20 April 2024 — At Army Navy CC and Springfield CC: In a repeat of the NVGA A-Team finals match last year, the Army Navy CC A-Team faced off against a Springfield CC A-Team determined to fight hard for a victory that eluded them last year.

The A-Team matches consist of 12 players from each club with half playing on their home course and half playing away at the opposing team’s course. The matches are played from the Championship tees in a 4-ball match play format with Nassau scoring (1 point front nine, 1 point back nine, 1 point for all 18 holes) and played at scratch. One player on each team’s roster may be a professional while all others must be amateurs.

Last year’s match ended up with Army Navy winning by a mere 1 point with a score of 9.5 to 8.5.  As might be expected with two teams this closely matched, this year’s contest ended in a tie in regulation play with each team scoring 4.5 points both at home and away and a cumulative 9-9 tie when the home and away scores were combined.  When a match ends in a tie in regulation play, the winner is determined in a sudden-death playoff with one 2-man team representing each club.  The two team captains, Matt Bravo for Army Navy and Dan Derisio for Springfield, selected themselves and their playing partners for today’s match as the playoff team.  Those same four players had played against each other for the entire match in the 3rd group at Army Navy CC (Matt Bravo and Scottie Fore for Army Navy, Dan Derisio and Carlos Aranda for Springfield).

The playoff began on the par 4 Red #1 hole, a relatively short downhill hole with a steeply sloped green located across a depression with some new sod over a covered drainage creek.   Carlos Aranda hit his approach shot from about 140 yds into the right green-side bunker.  Dan also hit his approach from about 140 yards to about 20 feet below the hole.  Matt hit an excellent wedge approach shot from about 100 yds to about 7 feet below the hole.  Scottie hit his tee shot all the way to the bottom of the hill into the depression below and about 30 yards in front of the green.  Scottie’s approach ended up about 40 feet from the hole.

Carlos’ bunker shot went long and above the hole; his par putt missed.  Scottie’s long birdie attempt ran well past the hole and led to a bogey.  Dan putted next from about 20 feet and nearly made his birdie putt for a conceded par.  Matt quickly rolled in his birdie putt to win the playoff.

Congratulations to the Army Navy CC team on winning the 2024 Northern Virginia A-Team championship and winning the title two years in a row!  Well done to the Springfield CC team that reached the finals match two years in a row and came very close to winning both times.

L-R:  Jimmy Kowalski, PGA, Steve Galing, Ryan Peters, Mark McKinnon, Luke Manachuk, Kevin Dillard, Scottie Fore, A-Team Captain Matt Bravo, Kyle Cardenas, Ryan Miller, Chris House, Chris Ironroad

For more information about the individual matches read the summary at the following link:  Army Navy CC wins 2024 Northern Virginia A-Team title

Article by Lynn Wessman with assistance from Richard Lion, NVGA