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Par Three Contest.
The Par Three Contest, played at Knights Play Golf Center, included a special moment this year as David Kleinman scored the DiBella's first hole-in-one, albeit in a practice round. The shot came from 106 yards where Mr. Kleinman chose an L-Wedge. The shot was a crisp one, landed beyond the whole, and spun back into the cup. This ace didn't turn out to be enough for Mr. Kleinman to repeat his title as Par Three Champion as the title went to Mr. Stachura with a score of 58 (+4).
After a brief stop-off at the Mathias's home, the field made the trip to Pinehurst to check into the fabulous villa that would house the players for the duration of the Matches.
The players enjoyed several cocktails at the villa before embarking on a trip to Dugan's Pub for a memorable evening.
First Round
Team F owned the first round of the Matches with a 2-1 margin at The Legacy. Although Team F secured victories by Dave Stachura (6&5 over Matt Bielawa) and Adam Martin (3&2 over Joe Mathias), the real story of the day came from David Kleinman who came off his lengthy preparation for the New York Bar Exam by posting an improbable 73 en route to a 4&3 victory over Mark Andolina.
After the round, the field made the trip to Cary, NC to rejoing the Mathias family for dinner. The discussion quickly turned to sports banter, and Team V pondered how they would reverse the trend that had them facing a third straight DiBella loss after winning the first three matches.
Apparently, all Team V needed to kick-start their efforts in the 6th Annual Matches was a good meal and hearty encouragement from Mr. Nelson Mathias. Team V evened the matches during the second round led by David Kleinman's victory of Dave Stachura (74-80 after 17 holes). Both other matches were halved, including Mark Andolina and Joe Mathias who agreed to halve the match after rain forced play to be suspended for the day. The players were tied through 17 holes with 85 strokes a piece. The final match between Matt Bielawa and Adam Martin brought little honor to the field, as these grizzled competitors found hard to halve the match at 92. With this charge made by Team V, the Matches went to the Final Round tied at 3 for the first time in its storied history.
Although the field was nervous for what was to come at Tobacco Road in the final round, they still found time to enjoy the evening at Applebee's in Southern Pines
The final round took the players to much-heralded Tobacco Road to determine the victors of the 6th version of the DiBella Memorial Matches. The play at Tobacco Road was reasonably good on average, but Team V's hopes to win the 6th Matches were dashed as Dave Stachura beat Joe Mathias 3&2 after shooting an impressive 79 and Mark Andolina earned the deciding point pasting Matt Bielawa 5&3. The final point was won by Adam Martin who defeated David Kleinman 2&1 to complete a Team F sweep of the final round.
This year's victory by Team F evens the Matches at 3 going into the all important 7th Annual Matches to be played in 2006. The teams look forward to competing for the all-important lead in the DiBella Memorial in the near future.
