64th Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play

Beck and Vonderheid take Senior Four-Ball at Schuylkill

ORWIGSBURG, Pa. – Bob Beck and Todd Vonderheid met each other competing in the GAP and Pennsylvania Golf Association events about 10 years ago. 

| Scoring portal | History | Photo Gallery |

But for the first time Thursday, they paired up to compete together.

Beck, of Lehigh Country Club, and Vonderheid, of Bucknell Golf Club, claimed the 64th Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play in a scorecard playoff Thursday at Schuylkill Country Club (par 72, 6,438 yards) after a 66.

Beck is a past champion in this event. He claimed the title with Lehigh’s Tom Soares in 2015 at North Hills Country Club.

Beck and Vonderheid took the scorecard playoff with a back nine of 3 under. Wilmington Country Club’s Tom Humphrey and Steve Walczak also finished at 6 under but shot 2 under on the back nine. The USGA-recommended method is the last nine holes, then last six and then back three.

“This is the first time we played a four-ball event together,” Vonderheid, 55, of Lewisburg, Pa., said. “We’ve played a bit of golf all over the last few years but never got together to play in a tournament. We thought this would be a good one to start us off.”

Sitting at 4 under through 16 holes, the duo needed to birdie the last two holes to overtake the clubhouse leaders at the time, John Barry and Brian Groff of Lancaster Country Club, at 5 under. Vonderheid answered the call.

Vonderheid rolled in a delicate 12-footer for birdie on No. 17 (par 5, 517 yards) to get to 5 under. On the last (par 4, 392 yards), the steady Vonderheid feathered a 9-iron from 115 yards to 4 feet. He didn’t leave any doubt as it rolled in the center.

“Todd really played great coming down the stretch,” Beck, 64, of Allentown, Pa., said. “I wasn’t playing my best and he was really solid. He is the reason we were able to get the job done today.”

Both Beck and Vonderheid have played Schuylkill over the years. Beck won the Senior Division of the 2015 Pennsylvania Golf Association Art Wall, Jr. Memorial at Schuylkill.

“The green complexes here are so nice,” Vonderheid said. “They were firm and weren’t rolling too fast where things could get away from you. We rolled it well today. The work they have done to the course the last couple years has been just spectacular. So many great views were restored.”

As the duo was waiting for Walczak and Humphrey, they worked on all of the calculations. Once Humphrey missed his birdie on No. 18, it was a done deal.

“It was a lot of fun,” Vonderheid said. “These events are a prime example of how GAP events allow people from a couple of hours apart to meet through golf and get to know each other through a round of golf or dinner and a drink afterwards. It’s awesome to win.”

“When you win tournaments it comes down to who makes the putts,” Beck said. “Today that was us. Tomorrow we may not have made any putts. It was nice to get a victory here. Especially playing with Todd in a competition in our first try as a pair.”

Super-Senior Division

Kurt Meyers and William Loucks met close to 50 years ago traversing the campus of Wake Forest University for the first time.

Thursday at Schuylkill (par 72, 5,965 yards). Meyers and Loucks experienced the hidden Donald Ross gem for the first time and fired a best-ball 66 to claim the Super-Senior Division of the 64th Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play.

“We were pretty solid out there as a team,” Loucks, 69, of Glen Mills, Pa., said. “We missed a couple of short putts coming in but we can’t complain about it. The par 5s killed us in a sense today because we only had one birdie.”

Last year’s runner-up finish at Honeybrook Golf Club kept the proverbial fire stoked. A 90-minute drive to Schuylkill didn’t cool their desire to go for the gold.

“This was our first time here at Schuylkill,” Meyers, 70, of Wayne, Pa., said. “The golf course is lovely. Fortunately a lot of the course is in front of you. The greens here are tricky but for us we just wanted to make sure we committed to our read and to our lines. Not making a bogey today as a team was really nice. We always had a par in the hole when one of us rolled a birdie putt. That gave us free reign to be aggressive.”

Meyers, of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, kicked it off by rolling in a 15-footer on the first (par 4, 371 yards). Loucks contributed his first red figure on No. 2 (par 4, 323 yards) after making a 15-footer of his own.

Meyers racked up four more birdies in the last 12 holes to get the former Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers to the team’s magic number. Highlighted by a rocketed 3-hybrid from 200 yards on No. 17 (par 5, 452 yards) to 15 feet for an easy two-putt birdie.

“Bill and I go back quite a long time,” Meyers said. “When these opportunities come to play in GAP events together we have to take them. The GAP events are so much fun. It is pretty awesome to win one together.”

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 110,000 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.