GOLF
Turkey Bowl Revisited
The competing teams go back for seconds at Cream Ridge Golf Course. BY FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
Legend of 2020: Hole 2 PHOTO: © FRANCIS X. GALLAGHER
CREAM RIDGE GOLF COURSE 181 Route 539 Cream Ridge, NJ 08514 tel 609 208 0050 creamridgegolfcourse.com
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n 2020 we felt Cream Ridge Golf Course was the perfect place to meet for the annual Turkey Bowl during COVID with its easy access from New York and Philadelphia. In 2021 we decided to try a reboot of the course and found the weather was far from our friend. Participants were dropping like flies as the date approached and the forecast predicted nearly freezing temperatures and wind gusts up to 35–40 mph. Even old standbys, like myself and Chris Ottaunick (also known as Yammi and our staff photographer), were second-guessing. When I turned in Thanksgiving evening, I assumed we would cancel. The morning brought a plethora of text messages — should we go or not, was it going to rain as well — but, in the end, a small group headed out to play. Once again we had father-and-son combos playing from the Advisory Board including Chris and John Ottaunick; Carlos and Chris Cappuccio; and Steve Montgomery (winner of last year’s trophy), who brought his two sons, Matt and Mike, for
globaltravelerusa.com JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022
the day’s festivities. We ended up with two foursomes: The Ottaunicks joined the Cappuccios, and I teamed up with the Montgomery clan. HOLE 1 520 yards, par 5 The Cappuccios and Ottaunicks teed off before us with clear weather but a raging wind. The Montgomerys and I were up next, the boys pushing their drives left, me hitting right and Steve heading right down the middle, which is the smart play. He continued with a perfect 3-wood shot to land within green striking distance and putted in for a bogey. The rest of us, freezing and swinging, ended with double bogeys. The chatter was all about the previous year and what happened on Hole 2.
