Golf Scandal Rocks Morningside Athletic Club

By Dan Miller

AP Golf Writer

EDINA, Minnesota (AP) – A growing scandal within the Morningside Athletic Club overshadowed a beautiful day of golf at the annual MAC golf tournament. The venerable Braemar Golf Course hosted the 7th Annual MAC Golf Tournament on a sunny and warm Friday afternoon. What started as a wonderful day of golf and fellowship turned ugly as an emerging scandal rocked the Morningside community’s athletic association.

On the course, the team of Tom Payne, Patrick Judge, Bob Cossack and Randy Johnson posted an impressive six under total to tie the team of Jamie Engelsma, Bruce Johnson, Brian Johnson and Dan Armstrong in the golf scramble. Team Payne was declared the winner after a questionable tiebreaker was conducted under a cloud of mystery. Conditions were surprisingly difficult at Braemar and a number of teams struggled. “Those were the most difficult conditions I have seen in 15 years,” said Jim Wilde, a member of the Colburn, Killilea, Dykstra and Wilde team. It was later learned that Mr. Wilde last played golf in 1998.

Early in the day, questions arose about the strength of the Payne, Judge, Cossack and Johnson team. When asked how the Mount Rushmore of MAC golf could be placed on the same team, Tournament Chairman Scott Smith nervously mumbled, “Well, that’s the way it worked out this year.” The answer satisfied no one and the suspicions continued to grow. The scandal reached its peak as Chairman Smith and Competition Committee Chair, Gregg Colburn, performed a mysterious “card matching” tiebreaker. “I don’t even know what the hell a ‘card matching’ tiebreaker is supposed to mean?” said a visibly upset Jamie Engelsma, captain of the team on the losing end of the tiebreaker.

MAC leadership received a flurry of complaints about the composition of Team Payne and the questionable tiebreaker. Members of the MAC board, Jeff Carlson, Ed Mathie and Faysal Abraham could be seen huddling on the deck of Braemar as they plotted how to manage the growing crisis. After the closed meeting, MAC Treasurer Abraham addressed the MAC and members of the press that had gathered to learn more about the scandal:

“The MAC Board has received a number of complaints that question the validity of today’s golf outcome. At this moment, it is unwise for MAC leadership to make any comments on the investigation other than those that appear in this statement. We can confirm that we are working closely with the Edina Police Department to investigate the allegations of financial impropriety and we hope to resolve this investigation promptly.  We want to ensure our members that the MAC values open and fair competition above all else and any deviations from this principle will be dealt with quickly and harshly. Until the investigation is complete, Tournament Chairman Smith and Competition Chair Colburn have been placed on administrative leave.”

The involvement of the Edina Police Department raised some eyebrows within the community.  Critics of the department questioned whether departmental time and resources should be devoted to the rigging of a neighborhood golf event. “Any events that deviate from the principle of fairness and honesty on which Morningside was built deserve the departmental resources devoted to this issue,” stated Edina police officer Craig Swenson. “Plus, since the coyotes left Edina, we don’t have that much to do.”

The AP has learned from sources close to the investigation that illegal payments from Team Payne to Scott Smith and Gregg Colburn are being studied. Questions arose as the normally understated Smith showered golfers on the Braemar deck with crisp new $20 bills that were found to have come from the Wells Fargo branch in St. Louis Park, a bank used by both Cossack and Judge. Colburn was said to have laughed every time the term ‘card matching’ was used and he was overheard calling an autobody shop stating that he would like to “Pimp Out” his Volvo station wagon.

It was a long afternoon and evening for MAC Treasurer Abraham as he handled the golf crisis.  Adding to his headaches were questions about voting irregularities in the election of the 2014 MAC Man of the Year. “Jeff Dykstra is a legitimate and deserving winner of the Man of the Year award,” stressed Abraham. “There is no truth to the rumors that a ‘cash for votes’ scheme altered the results of this vote.” Rumors of the scheme were initiated by Tom Cavanaugh who once again was foiled in his attempt to become Man of the Year.  After the announcement of Dykstra as the 2014 MOTY, Cavanaugh could be seen leaving the event in haste screaming, “I got screwed again. Last year Faysal, this year, Dykstra!”

MAC leadership is clearly in damage control mode. They hope to put the scandal behind them before the annual softball game in late July. “We are working tirelessly to return integrity to our association,” said a fatigued Mathie. “This has been a terribly long and difficult day,” said Carlson, “but that $100 tip from Scott Smith sure made it a lot easier to deal with all of this.”