HVCC's Michael and Morgan Dougherty win Father & Son (Younger) - The Golf Association of Philadelphia

Jun 30, 2011

HVCC’s Michael and Morgan Dougherty win Father & Son (Younger)

  CONCORDVILLE, Pa. — Michael Dougherty and his son R. Morgan retained their Father & Son (Younger) crown Thursday, carding a 2-under-par 69 to outlast the 48-team field at a sunny and scenic Concord CC (par 71, 6,385 yards). The Huntingdon Valley CC members buried early miscues with a seven-layered red figure dip to prevail.

Michael Dougherty gets out of
the No. 2 (par 4, 309 yards) bunker.

  “It’s really fun,” Morgan said. “It kind of just shows that all of the years before, we kind of came up short because of my play. I wasn’t quite there yet. I think I’ve put it together. I’m helping him (Michael) out now. We play together all of the time now. We know each other’s games really well. This feels really good.”

  A successful title defense became less of reality after the Warrington, Pa. residents bogeyed three of their first four holes. Morgan rolled a 30-footer birdie attempt on No. 11 (par 3, 180 yards) to 18 inches, but his father couldn’t complete the routine par.

  “I didn’t even hit the hole,” Michael, 61, said.

  A poor chip by Michael on the elevation-altering 12th hole (par 4, 393 yards) resulted in a bogey. After choosing to play Morgan’s tee shot out of the left rough on No. 13 (par 4, 418 yards), Michael attempted to negotiate a tree, but his ball clipped a branch and plummeted into the bunker.

R. Morgan Dougherty nearly makes this
birdie on No. 1 (par 4, 370 yards).

  “The first four holes, we weren’t giving each other chances to make any good numbers,” Morgan, 17, said.

  The Dougherty team received a much-needed injection on the monstrous par 5, 570-yard 14th hole. Michael knocked a 9-iron 130 yards to 10 feet, and Morgan, a senior at La Salle High School, cleaned up the birdie putt. Ditto on No. 15 (par 3,161 yards) after Michael’s 8-iron stopped 15 feet from the hole location. And to close out its outward tour, the Dougherty team posted its third birdie of the day following a 30-yard pitch, eight-foot putt sequence on No. 18 (par 5, 503 yards).

  The difficult No. 2 (par 4, 309 yards) threatened to detour the Dougherty’s momentum. They failed to get up-and-down for par after Morgan dumped his approach into the deep front bunker. But they revisited an optimal formula on No. 3 (par 4, 330 yards). Michael drilled a pitching wedge 110 yards to nine feet below the flagstick, and Morgan executed the birdie try. On No. 6 (par 5, 550 yards), Morgan nearly holed out for eagle with a sand wedge from 70 yards away.

  “It was actually pretty low,” Morgan said. “It just took two bounces and spun right to an inch.”

  “It was a great shot,” Michael, 61, added.

  The birdie barrage brought the scorecard back to even par, but the Dougherty team wasn’t done yet. Michael drilled an 8-iron 145 yards to three feet on No. 7 (par 4, 418 yards). His 7-iron on the par 3, 170-yard No. 7 camped out 10 feet from the flagstick. Morgan, who qualified for match play in the Association’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Running Deer GC earlier this week, coaxed the birdie putt into the jar.

  “It was a tough putt, but I just felt like I was on fire with the putter,” he said.

Randy Mitchell hugs his son Davis.

  Morgan’s putter proficiency played a prominent part in the Dougherty’s success Thursday.

  “He made every birdie putt except for the one-inch one that I putted,” Michael, the 2009 Brewer Cup Champion, said. “He made six birdie putts between three feet and 20 feet. That’s a lot of putts to make.”

  “I was asking him on the putting green to look at my stroke because I was on a bad putting streak,” Morgan added. “I moved it [my grip] up a little bit, and everything was rolling where I wanted it to.”

  Junior-Junior Division

  Davis and Randy Mitchell of Wilmington CC followed in the Dougherty’s footsteps. They, too, carded a 2-under-par 69 to retain their Junior-Junior Division title.

  “It means a lot to me,” Randy, 50, said. “We’ve been looking forward to this event since we won last year. This is about as much fun as I can have. There’s nothing like playing golf with your son.”

