them a bit of an advantage, but TW has our own dynamics too that make us better golfers (there is no way I play as well in my least favorite kind of match without Erik bringing the vibes). It makes the Cup better to have two defined teams, but I agree that the animosity that has arisen at times has been exacerbated by the scores.

Zac: I was proud of Team World (read: myself) for learning lessons from Spartanburg and not allowing the scoreboard to affect our attitudes during/after the match (for the most part). I still had a blast. I still love everyone in the Slack and on Team C&C. I think if you don't invite a 3 handicap to the other team it's a much closer match. You can't overvalue the amount of pressure that is relieved knowing you've got a guaranteed 4 points. To suggest we break up the teams is the biggest joke I've ever heard. You will never, ever break up Team World. I'd rather play every year and lose 20-0 and have a fun time. It seems like C&C is saying they want to break up the teams to make it more competitive, which is ironic to me since (In my opinion) they're always the ones making it less competitive by adding non-slack golfers. I'm honestly not even mad about it, but like... there's a much easier answer if you want it to be more competitive. Search your feelings, you know it to be true. Regardless, even if we play out this same dance for the next 20 years, with our same group of hackers up against PGA Tour Pros and Lawton Woods, I'll be there, and I'll be randomly shouting out 4 letters. You know the ones.

Jacob: But this was not South Carolina, which I think this oral history bears out. Lawton walked into one of the toughest courses in Colorado and shot a fucking 78 for Christ’s sake. He played great and was the driving force that won the Cup for C&C in my eyes, but if he played to his handicap, it’s a different Cup. There’s lots of little moments here and there that could have had a big impact on the overall outcome. Rascal and I hit the inside of the Cup twice and I made a world-historic brain fart to give away a hole in a match we lost 2&1. Of the four biggest blowouts in the Denver/Boulder TCC, three of them were won by TW (Sorry Ivan). Even though the score was the same after day 1 which definitely put a damper on the proceedings, I don’t think the logic from the South Carolina TCC tracks to the Denver/Boulder TCC. This was far more competitive, and I feel in my bones that if we had played this TCC 100 times, the average score would have been something like 12-8 C&C, which was the score of the first TCC. To further buttress my point, I put together the individual match results from South Carolina and Colorado and ordered them from biggest blowout to smallest (matches highlighted in red are C&C losses).

I think there’s a big difference between 7-1 at the end of the first day on a lot of non-competitive matches, and 7-1 with C&C balling out to steal a couple. If it was always the former, I do think we may have a problem, but I just don’t think we had that problem this year.

Is C&C better than Team World? Probably, but I don’t think it’s by a lot and I don’t think it’s to such a degree that it’s an existential threat to the Cup yet. I think we need to call a truce on any and all ringer shit for good because *that’s* the central tension here. This is a community we all value and this event is the ultimate celebration of it, and as a wise man once wrote in Golf Digest “The great part is, everyone involved matches my energy—I may be a lunatic, but there are 15 lunatics right there with me, doing the same lunatic sh*t, feeling the exact same lunatic feelings.”

The blowouts just exacerbate the r-word stuff because it calls into question why extras need to be brought in, but Rascal the Ringer Hunter even loves Brett, and we all agree that he fits the Slack perfectly and I think this fight is over now. As the guy who trollingly coined the term ringer in a video that first year where I was just trying to participate in the pre-TCC trollish banter that makes OWN+ such an essential network, I think those arguments have been settled and I never want anyone to say that word ever again. I think the central tension has been resolved over pink drinks at Flyte Co. and the competitive aspect is something we can keep an eye on going forward. If we have another utter blowout like South Carolina, I’d be open to revisiting this discussion with a lot of input from folks other than the three of us who have argued the most over it, but ultimately, if the team getting its ass kicked two years in a row wants to stay together, and the actual President’s Cup is dominated by one team, what’s the problem?

Now back to your regularly scheduled TCC programming!

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Chris: Genuinely, congrats to Team C&C. You guys played great. The only thing I am actually mad about from the whole experience, is when I went to North Carolina in October, and played some golf with the C&C boys. Friday was a round with Shane, Brett, and Drew Essig. Saturday was a round with Aaron, where my best friend broke 100 for the very first time at the very same golf course where I also broke 100 for the very first time: Hillandale, the greatest golf course in the world. I also had 12 beers that day! But what I am mad about, is that in that round I played with Shane, he played some of the worst golf I have ever seen. Like, looked like he didn’t really know how to play the game at points. And this was only a month after he played brilliantly, in front of me! To help his team with The Channels Cup! This asshole! G. O. B. P. Go Team World. See you next time.

Damon: Denver was great, the courses were enjoyable, and Jake was an exceptional host on the days/nights we weren't at the Team World house.

Josh: Going into the event, I was probably most interested/curious/nervous to meet Aaron. His slack persona was one I felt like I had the least feel for how it would translate to real life. Him and Deb were awesome! Playing singles with him was a trip highlight. He was funny and he was playing great, and he did a great job of keeping me mentally settled even as I hacked out a sub-par round myself. This was the most obvious example, but pretty much every person lived up to and exceeded the hype that I had about meeting them. I had heard all the Slack meetups seemed to somehow even go better than expected and it was awesome to see that play out in person. A huge thanks to Jake and Chris for hosting. To Noodles for captaining and playing dominantly. To the ladies-squad for their awesome media and hospitality. It was an awesome time and looking forward to the next one!

Jacob: As always, a massive shout out to Joanna, Rachael, Deb and Lauren for keeping us fed, hydrated and organized. We couldn’t run this event without you, and I can’t thank you all enough for taking care of my dogs so I could focus on having Lawton dunk all over me.

Joanna: Hi hello things I forgot to add: 1. Jake's house is very cool and the amount of money that kitchen reno cost was worth every penny. Just lovely. AND HIS FANCY TOILET? AND HIS PERFECT ANGEL BABY PUPS? Amazing. Immaculate vibes. 2. I don’t know how I could have done any of this without Rachael, a true queen and sandwich decider. Lauren getting her hands dirty with us and then Deb, what an all star fucking group! 3. Playing name that tune with team world late into the night was top tier sleepover vibes <3

Damon: The Channels Cup is always the highlight of the year. Even if the results aren’t what our team had hoped for, what’s better than getting together with a great group of friends to play some golf and do some partying?