Father & Son (Younger)

Cedarbrook’s LaRosas win Father & Son (Younger)

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WEST CHESTER, Pa. — David LaRosa’s participation in GAP Father & Son tournaments traces back to his childhood. For the first time ever Thursday, the 48-year-old completed 18 holes without scoring higher than a bogey.

As a result, he and son Chris notched a collective career-first: a GAP victory. The Cedarbrook Country Club members carded a 6-over-par 77 to capture the Junior Division title in 63^rd Father & Son (Younger) at a challenging Hershey’s Mill Golf Club (par 71, 6,187 yards). The LaRosa team prevailed by a stroke.

The event’s format is selective drive/alternate shot.

“The course was very challenging. The greens were fast and firm, probably the fastest we’ve played on this year,” David said. “It was very difficult to get the ball in place. We were playing scared golf in the beginning.”

The apprehension appeared apparent early. The LaRosa team, which started on the back nine, bogeyed two of its first three holes before settling in with a string of pars. A clutch save on the inviting yet uninviting par 4, 408-yard 18^th hole allowed the Lansdale, Pa. residents to make the turn in a modest 3 over. David pulled an 8-iron from 145 yards to greenside left. Chris then faced a delicate chip to a back-left hole location on a two-tiered green. Too aggressive and it descends to the lower shelf. Too conservative and it stays behind bars. Chris executed a chip that landed with promise and stopped eight feet from the jar. David watched the right-to-left breaker tumble in on its last revolution.  

“That was huge. That could have gone bad,” Chris, 15, a rising sophomore at North Penn High School, said.

Huge when the margin of victory is one. A birdie on the par 5, 486-yard No. 4 also proved instrumental. Chris punched a 3-wood from 180 yards into the right greenside bunker. David’s sand shot stopped six feet from the jar. Chris cleaned up the birdie putt.

“Tiger Woods would always say, ‘It was the worst round I could have shot.’ A 77 was the probably worst round we could have shot,” David said. “Twice here, we were 30 feet away from the flagstick and made 5.”

Such a score may appear on the card come August, but the LaRosas won’t mind then. The two will embark on a father-son golf trip to Pebble Beach, site of this year’s U.S. Open.

Aside from golf, the LaRosas share an interest in basketball. Both are Philadelphia 76ers season ticketholders.

“We go to 12-15 games a year. We were at four playoff games this past season,” Chris said.

“We’re rabid 76ers fans,” David added.

David is the son of Leon LaRosa, who served two stints (1900-96, 1999-2015) as treasurer of the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust. Leon died in 2016 at the age of 69.

“We want to dedicate the round to pop-pop,” David said.

Junior-Junior
Jeffrey Ciconte played 36 holes of golf Thursday. The first 18 ultimately resulted in hardware.

Ciconte, 42, and his son Joseph claimed the event’s Junior-Junior (par 71, 5,692 yards) title. The Wilmington Country Club members carded a 6-over-par 77.

Jeff and his son Anthony won the Junior-Junior Division in 2017. They played alongside one another in the afternoon Thursday.

“It was a great experience. Joe played awesome,” Jeff said. “This course is a little bit tight, and we just kept the ball in front of us and gave ourselves plenty of birdie looks. We managed to make a bunch of pars, which was great.”

The Wilmington, Del. residents pointed to No. 9 (par 4, 362 yards) as the highlight hole of the day. After Joseph’s drive landed in the right rough, Jeff punched a 5-iron from 150 yards to two feet. Joseph, 12, an incoming seventh grader at The Tatnall School, tapped in for birdie.

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 Association’s 274 Full Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.