  The victory may have never occurred, though, as the Mitchell’s arrived slightly before their tee time. Davis competed in the Delaware State Golf Association’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Newark CC and lost in a playoff for the 13 Year-Old Division crown. The Wilmington, Del. residents didn’t feel any effects of a rushed commute as they birdied their first hole of the day (No.1, par 4, 340 yards). Davis hit a lob wedge 75 yards to three feet. The Mitchell team also inked red on Nos. 13 (par 4, 388 yards), 14 (par 5, 530 yards) and 18 (par 5, 489 yards) to post the division’s only subpar score. Davis, an eighth grader at Tatnall School, slapped a sand wedge 110 yards to a foot on No. 13. His pitching wedge traveled 125 yards and settled five feet from the No. 14 flagstick. Davis smashed a 5-wood into the left greenside bunker on No. 18. Randy’s superb sand shot stopped inches from the jar.

Andrew Desjardins

  The Father-Son (Younger) tournament is for those father and son teams with sons up to the age of 17. It’s the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s biggest one-day event of 2011 so far. Thursday’s field consisted of 208 players.

  NOTES

  Andrew Desjardins of Waynesborough CC aced the par 3, 155-yard 15th hole with a 6-iron. It was the 12-year-old’s second career hole-in-one.

  “I hit it pretty solidly. It hit the front of the green and bounced in,” Desjardins, of Malvern, Pa., said. “At first, I wasn’t quite sure if it was in, but either way, I was pretty happy.”

  “I couldn’t quite tell if it went in either,” Andrew’s father Jay added. “I was hoping it was in and we basically raced to the hole. I decided that he should be the one to look first.”

  Last year, Andrew, who attends St. Norbert School, aced the 4th hole at his home club.

  “He now has two more than his old man,” Jay said.

