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Team Championship Ends in Controversial Draw Arlington Heights, IL - Over 400 friends, family and fans traveled to the Team Championship Ends in Controversial Draw With a commanding 4-point lead heading into the final round of 8 singles matches, the World Team simply needed to win two matches and tie another to win the tournament. Some early upsets in the round gave hope to the Americans who suddenly found themselves in a miraculous situation: 6 wins in the bank and the lead in the last match. One more victory would have given them the outright win, but British player David Cooper’s amazing eagle on #18 of Rustic Bridge earned the World Team a draw. “The rules were clear,” said tournament director Gary Colabuono. “The challengers needed to secure 24 ½ of the 48 points at stake to win the Cup. The World Team was not able to get a majority and therefore the Cup stays here.” With 32 players traveling over 100,000 total miles to compete in the most prestigious video golf tournament of the year, the outcry was immediate and pointed.
”Let’s playoff for a clear winner!” was the sentiment of the World Team. “We didn’t come all this way to tie – let’s have a playoff!” Tournament director Colabuono then gave the opposing captains 15 minutes to discuss this possibility, causing a further uproar among the players and spectators. “Even though the rules were clear,” he said. “I thought it would be fair to at least discuss the possibility. After all, we stage this event for the players, I thought they should decide.” When the captains returned they both said that the tournament’s rules should be followed and that even though the contest ended in a draw, the Cup would stay in America. With that announcement a great roar of approval from the partisan crowd could be heard throughout the casino as congratulations were passed to all team members for a spectacular competition. Graig Kinzler Wins Second World Champion Title
The concluding day of the tournament saw each team crown a team champion. Those champions then competed for the Golden Tee World Champion title. Canadian Enzo Polidori emerged as the World Team champion, and 2002 World Champion, Graig Kinzler from Chicago, won out over the rest of the Americans. This was Polidori’s second consecutive chance to win the world title. He was runner-up to Chris Eversole in last year’s event. Kinzler, the first world champion, made his comeback from retirement complete by earning a shot to win his second world title. Needing to win 2 of 3 matches, both men kept things close until the final holes in each match with Kinzler ultimately prevailing and winning his second title. Mainstream Media and Industry Press Out in Full-Force to Cover Annual Tournament The Golden Tee LIVE juggernaut showed no signs of slowing down as the tournament was previewed by numerous TV and radio stations, newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs and podcasts. The tournament was also featured during the news on the local Las Vegas ABC and NBC stations. Besides the amusement industry press, also in attendance were many industry movers and shakers. Members of Club Lucky came on Tuesday to catch the action as well as representatives from AMOA. “Golden Tee has become so ingrained in our popular culture that a tournament like this is real news,” said Colabuono. “It’s always great to see members of the industry press, but I think the operators in attendance were surprised to see how big the crowds were and the level of excitement and drama in the room. It has to make them feel good about their investment in Golden Tee.” For more information on the 2007 Golden Tee World Championship visit the official tournament website at www.goldentee.com. World Championship videos can also be seen on YouTube.
April 11, 2007 |
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Tilted Kilt Pub in The Rio casino in Las Vegas on March 25-27 to catch all the excitement and drama of the 5th Annual Golden Tee World Championship. The action was fast and furious as Team USA staged an amazing comeback to tie the World Team and keep the World Championship Cup on American soil.
