| Winner | Runner-up | |||
| Player of the Year | E. Pereira | 122 | M. Cook | 108 |
| Points Champion | M. Cook | 32.0 | E. Pereira | 22.0 |
| Scoring Champion | E. Pereira | 68.67 | N. Stachowicz | 70.33 |
| Pyramid Tournament | S. Blotzer | 69 | N. Stachowicz | 72 |
| Winners Tournament | N. Stachowicz | 71 | E. Pereira | 73 |
| Club Championship | A. Tegenkamp | 38 pts | M. Cook | 36 pts |
| Low Gross Club Championship | M. Cook | 87 | N. Williamson | 89 |
| 2016 Valero Cup Tournament | B. Simonson | 78 | M. Cook | 81 |
| 2017 & 2018 Valero Cups | Not held yet | |||
| Barbara Juris Award | S. Cook | |||
| # 1 Ranked Golfer at the end of the year | N. Stachowicz | 17.83 | M. Cook | 16.07 |
| Most Tour. as the # 1 ranked golfer | M. Cook | 3 | S. Blotzer | 2 |
| A. Tegenkamp | 2 | |||
| Most Improved Handicap | E. Pereira | 12.6-10.4 | E. Vegas | 23.1-21.7 |
| Most Improved Player | E. Pereira | S. Blotzer | ||
| N. Stachowicz | ||||
| Most Tournament Wins | M. Cook | 2 | ||
| E. Pereira | 2 | |||
| Most Top 3’s | M. Cook | 7 | E. Pereira | 4 |
| N. Stachowicz | 4 | |||
| Most Eagles | none | |||
| Most Birdies | E. Pereira | 4 | D. Scribner | 3 |
| N. Williamson | 3 | |||
| Most Long Drives | S. Blotzer | 3 | S. Cook | 2 |
| E. Pereira | 2 | |||
| A. Tegenkamp | 2 | |||
| Most Closest to the Pin | N. Williamson | 4 | M. Cook | 3 |
| Number of Tournaments | 6 | |||
| Avg # of players per tournament | 11 | |||
| Different players winning 1st place | 9 | |||
| Different players winning 2nd place | 7 | |||
| Players eligible for the Winners Tournament | 11 | |||
2018 Highlights Notes;
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018; Debbie Menzel, Neal Stachowicz, Steve Blotzer
Achieved 925 Tournament Points – M. Cook, 931.5
Achieved 475 Tournament Points – N. Williamson, 481.5
Achieved 400 Tournament Points – D. Scribner, 404.5
Achieved 300 Tournament Points – B. Simonson, 300.0
Achieved 250 Tournament Points – S. Blotzer, 256.0
Achieved 250 Tournament Points – N. Stachowicz, 259.5
Achieved 150 Tournament Points – E. Vegas, 152.5
Achieved 25 Tournament Points – E. Pereira, 31.0
| Valero Golf Club records set or tied | Previous record or runner-up |
| Most Consecutive Top 3’s in one Year | |
| 7 – M. Cook, 2018 | 7 – M. Cook. 1983 |
| 7 – D. Paterson, 1987 | |
| 7 – D. Riley, 2000 | |
| Lowest 2 person scramble gross score (Tom Stead Scramble) | |
| Even Par (par 72) | 2 over par (par 72) |
| 72 – Cypress Lakes, 2018, J. Allen & E. Pereira | 74 – Kennedy, 2017, L. Campbell & M. Cook |
| Rio Vista, low gross course record (white tees) | |
| 77 – 5 over par, E. Pereira, 2018 | 82 – 10 over par. N. Williamson, 2007 |
| Rio Vista, low net course record (white tees) | |
| 63 – 9 under par, E. Pereira, 2018 | 63 – 9 under par, S. Menzel, 2007 |
| Rossmoor – Dollar Ranch, low gross course record | |
| 88 – 17 over par, (par 71), S. Blotzer, 2018 | 89 – 17 over par, (par 72), N. Stachowicz, 2016 |
| Roosmoor – Dollar Ranch, low net course record | |
| 69 – 2 under par, (par 71), S. Blotzer, 2018 | 70 – 2 under par, par (72), N. Stachowicz, 2016 |
As it was the last couple of years we didn’t have a tournament director so five players helped us out by setting up tournaments for us to play. Our thanks go out to Larry Campbell, Sandie Cook, Alex Tegenkamp, Ed Vegas and Nemon Williamson who set up seven tournaments for the year. Eight players showed an interest so we also had a Pyramid Tournament, with matches being played at what ever course they wanted.
