HISTORY OF THE GAG
1998 Fishers Island
The Team
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Stevo Williams
Andy Plax
Dave Murray
Jared Soper
Jared Kelly
Tim Fogg
The Origin of what is now known
as the GAG dates back to 1998.Even though the GAG was not officially the trip name until 2002, forsimplicity, from here on
out we will refer to each trip as its own individualGAG. The trip was originally called the St Lawrence Shootout. It all startedwhen
one of theTrip's founding fathersAndrew Burr invited 7 of his St Lawrence fraternity brothers to Fishers Island
to play in the prestigious H.O.G.Tournament. The GAG's original 8 members were Andrew Burr, Ethan Brown, AndyPlax, Stevo Williams,
Dave Murray, Jared Soper, Jared Kelly, and Tim Fogg. Notsurprisingly the weekend was a huge hit, the level of debauchery was
taken tonew heights, and the annual fall golf trip was born. The 1st annualGAG was legendary but when the "Big
Kahuna" found a player, whosename has purposely been omitted, passed out on his front lawn it was time forthe GAG to find
a new home.
1999 West Palm Beach
The Team
Andrew Burr
Andy Plax
Stevo Williams
Dave Murray
Marc Malloy
Chris Barry
Jared Soper
Matt Donny
In the fall of 1999 the 2nd
annual GAG or 1st St LawrenceShootout
headed south to Singer Island/Port St Lucie,
Florida. The crew consisted of 7 guys fromSt Lawrence (Andrew Burr,
Andy Plax, Stevo Williams, Dave Murray, Jared Soper,Marc Malloy, and Chris Barry filling in for Ethan Brown who was a last
minutescratch) and a St. Louis native named Matt Donny invited by Andy Plax. Theformat of a round of 18 on Friday a round
of 36 on Saturday and a round of 18on Sunday was adopted. Seeing as this was the first real GAG there were some rookie mistakes.Driving distances between courses were well over an hour. The crew
learned thehard way that PGA National North is distinctively different from PGA North inthe state of Florida.Nothing like pulling into a phat course with caddies only to be told you're inthe
wrong county and the muni you're playing is 40 miles away with a tee timein 7 minutes.
2000 Wild Dunes
The Team
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Andy Plax
Stevo Williams
Dave Murray
Marc Malloy
Chris Barry
Jared Soper
Tom Pisano
Reed Carroll
Nate
In 2000 the 3rd annual
GAG also known as 2ndannual the St. Lawrence Shootout took place at Wild Dunes outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Due to the increasing
popularity of thetrip an executive decision was made and the trip was changed from 8 to 12players. The 2000 teamwas Andrew Burr, Ethan Brown, Andy Plax, Stevo Williams, Marc Malloy, Nate
thePrimate, Tommy Pisano, Jared Soper, Reed Carroll, Chris Barry, and Dave Murray.The first dinner at Carolina's
in Charleston took place onthis trip. Nate the Primate
was the Credit Card Roulette loser and took down ahefty tab. Found in the GAG archives was an actual emailwith the itinerary for the 2000trip:
Subject: TIMETO GET WEIRD IN CHARLESTON
Hello my friends.......I am proud to announce that thefirst weekend in October
will give way to the 2nd Annual St. Lawrence shootoutin beautiful Charleston,
S.C. This is going to be a wild tripand this year we won't have
to wake up at 6 in the morning to drive an hour tothe golf courses. We will be staying in Villa's on two of the coursesthat
we are playing and less then a 20 minute drive to the other 2tracks. Charlestonhas
some great restaurants, rocking clubs and sweet beaver bars (on Steamer'srequest)!!!
DETAILS:
Date: OCT 5-8
2000-Arrive Thursday eveningand leave Sunday late afternoon
Lodging: Wild
Dunes Resort: 3 Bedroom Villas, 4 people to a Villa. (3 nights 10/5, 10/6,10/7)
Golf:
10/6 Charleston National(bring plenty of balls) 11:00 TH
10/7 LinksCourse
8:00 TH
10/7 Harbor Course
1:30 TH
10/8CoosawCreek
9:00 TH
Airline: Book on your
own...right now prices fromLaGuardia and Boston$250 (obviously,
the earlier you book the cheaper the flight)
Price: Golf (including
cart and taxes) + lodging is $475/person (this will go up a little if I decide we need rentalcars)
*If
you are in, please e-mail meyour Credit Card # to secure the spot. They will take a 10% deposit onthe card now and charge
the rest 30 days prior to the trip.
