so, this past weekend we did a Ryder Cup format with 12 guys (tried to get 16 but for the first of an annual tournament, I think we did ok with 12).
First day was Saturday (after drinking til about 2:00am friday night). First tee time was at 10:00am so it was only about 489 degrees out. Front 9 was best ball, back 9 was alternate shot. Played ok, ended up in a tie against my opponent so we split the point. Team score was 2-1 at the end of the day with 6 points up for grabs in head-head match play for day 2. I did win the longest drive hole that we had (put in $5 for closest to the pin and $5 for longest drive) so I got $60 from that drive of about 280 yards, dead center of the fairway...almost paid for my green fee.
Day 2, played Tour 18 (which for those who don't know, model's their holes after some of the famous holes throughout the country). I birdied the remake of the 17th at Sawgrass (the island green, par 3).
Fast forward to the last hole, I was the last group. I was down heading into the last hole by 1 and I was giving up a stroke to my opponent (we handicapped it). I needed to win the hole to force a split in my match which would split the entire tourney. So I need to win the hole by 2 strokes since he was getting 1.
Bottom line, I ended up in a greenside bunker laying 3. He had a rough time with his drive and ended up on the green in 5 about 10' from the hole. The worse he could do is 2 putt for a 7 so I HAD to get up and down for my bogey from the sand with a lake on the other side of the green....oh didn't mention that if we lost, I would have been out ~$600 (losing team was going to take winning team to the best steak house in houston....wives/gf's included so its about $150/person at this place).
So $600 on the line, gotta get up and down to win the hole, hence tie the match, and tie the entire tournament with the other 11 guys standing around the green watching. Sand shot was as good as I could do, dropped well short of the pin on the downward sloping green and it rolled about 12' past the hole. I was still out, announcer in a whisper voice, "he needs this putt to have a shot at winning the hole" I take my line and drop that mother fucker dead center of the cup. The crowd goes wild, its pandemonium on the course. Then the crowd goes silent as my opponent has a chance to sink his 10' for a 6 which would halve the hole and hence we would lose the tourny. He just barely missed it right edge. So the end results Team USA (my team) 4-1/2 to Team Europe 4-1/2.