Sixth Annual Mason Dixon Event

TIM McAVOY and KEITH STUDNICK
OCTOBER 20, 2007
BALTIMORE, MD

On Saturday, October 20th, the Northern and Southern sections of Region III set out to do battle for the sixth time. The South went into the event holding slight 3 to 2 edge over the North.

Mark Holtschneider, Captain of the South, hosted this year's event at L'Hirondelle County Club in Baltimore, MD. Mark selected Blake Cordish, Andy Todd, Mike Cobb, William Bullard, Frank Holtschneider, Art Garrett, Wayne Holtschneider, Tom Donner and Lindsy Hargrave to battle for the South.

Captain Tim McAvoy traveled south of the Mason Dixon with his selections Chip Morrow, Peter Redpath, Jeff Lyon, Andrew Hocker, Steve Reiniger, Scott Falatak, Vlatko Najdek, Simon Peppiatt and Greg Eger in an attempt to even the score.

Selections are based upon year end President's Cup ranking points from the prior season, with the Top 10 ranked players from the North and South qualifying for this event.

The weather was picture perfect, albeit a little warm for late October. The southern hospitality was spot on with a wonderful lunch and plenty of cold beer following the competition.

The format was a best of 3 set match, if the teams split sets, a 10 point tie breaker was played to determine the winner. The winning team got 1 point, the loser 0 points. There were 5 teams from each side and each team played 4 matches: 2 before lunch and 2 after lunch.

In the morning session, the North took what seemed like an insurmountable lead up 8-2. During a break in lunch, Captain Mark rallied up his team in attempt to hold onto the Cup for an additional season but ultimately fell short as the final tally was the North 16 and the South 4. For their victory, the North received beautiful navy blue t-shirts with Winner on the shirt and will have each of their names inscribed on the Cup!

The North team's of Peppiatt and Eger (last minute sub for Larry Hyde), as well as Lyon and Redpath went undefeated and picking up all four points. Morrow and Captain Tim went 3-1 as did team Falatek and Najdek. Hocker and Reiniger split their matches going 2-2 for the day.

Captain Mark and partner Cordish took 3 of their 4 matches for the South while Todd and Cobb won 1 of their 4 matches. The teams of Bullard and Frank Holtschneider, Garrett and Wayne Holtschneider, and Dunner and Hargrave all went 0-4 for the day. In fairness to the South, they were missing a number of their Top 10 players including, Scott Freund, Teddy Easter and Fred Gumbinner.

The series is now tied at 3-3 with the next Mason Dixon Cup scheduled to be played at Greenville Country Club next year where the winning team will take a lead in the overall series.

Special thanks goes out to Captain Mark and L'Hirondelle County Club for hosting the event. Captain Mark could be heard in his car singing the famous Charlie Daniels's song the South is Gonna do it again, next year that is as the North team headed home after the great event.