From the back tee's,
Bopper
2001 KiawahIsland
Team
Sunday
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Andy Plax
Matt Cassin
Chris Lennon
Team
Saturday
Stevo Williams
Marc Malloy
Tom Pisano
Jamie Stull
Nishan Vartanian
John Barnett
In the fall of 2001 the 4th
annual GAG decided totake down Kiawah Islandand
the famed Ocean Course in South Carolina. At this juncture
in the trips history thenumber of St Lawrence alums was beginning to dwindle and more serious golferswere being added. Representing
St Lawrence; Andrew Burr, Ethan Brown, AndyPlax, Stevo Williams, and Marc Malloy. Reed "Enron" Carroll wassupposed to me in
the mix but Enron blew up and he was a last minute scratch.2001 was the year some now wily veterans were added. The GAG picked
up MattCassin, Jamie Stull, and Nishan Vartanian. Also returning was Tom Pisano who isthe oldest non St Lawrence veteran.
The team also welcomed Chris Lennon and BigJohn Barnett who were one and done after flying into Hilton Head and almostmissing
the first day of action. The GAG was supposed to go to a Ryder Cupstyle with the now common 6 vs. 6 format but unfortunately
the last minute scratch of ReedCarroll monkey wrenched the plans and
the Ryder Cup format would have to waitanother year. The 4 Courses played were Turtle Point, Osprey Point, CougarPoint and
the Ocean Course. There was another trip into Charlestonand another credit card roulette duel
at Carolina's.This time the unfortunate loser was Nishan Vartanian.
Got to love those 1styear rookies coming in and picking up the tabs. What
is now known as team Saturday won the first recordedGAG. Marc Malloy went undefeated and was the team Saturday's horse.
2002 Pinehurst
Team Sunday
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Matt Cassin
Peter Burke
Rory Callagy
Matt
Westfall
Team Saturday
Jamie Stull
Tom Pisano
Nishan Vartanian
Dave Murray
Tom Seitz
Reed Carroll
By the time the 5th
annual GAG rolled around thetrip was frill proof, runninglike a well
oiled machine. Inhonor of the 5 year anniversary the location chosen
was Pinehurst North Carolina. For the first time in GAG history theplayers from St Lawrence were outnumbered by players from The Apawamis
club.The courses played were #2, #4, #8, and The CC of North Carolina.
The team wasAndrew Burr, Ethan Brown, Tom Pisano, Matt Cassin, Jamie Stull, NishanVartanian, Dave Murray, Peter
Burke, Rory Callagy, Tom Seitz, Matt Westfall, and Reed Carroll.
PeterBurke defeated Tom Pisano on 18 w/ a putt heard around the
world to put TeamSunday in the winner circles and tie the matches at one apiece. Other thangolf, Pinehurst has little to offer
so a 3 hour trip to ChapelHill seemed like a good idea and for the record the B-Man wasalways
in! Pinehurst offered the best war room and a lot of money changed handsat the card table. We refer to the GAG archives for
theItinerary:
PINEHURSTITINERARY.....I SHOULD
BE GETTING PAID FOR THIS
THEFIFTH
ANNUAL EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPIGATORADE POWER
BARPINEHURST FALL CLASSIC
TEAM
# 1
TEAM #2
(2)
TommyPi"Shank"o
(3) Matt "Cool hand" Cassin
(5)
Jameson "The Devil"Stull
(6) The Burrdie
(8)
Tommy "3-jack"Seitz
(9) Peter "Bad Boy" Burke
(10)
Nishan "I have never won amatch" Vartanian (11) EBrownA.K.A Poisoin Ivy...He never
goes away
(11)
Radar "Enron Blowup??" Carroll (12) Andy "Shortbus" Plax
(16)
Dave "Sandbag" Murray
(13) Rory "The Rock"Callagy
(52) Total
handicapp
(54)
Total Handicapp
Roomates
in the Villa: Burr/Brown, Plax/Murray, Vartanian/Stull and Pisano/Cassin
Villa cost is $1578 for the weekend
Roomates
in the Carolina Hotel:Carroll/Seitz and Burke/Callagy
Hotel
cost is $1383 for the weekend
Tournamentbegins
Friday Oct 25th:
Note: $300/man will bepaid to the winning team
of the Piney Cup. Side betting is encouraged.