The first regular tournament of the year was set up for us by Ed Vegas at Rio Vista GC on Saturday, April 14th starting at 10am. We played on a beautiful spring day, temperature in the high 70’s with essentially no wind. All the players received a sleeve of golf balls plus coupons for a free hotdog, chips and a beer at the turn or after the tournament. In the first flight it was Eddie Pereira with a net 63, second was last years winner Don Scribner with a net 67, Mike Cook took third with a net 69. In the second flight it was home course favorite Ed Vegas in first place with a net 65 (his 10th), second was Neal Stachowicz with a net 69, Steve Blotzer and Floyd Duggins shared third place with net 72’s. The closest to the pins were won by Don Scribner and Nemon Williamson (his 25th). The longest drives were won by Rob Yarbrough (his 15th) and Sandie Cook. Each winner received a sleeve of Titleist Pro V1x golf balls. The course was in better shape than last year but the greens after having been aerated were extremely slow. Some players made the adjustment as the field had 9 birdies compared to 2 for last year. Steve Blotzer and Eddie Pereira found it was best to group your birdies, Steve birdied # 15 & # 16, Eddie birdied # 11 & # 12, Don Scribner took the other approach with birdies on # 3 & # 8. Other Birdie shooters were Mike Cook, Nemon Williamson and Rob Yarbrough with one each. Eddie Pereira shot a one under par 35 on the back nine and broke the low gross (white tees) course record and also tied Sonny Menzel’s low net course record. Neal Stachowicz who only needed ½ pt and received 4 pts. for his second place finish was inducted into The Valero Golf Club’s “Hall of Fame”. Also inducted was Debbie Menzel who was our tournament director from 2002 to 2008, a multiple major and player of the year, points and scoring champion and many time winner of the Barbara Juris award as the best lady golfer in the club. In the rankings, Alex Tegenkamp is at # 1, Sandie Cook # 2, Steve Blotzer # 3, M. Cook # 4, N. Stachowicz # 5.
The Tom Stead Scramble with the new two person scramble format again this year and sponsored by Mike and Sandie Cook was held at Cypress Lakes GC on Monday, May 14th starting at 10:00 am. We played the back nine first. Like last year the weather was very cool and windy with the wind speed at 30 mph+ the entire round, some more old “Tom Stead Weather”. In the first flight it was Jason Allen and Eddie Pereira teaming up to win first place with a score of 72. Larry Campbell and Mike Cook came in second with a 73. Dave Pearce and Don Scribner took third place with a 80. The closest to the pins on the front nine were won by Dave Pearce and Alex Tegenkamp, on the back nine it was Mike Cook and Alex Tegenkamp, each received a sleeve of the new Titleist Tour Soft golf balls. The first place team members each received $50.00, second place $30.00. In the Rankings Alex Tegenkamp remains at # 1, Steve Blotzer # 2, Sandie Cook # 3, Neal Stachowicz # 4, M. Cook # 5. Even though we played from the gold tees it was still very much a test, the weather and the angles off of the tees made it difficult to place your tee shots where you wanted. The shot of the day went to Jason Allen who drove the green on the 322 yard par four 16th hole (I won’t tell what happened next). Our thanks go out to each of the winning teams who gave back their prize money and added it to our donation and Larry Campbell who donated a dozen golf balls to the club for the CP prizes. We raised $260.00 for the American Heart Association in Tom’s name, total to date is $8744.00.
The 2016 Valero Cup was finally played at Kennedy GC on Monday May 21st, 2018 starting at 10:22am. The eight top point players from 2016 played minus Matt Hurst who couldn’t play. The playing conditions were tough, very strong winds, tricky pins which made putting very difficult and playing from the blue tees. Only one player hit a CP green, the other three CP’s greens went untouched by the field. Bob Simonson came through to win 1st place with a net 78, his first Valero Cup and 4th Major Championship. Mike Cook took 2nd place with a net 81, Steve Blotzer and Kevin Peck tied for 3rd with net 82’s. The first three CP’s went unclaimed, on the last CP hole Mike Cook miss hit his tee shot but the ball managed to roll up on the green. The shot of the day went to Randy Butler who hit the 539 yard par 5 fifth hole with his second shot just short of pin high, then just barely missed his eagle putt and tapped in for a rare birdie for the field. In the Rankings Steve Blotzer takes over # 1, Alex Tegenkamp # 2, Neal Stachowicz # 3, Sandie Cook # 4, Mike Cook # 5. Bob Simonson won the $80.00 winner takes all prize money. Other players included Sandie Cook, Floyd Duggins and Alex Tegenkamp.
