Morning League
Joe Taylor and John Reeves continue to lead wire-to-wire, and this week's win was vintage Joe. He gave up 10 strokes in the match and still found a way to close it out, padding the lead to 11 points. Whatever the format, whatever the handicap dots say on the card — Joe just gets it done.
Behind them, the chase pack tightened up. Pete Lewis/Wally Ornsteen and Brian Wiacek/Blaine Schwabe both picked up wins to climb into a three-way tie for 2nd at 9 points — right alongside Rob Davidson/Wayne Gilbert, who had a rougher week.
That's because Rob and Wayne ran into a red-hot Barrett Silver. Barrett celebrated his 85th birthday on the course on Wednesday morning, and he didn't take it easy on the field — he and partner Phil Taylor put together a convincing win over the second-place duo, jumping from 1 point to 3. Happy birthday, Barrett — that's how you celebrate a milestone.
Elsewhere, a nice storyline in the middle of the pack: Jason Pafundi stepped in as a substitute alongside Peter Christine and shot a strong 39, with two birdies mixed in among two double bogeys. It was enough to salvage a halved match against Chuck Plummer and Peter Davidson — and the assist goes to Davidson, who caught fire on the greens (working with two different putters, no less) to keep his side even. Both teams picked up a point apiece, with Christine/Bass moving to 6 and Plummer/Davidson to 8.
Also picking up wins this week: Tom Volpe/Rob McCreary and Tom Curtis/Allen Ikalainen, both climbing to 5 points, and Geoff Chick/Charlie Hughes, up to 3.
With six weeks in the books, Joe Taylor and John Reeves have separated themselves at the top — but a crowded logjam at 9, 7, and 5 points means plenty of movement is still ahead as the season rolls on.
Evening League
The headline story belongs to Maddox Tilas and Griffin Bond. Last week's scoreboard left off their big 3-point night — an oversight they clearly took personally. They backed it up with a 2.5-point week this time around, good for 5.5 points over the last two weeks and a jump from 11th place all the way into a tie for 4th at 12.5.
"We're coming for the top of the leaderboard," Griffin said after the round, and at this pace, nobody should bet against them.
At the top, Jason Pafundi and Ken Steele held firm. Ken had a rough day individually, but he and Jason found enough down the stretch to halve their match against Cale Benner and sub Hunter Williams, moving to 13.5 points and staying knotted for first with Pete Lewis and Dan Specht, who also picked up a half-point win to stay tied atop the standings.
Speaking of Lewis — after parting ways with longtime partner Wally Ornsteen following Week 4, he's clicking with new partner Dan Specht. Dan joked after this week's round that he might get DFA’d too if he doesn't watch it, but the results say otherwise: the pairing is tied for the league lead.
Mike Prentice and Reed Prentice had the loudest jump on the board, gaining 3 full points to move into sole possession of 3rd at 13 — just half a point back of the leaders.
The league is bunched tighter than ever: 13 teams are within 5 points of the top spot, meaning the next few weeks of Wednesday nights should be a dogfight from top to bottom.
Women’s League
The team of Louise Conforth, Sandy Meintel, Betsy McFarland, and Alix Morin held off Pim Earl, Ann Sears, Janet Williams, and Anna Parker by a single shot in a tightly contested two best balls match.
On the greens, Betsy McFarland was the standout, posting the fewest putts for nine holes, while Sandy Meintel and Anna Parker tied for second.