Friday
Course # 8 1:35,
1:43 and 1:52 tee time. 4-Ball play
(Walking W/caddies)
PAIRING
FOR DAY ONE:
GROUP
1 Stull(5) Vartanian(10) VS Burr(6) Brown(11)
GROUP
2 Seitz(8)Carroll(11) VS
Cassin(3) Burke(9)
GROUP
3 Pisano(2) Murray(16) VS
Plax(12) Callagy(13)
Friday Dinner
8:30PM CAROLINA
ROOM (JACKET REQUIRED)
Saturday Morn: Course # 4
8:20, 8:28 8:37
4-Ball Play
(Walking w/Caddies)
Saturday Aft: C.C. OF
North Carolina 1:30, 1:40,1:50 2-man
Schammbles
(Riding in Carts)
Saturday Dinner 8:30PM
HACKERS BAR AND GRILL
Sunday
Course# 2 8:30, 8:40, 8:50 Singles (Walking W/Caddies)
Sunday
2:00pm Bus leaves forairport....everyone is signed up on the bus.
2003 Sawgrass
Team Sunday
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Matt Cassin
Matt
Westfall
Rory Callagy
Peter Burke
Team Saturday
Jamie Stull
Tom Pisano
Nishan Vartanian
Mac McAndrew
Tom Seitz
Reed Carroll
The
6th Annual GAG took placeat Sawgrass and Ponta Vedra,Florida. Team Saturday made thenecessary adjustments to put itself back in the winners circle
by signingringer Mac McAndrew. It was a good duel but in the end McAndrew's brilliantshot making gave Team Saturday a 2-1
overall lead. Highlights included brokenwindows, back to back dinners at Ruth Chris's, and ugly Hawaiian shirts. Therewas
a lot of talk of taking the 2004 trip out of the country and across thepond to Irelandbut
that may need to be saved for the 10 year anniversary. From thearchives there is a game summary that was written
before the Sawgrass Trip:
Burr - swinging
a new set ofCallaway irons.......should be strong out there..........as well aserratic.........
Cassin - newswing.........not
a total re-construction, but you'll notice it's a bitsmoother...........
Pisano - depending
on the driverin his hands.........tends to leave it out these days....just doesn't have thedraw on autopilot...........
Vartanian - apparently
nowthat he is captaining the "Fish Pig" has seen the course inmonths.......
Callagy - the rumor
is thatwedding bells are ringing........his focus might be easily rattled.........
Pedro - apparently
May hashim working weekends building houses for her, so he hasn't seen too much of thegolf course.........
Stull - recently
recruitedto work as a deckhand on "Fish Pig" even though he doesn'tfish.......I here he is heading down to Floridaa week early to warm up...........
Seitzy - after
droppingabout 15 pounds over the past few months, and playing in quite a few"work" golf outings his game should be solid........
( mcandrew is incharge of keeping him out until at least 5am in Florida
)..........
BigMacAttack -
never seenthe game on the course but I hear off the course he is a force to be reckonedwith.......should come into play late
in the weekend.
Westy - has been
seenlifting in the Equinox gym in NYC ( 54th and 2nd ) the kid ishuge..........should be hitting a long ball.........but can
he keep it undercontrol...
Ebrown - the kid
islong...........has lengthened his driving distance by 25 yards..........althoughconsistency is a problem in the late rounds......
Radar - good days
and bad onthe course.........he is still thriving off his victory against theBman.........rumor has it.........he is ready
for a re-match........(apparently burr is willing to throw ashley into the bet again, but will not beputting the house on
the line )....
See you all in
JVILLE.
