Airways Golf League — Week 24 Recap: October 27, 2026
The final round of 2026
Six players squeezed in one last Tuesday round at Airways before the sun checks out early and golf becomes a thing you remember doing. Tom Wieland returned from an 11-week absence to close his season. Chris McKone also came back after a few weeks away. Four players met their targets. And at the end of the night, six players shook hands, called it a season, and walked off into whatever October has to offer.
A quiet, pleasant goodbye to 2026.
A Near-Perfect Opening
A quick statistical oddity worth noting: five of the six players in the field posted a 5 on the par-4 first hole, with Ted Cowles's double-bogey 6 the lone exception. Five bogeys and a double. The field opened the round in almost perfect lockstep — a reasonable argument for hole 1 being the most predictable spot on the course on any given night.
Kevin Kearns Wins the Night
Kevin Kearns took the top spot with 9 points on a target of 8 — one bonus point, target met, and a 45-stroke round, the lowest of the night. He parred holes 5 and 6 (back-to-back pars in the middle of his round) and collected five bogey points elsewhere.
Kearns closes 2026 with three birdies — Week 1 on hole 9, August 4 on hole 7, and his hole 11 birdie last week — plus steady target-met consistency throughout both halves. Finished tied for fourth in the second-half bonus race. A great season.
Chris McKone Returns in Style
Chris McKone, back after missing the last three weeks of regular season play, posted 8 points on a target of 6 — two bonus points, target met. He parred hole 4 (the par-5, which he's parred three times this season now) and collected six bogey points elsewhere, including a four-bogey closing stretch (holes 5, 6, 8, and 9).
Chris finishes 2026 having met his target in every single official appearance except one, plus his two post-season rounds. One of the most consistent performers in the league.
John Gallagher's Clean Finale
John Gallagher — the second-half champion — posted 8 points on a target of 7, one bonus point, target met. He parred hole 9 to close his round and collected six bogey points across the other eight holes. His 46 strokes was the second-lowest of the night.
A fitting end for the second-half champion: no fireworks, no disasters, just a target-met round and a handshake. John Gallagher closes the season with the $90 second-half title prize and a solid final scorecard.
Ted Cowles Gets Target One More Time
Ted Cowles posted 6 points on a target of 5 — one bonus point, target met. He parred hole 8 and added four bogey points. After the second-half title slipped away by one point three weeks ago and he came up one short again last week, Ted finally cashes in the "exceed target by one" result he'd been chasing. A good closing note for a player who finished the second half tied for second.
Tom Wieland's Return
Tom Wieland, who hadn't played since July 14 — that's eleven consecutive missed weeks — returned Tuesday for the season finale. He posted 2 points on a target of 5, missing by three, with bogey points on hole 1 and hole 9 his only scoring holes. Everything in between was double or worse. The timing of his return (right at season's end, long after the bonus-points race was decided) suggests less a competitive push and more a nice-to-see-everyone-one-last-time appearance. Welcome back, Tom. And thanks for closing out the season with us.
Bill Gallagher's Rough Finale
Bill Gallagher — second-half participant, Rolling Meadows scramble winner, five-birdie season — had his worst round of the back half: 4 points on a target of 8, missed by four. He parred hole 9 to finish and bogeyed holes 1 and 8, but the middle of his round was a wasteland of triples (holes 2, 4, 5) and a quadruple-bogey 8 on hole 3. His 55 strokes was the highest of the night.
An unfortunate way for Bill to end a season in which he was one of the most consistent target-meeters in the league. The scramble win two weeks ago was the better note to go out on; this one was just the one he had.
Where the Pars Came From
Six pars across five holes:
- Hole 9: Bill Gallagher, John Gallagher (2)
- Hole 4: Chris McKone
- Hole 5: Kevin Kearns
- Hole 6: Kevin Kearns
- Hole 8: Ted Cowles
Kevin Kearns led with 2 pars. Everyone else: one each. Six players, six pars — one per golfer.
Hole 9: A Fitting Final Friendly
Hole 9 — which spent most of the second half as one of the easier holes on the front — gave up two pars on Tuesday (Bill Gallagher and John Gallagher) and bogey points to the other four players. Every single player in the field scored at least a point on hole 9. A pleasant, forgiving sendoff from a hole that spent April and May being considerably less generous.
By the Numbers
Six players, 0 birdies, 6 pars, 23 bogeys, 4 targets met. The 2026 season birdie count holds at 24. The season eagle count holds at 1. The season closes without one final birdie bump, but with four target-met rounds — a satisfying 4-of-6 target-meeting rate from the field.
Season Totals: The 2026 Airways Golf League
- 24 weeks of golf (3 preseason, 10 first-half, 9 second-half, 1 tournament week, 1 bonus week)
- 1 eagle (Logan Jarvis, hole 11, October 6)
- 24 birdies across 10 different players
- First-half champion: Logan Jarvis ($100)
- Second-half champion: John Gallagher ($90)
- End-of-season scramble: Bill Gallagher / Dave Deyette / Len Stadnicki
- Hole 11: 6 birdies, 1 eagle, 18+ pars — the easiest hole on the course
- Hole 3: 2 pars all year, countless 7s and 8s — the hardest hole on the course
- Most memorable moments: Ted hits a barn, Joe catches his own ricochet, Bill goes lefty on hole 16, Joe sits in his car during drizzle, Kevin's ball disappears into a sprinkler cover, Logan posts a 20-hole scoring streak that extends to 37 before breaking
Attendance Watch (Final)
Ten absent for the finale. Logan Jarvis took his well-earned season off after the eagle finale. Kevin Gallagher's new-job absence remains. Joe Alvarez absent in a classic plain-old-didn't-show-up manner. Dave Zogbaum's one cameo for the year remains his only appearance. Hermann Keilich and Tom Confrey close out 2026 having never played a single round — a perfect record in its own strange way.
That's the Season
The sun will set earlier starting next week. The grass will go dormant. The clubs will get stored. The friendships, the trash talk, the barn incidents, the sprinkler mysteries, the tree ricochets, the birdie pitchers — all of that goes into the box labeled "2026" and gets filed on the shelf.
See everyone in April 2027. Thanks for the season.
Airways Golf — Weekly Stableford Report
Date: Oct 27, 2026
Golfer Score Target Net Pts
--------------------------------------------------
Chris McKone 8 6 +2
Kevin Kearns 9 8 +1
John Gallagher 8 7 +1
Ted Cowles 6 5 +1
Bill Gallagher 4 8 0
Tom Wieland 2 5 0
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UPDATED TARGETS (after this week)
Golfer New Target
----------------------------------
Alex Fisher 6
Bill Gallagher 8
Bill Oravec 3
Chris McKone 7
Dave Deyette 5
Dave Zogbaum 3
Hermann Keilich 4
Joe Alvarez 4
John Gallagher 6
Kevin Gallagher 7
Kevin Kearns 8
Len Stadnicki 5
Logan Jarvis 11
Ted Cowles 6
Tom Confrey 12
Tom Wieland 5
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SEASON LEADERS — EAGLES (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 27, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 1
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SEASON LEADERS — BIRDIES (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 27, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 8
Bill Gallagher 5
John Gallagher 3
Kevin Kearns 3
Kevin Gallagher 2
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SEASON LEADERS — PARS (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 27, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 56
Kevin Kearns 39
John Gallagher 34
Bill Gallagher 33
Kevin Gallagher 28
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