Mark Walker buried a 12-foot putt for par on the final hole
at Spring-Ford Country Club last
Thursday and, when all the tiebreaking criteria were applied, it turned out
that putt gave Russo and Laurel Creek Country Club clubmate Joseph Russo the
title in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 60th Senior
Four-Ball Stroke-Play Championship.
The par at the last gave Walker and Russo a 5-under-par 67
over the 6,399-yard, par-72 Spring-Ford layout that left them in a three-way
tie at the top with Overbrook Golf Club pair of Oscar Mestre and Andy Thompson
and the Wilmington Country Club tandem of Steve Walczak and Randy Mitchell.
The first tiebreaker of back-nine total did not resolve the
issue, but the 21 shots it took Walker and Russo to navigate the final six holes
were one shot better than Mestre and Thompson and two better than Walczak and
Mitchell.
It should be noted that Mestre had teamed with the late,
great Ray Thompson to win the last two Senior Four-Ball Stroke-Play titles.
With Ray Thompson’s sudden passing last fall, his brother Andy filled in as the
partner for Mestre, Ray Thompson’s playing partner and great friend for many
years. Mestre and Andy Thompson did Ray proud with their showing.
As crucial as that par putt by Walker was on the final hole,
there were a couple of other moments down the stretch that put Team Laurel
Creek in position to make that par at the last matter.
Russo launched a 3-wood from 240 yards away to reach the
green in two at the 491-yard, par-5 15th hole and rolled in a
30-foot, left-to-right breaking putt for an astounding eagle.
At the 387-yard, par-4 17th hole, Walker dropped
a wedge from 137 yards away to four feet to get a crucial birdie.
And as big as that final putt on the 18th was,
the shot that preceded it might have been bigger. Neither player drove it well
at the 18th and Walker found himself 40 yards from the hole in two,
a distance he doesn’t relish, and with an iffy lie. But he managed to get the
ball to 12 feet for what proved to be a crucial up and down for par.
Walker and Russo also teamed up to claim the title in the
Senior Four-Ball Stroke-Play Championship in 2013 at Indian Valley Country
Club. Russo already had tasted major success on the GAP senior circuit this
year as he captured the Brewer Cup, the senior match-play championship
presented by Callaway Golf, last month at Fieldstone Golf Club.
The duo of Bob Arthur of Tavistock Country Club and Thomas
Hyland of Little Mill Country Club finished alone in fourth place, a shot
behind the top three with a 4-under 68.
Three teams – Craig Kliewer of Lebanon Country Club and
Chris Fieger, a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, Bob Beck of
Lehigh Country Club and Bill Charpek of Merion Golf Club and the Elkview
Country Club duo of Kenneth Bolcavage and Michael Heck – finished in a tie for
fifth place, each pair posting a 3-under 69.
Mestre and Fieger were coming off strong showings in a
GAP-administered U.S. Senior Amateur Championship qualifier at LuLu Country
Club as they earned two of the three tickets to Old Chatham Golf Club in
Durham, N.C. and will represent GAP at the national championship for senior
amateur golfers later this month.
Rounding out the top 10 were three more teams tied for
eighth place at 2-under 70, including the Yardley Country Club duo of Paul
Rogowicz and Gregory Buliga, the Merion tandem of Robert Wagner and Gordon
Jamieson and Edward Erickson of Makefield Highlands Golf Club and Ray Pyontek
of Mercer Oaks Golf Course.
In the Super-Senior division, the pair of Merion’s Carl
Everett and White Manor Country Club’s Don Donatoni, separated for a year, were
back together again and captured the title for the fourth time in the last five
years with a 5-under 67. Spring-Ford measured 6,011 yards for the super
seniors.
Donatoni, the six-time reigning GAP Super-Senior Player of
the Year, hopped across the pond a year ago to tee it up in The Seniors Amateur
Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales.
Reunited this year, the 72-year-old Everett and the
71-year-old Donatoni reclaimed the title they had won in 2015, ’16 and ’17.
Vincent Scarpetta Jr. of Nittany Country Club and Paul
Keating of Aronimink Golf Club and Robin McCool of Saucon Valley Country Club
and Craig Scott of Great Bear Golf Club shared runnerup honors, each team
carding a 4-under 68.
Two more teams – Tom Borsello of Hartefeld National Golf
Club and Tom DiCinti of Mercer Oaks and the Wilmington Country Club pair of
Thomas Humphrey and Charles McDowell – finished in a tie for fifth, each
posting a 2-under 70.
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