Walczak captures GAP Senior Amateur title

   Steven Walczak of Wilmington Country Club held it together down the stretch Wednesday at a steamy Union League Golf Club at Torresdale in Philadephia to capture the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Senior Amateur title.

  Walczak added a 1-over 71 over the 5,848-yard, par-70 Union League layout to the 1-under 70 he posted in Tuesday’s opening round for a 1-over 141 total. The 58-year-old Greenville, Del. resident added the GAP Senior Amateur title to the Delaware State Golf Association Senior title he won earlier this year.

   “I had never won a Golf Association of Philadelphia event,” Walczak told the GAP website. “I have won a couple of Delaware events in the past. To win the two (Senior Amateurs) in the same year is phenomenal. There are so many good players in Philly, to come out on top is difficult and challenging. It’s a year I’ll remember forever.”

   Walczak was struggling when he knocked a gap wedge at the short par-4 15^th hole to three feet and made birdie. He then dropped in a testy, right-to-left breaking five-footer for par on the par-4 18 to finish a shot clear of Whitford Country Club’s David West, who had rounds of 70 and 72 for a 12-over 142 total.

   Chip Lutz, the two-time British Senior Amateur champion and reigning five-time GAP Senior Player of the Year from LedgeRock Golf Club, and Roc Irey of Lookaway Golf Club were another shot back at 3-over 143. Lutz had rounds of 71 and 72 while Irey surged up the leaderboard with the best round of the second day, a 2-under 68, after opening with a 75. Irey’s hot round also gave him the Senior Silver Cross Award.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre (72-75) and Andy Thompson (75-72) tied for sixth at 147. More importantly, Andy earned low-Thompson honors as brother Ray (75-75) finished in a tie for 11^th at 150.

   The Springhaven Club’s Rich Thon (79-73) and Phoenixville Country Club’s Michael Domenick (75-77), an Archbishop Carroll product, were at 152. Overbrook’s Francis McFadden (76-79) and Concord Country Club’s Doug Fedoryshyn (75-80) were at 155. Edgmont Country Club’s Michael Quinn (81-75) was another shot back at 156. Merion Golf Club’s Arthur Kania Jr. (78-79) was at 157.

Jon Stein (79-79) of McCall Golf & Country Club was at 158, Merion’s J. Kirk Luntey (77-82) was at 159, Aronmink Gollf Club’s Robert Keating (82-78) was at 160, and Merion’s Robert Wagner (82-79) was at 161.

   Frank Polizzi, a 69-year-old Whitemarsh Valley Country Club member, parred the second hole of  a playoff to beat Robert Lodovici of Little Mill Country Club to capture the Super-Senior division at the Union League layout.

   Polizzi had rounds of 74 and 76 while Lodovici posted rounds of 73 and 77 in finishing tied at 150. They finished one-shot ahead of White Manor Country Club’s Don Donatoni, the dominant GAP Super-Senior player in recent years. Donatoni had rounds of 73 and 78 for a 151 total. He was battling a painful and bloody hand after tearing the skin between his thumb and forefinger while warming up on the driving range before Wednesday’s second round.

   Donatoni won his third straight Super-Senior Silver Cross by a whopping 18 shots.

   Rolling Green Golf Club’s Robert Billings (74-80) finished fifth at 154.

   Other finishers included Merion’s Carl Everett (84-75—159), McCall’s William McCabe Jr. (79-80—159), Springhaven’s Curt Fromal (83-85—168) and Rolling Green’s Lawrence Capuzzi Sr. (82-87—169).