MEDINA: There have been many suspenseful moments in the first 16 years of the Shaw Cup charity golf tournament.
This year, the only real drama was whether one team would be the first ever to reach 20 points.
That didn’t quite happen, but the private-club side could hardly complain about finishing with a 19½-8½ victory over the public-course team Sunday at Weymouth Country Club.
The winners had a 10½-3½ edge in individual matches Sunday after having a 9-5 lead following best-ball and alternative-shot matches Saturday at Prestwick.
The private team did not reach 20 points, but the 19½ points were a record in this Ryder Cup-type tournament, first held in 1995.
“That’s as well as we have ever played,” said Tim Edwards, who is in his ninth year as the captain of the private team. “You can tell by the score that, obviously, we played well because that was a good team we beat.”
The private team actually clinched at least a tie by getting its 14th point with six matches remaining. The team was either ahead or tied in all those matches, so the possibility of 20 points was not illogical.
Dave Trier of the public side prevented that by halving the final match of the day with Ross Beal of the private team.
The only consolation for the public side was that eight of the 14 matches Sunday went to at least the 17th hole.
“My guys didn’t play that badly. They played OK,” said public captain Joe Ungvary Jr., whose team won 17-11 in 2010. “OK is never good enough in this tournament. Tim’s team was the one that played well.”
Edwards needed an expanded roster of 18 golfers because some of them had conflicts and could not play both days.
The public team had 15 players.
That formula worked well because the private team had all 18 players score at least a ½ point.
“It’s a team event and the whole team contributed,” Edwards said.
On Sunday, the private team got individual victories from Dave Pulk and Rick Areddy in the senior division and Dan Belden Jr., Brian Belden, Jeff Mallette, Don Padgett III, Ty Kovach, Ben Cavey, and Mark Guadagni in the open division
In addition, Jim Corcoran and Larry Lahnan got ties in the senior division and Beal got the tie with Trier in the open division.
The Beldens, who are cousins, also won two matches Saturday, making them the only two players in the tournament to finish 3-0.
Another key factor Sunday for the private team was the play of the seniors players, who are 55 and over.
The public team traditionally has dominated this sector of the tournament, but the private side got three points out of a possible four.
The public team now holds an 8-5-3 lead in the series.
The event benefits the Akron General Edwin Shaw Rehab Institute Challenge Golf Program.
Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Zips blog at http://zips.ohio.com. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
