The semifinals of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s
Brewer Cup presented by Callaway Golf Wednesday at Overbrook Golf Club will pit
a couple of old pals when Kenneth Phillips of Lancaster Country Club meets Bob
Beck of Lehigh Country Club.
Phillips’ brother Wayne is the head pro at Lehigh and he
introduced the pair more than 25 years ago. They have partnered in senior
better-ball events. But Wednesday they’ll be battling for a spot in the final of GAP’s
senior match-play event, named for O. Gordon Brewer Jr., a Huntingdon Valley
Country Club member who has won two U.S. Senior Amateur championships among
many golf accomplishments.
Typical of the depth of senior talent in the Philadelphia
area, Phillips got past Thomas Hyland of Little Mill Country Club, 4 and 3, in Tuesday’s
quarterfinals to reach his semifinal date with Beck.
Phillips and Hyland were among the large contingent of GAP
players who reached match play at last year’s U.S. Senior Amateur at Hidden
Creek Golf Club at the Jersey Shore. Chip Lutz, the reigning six-time GAP Senior Player of the
Year, ended up winning the U.S. Senior Amateur title at Hidden Creek. Lutz of
LedgeRock Golf Club was eliminated in a playoff Monday and failed to make match
play at Overbrook.
Beck reached the semifinals with a 4 and 3 victory over John
DeBoeuf of Philadelphia Country Club.
The other side of the bracket will feature a match between
Michael Vassil of the Country Club of Scranton and Christopher Clauson of LuLu
Country Club. In their quarterfinal matches, Vassil edged Craig Kliewer of
Honeybrook Golf Club, 1-up, while Clauson earned a 1-up decision over Doug
Fedoryshyn of Concord Country Club.
Earlier in the day, Kliewer claimed a 1-up victory in an
opening-round match against Overbrook’s Chris Lange.
The really good news out of the Brewer Cup is that the
61-year-old Lange is back playing competitive golf again. A three-time
Philadelphia Amateur champion, Lange had hip surgery more than two years ago
and then underwent knee surgery in December of last year.
But the six-time Overbrook club champion showed he’s back by
matching par on his 6,448-yard, par-70 home course in qualifying to share
medalist honors with Roc Irey of Lookaway Golf Club.
My favorite memory of Lange has to do with the 2005 U.S.
Amateur, which was staged at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. The local
qualifier at Rolling Green Golf Club and Llanerch Country Club had produced a
lot of youngsters and Lange, who, if memory serves me right, survived a playoff
to get in.
There was a media gathering of the local qualifiers in advance
of the U.S. Amateur. At the time, Merion’s suitability as a host for a fifth
U.S. Open was up for debate, but that day Lange passionately defended a course
that he made clear had been his privilege to play over the years. He even
admitted he would sometimes go out of his way when driving on Ardmore Avenue and
take a turn on to Golf House Road just to admire the clubhouse and the 14th
and 15th holes.
Give Merion another U.S. Open, Lange urged that day, knowing
his words would make their way back to the USGA. Maybe somebody listened
because eight years later a fifth Open was indeed contested at Merion’s East
Course to rave reviews for the performance of both the golf course and the membership
and the local community in putting it on. Just as Lange knew it would.
On the Super-Senior side, Frank Polizzi of Whitemarsh Valley
Country Club ended the bid by Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club for a
fourth straight Brewer Cup title by edging Donatoni, 1-up, in a quarterfinal
match.
Polizzi’s semifinal opponent will be Dan Burton of Lancaster
Country Club, who knocked off Jay Ward of Lookaway, 4 and 3, in their
quarterfinal match.
On the other side of the bracket, Robin McCool of Saucon
Valley Country Club cruised to a 7 and 5 victory over John Owens of Tavistock
Country Club and Michael Anton of Lookaway claimed a 4 and 3 decision over John
Rowe of Whitemarsh Valley.
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