Wisconsin Golfer - May/June 2011

changed a bit over the years, but a few things have remained constant. It has always been an alternate-shot tournament with both net and gross competitions. However, an open division, in which at least one team member is a pro, was added in 2000.

Teams used to be able to compete in both the gross and net events concurrently but now choose one format or the other. The last time a team won both titles in the same year was 1941.

The Links at Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva hosted last year, and the gross title was won by Kevin and Patrick Cahill of Merrill Hills CC in Waukesha with an exceptional alternate-shot score of 3-under-par 68. The net title was claimed by Jonathan and Garreth Klemp of Mee-Kwon Park GC in Mequon with a score of 66. Rick and Jordan Elsen of Kenosha CC, who won the regular gross title in 2008 before Jordan turned pro, won the open division last year with a score of 69.

The Pater-Filius is a difficult
tournament to win because of
the alternate-shot format. Both
players have to perform well to
have any success, and that is
made more difficult because
they’re both hitting only half the
drives, half the approach shots,
and half the putts they would in a
normal round of golf, so rhythm
becomes an issue. But when a fa-
ther-son duo gets hot, as the
Cahills did last year, scores go
low.

“WE SHOT A
GOOD SCORE,
BUT IT ALMOST
DIDN’T HAPPEN
BECAUSE OF
SOME FAMILY
STRIFE.”
– KEVIN CAHILL
planned, as they barely broke 90.

common to all golf tournaments, but when you add the family dynamic, things get a bit more interesting. And not always in a good way. More than one player interviewed for this story recalled moments of tension over shot selection or strategy in the Pater-Filius. Tim Murphy, for example, pointed out that his son is much more aggressive than he is, which naturally leads to debate over certain shots. But the player holding the club in his hands usually wins those arguments.

“We can debate, but that doesn’t mean we can change each other’s mind,” Tim Murphy said.

Patrick, left, and Kevin Cahill won the Pater-Filius gross title at the Links at Grand Geneva last summer with a score of 68, which tied the lowest score in tournament history.

Gary Menzel – winner with son Brian in 1998 and 2007 – recalled driving into a lateral hazard in the Pater-Filius early in their round one year, with the ball ending up in deep grass and a terrible lie. The format required Brian to hit the next shot, and for reasons which Gary still doesn’t comprehend, dear old dad insisted that Brian hack it out of the junk rather than declaring it unplayable.