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A lot goes into planning one of these events, as you might expect.  We always hope that they come off without a hitch, but no matter how much we plan, sometimes things go a bit awry.  We had 39 players competing in the February 2020 version of the Gaspar Invitational, which gave us 10 groups in a shotgun start.  Bloomingdale started out the day by postponing our shotgun start for about a half hour because of their men's group going off in front of us.  If a venue doesn't make my group of golfing pirates a priority, we won't return, plain and simple.  We had 2 groups go off on #1, and the rest of the field (8 groups) started on #14-18.  Our very last group, at the turn, stopped in to grab drinks and food, but were told the grill was not ready.  It took several minutes to get their drinks to them, and by the time they returned to their carts, the started had placed 3 groups in front of them on #1.  That simply cannot happen.  My group was finishing #9 during this debacle, and we saw a line of about 10-12 carts waiting to tee off on #1.  I want to apologize to the group for this happening, and while it's out of my control, it's not acceptable.

Now for the good.  We had 39 great golfers playing on a beautiful Saturday morning in Florida, with a slight briskness to the air, and most of us showed up in red shirts, telling the golfing world that we are LOVERS!  We love golf, we love our country, and we love our significant others!  In Jeremy's case, he loves all his beautiful significant others!

Mario Faria bested us all, putting together a great round of golf, and taking home the first place purse of $241!  I think that means he's no longer and amateur with that kind of payday!  He shot an 89, and with a Points Quota of 20, he achieved 24 points, finishing at +4, narrowly beating our 2nd place Skallywag, Brian Bartley.  One of our Hernando County players, Brian shot a tidy 83, and bested his Points Quota of 26 by 3.5.  This included the shot of the tournament, a hole out from 100 yards for an eagle on #8, a par 4!  Fellow softball teammate and Hernando County playing partner, Jason Forbes had the dubious honor of winning the Wench title for February, finishing in dead last place by missing his Quota by 8 points.  I am sure he will bounce back with a great showing in March!

3 players tied for 3rd place, barely missing the Skallywag title, by beating their Points Quotas by 3 points, and 2 of them are our better looking golfers, Anne Marie Rhodes and Debi Wagner!  Bill Capito was in that group in 3rd place, and is only slightly less good looking than the ladies.

Next month, on March 14, we head back over the bridge to Pinellas County, returning to Bardmoor, where we held our August 2019 Gaspar Invitational.  Because we've added all four of the Innisbrook Resort courses to our schedule, we had to juggle some of the venues to other months.  Please note that we play early in April, on April 4th, at Westchase, so that we are not playing during the Masters weekend.

Starting in June, we play every other month at the spectacular Innisbrook Resort, having events at each of their 4 different golf courses, including COPPERHEAD in August!  We're working to also schedule 2 events at Lake Jovita, playing each of their courses.  We are also in the early stages of trying to plan the first annual Gaspar Golf Trip, probably in late August or sometime in September.  You won't want to miss it!

Here are the rest of the prizes from the February 2020 Gaspar Invitational at Bloomingdale.

SKINS - $25 EACH

#7 - Frank Perez
#8 - Brian Bartley (eagle)
#10 - Mike Caporale
#13 - Chad Seilheimer
#14 - Mario Faria (eagle)
#16 - John Thompson (eagle)
#17 - John Allen

CLOSEST TO THE PINS - $24 EACH

#3 - Chris Coronis
#7 - Matt Scallon
#13 - Bill Capito
#17 - John Allen

I wanted to also mention that in our top flight group, where we had 3 of our best players and a new player who is also quite good, we had 3 rounds in the 70s, with Mike Caporale shooting a 2 over par 74.

Mike Caporale - 74
John Thompson - 76
Chad Seilheimer - 76
John Allen - 77 

We had five players shoot in the 80s, led by newcomer, Alex Henry's 82.  Brian Bartley, Frank Perez, Mario Faria and another newcomer, Doug D'Anna, broke 90.