mmbt0ne
05-16-2005, 01:23 PM
Linky McLinkerson (http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/0505/16bigstakes.html?UrAuth=%60N\NUObNZUbTTUWUXUTUZTZU _UWU\U_UZU\UZUcTYWYWZV)
Big Stakes golf down to two final teams
By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/16/05
MESQUITE, Nev. — The one fallacy within the Big Stakes Challenge ideal is that these men, unlike those big-time, courtesy-car-driving pros, are playing on their own dime. The last of the few twosomes who put up the whole $100,000 entry fee themselves left town Saturday, beaten in the semifinals but still richer for the experience.
Two teams remain, playing for the biggest prize in a business of big prizes. All the hands are hired. Four country club members who can drop diamonds for ball markers back one. A couple pro athletes, including a recent Falcons free agent acquisition, guard Barry Stokes, bankroll the other.
No misreading the impact of a potential $3 million victory on the guys actually lining up the putts, though.
Rick Hartmann and Mark Mielke flew to Nevada from New York last week on JetBlue. They intend to fly home aboard a private jet. Imagine, peanuts by the bowlful.
"One of (his backers) called me this morning, and said, 'Listen, win or lose, I still love you,' said Hartmann. "I told him, 'That's not what I want to hear. I want to hear, win or lose there's still a Citation 10 waiting to take you home.'
"He goes, 'No, no, you got to win one more match for that.'" Hartmann-Mielke did just that, coming back from two-down through four holes to win 4 and 3.
Hartmann is the club pro at the Atlantic Golf Club in Sag Harbor, N.Y., which is just as toney as it sounds. Some of the members who put up the entry fee will be coming out on the private jet for the final. One, however, is still on his boat in the Caribbean. "He doesn't even know what the (money) split is," laughed Hartmann.
To the backers, this is a diversion. To the players - Mielke is also a head pro, at the Mill River Club in East Norwich, N.Y. - it is a potential windfall of epic proportions.
"This is life-changing," Hartmann said. "This is paying off all the mortgage, this is a big deal. Say we qualify to play in a Tour event, we play out of our minds - which no one ever does - and we make a hundred grand. That would be a huge thing. This is, like, forget it.
"You can look at it as an event, which is great. But at the end of the day, it's $3 million. Someone can tell you it's about the win. It ain't about the win. It's about the money." There is no need to disguise greed here.
So far, the semifinal teams have turned the initial $100,000 investment into $675,000. There's another $2.325 million on the table, all of which the winners get to roll around in and divvy up.
"It's going to be hard playing somebody for a $100 Nassau after this," Hartmann said.
Where both Hartmann and Mielke are in their mid-40s, with appearances in five U.S. Opens, two British Opens and a PGA between them, their opponents today are in their 20s and still trying to compose their golf resumes.
California's David Ping and North Carolina's (by way of South Africa) Garth Mulroy met each other chasing the same mini-tour/Monday qualifier existence. They have been blitzing their way through the Big Stakes play, so much that they played the 17th and 18th holes for purely research purposes Sunday. None of their five matches have gone the full 18, and only one stretched as far as the 17th hole.
"Nobody here is in deeper debt than we are," said Ping, going for the popular vote. His father, Da-I Ping, is a Michigan sports agent who represents Stokes. But his son is trying to go it alone otherwise. He is married to an elementary school teach and they rent. Mulroy just got married, and is scheduled to close on a new townhouse Tuesday.
"There two different perspectives. They can use the money to keep chasing golf. For us, we'll have no more bills," Hartmann said.
This Big Stakes final played out to be a nice contrast between the ages. What all four have in common is that none have gotten rich playing golf. Two will be a lot better healed after Monday.
Big Stakes golf down to two final teams
By STEVE HUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/16/05
MESQUITE, Nev. — The one fallacy within the Big Stakes Challenge ideal is that these men, unlike those big-time, courtesy-car-driving pros, are playing on their own dime. The last of the few twosomes who put up the whole $100,000 entry fee themselves left town Saturday, beaten in the semifinals but still richer for the experience.
Two teams remain, playing for the biggest prize in a business of big prizes. All the hands are hired. Four country club members who can drop diamonds for ball markers back one. A couple pro athletes, including a recent Falcons free agent acquisition, guard Barry Stokes, bankroll the other.
No misreading the impact of a potential $3 million victory on the guys actually lining up the putts, though.
Rick Hartmann and Mark Mielke flew to Nevada from New York last week on JetBlue. They intend to fly home aboard a private jet. Imagine, peanuts by the bowlful.
"One of (his backers) called me this morning, and said, 'Listen, win or lose, I still love you,' said Hartmann. "I told him, 'That's not what I want to hear. I want to hear, win or lose there's still a Citation 10 waiting to take you home.'
"He goes, 'No, no, you got to win one more match for that.'" Hartmann-Mielke did just that, coming back from two-down through four holes to win 4 and 3.
Hartmann is the club pro at the Atlantic Golf Club in Sag Harbor, N.Y., which is just as toney as it sounds. Some of the members who put up the entry fee will be coming out on the private jet for the final. One, however, is still on his boat in the Caribbean. "He doesn't even know what the (money) split is," laughed Hartmann.
To the backers, this is a diversion. To the players - Mielke is also a head pro, at the Mill River Club in East Norwich, N.Y. - it is a potential windfall of epic proportions.
"This is life-changing," Hartmann said. "This is paying off all the mortgage, this is a big deal. Say we qualify to play in a Tour event, we play out of our minds - which no one ever does - and we make a hundred grand. That would be a huge thing. This is, like, forget it.
"You can look at it as an event, which is great. But at the end of the day, it's $3 million. Someone can tell you it's about the win. It ain't about the win. It's about the money." There is no need to disguise greed here.
So far, the semifinal teams have turned the initial $100,000 investment into $675,000. There's another $2.325 million on the table, all of which the winners get to roll around in and divvy up.
"It's going to be hard playing somebody for a $100 Nassau after this," Hartmann said.
Where both Hartmann and Mielke are in their mid-40s, with appearances in five U.S. Opens, two British Opens and a PGA between them, their opponents today are in their 20s and still trying to compose their golf resumes.
California's David Ping and North Carolina's (by way of South Africa) Garth Mulroy met each other chasing the same mini-tour/Monday qualifier existence. They have been blitzing their way through the Big Stakes play, so much that they played the 17th and 18th holes for purely research purposes Sunday. None of their five matches have gone the full 18, and only one stretched as far as the 17th hole.
"Nobody here is in deeper debt than we are," said Ping, going for the popular vote. His father, Da-I Ping, is a Michigan sports agent who represents Stokes. But his son is trying to go it alone otherwise. He is married to an elementary school teach and they rent. Mulroy just got married, and is scheduled to close on a new townhouse Tuesday.
"There two different perspectives. They can use the money to keep chasing golf. For us, we'll have no more bills," Hartmann said.
This Big Stakes final played out to be a nice contrast between the ages. What all four have in common is that none have gotten rich playing golf. Two will be a lot better healed after Monday.