2004 DoradoBeach
Team Sunday
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Matt Cassin
Matt
Westfall
Sam Polk
Todd Pollack
Team Saturday
Jamie Stull
Tom Pisano
Nishan Vartanian
Mac McAndrew
Tom Seitz
Reed Carroll
The
7th Annual GAG took us outof the country but not across the pond as the crew decided to do battle in Puerto
Rico. The site was Dorado Beach.Team Sunday was reeling from its Sawgrass defeat and brought in heavy weightTodd
Pollack and middle weight Sam Polk to help right the ship. Everyoneenjoyed the nightlife at Conquistador but not everyone
enjoyed the golf, teamSaturday barely got off the plane and they were mathematically eliminated bythe end of Saturday's matches
marking the first time Sunday rounds were notneeded nor played. Put quite simply it was the worst drubbing in GAG history.Here
is the 2004 Itinerary:
Men, after weeks of deliberation
we have decided on the spotfor the 2004 GAG Invitational. The GAG isn't going international but wewill be as close as
you can get. The 2004 GAG will take place in theself-governing island commonwealth of the United States in the Caribbean
Seaeast of Hispaniola.......also know as PUERTO RICO.
When: Oct 28-31
Where: Dorado Beach Hyatt
We have already reserved tee
times.
Friday: 12:50. 1:00 and
1:10
Saturday: 8:00,8:10, 8:20 and
1:00, 1:10 1:20
Sunday: 7:20, 7:30, 7:40.
The golf courses are right next
to our hotel. Theearly tee time will give us plenty of time to make the 2:30pm flight. Thehotel is approx. 35
minutes from
Airport.
Also, the hotel has 4 restaurants
and there is a casino thatis attached to it that stays open until 3am. 10 Black tables, 2 craps, 2car, stud, and 4 roulette
wheels. I don't think they have Villas so wemay have to do hotel rooms....working on that as we speak.
Friday night have reserved the
12 person private room at thePalm in San Juan. Our hotel will provide us a mini party-bus for 6hours at $35/head
so we can pimp around San Juan on the cheap after dinner anynight we want.
IMPORTANT:
I still need credit cardsfrom McAndrews, Vartanian, Rock, Cassin and Burke.
IF for
some reason you can not come thewaiting list is seven people deep so let me know ASAP and the ExecutiveCommittee will decide
who gets to come on the trip. To make thingsclear McAndrews is not on the "EC" and never will be......MAC is backon
GAG probation.
2005 Fishers Island Mini GAG
Team Sunday
Andrew Burr
Ethan Brown
Jamie Quinn
Todd Pollack
Team Saturday
Jamie Stull
Tom Pisano
Nishan Vartanian
Reed Carroll
The GAG decided to add a spring
twist in 2005 and the crewmade a pilgrimage to the trips birthplace Fishers Island. The wind was up andthe planters were flowing
but in the end team Saturday was victorious and wonthe first Mini GAG. The well kept archives have the results followed by
theitinerary:
Congrats to team Vartanian for
a gutsy victory this weekend. Gusts as high as 52 kilometers per hour(33mph) were recorded throughout the daySaturday.
Tournament officials had to monitor the situation during the courseof play to make sure the wind abated suitably. Pisano
had the low roundall three days...carding an 83 Saturday Morning, 79 Saturday afternoon and a 76Sunday morning. Brown
and Burr carded a pair of 80's Saturday afternoonon there way to steam rolling Vartanian/Stull. It was all tied after
dayone, and when the pairings were made it looked as if team Burr had a slightadvantage, but at the end of the day team Vartanian
took the unofficial titleof MiniGag champion 2005.(No trophy recognition will be rewarded) Tournament results below:
Saturday Morning:
Burr/Pollack vs.Pisano/Stull
Halved
Brown/Quinn vsVartan/Carroll
Halved
Saturday afternoon:
Burr/Brown def.Vartan/Stull
6 and 4
Pi/Carroll defPollack/Quinn
2 and 1
Sunday Morning:
Pisano defPollack 1
and 0
Vartanian defQuinn 2and
1
Burr def Carroll 8and
7
Stull vs.Brown Halved
