Throughout the history of the Invitational Shootout, every great team has been compared to the gold standard performance, which occurred in 2009 when Hammer Hyland and Dave Neill destroyed the field and rewrote the record books with what many consider the most dominating performance in Shootout history. That comparison will no longer be necessary as a new gold standard was set at the 2015 Invitational Shootout by a team many consider to be the heir apparent to The Les Dynasty.
On a beautiful, sunny day at Water’s Edge Golf Club, the team of Shane Hennessy-York and Greg Smith finished 11 under par to win the 22nd Annual Invitational Shootout by three strokes over Derek Cook and Steve Jandernoa. The winning score of 61 broke the previous record of 62, set by the legendary team of Kevin “Hammer” Hyland and Dave Neill in 2009.
The Hennessy-York and Smith scorecard featured one eagle and 10 birdies along with a single bogey. After posting a four under par 32 on the front nine, Shane and Greg turned up the heat with a sizzling 29 on the final nine.
Their lone eagle occurred on the par 5, 15th hole, which ironically provided a bit of disappointment for the powerful duo. “We probably should have had at least one more eagle out there today” said Shane Hennessy-York. “We both just missed another eagle putt and had decent chances on a couple other holes.”
The Champions followed their eagle on the 15th with a birdie on the difficult 150-yard par 3 16th hole on the strength of a spectacular shot by Greg Smith that would earn the young superstar the closest to the pin award. Smith’s incredible shot finished just a few feet from the hole. The duo would go on to birdie the 17th hole, capping a stretch of four consecutive holes which they handled in five under par.
“This type of performance not only re-wrote the record books, I think it really changed the future of the Tournament” said 2004 Champion Joe Hill. “Shane and Greg winning the Shootout is obviously impressive, but to destroy a field that had nine former Champions including the GOAT, George Les, is amazing. But to beat the records set by The Hammer, that’s insane.”
“I’m not sure we’ll ever see a performance like this again” said Mick McDonnell. “These two guys came in here and destroyed a field that was stacked with killers. I think we all felt the Hammer’s performance would never be eclipsed, at least in our lifetimes. This changes everything.”