The Potomac Cup returns to its roots, as the 10th annual battle between Maryland and Virginia amateur stars comes back to Cumberland, Maryland’s Rocky Gap Resort for a record fourth time.
“For many of our early years, we were…seeking out quality golf courses on which to play the finals,” explained Steve Czaban, the tournament’s founder and the Captain of Virginia: Team Blue to her fans. “Rocky Gap was there for us when we first stepped up the level of competition in 2003, our third year. It was only fitting, that we would return for this special 10th edition of The Cup.”
It will be the first time in five years the Cup will be contested in Maryland. For the last two years, the event was held at Blue Ridge Shadows in Virginia. In 2006 and 2007, saw the tournament contested at a neutral site, the sparkling Nemacolin Woodlands Resort outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jack Nicklaus’s design team was responsible for building the Resort’s golf course.
The biggest change to the 2010 Potomac Cup will be in the qualifying process. For the first time ever, the Potomac Cup will qualify players as individuals, not as a team.
“The time had come, really,” Czaban said. “Nothing against the old two-man format, but I was getting more and more feedback from guys saying that simply finding the right partner was almost as hard as making the team.”
“He’s got that right,” added a jocular Ron Thomas, a staple of the Maryland squad, this year’s Team Red caotain, and a fixture at the event for nearly a decade. “I got sick of carrying guys who were riding me like Big Brown. Now good players can power past those doofuses in single qualifying with a hearty “Later, Chumps!”
Plus, players don’t have to scramble to find someone with whom to qualify. “This way, it is simple,” adds Czaban. If you want a chance at the glory of representing your state, you only have to check your schedule, not anybody else’s.”
“Seriously though,” adds Thomas, between laughs, “individual qualifying will solidify the event as one of the highest-level, premiere amateur events in the country. This is Maryland and Virginia’s Ryder Cup, and these guys play so well, they deserve the chance to go at it alone and shine.”
The Potomac Cup is open to all amateur players who reside in either the state of Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia. There are two chances to qualify. Format for qualifying is individual stroke play, no handicaps.
While Virginia holds a a slim 5-4 series lead in the event, Maryland has won the last two cups, including a record-setting romp last year, which saw not only the most lopsided score in history – 29-7 – but which also saw the tournament opened by Maryland with a thunderclap, an embarrassing 6-0 skunking of Virginia in the Friday morning Foursomes.
“We look to mount a comeback this year and play much better for ourselves and our Commonwealth,” said Virginia star Steve Ciliberti, a rookie sensation last year in the losing effort.
Qualifying rounds will be held July 6 at Westfields G.C. in Virginia and July 27 at Lake Presidential in Maryland. Players may try to make either squad at either qualifier, but must play for their home state – they state in which they reside. For more info, click here or click here for thrilling write-ups of past cups. Plus there’s the dramatic video by Steve Czaban himself:
