River Hills wins top title for Carolinas golf clubs

River Hills Country Club bills itself among the best courses in the Carolinas. Its players aren’t bad, either.

“These guys, they make it easy for the captain,” said Mike Ruziska, captain of the 12-player club championship team. “They love match play.”

River Hills won the 18th annual Carolinas Interclub on Nov. 15. The team golf competition is open to clubs throughout the Carolinas from the regular season opening in April to a November final. The event began with 79 teams. A record 54 earned their ways into the single-elimination playoff.

The final weekend at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C., saw River Hills double up Rock Hill Country Club on Saturday, the squeeze past Pinehurst Country Club in the Sunday final.

The meeting with Rock Hill was the third of the season, each team winning on its home course. It was the first time two clubs from the same four-team “pod” squared off in the final weekend. The score was tied at 6-6, when River Hills swept the final six points. Scott Rohrer and Jesus Espina-Velosa took every point in their semifinal matches.

River Hills topped Pinehurst 10-8 in the final after trailing 4-2. Harold Fisher and Joe Lyons put River Hills up for the first time at 6.5-5.5 with a three-point sweep of of their Pinehurst counterparts. Jim Sears birdied three straight holes on the back nine to add another point in the next-to-last pairing. But Pinehurst fought back for a 7.5-7.5 tie heading into the final pairing.

Rohrer halved and Espina-Velosa won individual matches, with the pair winning it four-ball match for the final 10-8 score. It was the record fourth Interclub Championship for River Hills.

Ruziska, in his third year at River Hills but first as captain, began with about 30 interested players. He held practice matches to see who thrived under pressure. Match play golf is different from stroke play, at times calling for more aggressive or passive play when the only goal is to win a hole at a time. The club has a deep field of players who enjoy that approach.

“By far the most fun experience I’ve had playing golf,” Ruziska said.

The captain plans to begin anew next spring. As far as he knows he’ll remain captain, given the latest result.

“I don’t think they’d fire me right now,” he joked.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 10:35 AM with the headline "River Hills wins top title for Carolinas golf clubs."