The Hiddenbrooke Tournament was played on Monday, June 18th starting at 9:58 am. Like last year it was a cool start with the westerly wind blowing making the first 4 holes very tough to play. The sun came out and the wind dropped off but only in the valley holes, it still blew on the hillside holes. The temperature at the end of play was in the mid 70’s. Mike Cook shot a net 69 to win at Hiddenbrooke for the second year in a row, Eddie Pereira shot a 70, good for second place, Neal Stachowicz was third with a 71. Steve Blotzer won the closest to the pin, the other went unclaimed. Alex Tegenkamp and Eddie Pereira won the long drives. In the rankings Steve Blotzer holds at # 1, Alex Tegenkamp # 2, Neal Stachowicz # 3, Sandie Cook # 4, Mike Cook # 5. The greens were in good shape but there were no birdies for the field. Dave Pearce was the only player in the field to par the difficult par 5 second hole. Thanks go out to Alex Tegenkamp for setting up the tournament for us.
The 22nd Club Championship was held at Rancho Solano GC on Friday, June 13th starting at 10:10 am. The weather was hot and humid, monsoon clouds from the south had settled in and made for a very hot and sticky day. Alex Tegenkamp played well and captured his first Club Championship and third major with 38 pts., second was Mike Cook with 36 pts., third went to Dave Pearce with 35 pts. Mike Cook won the low gross CC followed by Nemon Williamson in second and Dave Pearce in third. In the 1st flight it was Mike Cook 1st, Dave Pearce 2nd and Nemom Williamson 3rd. In the second flight it was Alex Tegenkamp 1st, Floyd Duggins 2nd and Bob Simonson 3rd. The closest to the pins went to Mike Cook (his 70th) and Sandie Cook (her 25th), the long drives went to Steve Blotzer and Alex Tegenkamp. Dave Pearce and Floyd Duggins both qualified for the Winners Tournament. Mike Cook took the # 1 ranking and with his win Alex Tegenkamp moved up to # 2, Neal Stachowicz slipped to # 3, Nemon Williamson is at # 4 with Steve Blotzer at # 5. Thanks to Nemom Williamson for setting up the tournament and also supplying a dozen PV-1’s for the CP & LD prizes. The greens looked slow but would fool you, lots of 3 putts. Only 2 birdies for the field, Don Scribner and Nemon Williamson each had one. In first round pyramid play at Diablo Creek GC it was Steve Blotzer over Don Scribner. In the Player of the Year standings it is Mike Cook, then Eddie Pereira, Neal Stachowicz, Nemon Williamson & Sandie Cook.
The fourth Kamp-Devlin Classic sponsored by Vickie Devlin and Alex Tegenkamp was held at the Eagle Vines GC on Saturday, August 18th starting at 10:30 am. The weather was warm and hazy, temperature in the high 80’s at the end of play but it felt muggy which made it seem much warmer. The main problem with play was we followed a huge tournament with lots of slow play, it was a 6 hour round of golf. It was a Nemon Williamson day, he finished in first place, won $100.00, won both CP’s which awarded him 2 free rounds of golf and qualified him for the Winners Tournament. Finishing in second place was Mike Cook, Sandie Cook and Ed Vegas tied for third. Steve Blotzer won both the LD’s and a couple dozen golf balls. He received 2 tournament points putting him 2 points shy of the Hall of Fame. Our thanks go out to Vickie and Alex for setting up and sponsoring the tournament. Like last year the greens on the course were a little slow. There were no birdies for the field again this year. Guest players included Randy Goudy who did make a birdie 3 on the third hole and Josh Lundholm, both players had gross 44’s on the front nine. James Deak (93) and Mike Mercado (88) also played. The rankings were changed a bit, Mike Cook remains at the # 1 position, Alex Tegenkamp is at # 2, Nemon Williamson moves up to # 3, Neal Stachowicz slips down to # 4, with Steve Blotzer at # 5. The Player of the Year race is very close, Mike Cook and Eddie Pereira are only six points apart, then Nemon Williamson, Neal Stachowicz, Sandie Cook and Steve Blotzer.
