Spartanburg rallies on Sunday to halve the matches 16-16, but Greenville retains the Cup...

Greenville County Captain Whit Suber breathed a sigh of relief Sunday afternoon at River Falls. For the last 20 minutes, he fretted that his team might come up a half point short. But when told they were going to tie, he smiled & shook his head. "It's not exactly perfect, but we keep the Cup. I guess that's what we came here to do." Greenville took a fairly comfortable 9.5-6.5 lead after Saturday's two man team Best Ball & Alternate Shot formats, but held on as Spartanburg stormed back in the Singles Matches on Sunday. In fact, the Spartanburg team took a brief one point lead when Brian Kennedy posted a 1-up win over Greenville's Jeremy Revis. But when Mike Hartin and Shane Grumbles closed out their two matches at about the same time Greenville was back on top by one. Shortly thereafter Chris Eassy rolled in a downhill four footer to win the hole and the match on #18 to nip Andrew Hewitt 1 up. That gave the defenders a 3 point lead, and assured at least a halve in the 8th Annual Matches. They would need that point along with all the others, as Brian Kennedy, Kyle Milner, and Andrew Macolly would all come through for Spartanburg at the end to tie things up at 16-16. With Eassy's providing the dramatics for Greenville, the hero for Spartanburg might have to be Kennedy. Coming to 18 tied up, he won the final hole over the 2002 Greenville County Am champ Revis.

The 2011 PowerAde Cyder Cup Matches will go down in the record books as "Halved", but the defenders of the Cup, in this case Greenville, will retain the Cup in lieu of their 2010 victory. With the halve, Spartanburg has won four times, Greenville three, and now one halve, and of course means both teams have had possession of the Cup in four of the eight years of the competition. Pretty much exactly what Greenville Director Robbie Gravley & Spartanburg Director Taylor Hough had in mind when they arranged for the series in 2002. "This is fantastic", said Gravley. "What a great competition. These guys played so hard and were such great sports about it too. No doubt both teams wanted to win it in the worst sort of way. But they all got along really well and they know the common goal is for something even more than who wins the Cup. For it to end in a halve might not be what anyone wanted, but it just shows how evenly talented both teams were, and how hard they all fought, even to the very end."

The PowerAde Cyder Cup Matches not only is a great golf competition, but the common goal of each team is to raise funds and awareness for The First Tee Chapters of Greenville & Spartanburg. Together, the teams raised thousands of dollars for their respective chapters through both fundraising and through Friday's Cyder Am Captain's Choice event, also at River Falls. There was a clinic on Friday afternoon for the Cyder Am golfers along with kids from both Spartanburg & Greenville First Tee kids featuring world renowned trick shot artist Dennis Walters. Dennis is an inspirational story all in himself, and the "can do" message he shares in overcoming adversity had everyone in attendance believing that they could do great things!

Thank you to everyone that participated, sponsored, administered, prayed for, hosted, led, gave discounts, watched, raised funds, provided media coverage, led, including the fanstastic golfers who made up the members of this year's teams from Greenville & Spartanburg. Special thanks go to the tireless and very special people led by Fran Dunn of First Tee Spartanburg and Nancy Daniel of the First Tee Greenville
, who take their time to make an impact on the kids year round. Congratulations to Spartanburg for rallying to halve this year's competition, and to the Greenville County team for retaining the PowerAde Cyder Cup until November 2012!!

Richard Burgess (SPTG) d. Yancey Johnson (GVL) – 5 & 4

Ron Clontz (GVL) vs. Max Fain (SPTG) – All Square

Josh McMillan (SPTG) d. Tyler Crull (GVL) – 2 & 1

Bobby Newman (SPTG) d. Benji McGaha (GVL) – 3 & 2

Rick Cobb (GVL) d. Pat Crowley (SPTG) – 7 & 6

Bill Reitmeier (SPTG) d. Bobby Hines (GVL) – 2 up

Doug Tooke (GVL) d. Mark Pike (SPTG) – 4 & 3

Geno Berchiatti (GVL) d. Bill Gee (SPTG) – 5 & 4

Scott Cox (SPTG) d. Adam Black (GVL) – 2 & 1

Todd Whitehead (SPTG) d. Thomas Barker (GVL) – 2 & 1

Mike Hartin (GVL) d. Austin Page (SPTG) – 2 & 1

Chris Eassy (GVL) d. Andrew Hewitt (SPTG) – 1 up

Brian Kennedy (SPTG) d. Jeremy Revis (GVL) – 1 up

Kyle Milner (SPTG) d. Brent Henderson (GVL) – 7 & 5

S. Grumbles (GVL) d. Todd Webber (SPTG) – 3 & 2

Tyler Macolly (SPTG) d. M. Grumbles (GVL) – 3 & 2

SPARTANBURG – 9.5 GREENVILLE – 6.5

Total: GREENVILLE – 16 SPARTANBURG – 16

Greenville retains Cyder Cup

GREENVILLE / SPARTANBURG 

Four Ball Matches Saturday Morning - Best Ball

Adam Black - Brent Henderson d. Brian Kennedy - Tyler Macolly - 2 & 1

Jeremy Revis - Ron Clontz d. Josh McMillan - Bobby Newman - 7 & 6 

Andrew Hewitt - Kyle Milner d. Thomas Barker - Chris Eassy - 1 up

Richard Burgess - Max Fain d. Marcus Grumbles - Shane Grumbles - 3 & 2

Rick Cobb - Doug Tooke d. Pat Crowley - Bill Reitmeier - 1 up 

Geno Berchiatti - Bobby Hines d. Bill Gee - Mark Pike - 1 up 

Scott Cox - Austin Page d. Yancey Johnson - Benji McGaha - 3 & 2

Tyler Crull - Mike Hartin vs. Todd Webber - Todd Whitehead - Halved

GREENVILLE - 4.5  SPARTANBURG - 3.5

Four Ball Matches Saturday Afternoon - Alternate Shot

Adam Black - Brent Henderson d. Josh McMillan - Bobby Newman - 1 up

Jeremy Revis - Ron Clontz d. Brian Kennedy - Tyler Macolly - 4 & 3

Richard Burgess - Max Fain d. Thomas Barker - Chris Eassy - 3 & 2

Andrew Hewitt - Kyle Milner d. Marcus Grumbles - Shane Grumbles - 4 & 3 

Rick Cobb - Doug Tooke d. Bill Gee - Mark Pike - 3 & 2

Geno Berchiatti - Bobby Hines d. Pat Crowley - Bill Reitmeier - 4 & 3

Todd Webber - Todd Whitehead d. Yancey Johnson - Benji McGaha - 4 & 3

Tyler Crull - Mike Hartin d. Scott Cox - Austin Page - 1 up

GREENVILLE - 5 SPARTANBURG - 3

The 2011 Powerade Cyder Cup team has been announced by Greenville captain Whit Suber.

The Cyder Cup matches will take place at River Falls Plantation on October 29-30, 2011. This is the eighth year of this event and Spartanburg County holds a 4-3 lead over Greenville County.

This event raises money that benefits the First Tee programs in each county.

Greenville

Thomas Barker