The evening of 8/29 saw the rain and it rained again the morning of the SWPT Tour Championship.  The good news was that it remained overcast which kept the temperatures from being unbearable.  The bad news was the carpet was wet and the conditions changed as the day progressed and the carpet dried out.

In the Pro Division the top 2 seeds of Geoffrey Mosk and Brice Bergesen had bye’s.  The featured match was between Wade Sahmel and 2 time national champion Cliff Matthews.  Wade then went out and easily won 7-6.  Other winners were 2018 National Champion Rainey Statum, 2014 national Champion Jeffrey Smith, 2015 Senior National Champion Danny Tatum, Lee messinger, and 2 time US Masters, 4 time US Open champion, USPMGA Hall of Famer, and with child, Olivia Prokopova.   In the quarter finals Olivia lived up to her Boyfriends name of the bogey man, in route to giving away a few to many holes as Mosk stayed perfect against Sahmels and future Sahmels in SWPT Finals matches (5-0) with a 3-2 victory.  In a battle of national champions and with 14 SWPT Tour champions between them, Smith knocked out Statum 3-1.  On the other side of the bracket Tatum took Bergesen to sudden death before falling on the first hole of SD.  Local legend and number 2 on the all-time SWPT wins list, Lee Messinger was able to beat Wade Sahmel 5-4.  In the Semi Finals Mosk was able to get out to an early 2 hole lead on Smith after Smith bogeyed hole 5.  But when Mosk Bogeyed hole 18, smith had taken a 1 hole lead that he would never relinquish.  Mosk was able to stay close and had a chance to send the match into sudden death by making hole 18, but his put was just a touch soft and Smith advanced to the tour championship finals for the 10^th time in his career when he had only lost 1 time before.  In the other Match Brice got hot and was just to much for Messinger to handle  as he won with a 5-4 margin.  In the finals (video posted on Facebook) Bergesen and Smith traded aces like the champions that they are thru the first 18 holes.  As they started the final 18 holes of the year, smith again was able to carve out a 1 hole advantage.  On the front 9 Brice fought back and was able to take a 2 hole advantage.  Bergesen then made the 1^st 2 holes on the back while Smith was only able to make 1, putting Bergesen up by 3 with just 7 holes to go.  Another make by Bergesen on hole 13 followed by a miss by Smith and the match was just abut over.  Bergesen laid up in 14 forcing Smith to go for the ace and he did.  But his putt missed the hole and went down the hill leading to a bogey and Bergesen claiming his 4^th SWPT Championship.

In the APA 4 players gad a bye, and in the other 4 matches the higher seeded player won each match.  Gary Plain defeated ken Stanfill 1 up.  Steven yancey defeated Gary Greene 3-2.  Jerry medina beat Jack Ramsey, and Trevor Lewin knocked out Robert Martin.  In the next round once again the higher seeded players won each match.  Chris Conradi defeated Gary Plain 3-2.  Steven Yancey defeated Jay Salyer in a hotly contested match 2-1.  Mike Huckaby put down Medina 2-1, and the giant Alan Sahmel beat his South African friend Lewin, 4-3.  Huckaby was still stung from his loss in last years final match where he had the lead with 2 holes to go but eventually lost in sudden death.  He was determined to make amends on his home course this year.  He took another step as he defeated the 2018 APA Senior national champion Sahmel in convincing fashion 7-6.  In the other Match the APA Player of the year and 7 time tournament winner Conradi had his hands full with Steven Yancey.  The 2 battled back and forth and when the 36 holes were done they remained tied.  It took another 2 holes of sudden death to complete the match and in 38 holes Yancey came out on top to advance to his first tour championship finals.  In the finals the match stayed close with Yancey holding a slim lead with 9 holes to go.  The Huckaby, a 7 time APA Tour Champion, rose to the occasion and went 1 up as the match reached it’s final few holes.  Standing on the 9^th hole, the 36^th hole of the match, Huckaby was clinging to the 1 hole lead knowing an ace would get him the 2020 title.  He struck the putt true and his ball found the bottom of the cup and Huckaby had claimed another SWPT APA Championship.

The 2020 season had many challenges.  Tournaments were canceled due to Covid-19.  A course closed on us mid-year.  Some events were moved.  We had players like Micky Delucca who missed events because they were in the hospital.  We had a hurricane hit Lake Charles and do substantial damage to the Putt Putt course there as well as the entire city.  Yet we have much to still be thankful for.  Most importantly the friendship that we share with each other.  This is always a sad time of year as we know that for most of us, this will be the last time we see our Putt Putt family for many months.  Some will see each other at Nationals in just a few week, and a few others will spend time with each other at the Mini Golf Masters in October.  We don’t know yet at this time if our typical year end celebration in Lake Charles, the AL, will happen or not.  But as we look forward to the next putting season we will remember the times we shared with each other this past season and the many season before that and relish the time that we can again get together and tell stories of the aces that got away.