The “48th” annual Winners Tournament sponsored by Mike and Sandie Cook was held at Wildhorse GC on Monday, October 15th starting at 09:52 am. When we arrived at the course we were greeted with a very strong North wind which blew the entire day but did drop off some towards the end of the round. The course was in good shape but the greens had just been aerated the week before and were extremely slow. After some confusion on who was eligible to win the Winners, Neal Stachowicz ($100.00) won his first Winners and seventh major after shooting a net 71. Eddie Pereira ($50.00) was a close second with a net 73. Third place went to Mike Cook with a net 74 ($20.00). Mike Osada and Nemon Williamson won the CP‘s. Eddie Pereira and Sandie Cook (her 10th) won the LD’s, all those players received a sleeve of Titleist NXT Tour golf balls. Even though the greens were very difficult we did have some birdies, Eddie Pereira had two, Mike Cook and Nemon Williamson had one each. With eight points for having the low net score for the day (70) Steve Blotzer qualified for and was inducted into the Valero Golf Club’s Hall of Fame. Other tournament point winners were; Neal Stachowicz 4, Sandie Cook and Eddie Pereira 2 each. Mike Cook won the Points Championship for the year. Eddie Pereira won the Scoring Average Championship for the year. Mike Cook maintained his # 1 ranking, Eddie Pereira entered the rankings at # 2, Neal Stachowicz with his major win moved up to # 3, Nemon Williamson at # 4 with Alex Tegenkamp at # 5. For Player of the Year it’s 1-5, Eddie Pereira, Neal Stachowicz, Mike Cook, Steve Blotzer and Nemon Williamson. In the Pyramid Tournament it was Neal Stachowicz over Eddie Pereira and Steve Blotzer over Sandie Cook, Steve and Neal will face each other in the finals for the third consecutive year. The conditions were tough, Dave Pearce was the only player to par the cross wind par five 5th hole, Steve Blotzer and Neal Stachowicz were the only players to make a par on the difficult par four 18th hole.
The 42nd Pyramid Finals were held again for the third year in a row at Rossmoor CC, on the Dollar Ranch Course on Wednesday October 24th, 2018. The two players in the finals were; Steve Blotzer who had wins over Don Scribner and Sandie Cook and Neal Stachowicz with wins over Dave Pearce and Eddie Pereira. Neal had to give 2 strokes to Steve for the match. On the short par 4 first hole Steve takes a double bogey 6, Neal pars the hole to even the match after one hole. On the par 3 second hole Neal has a bogey 4, Steve birdies the hole to regain a 2 stroke lead in the match. Starting up the hill on the tough dogleg right par 4 third hole Neal and Steve halve the hole with good pars. Playing the par 3 fourth hole Steve will bogey, Neal makes a par and regains back one stroke. On the par 5 fifth, the par 4 sixth and the par 5 seventh holes the players halve the holes with a par and two bogeys. On the par 4 eighth hole, Neal takes a bogey 5, Steve pars the hole to go two up in the match again. Both Steve and Neal bogey the par 4 ninth hole which played as a temporary 140 yard par three hole.
At the end of the first nine holes of play Steve was up by two strokes over Neal. Starting the back nine on the very downhill par 3 tenth Steve pars the hole to Neal’s double bogey 5 and goes up by 4 strokes in the match. On the # 2 handicap par 5 eleventh hole Neal will make a bogey 6 but Steve has some problems and makes a triple bogey 8, Neal gets back 2 strokes. On the par 4 twelfth hole and the short downhill par 4 thirteenth hole Neal double bogeys both holes but regains 2 strokes on Steve as he had two triple bogeys, the match is now even. On the goofy par 3 fourteenth hole where a tree in front of the tee does not allow any ball to go high and must be played under it, Steve will bogey the hole but still pick up one stroke on Neal. On the par 5 fifteenth hole Steve will par the hole to Neal’s bogey 6 and go up 2 strokes in the match. Neal comes back with a par on the par 3 sixteenth hole to Steve’s bogey to cut Steve’s lead to one stroke going to the par 4 seventeenth hole. On the dogleg right par 4 seventeenth hole with a very elevated green Neal takes a double bogey 6 to Steve’s bogey, Steve is now 2 strokes up in the match going to the eighteenth hole. On the finishing par 5 eighteenth hole Steve will par the hole to Neal’s bogey and win the match by 3 strokes. Steve wins his second Pyramid Tournament (2009) and his fourth major tournament, sweet revenge after losing to Neal in the last two pyramid final matches. The 2018 final rankings after the Pyramid Finals; Neal Stachowicz is at # 1, Mike Cook # 2, Eddie Pereira # 3, Nemon Williamson # 4, Alex Tegenkamp # 5.
Steve Blotzer will have his name engraved on the Tom Stead Trophy for the second time ($32.00), Neal Stachowicz ($18.00), low net money went to Eddie Pereira ($12.00, $10.00) and Nemon Williamson ($8.00).
