Round 3: Neitzke's Masterclass at Blue/Red

Round 3 went off Thursday on Dutch 27: Blue/Red — par 71, full field of 24, six tee times from 3:10 to 4:00. The game was Par 4s 2 Net, Par 5s 1 Net + 1 Gross, Par 3s 2 Gross. Read it twice. It'll still be confusing.

Here's how it shook out.

🏆 The Winners

Team 1 — Ryan Neitzke + Michael Martin + Ben Von Bank + Jerad Clough — 130 net (−14)

Wire to wire. Neitzke shot the round of the night and the rest of us tried not to get in the way. Two birdies, thirteen pars, one double. That's the line of a player who decided everyone else was tired. 67 net. Lowest gross and lowest net of the day. Take a bow.

Michael Martin matched the card at 80 / 71 with ten pars of his own — quietly the second-best round on the team. Ben Von Bank's scorecard looked like a ransom note (seven doubles, three triples+) but he made enough net birdies on the Par 5s to drag the math home. And yours truly contributed exactly one birdie and a lot of damage control.

🥈 Team 2 — Aaron Jenkins + Jason Sourdiff + Barney Miller + Charlie Geraets — 132 net (−10)

Charlie Geraets — playing off 19 — posted net 68, tied for second-lowest net of the day. Jason Sourdiff and Barney Miller chipped in a steady stream of net birdies. Aaron carried the gross with a 79. Two strokes back of the leaders. Close one.

🥉 Team 3 — Tim Asche + Mark Pietig + David Anderson + Eric Davidge — 137 net (−7)

Welcome to the website, David Anderson. First round on the books here: 88 gross, 75 net, contributed across the card. Tim Asche found a birdie on a Par 5 and Mark Pietig's 89/78 split the difference. Solid middle-of-the-pack effort.

🐦 The Birdie Board

Ryan Neitzke — 2 (with 13 pars on top — fifteen holes par or better)
Jerad Clough — 1
Tim Asche — 1
Conrad Engstrom — 1
Peter Dahl — 1
Sam Geraets — 1
Jared Hoppe — 1
Jayme Steele — 1

🔥 The Hall of Pain

Landon Snider — 101 gross, six triples-or-worse

One hundred and one. Six triples+. The net 85 mercifully ended the discussion. Off-day or new strategy? We'll find out next Thursday.

Jesse Johnson — 100 gross, zero pars

Nine bogeys, seven doubles, two triples+, zero pars. That's an impressively consistent kind of consistent. The 78 net survived because the handicap was paying attention.

Jason Jackovich — 99 gross, one par

The lone par held up the whole round. We salute it. Eight bogeys, seven doubles, two triples+. The 21 handicap dragged the net to 78.

📊 The Grinder Award

Justin Heitkamp. 77 gross. Twelve pars. Zero birdies. Zero doubles. Twelve pars and six bogeys, like someone hit copy-paste on the same shot for four and a half hours. No flair, no fireworks, no mistakes. The 4 handicap looked exactly like a 4 handicap should.

🤝 Heads Up

Round 4 is Thursday May 21 — Lehman 18. Early Team Points leaderboard after three rounds:

Charlie Geraets — 26
Dave Thomes — 23
Ryan Neitzke / Michael Martin / Ben Von Bank / Mark Pietig / Barney Miller — 20

Eight rounds count toward the season total. Three down, seventeen to go. See you Thursday.