Lancaster’s Detweiler, Honeybrook’s Leaman take Senior Four-Ball

  BERNVILLE, Pa. — Marlin Detweiler of Lancaster Country Club and Mark Leaman of Honeybrook Golf Club attended kindergarten through college together, with the exception of one year. The lifelong friends and Lancaster County residents competed on Ephrata’s golf team in high school, with Heidelberg Country Club serving as a venue for a few tournaments.

  Their experience — both as a team and with the Bernville, Pa. golf course — favored Detweiler and Leaman Wednesday. The two fired a 5-under-par 67 to take the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 53rd Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play at Heidelberg (par 70, 6,149 yards).

   “He carried us on the front nine, and I carried us on the back nine,” Detweiler, 55, of Akron, Pa., said. “We pair together well. We enjoy playing together. “It was fun. It’s not like we make a living on it.”   “This is the first better-ball tournament I’ve ever won,” Leaman, 55, of Lancaster, Pa., added. “It was a great day. I enjoyed it very much.”

  Leaman carded two birdies during the team’s opening nine, thanks to superb approach shots. He hit a wedge 80 yards to 15 feet on No. 3 (par 4, 323 yards); 97 yards to 10 feet on No. 9 (par 5, 480 yards). A bogey on the par 4, 413-yard No. 6 put Detweiler and Leaman one stroke under the par boundary at the turn.

  Detweiler’s flatstick then caught fire. The Akron, Pa. resident carded four birdies on the team’s inward tour. He attributed his hot putter to an energy boost at the halfway house.

   “I was having trouble staying awake, so I went and bought a hot dog,” Detweiler said.

  Detweiler executed tap-in birdies on Nos. 12 (par 4, 368 yards) and 14 (par 4, 355 yards) following sand wedge set-ups. He drilled a pitching wedge 105 yards to 15 feet on the par 4, 400-yard 15th hole and executed the downhill birdie putt. Detweiler wasn’t done when he and Leaman arrived at No. 18 (par 5, 523 yards). His pitch shot carried the slope, gradually slid right and settled nine feet from the flagstick. Detweiler drained the right-to-left curler for birdie. Leaman, meanwhile, executed crucial par saves on Nos. 10 (par 4, 393 yards) and 17 (par 4, 370 yards) to ensure a superior back nine score.

  Detweiler and Leaman also used momentum to their advantage Wednesday. The two finished at 8 under in a better-ball tournament at Blue Ridge Country Club a few weeks ago.

  Tom Borsello of White Clay Creek Country Club and Michael Domenick of Phoenixville Country Club, the tournament’s defending champions, finished tied for second at 3 under.

  Launched in 1960, the Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play is open to Member Club golfers with a handicap index of 18.0 or lower.

  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 144 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.