Greate Bay’s Marshall wins Tee it Forward — Fall Net Championship

*Scorecards

POTTSTOWN, Pa. — Robert Marshall isn’t usually a steady golfer. But his game’s improved incrementally as of late, and the Greate Bay Country Club member showed that being a steady golfer brings success. Marshall posted 47 points to win the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Tee It Forward — Fall Net Championship at a nice Brookside Country Club. He played from the green tees (par 72, 5,725 yards).

  “I guess I got up-and-down when I missed greens. It was sort of steady,” Marshall, 63, of Linwood, N.J., said. “I didn’t even know where I was getting strokes. It [Tee It Forward] a good format. It was a lot of fun. That’s why you come out and play in these events. It’s a well-run tournament.”

  Marshall, a three-year GAP volunteer, settled into a streak of steady pars as the round progressed. He turned with 22 points in his coffers before etching a gross birdie on No. 10 (par 4, 298 yards). Marshall hit a wedge 95 yards to 15 above the hole and snuck a sneaky downhill putt in the sidedoor. He points to a pair of pars to secure champion status as highlights. On No. 17 (par 3, 173 yards), Marshall drained a 12-footer after safely landing a 4-hybrid on the green. His tee shot on the next hole (par 4, 317 yards) spelled troubled as Marshall needed to negotiate a tree with his approach. An uphill 8-iron from 125 yards ignored the obstruction and left Marshall 25 feet from the hole location. He two-putted from there.

  Thursday marked Marshall’s second appearance in one of the Association’s net championships. The venue enticed.

  “If I get a chance to play places with elevation changes, I like to do that,” Marshall said. “This is really nice: downhill, uphill and sidehill lies. It sort of challenges you.”

  Marshall played alongside fellow GAP volunteers Howard Hansell, Mike Kyle and Bob Abramski, the tournament’s defending champion.

  “It was very easygoing. We had a good pace of play,” Marshall said.

  Penn Oaks Golf Club’s Michael Blaustein posted 44 points to finish second.

  The Fall Net Championship, formerly known as the Second Handicap, is open to players 18 years of age and older with handicap index less than 36.0. The event began in 1946. The Golf Association of Philadelphia adopted the Tee It Forward parameters and changed the scoring format to net Stableford in 2012.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 150 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.