In one of the most exciting, and intense, Village Cup elimination rounds in recent history Havana and Bonifay dueled it out to the end, and then more. Early in the competition Havana took a 6-1 points lead, needing only 7 ½ points, of the 14 singles matches, to eliminate Bonifay. With four players remaining, and playing the 9th hole of Cherry Hill, their 18th hole, Jerry Pisani and Bob Abbott of Bonifay needed to win their matches to even the contest. They both won their matches on the last hole making it 7-7 in points.
“Herb Smaltz came out and told us in the fairway we needed to win. That was a lot of pressure. I am surely tired now, but I am glad we could do it for the team,” Pisani said.
Havana Captain Dan Chiappetta and Bonifay Captain Donald Valcheff then picked 3 players for a 3 hole sudden death playoff to determine which team would go on. Havana won the playoff 2-1 as follows:
Match #1 Havana Dan Chiappetta vs Bonifay Herb Smaltz, – match halved ½ point each.
Match #2 Havana Rich Soucey vs Bonifay James Foshee, Soucey birdied first 2 holes to win a point.
Match #3 Havana Brian Bell vs Bonifay Dennis Malica. – match halved ½ point each.
The results of the other 3 matches Wednesday at Palmer were:
Mallory Hill defeated Hacienda Hills
Belle Glade defeated Glenview
Evans Prairie defeated Tierra Del Sol
Tomorrow at Palmer the remaining 8 teams will play 14 singles matches to determine the final 8 teams.
Cane vs Mallory Hill
Orange Blossom vs Havana
Palmer vs Evans Prairie
Lopez vs Belle Glade.
On Friday the winning 4 teams from Thursday’s matches will play to determine the 2 teams that will play the 3-day Ryder Cup Format next week.
