The USGA decided to replace the old Public Links
championships on its schedule with Four-Ball events for men and women in 2015
because, well, better-ball-of partners is fun.
Almost every golf association in America has a four-ball
competition. The USGA felt like the popular game deserved a national event.
You want fun? How about Monday’s Golf Association of
Philadelphia Four-Ball Stroke Play Championship at Cherry Valley Country Club
in Skillman, N.J.
Tim Ayars and Andy Kerestesy of Running Deer Golf Club were
the last of five teams to put together a sizzling 10-under-par 62 over the
6,287-yard, par-72 Cherry Valley layout, the hot play matching the temperatures
as another heat wave descended on the region.
Kerestesy’s 25-footer for birdie at the 18th curled
around the cup, but refused to fall and five teams headed for the first tee for
a playoff.
A birdie by Ayars, a 41-year-old recently reinstated amateur
from Millville, N.J., was matched by Bradley Roberts of Little Mill Country
Club and the playoff was quickly down to two teams. Roberts and Vincent Kwon
were the first duo of the day to post a 10-under 62.
The teams went shot for shot for three more playoff holes
before they returned to the 330-yard, par-4 first hole for the fifth playoff
hole. Roberts and Kwon missed birdie putts and left the stage for Ayars, who
faced a seven-foot birdie try. He rolled it in and a long day was over.
Ayars and Kerestesy, a 36-year-old from Vineland, N.J., had
an up-and-down round that featured six birdies, three eagles and two bogeys.
The round was highlighted by back-to-back eagles on Cherry Valley’s
back-to-back par-5s at nine and 10.
“We’re thrilled to have gotten a trophy, especially after
how tough a day it was,” Kerestesy told the GAP website. “It was a battle. It’s
going to be really fun to bring home a trophy to the club and the guys.”
Three other teams played some pretty strong golf to come in
at 10-under 62 and join Ayars and Kerestesy and Roberts and Kwon in the
playoff.
They included Alan Kliewer and John Digiacomo of Lebanon
Country Club, Larry Benedetto and Jim Allen of Concord Country Club and John
Buliga of Yardley Country Club and David Kimbley of Coatesville Country Club.
Buliga slam-dunked his 8-iron approach to the 485-yard, par-5 10th
for a double eagle that took a hunk of sod out of the cup that required some
yardwork to repair.
Two other teams – Edward Erickson of Makefield Highlands
Golf Club and Paul Rogowicz of Yardley and the Hopewell Golf & Country Club
pair of Will Young and James Kyle – finished in a tie for sixth at 8-under 64,
two shots behind the top five teams.
The LuLu Country Club pair of Mark Czerniakowski and Scott
Forrester, Bob Dumont of Llanerch Country Club and Jerry Haftmann of Rolling
Green Golf Club, Dan Smith of The Springhaven Club and Thorne Ranieri of
Rolling Green and Michael Decker of Mercer Oaks Golf Course and Jim Schultz Jr.
of Old York Country Club at Chesterfield each posted a 6-under 66 to end up in
a four-team logjam tied for eighth.
Andrew Strock of Trenton Country Club and Michael Minter of
Makefield Highlands and the Commonwealth National Golf Club tandem of Sean Torpey
and J.T. Summers finished tied for 12th,
each team posting a 5-under 67.
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