As I Saw It...Notes From the Commissioner

1998 Annual Newsletter 

The 1998 4th of July Steel Tip Lawn Jart Tournament is in the books, and we had another successful tourney. We had a record of 50 players, for 25 teams this year (versus 42 and 21 last year). The weather had me nervous, with thunderstorms and heavy rain late Friday night and early Saturday morning. Patches of blue sky and some sun greeted the players as we took entries, which made me smile. I deal in smiles, and we had plenty of them at the 1998 steel tip.

The ringers club welcomes two new members for ’98. Scott Buecker and Derek Sharp. The pair cruised to the winners bracket final and won a hard fought match with Chris Clark and Jeff Heath, 21-20. Clark and Heath would come back through the double bracket to meet them again. Winning the first game 21-20, then losing 21-13, "Pooh" and Derek won the third game 21-16 to close out the ’98 steel tip. Congratulations guys!

Several teams had some interesting runs in the tournament. Ryan Hulme and Ryan Hoefling won their first game, lost their second game, lost their third game (wow), then proceeded to win their next nine (yes, nine) in a row to get to the triple bracket final (super wow). They met PJ Wade and Kyle Bachman in the triple final. Bachman hit a double ringer to end that match and send them to the double final. Heath and Clark, who sent them to the third bracket with a 21-19 squeaker, ended their run with a 21-11 scorcher in the double final. The "plastic" jart goes to Sheldon Steinke and Will Morgan who were our first team out this year. Better luck next year, guys.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll be talking to all those lawn jart fanatics soon. I’ll see you next July 3rd and remember---no practicing!

Stick it,

Jeff Balta