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The day had finally arrived, the 2019 WMMOA Golf Championship. The weather looked threatening, but the hardened competitors were ready for anything Mother Nature could throw at them. After all, there were five Army guys and a United States Marine. The branch rivalry couldn’t be any worse than a tussle at a bar just outside Seoul Korea.

Prizes were available for long drive and longest putt. With six players it was decided to go with two threesomes; Howard Dickey, Jim Hamilton and Gary Swartz leading off and Charlie Olinger, Jack Babon and Will Deschamps batting cleanup.

Swartz and Deschamps took the early lead and were playing bogey golf thru the first two holes. Hamilton was lurking in third place while Dickey, Babon and Olinger were getting the hang of the Larchmont course.
Swartz won the long put with a beauty on hole number four, but the Army Component was falling behind Deschamps, the new leader. Deschamps and Hamilton pared the beautiful fifth hole over water. Hamilton, Deschamps and Swartz all had 5’s on the tough sixth hole but Swartz walked away with the long drive honors. That was the last good thing Swartz did for the day as Hamilton surged into second place while Deschamps continued to play solid golf.

At the conclusion, Deschamps gave all those Army guys their lumps and was low score with a fine 44. Hamilton finished second with a solid 51 and Swartz rounded out the top three with a 57. Howard, Jack and Charlie were clustered together with a 69, 73 and 73.

It was time for a beer, some snacks on the terrace; reliving all our great shots and celebrating our accomplishments and the fact that we stayed dry. We also might have said some disparaging things about our absent Air Force and Navy buddies. A random golfer asked what the occasion was, and we told him we were a bunch of Veterans enjoying some comradery on a fine Saturday morning. He must have been impressed because he sent out another picture of beer after he left.

Two special awards were given: Jack Babon, the Ranger award, for carrying his golf clubs on his back around the course and Charlie Olinger, the No Fear award, for showing up and playing his first round of golf under the most pressure packed conditions. A fun time was had by all.