Airways Golf League — Week 22 Recap: October 6, 2026
The ninth and final week of the second half
If the Airways 2026 season needed a storybook ending, it got one. On the final Tuesday of the regular season — the night that would decide the second-half championship and the final chunk of the prize money — Logan Jarvis stepped onto the par-5 eleventh green in two shots, drained the putt, and made the first eagle of the entire 2026 season. Twenty-two weeks of golf. One eagle. It came on the right night and from the right player.
Bill Gallagher had already birdied the same hole in the group ahead, posted the best round of the day besides Logan's, and finished a huge statement round. John Gallagher met his target cleanly to clinch the second-half championship. Ted Cowles came up one point short of catching him. And next Tuesday the league relocates to Rolling Meadows for the end-of-season tournament.
Logan Jarvis Eagles the 11th — First Eagle of the Year
Logan Jarvis has been responsible for more highlight-reel moments than anyone else in the league this season. Six first-half birdies. The first front-nine birdie in six weeks. Three sub-40 rounds. Multiple weeks posting double-digit Stableford points on climbing targets. But he saved the biggest for the finale.
On the par-5 eleventh — long established as the friendliest hole on the back nine — Logan reached the green in two shots and sank the putt for a 3. Eagle. The first and only eagle recorded by anyone in the 22-week 2026 season. Eight Stableford points on a single hole, which turned a workmanlike round into another target-crushing effort.
Final tally: 14 points on a target of 12, two bonus points, a 45-stroke round. He parred holes 10 and 13 to go with the eagle. The eagle itself was worth more than any of those pars combined — eight points, nearly a third of his bonus total for the entire half in one swing.
Bill Gallagher Birdies the Same Hole
Playing in the group ahead of Logan, Bill Gallagher stepped onto the eleventh and made a 4 of his own. Birdie — his fifth birdie of the 2026 season, and his second on hole 11 specifically. Bill's four Stableford points on the hole weren't quite the eight Logan would collect minutes later, but they were the start of a terrific round in their own right.
Bill posted 12 points on a target of 8 — four bonus points, his best round of the second half. He parred holes 12, 14, and 18 to go along with the birdie, giving him three pars and a birdie in nine holes. His 45-stroke round tied Logan for the lowest of the night. The late-career-ish Bill Gallagher continues to be one of the most reliable scorers in the league. His five season birdies place him second on the season birdie leaderboard behind only Logan.
The two biggest scoring moments of the night both came on hole 11, which has now surrendered four birdies and one eagle on the season (plus 18 pars) — making it, by every measure, the easiest hole on the course and the most generous spot on the back nine.
The Kevin Kearns Sprinkler Incident
Kevin Kearns had posted a solid stretch of target-met weeks in the second half, but Tuesday was going to be a difficult day no matter what. On the par-3 thirteenth, Kearns pulled his tee shot wide — and then, on his second shot, found something you don't often read about on a scorecard: his ball ended up inside a hole in the sprinkler cover next to the green. Not next to the sprinkler. Not near the sprinkler. Inside the sprinkler cover, through an opening the ball had no business fitting through.
To be clear: this is the kind of thing that happens maybe once in a lifetime. A golf course has thousands of square yards of grass, and Kevin's ball found roughly one square inch of plastic opening and settled in. The free drop was presumably granted. The hole still ended as a triple-bogey 6 — some karma can't be undone by a rule book.
Kevin finished the night with 5 points on a target of 9 — his biggest second-half target miss. He parred hole 15 and bogeyed three others, but between the sprinkler incident and a 7 on hole 11, the round was fighting an uphill battle from early on.
John Gallagher Wins the Second Half
John Gallagher came into Tuesday leading the second-half bonus race by one point over Ted Cowles. He needed to meet his target to hold his position. He posted 8 points on a target of 8 — hit the number exactly, no bonus, but target met. For Ted Cowles to overtake him, Ted would have needed to earn two bonus points. Ted missed his target by one and earned zero.
