CIKOGA - Masters
The First Green Jacket Goes to Yim!
H. Lee. CIKOGA Reporter
Weather was perfect for the fist ever CIKOGA's Masters tournament for two days and so was Yim's masterful swing. His first major win came in style by capturing the wire-to-wire win with his consistent long driver, accurate irons, and clutch putter.
The 3-time major champion, Choo (picture above), had a health problem and withdrew from the field after playing 9 hole on the first day. For example, he struggled on the 2nd hole with an errant tee shot to the woods on the left side of fairway but his miraculous bunker shot found the hole to avoid the early collapse. However, he could not reach the finish line of Masters. Everyone missed him and wished his fast recovery.
On the other hand, mighty Yim conquered the first day by finishing strong with +6 on back nine with only one double bogey at hole #10. He made a bogey on the long last hole #18 (picture below).
Yim was paired together with Y. Lee and M. Lee on the second day. He read the fast greens of Masters very skillfully and sank in several key putts.
Yim was a true Masters champion with a kind heart on and off course. He took a good care of his young partner, M. Lee, as if M. Lee were his son. He delivered two more Masters shirts and CIKOGA hats for Y. Park and M. Lee overnight although he must have been very tired after the first round of golf and the round-trip to Chicago O'hare airport for picking up his mom afterward.
Yim almost collapsed like Jordan Spieth at 2016 Masters on the final hole of Masters with triple bogey. Yet, he had enough margins to claim Masters victory because he played extremely well for the rest of previous holes. After his final putting, he celebrated his win like Phil Mickelson did for first Masters win.
J. Choi, who won the 2nd place, intimidated Yim with his improved golf skill and new Honma clubs throughout the day.
J. Choi crossed the UCC version of Rae's creek masterfully although it was a little bit short.
He easily beat a Central high school golfer, Cage Sestak who was paired with him.
He carried tuna sandwiches for all of us in his bag. He could have won the Masters if he did not have a burden of worrying about distributing sandwiches efficiently to members that are spread all over the field.
Although Yim won the Masters, it was Y. Lee who stole the show by claiming the 1st place $100 prize money in his flight.
He practiced putting like pros do by aligning his posture carefully from the day 1.
M. Lee, who observed Y. Lee, said, "I have never seen someone who putts so well at UCC's tricky fast green." His accuracy from 100yds or less was flawless, too.
For example, the approach shot he made on hole 18 (picture above) landed within 3 feet to the hole (picture below).
He finally joined the winner's circle by claiming the 3rd place.
B. Lee struggled with his new, 2-day old, untested driver. He lacked his practice time due to his busy schedule at school.
However, he made his best effort on every shot he makes. He had an unlucky day by starting the last position from his flight on the second day and scored much worse than the first day. He eventually yielded his 3rd place position to Y. Lee. He ended up with a medal for net champion.
A special guest from Korea, Y. Park, joined and made our tournament an international affair. He made par on hole #17 with superb chip shot.
After all final scores were posted, the Masters award ceremony began.
The highlight of ceremony was, of course, green jacket presentation.
After the tournament is over, players gathered for champions dinner at Golden Harbor. Ko joined the champions dinner like Tiger Woods did although he did not play at Masters due to his trip to Korea.
The 2016 Masters gross and net champions sat together.
The food was amazingly good thanks to Y. Lee and B. Lee's help in selecting dishes from menu.
Since the restaurant did not allow to bring your own wine and beer, we went to Billy Barooz for the final toast. Congratulations to our 1st Masters Champion, Yim!
(Click here to see what's in winner's bag)
