As Lt. Jim Reeves, rear, laughs, Sheriff Bryan Walls becomes acquainted with a deer while putting in the 2010 Mini Golf Challenge. Walls and his partner, Tim Bay, finished second behind The Graham Leader.
Press prevails in precarious pairing
by Cherry Rushin
(Posted 7/23/2010 02:44 pm)
By Cherry Rushin
newsdesk@grahamleader.com
Clay Stewart finally got something right.
In a much-anticipated matchup, the press beat the po po in the 2010 Miniature Golf Showdown at The Secret Garden. The Graham Leader’s David Rupkalvis and Clay Stewart took on the Graham Police Department’s Lt. Jim Reeves and Sgt. Richard Ferguson along with Sheriff Bryan Walls and Investigator Tim Bay.
Walls and Bay pulled no punches in their pageantry. They showed up with their putters in rifle cases, claiming they would win at any cost.
They sported team shirts for the event that turned “press” into an acronym for “pushy rodent excrement slinging slimeballs.” They even spelled it all correctly.
Ferguson and Reeves came in like pros, skipping the silliness and preferring to get down to business.
Reeves first few practice shots were hole in ones.
“I’d rather be lucky than good,” he said. Unfortunately, the luck didn’t hold for the GPD.
Dr. David Scott, course owner and the event’s official scorekeeper, explained the rules including if a ball comes to rest on the edge, the player gets a putter’s width from the edge.
On the first hole, Bay attempted to get a putters length from the edge toward the hole.
Right off the bat, Bay tried to weaken the press’ resolve with his banter.
“Isn’t the newspaper a dead media?” he asked.
He got quiet on the fifth hole when he maxed out at six shots without ever making it in and took a breather from making fun of Stewart’s shorts.
Hole 9 proved to be deceptively difficult with a strategically placed chicken obstacle.
As the sheriff approached, he removed a bit of debris from his line.
“I’m not going to tell you what that was you picked up, but there’s a chicken right there,” said Stewart.
“It was something he wrote,” said Bay.
After the first half of the round, the score was press 18, sheriffs 18 and the P.D. 24.
“Ya’ll can catch up if you keep after it,” said Ferguson.
At the 14th hole, the press was up by one thanks to a dramatic two-bank ace by Rupkalvis.
“Think they can handle it?” asked Scott.
“Oh yeah, they don’t call him ‘lay up Clay’ for nothing,” said Walls.
By the final hole, the press was up by two, but it was still anyone’s game.
Anyone who wasn’t with the GPD that is.
Still, Reeves approached the tee with all seriousness and successfully knocked the ball out of bounds — twice in a row.
“I’ve been out more than I’ve been in,” he said.
As the sheriff began to take his final chance at the win, Rupkalvis asked him if he thought “po po” was an offensive term.
“No, but press is,” he replied. “Does the paper pay for your tickets?”
In the end, The Graham Leader celebrated the win with an even-par round of 36. The sheriff’s office limped in second at 38, and the police settled for a third-place finish.
Scott gave out trophies to all the teams, but third place got one with a girl golfer.
Jim Reeves takes his second -- or third -- shot at putting the ball through a snake during the Mini Golf Challenge at the Secret Gardens Miniature Golf Course.
