Lehigh’s Beck, Soares take Senior Four-Ball in scorecard playoff

GLENSIDE, Pa. — For the second straight year, a scorecard playoff decided the Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play victors. And, in a bizarre twist, two of three teams involved in that playoff — Bellewood Country Club’s Marty Dorminy and James Prendergast as well as Chester Valley Golf Club’s Ed Chylinski and Kenneth Silverwood — returned to the spotlight Thursday.

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  Both, however, ceded to Bob Beck and Thomas Soares. The Lehigh Country Club duo inked a 32 on the back nine to prevail in the tournament’s 56th edition at North Hills Country Club (par 71, 6,248 yards). All three teams filed a 4-under-par 67. The Dorminy and Prendergast team won last year’s scorecard playoff.

  The scorecard tiebreaker, as recommended by the USGA, is total gross score for the back nine.

  “We met playing in a few tournaments in the Lehigh Valley. Tom joined Lehigh a little more than five years ago, so we’ve been fortunate to play more golf together,” Beck, 55, of Allentown, Pa., said. “We play as partners in a few events. We don’t usually get mad at each other.”

  “This is cool. I’m glad we were able to do it,” Soares, 55, of Emmaus, Pa., said. “It was a good partnership. Bob played really well. He is a very good driver of the golf ball.”

  The Beck and Soares team opened its trophy quest on North Hills’ back nine. Soares started the subpar scoring on No. 11 (par 3, 153 yards), Soares stopped an 8-iron at 12 feet and sunk the uphill putt. Beck jarred a birdie putt from the same distance on No. 13 (par 4, 373 yards) following a 90-yard wedge shot. His length continued to prove advantageous on the par 5, 495-yard 15th hole. Beck hammered a 4-iron 207 yards to 25 feet and two-putted for a 4. On the next hole (par 4, 371 yards), he punched a wedge from 80 yards under a branch and skipped it to six feet for birdie.

  The team’s inward tour presented par scrapes and missed scoring opportunities. Beck and Soares encountered their first roadblock on No. 6 (par 4, 406 yards). The former couldn’t rectify heavy wedge by executing a 10-footer for par. Soares avenged the team’s misstep in a major way on No. 9 (par 3, 170 yards). He landed a 6-iron right of the flagstick and converted a 25-footer for birdie.

  Beck and Soares will compete in the club championship semifinals at Lehigh on Saturday. They sit on opposite sides of the bracket, so a meeting in the Final on Sunday is possible. Beck holds nine club championships to Soares one.

  “I’ve been there 30 years. He’s been there five,” Beck said.

Super Senior

  Longtime friends and occasional combatants Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club and Carl Everett of Merion Golf Club carded a 5-under-par 66 to take the tournament’s Super-Senior (par 71, 5,847 yards) title.

  “I enjoy all of the partners I play with, and there are a few special ones. Carl’s in that category,” Donatoni, 67, of Malvern, Pa., said. “We know each others’ game really well, which always helps.”

  Everett, 68, of Harleysville, Pa., converted a left-to-right hooking 30-footer for birdie on No. 7 (par 3, 140 yards) to start the team’s engine. Donatoni assured an outright victory by firing a 3 on the 18th hole (par 4, 286 yards). From the middle of the fairway, Donatoni lifted a 52-degree wedge 80 yards to 15 feet above the flagstick.

  “I knew I needed to make it,” Donatoni, the two-time reigning Super-Senior Player of the Year, said. “We had it breaking a little right-to-left and then straightening out at the hole, and that’s exactly what it did. I decided to drip it in the hole. We knew it was a big birdie at that point.”

  A triumphant birdie is more appropriate.

  Donatoni and Everett won the Senior 27-Hole Challenge in 2008 (Senior Division) and 2014 (Super-Senior). The two recently squared off in the Brewer Cup semifinals. Donatoni prevailed en route to his third straight Super-Senior title in the event.

NOTES — Play was suspended an hour and 25 minutes due to lightning in the area.

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