Congratulations to Ryan Doyle and Sam Masih, the 2006 Nomad Classic Champions!
During an uncharacteristically small field for the Nomad Classic, the competition was tight at its resort location of Horseshoe Valley Resort. Three rounds of golf were played with two rounds played on the Valley Course and one round played on the Highlands Course.
The first round of golf and the first official round for the tournament took place on the Valley Course. Andy shot the best adjusted round of the day at a 6-under par while his partner Muir struggled with a 9-over. This actually left their team tied for the lead with the team of Kershaw and Way who were fairly consistent with their handicaps the first day. The remaining two teams each had one player who struggled as Sam and Ryan shot 1-over and 6-over respectively while Mark and Nathan shot even and 10-over respectively.
The second round of the tournament started with a sunny morning on the Highlands Course. Nathan continued to struggle while Rinaldo remained consistent which unfortunately eliminated the team from a possible comeback early. For the team of Kershaw and Way, Matthew’s performance remained steady at 3-over while Way’s game progressively got worse for a disappointing 8-over for the day. Way’s poor performance dropped the team out of the running after being tied for first at the beginning of the round. This left an opportunity for one of the remaining two teams to bring home the championship. Andy and Muir, the co-leaders after the first day had a wide variation in their games. Muir was much improved shooing a 1-over while Andy dropped off the torrid pace from the previous day to shoot 4-over par. This gave a combined score of 8-over for the tournament and left a window of opportunity for the team of Ryan and Sam to catch up. Ryan improved his previous day’s effort by three strokes while Sammy managed to be the only golfer on the second day to shoot below his handicap at 2-under.
The players returned to the resort to tabulate the score cards when a discrepancy was noted on the scorecards relating to Sam’s scores. Debate as to who won the tournament ended in a resolution that gave Sam and Ryan a final score of 8-over, tying them with Andy and Muir. It was time for a pitch’n putt tie-break for the second year in a row! As the relative worst golfer for the tournament it was Nathan’s responsibility to set the challenges for the teams to compete in on the putting green of the Valley Course. The tie-breaker was almost over before it began as Muir struggled to pitch the ball close to hole while the other players were within striking distance. In a moment of incredulity Sam decided he didn’t want to win like that and fired his one foot putt way past the hole to make it more challenging, almost costing his team the title. In the end, Sam made his putt and the tie-breaker carried forward to the next round. Muir continued to struggle with his short game and Sam and Ryan won the 2006 Nomad Classic Championship Trophy!
The final round of golf occurred post-tournament as a fun wind-down to the festivities. There was lots of relaxed play and drinking on the Highlands Course… for the most part. Sam, who had decided to chug a water bottle filled with vodka, paid his green fee and rode in the cart all round passed out. With the end of the round, the 2006 Nomad Classic came to an end.
| Place | Player | Day 1 | Day 2 | Total | NC-HC |
| 1 | Sam Masih | +1 | -2* | -1 | 100 |
| 1 | Ryan Doyle | +6 | +3 | +9 | 104 |
| 2 | Andy | -6 | +4 | -2 | 109 |
| 2 | Chris Muir | +9 | +1 | +10 | 117 |
| 3 | Matt Kershaw | -1 | +3 | +2 | 107 |
| 3 | Steve Way | +4 | +8 | +12 | 113 |
| 4 | Mark Rinaldo | 0 | +1 | +1 | 91 |
| 4 | Nathan Greene | +10 | +17 | +27 | 115 |
*-There was a scoring discrepancy between the two submitted scorecards.