Carl Manning (Novi / Carl’s Golfland) and Tom Hollman (Novi / Whispering Willows) had a plan going into the 17th Annual GAM Two-Person Net Team tournament at The Fortress in Frankenmuth.
The plan was to shoot the lights out on the front nine and hope for the best on the tougher back nine.
“We played the back nine first and shot a 31,” said Manning, who is Hollman’s brother in law. “We thought it was harder than the front so when we made the turn, we felt we had a good chance to shoot a lower score on the front nine.”
Sometimes the best laid plans go awry.
Manning and Hollman shot a 32 on the front nine for an overall score of 63. They found themselves in a three-way tie for the championship with Rick and Rich Rachner and Mike and Jack McHale. The tiebreaker was team scoring on the back nine. Both the Rachners and the McHales shot 33 on the back making Manning and Hollman the 2007 Net Team champions.
“We just thought the tee shots on the back were a lot more challenging because the fairways are more narrow and there are a lot more trees,” said Manning. “The front seems more open so we thought it would be easier.”
This is Manning’s first appearance in the tournament and Hollman’s second. He was on the runner-up team in 2001 and always hoped to compete again.
“I played in the Net Team with my brother in 2001 but he moved to Chicago after that,” said Hollman. “Carl plays a lot of golf and I thought we would have a good chance to make a run at the championship if we teamed up for the tournament. We scramble pretty good. If one of us has a bad tee shot, the other one comes up with a good one. We pick each other up.”
The duo took third place in the Net Team qualifier at Tanglewood.
The one-day event features 18 holes of two-person best ball competition.
