Barry good: Lancaster duo takes Father & Son (Middle) in playoff

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — As he passed a golf cart with a media sign attached to the windshield, John Barry, in a joking manner, caught the driver’s attention and posed a question.

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  “Do you want to interview us now or later?” the affable John, 51, of Lancaster, Pa., quipped.

  Call it intuition — or past suspicion, but that’s another story for another day. On this day, John and his son Jack, members of Lancaster Country Club, defeated Alan and Craig Kliewer in a sudden-death playoff to capture the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Father & Son (Middle) at a pleasant Concord Country Club (par 71, 6,314 yards).

  Both teams carded respective 1-under-par 70s in regulation Thursday. The event’s format is selective drive/alternate shot.

  “My son played great golf. He made countless five-footers and was solid all day,” John said.

  Jack, without skipping a beat, looked at his father, smiled and returned the praise.

  “My dad played great golf. He was solid all-around,” Jack, 22, added. “I made a few mistakes and he always bounced right back with a good shot after that. It held us together.”

  One of those aforementioned mistakes occurred at a critical time. On the first playoff hole (No. 1, par 4, 379 yards), which features a foreboding water hazard left en route to a slightly elevated green, Jack splashed his tee shot. John, on cue with a needed pick-me-up, pummeled a drive that barely found the first cut right. His son then atoned for a mistake he made in regulation. Jack skied a 54-degree wedge 95 yards to 12 feet below a front hole location.

  “It was a great shot out of a flyer lie. He had the same shot and hit it over the green, so it was a good adjustment because it was still downwind,” John said. “That was really a solid shot.”

  Craig Kliewer, with the ensuing honors, sidekicked a wedge from 83 yards. It took the Kliewer team, two-time Father & Son (Middle) champions (2013-14), three more strokes to finish the hole. A two-putt meant a trophy for the Barrys.

  Not bad for their first time playing in the event.

  “It fit our schedule and we’d thought it be fun,” John, who works in real estate, said. “The golf course was phenomenal. Our course, like this one, is a William Flynn [design].”

  “I’ve had a lot of fun growing, learning and improving. It’s great to play with him and learn how to make some putts and get better,” Jack added.

  Hardware isn’t foreign to the Barry household. John is a four-time club champion at Lancaster. However, golf is relatively new to his son, who started playing nearly five years ago.

  “I took Jack for his first golf lesson last night with Mike Swisher at Lebanon Country Club,” John said. “He hit it really well, but I don’t think he warmed up very well this morning. I was happy to see him settle down and play well.”

  “I felt pretty solid after the lesson. I had to make a few adjustments today,” Jack, an incoming senior at Elon University, added. “I felt like I hit it well.”

  Playing in the group behind the Kliewer team in regulation, the Lancaster, Pa. residents birdied the closing 18th hole (par 5, 503 yards) to force a meeting. Jack knocked a wedge 60 yards to 15 feet right of the hole location. John then drained a sly right-to-left slider.

  The Barry team totaled four birdies on the day. On No. 2 (par 4, 316 yards), John drilled a 9-iron 135 yards to five feet. A two-putt from the back of the No. 6 (par 5, 548 yards) green following Jack’s 5-wood from 220 yards translated into a 4 on the scorecard. On the uphill par 3, 184-yard 11th hole, John stopped a 5-iron at five feet. A bad stance in a fairway bunker (No. 3, par 4, 325 yards) and a pair of three-putts (Nos. 8 and 16) defined the Barry bogeys.

  With their victory Thursday, the Father & Son (Middle) trophy stays in Lancaster’s hands. Members Brandon and Marlin Detweiler triumphed a year ago at Spring Ford Country Club.

  For the Kliewer team, a chip-in birdie on the par 4, 341-yard 10th proved critical to their participation in the eventual playoff. The Ephrata, Pa. residents both flayed their drives right. Choosing the lesser of two evils forced Alan, 29, to negotiate a tree with a wedge from 80 yards. Next came Craig’s magic with a beloved weapon.

  “I always take my 52-degree wedge and I love bumping it and getting it on the green. Then it checks and it trickles,” Craig, 57, said. “This one was going a little bit harder. It took a right turn, hit the stick dead center and went in. The 52 is my club of choice when I’m on that tight lie and chipping.”

NOTES — Aronimink Golf Club’s Charles Bernard aced the par 3, 158-yard 15th hole with a 7-iron. It marked the seventh hole-in-one of his career.

  The Father & Son (Middle) tournament is for those father and son teams with sons 18 to 29 years old. The event was conceived in 2008 because of the high demand for participation in both the Father & Son (Younger), which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and the Older tournament — an event in its 106th year.

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 151 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.