The second half belongs to John. Final standings:
- 🥇 John Gallagher: 12 bonus points — second-half champion
- 🥈 Ted Cowles: 11 bonus points — one back of the lead
- 🥈 Kevin Gallagher: 11 bonus points — tied for second (missed the second half of the second half due to new job)
- Bill Gallagher: 8 bonus points
- Kevin Kearns: 8 bonus points
- Logan Jarvis: 8 bonus points
John parred holes 13 and 15 (his second consecutive strong par-3 performance on the back nine), added four bogey points, and did exactly what he needed to do on exactly the night he needed to do it. Congratulations to John on the second-half title.
Credit to Ted Cowles for a late-season surge that pulled him from well off the pace to within a single point of the lead. His three straight target-crushing rounds down the stretch (back-to-back 7-point weeks on 9/22 and 9/29, plus the first birdie of his season) nearly stole the title. One point. Close enough that we'll always wonder what would have happened without that triple on hole 15 this week.
Kevin Gallagher's 11 bonus points — all accumulated in the first four weeks of the second half before his new job started — were enough to tie for second place even without him appearing in the last five weeks. The man had a good season.
Ted Cowles's Hard-Luck Finish
Ted posted 4 points on a target of 5 — missed by one. His three bogey points (holes 10, 12, 14) plus a bogey on 17 got him close. Triples on 11, 13, 15, and 16 kept him just short. For a player who had posted back-to-back 7-point rounds and was poised to catch the leader, missing by one on the final night of the second half is the kind of result that sticks with you for a while. Hard luck, Ted — but it was a hell of a run.
Joe Alvarez Meets Target
Joe Alvarez posted 5 points on a target of 4 — one bonus point, target met. He parred hole 10 to open his round (his second par on the hole this season), added three bogey points elsewhere, and — notably — did not hit any trees that we're aware of. A clean, honest, points-producing round. His 51-stroke total was his third-best of the year, behind a 49 on 9/8 and a 50 on 7/14.
Joe's second-half scoring record: four appearances, three target-met weeks, one two-bonus week. Not bad for a player who, through five June/July weeks, had become more famous for arrivals-and-departures than for golf.
Len Stadnicki Meets Target
Len Stadnicki posted 5 points on a target of 4 — one bonus point, target met. He parred hole 10, added two bogey points on 13 and 17, and kept the big numbers to a minimum. It's his fourth target-met week in the second half.
Dave Deyette's Rough Finale
Dave Deyette posted 4 points on a target of 6 — missed by two, his fourth consecutive target miss. He parred hole 10, added two bogey points, but 9s on hole 16 and a 7 on hole 13 made the round tougher than it needed to be. A frustrating end to a season that saw plenty of highs.
Hole 10 Gives Up Four Pars
The par-3 tenth yielded four pars on Tuesday — Dave Deyette, Joe Alvarez, Len Stadnicki, and Logan Jarvis all made 3s. That's the most on any single hole all night, matching what hole 11 produced on good days. For an opening hole that had punished the field all spring, this was a kind sendoff.
Where the Pars Came From
Eleven pars on the night across six holes, plus the eagle and the birdie on 11:
- Hole 10: Dave Deyette, Joe Alvarez, Len Stadnicki, Logan Jarvis (4)
- Hole 13: John Gallagher, Logan Jarvis (2)
- Hole 15: John Gallagher, Kevin Kearns (2)
- Hole 12: Bill Gallagher
- Hole 14: Bill Gallagher
- Hole 18: Bill Gallagher
- Hole 11: Bill Gallagher's birdie plus Logan's eagle
Logan Jarvis led with 2 pars and an eagle. Bill Gallagher: 3 pars and a birdie. Everyone else: fewer.
By the Numbers
Eight players, 1 eagle (first of the season!), 1 birdie, 11 pars, 16 bogeys, 5 targets met. The 2026 season eagle count opens at 1 and closes at 1. Season birdie count climbs to 23.
