43rd Senior Coal Scuttle Championship

Elkview edges Fox Hill; Osborne medals at 6 under

EXETER, Pa. — The 43^rd Senior Coal Scuttle Championship (par 71, 6,034 yards) turned into a photo finish between Elkview Country Club and host Fox Hill Country Club Wednesday.

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The two teams stood deadlocked with two holes remaining. The low four of five scores count toward the team total.

Then Frank Osborne stole the Scuttle show for good. The Elkview flagbearer inked 32 (4 under) on the second nine, punctuated by a fist-pumping, title-clinching 15-footer for par on No. 18 (par 4, 332 yards). Osborne led Elkview (3-over-par 287) to a one-stroke victory over Fox Hill, the tournament’s defending champion. He finished at 6-under-par 65 to earn individual medalist honors.

Ken Bolcavage (71), John Pash (72), Mike Heck (79) and John Tolerico rounded out the Elkview team.

“It was a tricky putt. I won’t lie to you,” Osborne, 57, of Fell Township, Pa., said of his par putt on No. 18. “It went a little bit left, a little bit right and at the end I was a little unsure. Then it straightened out and went right into the hole. I happened to look at scores at the turn. The only thing I knew was we were four back [of Fox Hill]. Doable. We just have to play solid on the back nine. We have a group of guys that just grind. I’d knew we’d be there.”

A smiling Pash applauded once Osborne’s putt dropped. “No big deal. You saved us a playoff,” he yelled in jest.

“That was an awesome putt. No doubt about it,” Pash, 55, of Jermyn, Pa., said.

Osborne made plenty of those Wednesday. Right off the rip, too; a 12-footer for par on No. 1 (par 4, 393 yards) and a 10-footer for par on No. 2 (par 4, 394 yards). Such stressful saves are understandable when you learn that Osborne arrived at Fox Hill 20 minutes before his tee time.

“I took the wrong exit and I was trying to navigate. Then there was traffic in Scranton. It was pretty backed up, so I took a detour and was running,” Osborne, an Elkview member since 1986, said. “Usually I’m here about an hour ahead of time. I do a little warmup session on the range. Today I strictly looked at my tempo.”

Perfect as Elkview’s pacesetter. Osborne knocked an 8-iron to four feet for birdie on No. 3 (par 3, 172 yards), nearly holed a pitching wedge for eagle on No. 5 (par 4, 393 yards) and made the turn in 2 under. Osborne accelerated with an eagle on No. 12 (par 5, 468 yards), where his 5-iron from 188 yards settled eight feet left of the hole location. He converted the left-to-right breaker. Osborne, playing in the day’s last group, made a 10-footer for birdie on No. 14 (par 5, 486 yards) and stuck a wedge from 88 yards to a foot on No. 16 (par 4, 354 yards).

Bolcavage and Pash each executed critical two-putt pars on No. 18, setting the stage for Osborne. But he metaphorically slipped as the curtain opened. Osborne’s drive on No. 18 clipped a tree. Where did his golf ball go? The group was at a loss initially.

“I thought it went right into the fescue. I look out in the fairway and saw a ball sitting there, probably about 200 yards out,” Osborne, who works for Flowserve Corporation, said. “I was a little bit afraid of carrying that tree, so I took a 6-iron and figured I’d lay it short, purposely to the left side of the fairway to have a better look at the pin.”

A clear, 35-yard shot to a front-right hole location. And Osborne delivered.

“I haven’t played a lot of GAP events. It’s just great to finally get to play a senior event. I feel like a rookie on tour,” Osborne said. “I felt coming in that if I could play the way I did in our club championship [two weeks ago], then I could win.”

“Frank’s been playing well all year round,” Bolcavage, 61, of Fell Township, Pa., added.

Elkview now holds seven (2006, 2008-09, 2014-16) Senior Coal Scuttle titles. It joined Fox Hill as the only clubs to win both the Senior Coal Scuttle and Super-Senior Coal Scuttle in the same year. Elkview took the latter in July at StoneHedge.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.