A brief history of the Ooopen Championship

As told by one its humble participants

Ooopen 1: Charleston, SC, October 2002

At the beginning there was no Ooopen. It simply started with this email to the Wayne Manor Alumni list sent from Mike Contarino on August 1, 2002:

Subject: CHARLESTON- Oct 11-14

Oop. Cheap fares just showed up for DC to Charleston. I'll try and keep track for some of the other cities. I'm working on a group golf rate, so let me know if you plan to play some golf. Let me know if you're coming, so I can put you on a separate list and not bother the rest.

And with that, a series of events was set in motion that changed the landscape of competitive golf in the United States, if not the world. In the end five Wayne Manor veterans decided to head to Charleston: Mike Bryce, Greg Dooley, Will Wiseman, Jordan Weinstein, and Tyler Curtis. Joining them would be Navy man Tim "Touchdown" Doyle. In the weeks preceding the trip we must have decided that we should play a little tournament, as we came prepared with a trophy and medals for the winners.

People started arriving on Thursday to play golf, drink beer, and see the beautiful Charleston girls. There were frequent rainstorms in the evening, but a couple of rounds were played on Thursday and Friday... nothing competitive, just some casual golf at really nice courses at amazingly cheap rates. Monty had convinced the courses that we were a group. A small group, but a group nonetheless.

The tournament started to come into focus on Friday night. Dooley and Bryce finally arrived as the rest of us went on a Confederate Graveyard "tour". Needless to say we were all a bit surprised at the vigor with which many of the Confederates approached the topic of states rights, and we were also disappointed to be walking around a graveyard after the tail of a tropical storm had passed through town, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

With seven stalwarts in place all that was needed was an eighth, someone to round out the teams and get the Ooopen started. We decided to play a little poker that Friday night with one Tim Jianuzzi, a friend of Contarino's from Charleston. After just a few rounds it became clear that he would be a willing participant in the golf, and thus his name was thrown into the pot. A draft was held, and the Sentinels and Tigres were born:

Sentinels 1: Greg Dooley, Tyler Curtis, Jordan Weinstein, Mike Contarino
Los Tigres 1: Tim Doyle, Will Wiseman, Mike Bryce, Tim Jianuzzi

The first round was a stroke-play scramble, held at the Links at Stono Ferry; the Tigres won by a single stroke. The second round was a fourball match held at Patriots Point. The two matches were both halved. Saturday night found all the participants worn out after 10+ hours of golf and very little sleep. Contarino, however, had planned a BBQ at his house, bought tons of beer and nice meat, and planned a 13 bar bar crawl for later in the evening. Unsurprisingly, almost none of those plans worked out. There was no gas for the grill, which left Jordan trying to cook a pork loin on a Foreman grill. Most folks were too tired to enjoy more than 3 beers with "dinner" much less party all over the city. But, in the spirit of the Ooopen there was no complaining when nearly all the participants ended up sleeping in the same room so that Doyle could have some alone time with a local Charleston girl.

Sunday brought singles play at one of the nicest courses in Charleston: Wild Dunes. Tensions were high as the match was close, and Jianuzzi had threatened not to play because he had to go to work that afternoon. After reminding him that he had had a $300 gambling debt forgiven on Friday night he decided to play. Little did he know that the decision would cost him his job. Singles were held at Wild Dunes, and were once again split with victories going to Wiseman, Bryce, Contarino, and Dooley.  His contributions to the scramble (the decided match in the tournament) led to Jianuzzi being named MVP.

Ooopen 2: Phoenix, AZ, October 2003

Wiseman missing his flight and first round
36/36 format
expansion to 12 people
Jianuzzi's elimination from future events
New players: Swennes, Eduardo, Pete, Feeney, Gonz

Ooopen 3: Durham, NC, October 2004

36/18 format
Goes to the tiebreaker
First win for Dooley and Jordan
New players: Hamblin,


Ooopen 4: Durham, NC, August 2005

18/36/18 format
First summer event
All stay at Jordan's place
First win for Contarino
7-1 debacle leads to institution of handicaps

Ooopen 5: Lake Placid, NY, August 2006

First event north of the Mason-Dixon line
18/36/18 format
First year with handicaps
9 players = 3 teams of 3, double singles format
Curtis gets first win

Ooopen 6: Myrtle Beach, SC, October 2007

18/36/18 format
First rainout
12 players, two teams
Wiseman extends undefeated streak to two+ years
Doyle returns after 5 years