Jeff Hudson of Olde Homestead Golf Club was really looking forward to 2020 because he was turning 55, which meant he could compete against guys his own age again.
Of course, the script for 2020 has changed quite a bit since the coronavirus came to our shores and created all kinds of havoc. But Hudson, a Center Valley resident, was still newly eligible to tee it up in the Senior division in Golf Association of Philadelphia events and last week he proved he would be a factor on this more level playing field.
Hudson fired an efficient three-birdie, no-bogey 3-under-par 69 at Yardley Country Club Wednesday to claim a one-shot victory in GAP’s 15th Chapman Cup (Gross).
“I’m 55 years old,” Hudson, who has a new job as the general manager of Wedgewood Golf Course in Coopersburg, told the GAP website. “You’re in that limbo before then. This is a new lease on competitive golf. I’m not long enough to play with the kids, even at the mid-amateur level.
“But I was looking forward to turning 55 so that I could come up to a golf course that I could handle. This one really played to my advantage.”
Hudson, who has been a standout on the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley (GALV) scene for years, also survived a two-hour weather delay as a thunderstorm hit the 6,264-yard, par-72 Yardley layout.
But he made a couple of par-saving putts down the stretch to edge Adam Armagost of Little Mill Country Club by a shot.
Hudson used his 54-degree wedge to drop his approach to the 352-yard, par-4 eighth hole from 95 yards away to three feet and made his birdie try.
He converted another birdie opportunity after his wedge from 120 yards away at the 550-yard, par-5 10th hole settled four feet from the stick. Hudson then went back-to-back as he had another wedge in from 127 yards away at the 385-yard, par-4 11th hole and stuck it a foot away for a tap-in birdie.
After the weather delay, Hudson had to make a 10-footer to save par after missing the green at the 146-yard, par-3 15th hole and he got it to fall. He had one more tough par-saver at the 308-yard, par-4 18th hole when his long birdie putt from off the putting surface came up six feet short. But Hudson buried the par putt to get it in at 3-under.
Armagost matched Hudson’s three birdies, but a bogey at the 10th hole left him a shot short of the top spot with a solid 2-under 70. He was the only other player besides Hudson to better par at Yardley. Joseph Russo of Running Deer Golf Club matched par with a 72 to finish alone in third place.
Four players – Jeffrey Allen of Loch Nairn Golf Club, Christopher Clauson of LuLu Country Club, James Gavaghan of Commonwealth National Golf Club and Michael Vassil of the Country Club of Scranton – all landed on 1-over 73 and finished in a tie for fourth place.
Another LuLu entry, Glenn Smeraglio, and Hudson’s clubmate at Olde Homestead, David Blichar, shared eighth place, each signing for a 2-over 74.
Joe Coulson of Wedgewood, Gregory Day of Old York Road Country Club and Joe Roeder, a clubmate of Armagost’s at Little Mill, rounded out the top 10 in the Senior division as they finished in a tie for 10th place, each posting a 3-over 75.
Heading a group of five players tied for 13th place at 4-over 76 was Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre, the reigning GAP Senior Player of the Year.
Mestre was joined at 4-over by Ken Bolcavage of Elkview Country Club, Edward Erickson of Makefield Highlands Golf Club, Stephen Hall of Hershey Country Club and Tom Soares of Lehigh Country Club.
In the Super-Senior division, Frank Polizzi of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club carded a 2-over 74 over a Yardley course that measured 6,024 yards for the 65-and-older set, and won a scorecard playoff with Rick Umani of Honeybrook Golf Club to claim the title.
Polizzi, who captured the Super-Senior title at the 2015 GAP Senior Amateur Championship, was even-par when he made the turn. Back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes dropped him back to 2-over.
The tiebreaker was back-nine total and there Polizzi, a 74-year-old Plymouth Meeting resident, had the edge on Umani, 38 to 39. The difference was the 180-yard, par-3 17th hole where Polizzi knocked a 3-wood on the green and made par while Umani missed the green and settled for a bogey.
It was still a solid showing for Umani, a 67-year-old Glen Mills resident who was playing at an old haunt as Yardley was his home course when he played high school golf at William Tennent.
GAP’s reigning seven-time Super-Senior Player of the Year, Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club, headed a group of four players tied for third place, each carding a 4-over 76.
Joining Donatoni at 4-over were LuLu’s Tom Bartolacci and a couple of Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entries, Tom DiCinti and Buck Jones.
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