The # 1 position in the Valero Golf Club rankings was held by Steve Blotzer at the end of 2017, the ranking system was modified to be more current starting in 2018 which put Alex Tegenkamp at # 1 to start the year off. Alex held # 1 through the Rio Vista and Cypress Lakes tournaments. Steve Blotzer held # 1 through Kennedy and Hiddenbrooke, Mike Cook held it through Rancho Solano, Eagle Vines and Wildhorse with Neal Stachowicz ending the year at # 1 after the Pyramid Tournament Finals.
By finishing second in Tournament Points, first in the Scoring Average Championship and third in the Pyramid Tournament, Eddie Pereira is the Valero Golf Club’s Player of the Year for 2018.
2018 was the 17th year for the Valero Golf League, play continued at Blue Rock West on Wednesday’s. Fun league play was held on Thursday’s on the East course. The league continued to be nine hole team play starting officially at 4:30pm every Wednesday. Playing were 6 teams of 7 to 8 players each. Steve Duff continued as the League President, Hadi Jammal took over as the League Statistician. 2018 started out with the Tennis Pros holding first place after the 1st week, the Hackers Unlimited took over in Week # 2 and held it through week # 9, the Mulligans took it in Week # 10 and shared first place with the Tennis Pros and the Hackers in week # 11, the Mulligans and the Hackers shared first place in week # 12, the Hackers then took first place and held it by themselves until the end of the regular season. At the end of the regular season the first place team (The Hackers Unlimited) received a bye. The second place team the Mulligans and the third place team, the Tennis Pros played off on August 15th to determine who would play the top team. The Tennis Pros won 4.5 to 3.5 and advanced on to play the Hackers on August 22nd. The Hackers won over the Tennis Pros who had reached the finals for the first time by a score of 11.0 to 1.0 and claimed their third league championship. Mike Cook shot video of the match showing some play on the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth holes. The Hackers Unlimited finished first, the Hackers consisted of Justin Biecharczyk, Sean Black, Sarah Harlan, team captain Ben LaFountain, Yves Marekani, Brad Martin, and Steve Milicevich. The Tennis Pros finished second the team consisted of Josh Cross, team captain Randy Goudy, Hadi Jammal, Tim Lee, Jim Minkel, Doug Nelson, Bill Quessenberry and Don Wilson. The Mulligans finished third, the team consisted of Bob Brown, Kevin Ebert, Ron Hall, Jeff Marquez, team captain Dexter Nigos, Eddie Pereira, Jim Petrellese, Rob Villarreal and Zach Larsson. The Birds finished in fourth place, the team consisted of George Cruz, Evan DeForest, Andrew Estrada, Jeremy Jacobsen, team captain James Johnson, Randy Pockrandt, Richard Sullivan and Alex Tegenkamp. The Seadlings finished fifth, the team consisted of Jason Allen, Gary Armstrong, Rick Carr, Ken Gibson, team captain Ken Hoehn, Josh Lundholm, Glenn Overman and Neal Stachowicz. The sixth place team the Rovers consisted of Randy Butler, Steve Duff, Jake Finnigan, Herb Forthuber, Adam Gray, Sanjeet Kamat, Chad Rollans and team captain Jim Rollans. Yearlong individual honors went to Eddie Pereira who tied the record for low gross score in the playoffs, Sean Black who tied the runner-up record for low net score in the reg. season, Sarah Harlan tying the record for low net score in the playoffs, the team of S. Kamat-J. Rollans who tied the record for the low net score in the best-ball tour, Sanjeet Kamat who tied the record for low net score in the three club tournament and Sean Black and Steve Milicevich who both set a new net record in the mini golf challenge, James Johnson also tied the runner-up record in the same tournament. In the individual rankings this year; Randy Butler started the year in the #1 position and held it by himself through week #5. Rob Villarreal joined Randy in the #1 position for week #6. Rob Villarreal then took it by himself through week # 12, Ron Hall held it on week # 13. Brad Martin took it over in week # 13 and held it through the playoffs. In post season play, it was Sanjeet Kamat winning the 3 club tournament tying the club record set by Rick Carr in 2013, Sanjeet Kamat teamed up with Jim Rollans to win the best-ball tournament, in the Mini golf challenge it was Sean Black and Steve Milicevich tying for first place, in the two person scramble it was the team of Jason Allen and Eddie Pereira taking first place. The Valero Golf League had another good year.
Mike Cook