Junior
Name, club Score
R. Morgan Dougherty/Michael Dougherty, Huntingdon Valley CC 69
Zach Arsenault/Jim Arsenault, Little Mill CC 70
Kevin Kelly/Ryan Kelly, Philadelphia Cricket Club 72
Kevin Conners, Jr./Kevin Conners, Whitford CC 73
Tom Gergel/Jack Gergel, West Chester G&CC 74
Reilly Erhardt/Clement Erhardt, Trenton CC 74
Edward Furman/Daniel Furman, Commonwealth National GC 75
Paul Altieri/Steven Altieri, Hopewell Valley GC 76
T.J. Summers/Timothy Summers, Commonwealth National GC/Doylestown CC 76
Joe Wintsch/Zach Wintsch, Bellewood GC 77
Robert Firth, Jr./Robert Firth, Commonwealth National GC 78
Jonathan Liu/Grant Liu, Commonwealth National GC 78
Jon Stewart/Phillip Stewart, Honeybrook GC/Wild Quail G&CC 79
Jack Concannon/John Concannon, Concord CC 79
Kenny Jones/Ken Jones, Riverton CC 79
Matthew Bastian/Matthew Bastian, Jr., Rolling Green GC 80
Daniel Altieri/Paul Altieri, Hopewell Valley GC 80
Mark Zipf/Kevin Zipf, Philadelphia CC 80
Edward Maul/Eddie Maul, Concord CC 81
H.Jay Bellwoar/Harry Bellwoar, Overbrook GC 81
Mark Schweitzer/Luke Schweitzer, Huntingdon Valley CC 81
Reid Worster/John Worster, Huntingdon Valley CC 82
Hank Kaufmann/Ron Hipple, Yardley CC/Bensalem Township CC 83
Mark W. Hogan/Mark Hogan, Spring Ford CC 83
Brian Binet/Chris Binet, Whitemarsh Valley CC 83
Gordon Dunlop, III/Gordon Dunlop, Jr., Bensalem Township CC 83
Frankie Brigidi/Frank Brigidi, III, North Hills CC 84
Christopher Ade/Matthew Ade, Riverton CC 84
Matthew Kane/Alex Kane, Radley Run CC 84
Kevin Dolan/Quinn Dolan, Rolling Green GC 84
Mike O’Connor/Bob O’Connor, Huntingdon Valley CC 85
John Marshalek/Steve Marshalek, Whitford CC 86
Evan Bechtel/John Bechtel, Commonwealth National GC 86
Joe Rueter, Jr./Joe Rueter, Huntingdon Valley CC/Torresdale-Frankford CC 86
Ken Bubes/Adam Bubes, Wilmington CC 88
Gary Smith/Cody Smith, Huntingdon Valley CC 88
Pat Young/Brendan Young, Chester Valley CC 89
Matt Fazio/Michael Fazio, Huntingdon Valley 89
Zachary Lowry/David Lowry, White Manor CC 91
Christian Portale/Joseph Portale, Concord CC 91
Daniel Lenhardt/Stephen Lenhardt, Plymouth CC 91
William Davis/Kent Davis, Berkshire CC 92
Evan Beaty/Mike Beaty, Plymouth CC
John Nabial/James Nabial, Cherry Valley CC 93
Neal Levitsky/Kevin Levitsky, Wilmington CC 94
Matt Loeb/Trevor Loeb, Cherry Valley CC 96
Keith McIntyre/Nick McIntyre, Concord CC 97
Jack Farris/John Farris, Huntingdon Valley CC 98
Jim Anthony, IV/James Anthony, V, Bensalem Township CC 101
Magnus Sims/Ernie Sims, Overbrook GC 102
Junior-Junior Division
Name, club Score
Randy Mitchell/Davis Mitchell, Wilmington CC 69
Wally Swiger/Cole Swiger, Huntingdon Valley CC 73
Regan Erhardt/Clement Erhardt, Trenton CC 74
Michael Reed-Price/Robert Reed, Sunnybrook GC 74
Louis Giovi/Louis John Giovi, Old York CC at Chesterfield 75
Jack Hirsh/Laurence Hirsh, Philadelphia Cricket Club 79
H. Jay Bellwoar/Jack Bellwoar, Overbrook GC 81
R.J. Wren/Russell Wren, Honeybrook GC 82
Brett Seifried/Scott Seifried, Laurel Creek CC 82
Alexander Tappen/Roger Tappen, Cedarbrook CC 83
Jay Desjardins/Andrew Desjardins, Waynesborough CC 83
Todd Anderson/Brett Anderson, Wilmington CC 84
Cory Hunter/John Hunter, Commonwealth National GC 86
Andrew Wallace/Gregg Wallace, Green Valley CC 86
John Farris/Hugh Farris, Huntingdon Valley CC 86
John Easton, III/John Easton, IV, Manufacturers G&CC 86
Douglas Gregor/Andrew Gregor, Huntingdon Valley CC 86
Forrest Swisher/Allen Swisher, Jericho National GC 86
Anthony White, Jr./Cole White, Blue Bell CC 88
Bob Colvin/Griffin Colvin, Concord CC 88
Michael Beckett/Tristan Beckett, Trenton CC 88
Gary McCabe/Gary McCabe, Jr., RiverCrest GC & Preserve 88
Kevin Civitella/Bill Civitella, Aronimink GC 88
Evan Brown/Bill Brown, Jr., Hartefeld National 89
Patrick Clearkin/Brendan Clearkin, Old York Road CC 90
Stephen McHugh/Ryan McHugh, Penn Oaks GC 91
Dan Duffey/Daniel Duffey, The Bucks Club 92
Patrick Finn/Thomas Finn, Cavaliers CC 92
Rand Mendez/Will Mendez, Fieldstone GC 93
Matthew Brennan, Sr./Ryan Brennan, Rolling Green GC 93
Frank Gregor/Frankie Gregor, Huntingdon Valley CC 94
Timothy Jones/Ken Jones, Riverton CC 94
Daniel Bastian/Matthew Bastian, Rolling Green GC 94
Ryan Susanin/Peter Susanin, Overbrook GC 95
Drew Clifford/Chuck Clifford, Spring Ford CC 95
Charles Clark/John Clark, West Chester G&CC 96
Christopher Clark/Brendan Clark, Old York Road CC 96
Wade Gregor/Douglas Gregor, Huntingdon Valley CC 96
James Gillespie/James Gillespie, Jr., Concord CC 97
Patrick Gillespie, III/Patrick Gillespie, Jr., Overbrook GC 97
Robbie Moses/Rob Moses, Concord CC 97
Dan Shevlin/Luke Shevlin, Concord CC 98
Michael Fazio/Jake Fazio, Huntingdon Valley CC 98
James Mezzanotte/Christopher Mezzanotte, Whitemarsh Valley CC 98
Rob Lauver/Austin Lauver, Meadia Heights GC 98
Gavin Sims/Ernie Sims, Overbrook GC 99
Mike O’Malley/Joseph O’Malley, West Chester G&CC 100
Brent Schoeller/Mark Schoeller, Huntingdon Valley CC 102
Matthew Brennan/Matthew Brennan, Sr., Rolling Green GC 104
Harry Bitzberger/Harrison Bitzberger, Penn Oaks GC 105
Mike Bednar/Michael Bednar, Penn Oaks GC 108
Fran McGlynn/Ryan McGlynn, Concord CC 114
Matthew Hoppe/Ted Hoppe, Concord CC 124

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