Retired Master Sgt. Sutien Fields walked into the pro shop at the Eagles Pride Golf Course.

Nicely attired, he wore a sleeveless black sweater.  In small, neat yellow letters appeared the words, "Rainier Cup - 2011."

"It's fun to compete in the Rainier Cup and play against the Air Force and Navy," Sutien said before teeing off on the second day of the 14th annual event. "It's about camaraderie between the services, and that is a good thing."

A three-day tournament between the Air Force, Army and Navy, the Rainier Cup is modeled on golf's prestigious Ryder Cup.

The tournament began June 24 at The Gallery on Whidbey Island, moved to Joint Base Lewis-McChord's Eagles Pride Golf Course on June 25 and concluded at Whispering Firs on June 26 at McChord Field.

The intent of the tournament is to foster a sense of camaraderie between the services.

Each service branch fielded a team of 40 golfers. Scoring was based on "match play" as opposed to "stroke play."

In stroke play, the golfer plays against the course.  In this type of play, the total number of strokes is added up over 18 holes, and the winner is the one who plays the course in the fewest number of strokes.

In match play - which is the scoring system used in the Rainier Cup - the competition is between the golfers or team.  In this case, the Air Force, Army and Navy golfers were competing directly against each other.

The team with the least number of strokes on a hole wins the hole.  If two teams shoot the same score, no one wins the hole and the competition moves on to the next hole.  Whichever team wins the most holes out of the 18 holes wins the match.

Entering this year's competition, the Navy and Air Force were tied for the most amount of wins with six each.  The Army, on the other hand, had only one win recorded, in 2004.

"There is a clear feeling of friendly competition between the services," Jeff Clark, the manager at Whispering Firs Golf Course at McChord Field, said. "What really happens here is that the branch of service which wins, wins bragging rights to the trophy for the next year."

This year's bragging rights belong to the Navy golf team, which won with 92 points.  The Air Force team finished a distant second with 74 points.  The Army golfers finished third with 73 points.

"It's a great deal of fun," retired Master Sgt. Rick Markley, the captain of the Army team that won in 2004, said. "It is all about being together with fellow Servicemembers."