Michael Nilon of Philadelphia Country Club had recruited
Christopher Fieger to replace John LeBouef on what had been a winning foursome
in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Senior Four-Man Team Championship two
years ago.
Then the 69-year-old Nilon had to go find a replacement for
himself when it became apparent that a bad back was going to keep him on the
sideline. There are so many old guys that can still really play in this area –
and Nilon knows most of them. He got in touch with Brian Rothaus of Five Ponds
Golf Club and another winning team was born.
With Fieger and Rothaus joining the holdovers from the 2016
champions, Buck Jones, like Fieger playing as a Philadelphia Publinks Golf
Association representative, and Jim Yenser of Raven’s Claw Golf Club, the
quartet put together a 13-under-par 129 total at Blue Bell Country Club
Thursday in the two-best-balls-of-foursome format and claimed the title in a
scorecard playoff with two other foursomes.
The 55-year-old Fieger of Denver, Lancaster County, is the
younger brother of Gene Fieger, who dominated the Philadelphia Section PGA
circuit in the mid-1990s as an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club and shows
up on leaderboards in national club-pro events all the time these days from his
base as the director of golf at Club Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla.
Chris Fieger was one of the top players in District One at
Strath Haven when I was covering high school golf at The Mercury in Pottstown in the 1980s. Apparently,
he can still play a little.
Fieger fired a 4-under 67 over the 5,826-yard, par-71 Arnold
Palmer design at Blue Bell. The 67-year-old Jones of Collegeville nearly shot
his age with a 2-under 69, The 62-year-old Rothaus of Huntingdon Valley carded
a 2-over 73 and the 57-year-old Yenser of Birdsboro added an 8-over 79.
The foursome started on the back nine and they were hot
early, going 9-under on Blue Bell’s back side. That turned out to be decisive
when the back-nine scores were utilized as the tiebreaker.
The foursome of Christopher Clauson of LuLu Country Club,
Edward Erickson of Makefield Highlands Golf Club, Ray Pyontek of Mercer Oaks
Golf Course and Gregory Buliga of Yardley Country Club went 8-under on the back
and the Little Mill Country Club quartet of Bill Cregar, Thomas Hyland, Carlos
Ochoa and Joseph Roeder was 4-under on the inward nine. They were the other two
teams that also came in at 13-under 129.
Fieger and Jones got things started for the winners when
both birdied the par-3 10th hole. Jones and Rothaus both birdied the
14th, Jones rattled of two more birdies at 15 and 16, giving him
three straight, and Fieger birdied 17 and 18.
The team got one last two-birdie hole at the par-5 seventh
as both Rothaus and Yenser had good eagle looks after reaching the green in two
before settling for easy two-putt birdies. Fieger capped the team’s winning
effort when he reached the par-5 ninth hole in two by blasting a hybrid 216
yards and two-putted for birdie.
There weren’t as many birdies on their back nine – the front
side at Blue Bell – but there were no bogeys either and those hard-earned pars
had as much to do with the team’s success as all those birdies did.
“There weren’t a ton of putts falling on the back for us and
we had a few lip-outs that should have gone in,” Rothaus told the GAP website
concerning the foursome’s final nine holes. “But we also had some solid pars,
so I felt good to contribute those.”
Finishing alone in fourth at 12-under 130 was the Merion
Golf Club group of Bill Cherpek, Robert Harrington, Gordon Jameson and J. Kirk
Luntley.
The Commonwealth National Golf Club foursome of John
Alterman, Jim Gavaghan, Thomas Krug and John Nottage and the Rolling Green Golf
Club quartet of Richard Holstein, Jon Lavin, Bennett Meyer and Steve Meyer
shared fifth place, each team carding a 10-under 132.
The Wilmington Country Club foursome of Robert Hackett Jr.,
Thomas Humphrey, Donald MacKelan and Steven Walczak finished alone in seventh
at 8-under 134.
Two more teams – Brian Corbett of The Country Club of
Scranton, Robert Gill of Fox Hill Country Club and Jim Fronzoni and Bill Lydick
of Huntsville Golf Club and Arthur Jacoby of Philadelphia Cricket Club, Tom
Mastroni of Sandy Run Country Club and Matthew Bellis and Alan Van Horn of
Commonwealth National – shared eighth place at 5-under 137.
Rounding out the top 10 were four teams tied for 10th
at 3-under 139.
They were: The Schuylkill Country Club foursome of Dennis
Campbell, Eric Lamm, Dan Sippie and Tim Wood; Robert Frankil of Bellewood
Country Club, Marty Dorminy of the Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association, and
James Prendergast and Steve Tagert of Spring-Ford Country Club; the Indian
Valley Country Club quartet of Dwight Dudas, Jim O’Brien, Bob Stawasz and
Anthony White Jr.; and the all-star group of Neil McDermott of Llanerch Country
Club, Carl Everett of Merion, Michael Rose of Talamore Country Club and five-time
reigning GAP Super-Senior Player of the Year Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club.
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