22 April 2023 — At Army Navy CC and Springfield CC:  The Army Navy CC A-Team ended a 33-year drought without a win in the Northern Virginia A-Team Championship matches today by defeating Springfield CC in a rain-delayed thriller final match by a score of 9.5 to 8.5.  Army Navy had previously won the A-team title 7 times (1977, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1989 and 1990) and also had finished runner-up 5 times (1983, 1992, 2008, 2016, and 2019).

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.

Play began at each course at 11:30 am but a line of strong thunderstorms came through the area and play had to be suspended about 1:30 pm with play not yet completed on either course on the front nine.  After waiting 2 hours for the storms to pass through, play was finally able to be resumed about 3:30 pm.  With darkness approaching the match came down to the final group at ANCC about 6:45 pm with Army Navy needing to tie the hole to win 2 points in their match —- losing the hole would have resulted in a 9-9 tie and a sudden-death playoff.  Having lost the front nine 1-down, the Army Navy team of Matt Bravo and Scotty Fore were able to secure a tie with a par score on the par 3 18th hole to win the back nine 2-up and win 2 points in the anchor match to secure the overall win for the championship.

Congratulations to the Army Navy CC team on winning the 2023 Northern Virginia A-Team championship!  Well done to the Springfield CC team that fought hard and finished as the runner-up.  In a match as close as this one the outcome could have reversed easily with just a few putts being made.

For a summary of all the matches and photos of the players in each group click on the link here:  Army Navy CC wins 2023 Northern Virginia A-Team championship

Below is a photo of the Army Navy A-Team with the Championship Trophy.

L-R:  Chris House, Nathan Henderson, Ryan Peters, Eric Miller, Jamie Agnew, Nick Chauvenet, Team Captain Matt Bravo, Team Co-Captain Chris Ironroad, Team Co-Captain Kevin Dillard, Scotty Fore, and Kyle Cardenas.  Not pictured:  John Hassan