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Past Champions

August 2022 · 26 photos

Photo from Past Champions
Photo from Past Champions
Photo from Past Champions
Photo from Past Champions
Photo from Past Champions
Photo from Past Champions
2013 - Steve "Shep" Shepherd

Needless to say he was an animal on the course in 2013!  He hit the ball and then ran after it!  Only chased 3 squirrels!  Memorable year!
2016 - Jamie Foster

The look says it all. “You fuckin kiddin me?!  I won?”  Well, we define “winning” here a little different.  Last Gull Lake BHG Champion!
2014 - David Bollinger

Look at me Mom, I took home everything.  I didnt share and I dont care.  Like Leo, IM THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!
2015 - Geoffrey Peterson

Leon's getting LARGER!!!  2nd time for the big man.  Sorry to the 2016 winner as we might need to make a wardrobe change!
2012 - Scott Harvey

1st year on the tour and he takes home a jacket!  What the hell?!?!  Scott played great all weekend, or at least that is what he told everyone.... repeatedly!  He was not only the Low Net Champion, but also Captained the Germany team to their Lager Cup win in 2012!  Nice work - get ready for your sophomore slump!
2011 - Don Hand

Don winning this trophy may force us to rename it the "aw crap, now I HAVE TO come back next year" award!  We love Don, great guy, but he just brings way too many Tomchecks with him!  The good news though - his win is my gain!  He wins a trophy, and I get a bitch (thanks Ed!). Take a while to enjoy Don's beaming smile from his win!
2010 - Bret Caruso

Obviously Bret talked to Jim Konczal to see what holes are required to screw up on in order to repeat as Champion!  Bret is the second to repeat as Champion which means there is something seriously screwed up with the spreadsheet!  Congrats Bret, and no, you cannot *take in* the jacket so it fits!
2009 - Jim Konczal

Well, everyone knew it was possible, and most likely would happen someday - and guess what - in 2009 that *someday* came!  Jim Konczal became our first REPEAT champion of the Big Hitters Outing.  3 years coming - 2 trophies!  What the hell?!  You can see, for his 2nd win, his celebration smile was twice as big!
2008 - Bill Wheeler

Call it a feel good story.  Bill had gone through a lot of personal tragedy the week of the outing - almost to the point where he couldn't make it.  He decided to come and made the weekend HIS!  Bill wore the jacket proudly, and is getitng married on Oct 11 which I hear may feature the jacket at the ceremony! We can only hope!
2007 - Jim Konczal

For all of you Bible scholars out there, I believe we have seen Matthew 5:5 come true: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  Jim came to the 2007 Outing as a Rookie, played great golf and in a very quiet way - ran away with the championship!  Its acceptance speech lasted 0.15 seconds!
2006 - Marty Corcoran

So maybe this means that you need to be al least 6'6" to win this tournament.  Marty "the Wedge" pulled out the 2006 tournament, and trust me, it ain't his wedge that won it for him. The trophy will reside in Hackensack for the next year!!  Note to self, get a bigger jacket!!
2005 - Geoff Peterson

This proves that you need a 300+ yrd drive to win this tourney.  However, Geoff's drives are measured by 150 yrds straight and 150 yrds to the right.  I guess the fact that he can see over the trees makes it easy for him to recover.
2004 - Scott "Scooter" LaMontagne

The man won the tournament, proposed a week later and got married the next year.  I guess it was his year!  Fortunately, I can fix the tournament spreadsheet so that this travesty of justice never happens again!
2003 - Bret Caruso

How did I ever let this happen?!  The guys head is big enough, never mind putting the name "Champion" in it.  The midget warrior played well-enough to win and to this day is really the only guy that "the Jacket" fits.
2002 - Mark Kramer

I knew there was something wrong with the handicap system when this happened.  Our first year of the Peoria Handicap system which truly makes the tourney "up for grabs".  Kramer still can't believe he won - and neither can anyone else.
2001 - Scott Pider

Scott truly fit the name of the tournament - Big Hitter.  This guy could bomb it!!  Even while playing barefoot, drunk and playing "teen wolf" on top of the cart.  No one was going to catch him.  He won Low Net AND Low Gross in the same year!
2000 - Steve Dubs

In our only rain shortened outing, Steve Dubs ran away with the cup.  Some may think Steve's win was a flash in the pan, but Steve has won 2nd place and in 1999 - if we were giving out the award - he would have won the Golden Hacker Award too!
1999 - Bob Fry

One of the funniest years I will ever remember and thanks to Bob we got the main piece to our Big Hitters Trophy.  Bob couldn't wait to get it out of his house, and you can imagine how thrilled he was to win in 1999 and have to take the Crystal Bowl home with him.
1998 - Mark Albright

Again in 1998, we didn't have a formal tournament structure (and we lost a good number of the scorecards), but without a doubt we gave the trophy to the best golfer of the weekend - Mark Albright.
1997 - Dalai Lama

In lieu of having a defined "tournament structure" our first year, we decided to give the first award to the Dalai Lama himself.  As Carl Spackler told us, "Big Hitter the Lama is!"