Deakins, Smith take GAP’s 45th Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play

 SOUDERTON, Pa.– Warren Deakins and Dick Smith of Philadelphia CC carded a gross score of 3-under-par 69 to top 99 two-man teams to win the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 45^th Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play Tuesday at Indian Valley CC (par 72, 6,352 yards).   

They won on a match of cards with Clarlie McClaskey of Wyncote GC and Terry Sawyer of Yardley CC, who also posted a 69.   McClaskey drove the 295-yard, par 4 17^th hole and drained a 30-footer for eagle. Then he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on 18 that would have given his team a 68 and the win.  

 Three teams tied at 2-under-par 70: Anthony Roeder of St. Davids GC and David Gale of Stonewall; William Whitman of Berkshire CC and Fred Tyler of Reading CC, and Herbert Gordon of Doylestown CC and Peter Albert of Green Valley CC.   

On a match of cards, Gordon and Albert were third, Roeder and Gale were fourth and Whitman and Tyler fifth. Patrick Givey and Bob Manfre of Philadelphia Public Links Golf Association took low net honors with a 60 in a three-way match of cards.   

Dave Owens of Melrose CC and Steven Owens of Ashbourne CC, and Mike Kyle and Edward Cooper of Bala GC, both of whom also carded a 60, finished second and third, respectively, in the net division.   

Deakins and Smith, first team off the first tee at 7:30 a.m., played steadily, carding a 1-under-par 35 on the front nine, with two birdies and a bogey, and adding a 2-under, bogey-free 34 on the back.  

Roeder and Gale, playing an hour later off the 10^th tee, started slowly, with a 1-over 37 on the back nine, but scorched the front nine, coming home with a 3-under 33, with birds on two, four and seven.   

Gordon and Albert, one of the last foursomes on the course, carded three birdies and a bogey on the front nine for a 34, and followed it with a bird and a bogey on trhe back for an even-par 36.   

Playing in mid-afternoon, Whitman and Tyler benefited from two eagles by Whitman, who, starting on 10, a 355-yard par 4, knocked a 9-iron in to the hole for deuce. On No. 1, a 378-yard par 4, he duplicated the feat, this time with a 7-iron.