After seven grueling months of interclub matches across North and South Carolina, Pinehurst Country Club (7&9) is the 2019 Carolinas Interclub champions and have forever etched their name on the Ben Payne Trophy.  

“It feels unbelievable,” said Pinehurst CC’s Team Captain, Patrick Butler. “When I talk to people I work with, that don’t play golf, it’s difficult to explain but we are the best team in the states of North and South Carolina. That’s huge. These are two major states that play a lot golf.”

81 teams began the journey in May that culminated to the “Final Four” held this weekend at Longleaf Golf & Family Club. Of the final four teams, the top two seeds remained from both the East and West Bracket including the No. 1 seed in the East Bracket, Tanglewood Park Golf Club of Clemmons, N.C. and No. 2 seed, Pinehurst CC. In the West Bracket, the No. 1 seed, Cowan’s Ford Golf Club of Stanley, N.C. faced off against the No. 2 seed in their bracket – TPC Piper Glen (#2) of Charlotte, N.C.

Ultimately, it was Pinehurst CC versus Cowan’s Ford GC in Sunday’s Final Match. Pinehurst CC won all but one of their finals matches on Sunday to win 41.5 pts to 30.5 pts over Cowan’s Ford GC.

“We’ve got a really good group of guys who play golf every Saturday and Sunday together,” said Butler. “We know each other’s games really well and we’ve got several pairs of guys that play really well together. That’s what we built the team around. Everyone knows that when they go out with that guy, that he has his back and vice versa. That’s what makes the difference.”

After 22 years of running the Carolinas Interclub, the program continues to see positive growth in both the Regular and Senior Carolinas Interclubs.

“It’s been another fantastic year for the interclub,” said CGA Interclub Administrator Tom Thorpe. “It’s a growing program and we hope to get a few more teams added next year. It’s big enough as it is, but it’s just going to get bigger and bigger, year after year.’

“The CGA interclub is one of the best events we run and it allows for any club in the Carolinas to be competitive and participate no matter what the skill level of their members is,” said CGA Director of Men’s Golf, Chris Zeh. “You really have to take your hat off to Longleaf for making it a great experience for our teams this year. They were really great hosts.”

 

Courtesy photo/Contributed.