Final Second-Half Bonus Race (Season Complete)
- 🥇 John Gallagher: 12 — second-half champion
- 🥈 Kevin Gallagher: 11 (tied)
- 🥈 Ted Cowles: 11 (tied)
- Bill Gallagher: 8
- Kevin Kearns: 8
- Logan Jarvis: 8
- Chris McKone: 5
- Len Stadnicki: 4
- Bill Oravec: 3
- Joe Alvarez: 3
- Dave Deyette: 2
Congratulations to John Gallagher on taking the second-half title. He now joins Logan Jarvis (first-half champion) as a season champion. The Gallaghers walked away with a lot of the hardware this year.
Attendance Watch
Eight absent this week. Notable regulars out: Chris McKone (ending a strong second-half stretch at home), Bill Oravec, and Alex Fisher. Kevin Gallagher remains presumed done. Tom Wieland hits nine consecutive missed weeks. The usual never-shown-up list unchanged.
Looking Ahead: End-of-Season Tournament at Rolling Meadows
The regular season is officially over. Next Tuesday — October 13 — the league packs up and heads to Rolling Meadows for the end-of-season tournament. A different course, a different format, a different kind of day. Twenty-two weeks of back-and-forth at Airways comes to a close, and the final event of the year will play out somewhere new.
Logan made an eagle. Bill made a birdie on the same hole. Kevin's ball went into a sprinkler cover. John Gallagher clinched the second half with the exact right score at the exact right time. Ted Cowles nearly stole it. The season went out on a high note.
See everyone at Rolling Meadows.
SEASON STANDINGS (through Oct 6, 2026)
# Golfer Rounds Avg Pts Pts
--------------------------------------------------
1 John Gallagher 8 8.3 12
2 Ted Cowles 9 5.3 11
3 Kevin Gallagher 4 8.3 11
4 Logan Jarvis 7 11.7 8
5 Bill Gallagher 7 8.9 8
6 Kevin Kearns 7 8.6 8
7 Chris McKone 6 6.5 5
8 Len Stadnicki 7 4.6 4
9 Joe Alvarez 4 3.8 3
10 Bill Oravec 4 3.3 3
11 Dave Deyette 8 5.6 2
12 Dave Zogbaum 1 3.0 0
--------------------------------------------------
Airways Golf — Weekly Stableford Report
Date: Oct 6, 2026
Golfer Score Target Net Pts
--------------------------------------------------
Bill Gallagher 12 8 +4
Logan Jarvis 14 12 +2
Joe Alvarez 5 4 +1
Len Stadnicki 5 4 +1
John Gallagher 8 8 0
Kevin Kearns 5 9 0
Dave Deyette 4 6 0
Ted Cowles 4 5 0
--------------------------------------------------
UPDATED TARGETS (after this week)
Golfer New Target
----------------------------------
Alex Fisher 6
Bill Gallagher 8
Bill Oravec 3
Chris McKone 6
Dave Deyette 5
Dave Zogbaum 3
Hermann Keilich 4
Joe Alvarez 4
John Gallagher 8
Kevin Gallagher 7
Kevin Kearns 8
Len Stadnicki 5
Logan Jarvis 11
Ted Cowles 5
Tom Confrey 12
Tom Wieland 5
----------------------------------
SEASON LEADERS — EAGLES (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 6, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 1
--------------------------------
SEASON LEADERS — BIRDIES (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 6, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 8
Bill Gallagher 5
John Gallagher 3
Kevin Gallagher 2
Kevin Kearns 2
--------------------------------
SEASON LEADERS — PARS (since Apr 13, 2026, through Oct 6, 2026)
Golfer Count
--------------------------------
Logan Jarvis 56
Kevin Kearns 36
John Gallagher 32
Bill Gallagher 29
Kevin Gallagher 28
--------------------------------
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment