Past champions unite to win Senior Four-Man Team

  ROYERSFORD, Pa. — Alan Van Horn of Sandy Run Country Club equipped his armor in preparation of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 23rd Senior Four-Man Team. Armor as in former golf champions David Brookreson of Huntingdon Valley Country Club (1991 GAP Amateur Champion), John Hubbert, III of Galloway National Golf Club (1974 Pennsylvania Golf Association Junior Champion) and Arthur Jacoby of Commonwealth National Golf Club (1975 GAP Amateur Champion).

  Collectively, the foursome enforced birdies early and protected its subpar scorecard Thursday at Spring Ford Country Club (par 72, 6,288 yards). Van Horn and company carded a 7-under-par 137 total to top the 39-team field. Team scores are determined using the two best balls of four.

   “We were never in the threat of losing a shot, except on the first hole [the team’s lone bogey],” Jacoby, 65, of Wyncote, Pa., said.

   “We had a lot of putts within close distance,” Van Horn, 62, of Ambler, Pa., said. “We were never in any real trouble.”

   Starting on the back nine, the team shelled out its first red figure on the par 4, 350-yard 11th hole. Van Horn smacked a sand wedge 87 yards to four feet. Brookreson, 63, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., rolled in an uphill seven-footer for birdie on No. 12 (par 4, 372 yards). The team protected its 2 under with a string of five pars before finding a pair of birdies on the challenging par 5, 487-yard 18th hole. Van Horn hit a wedge 50 yards to 10 feet; Hubbert a wedge into kick-in range.

   As Jacoby indicated, the team’s lone blemish occurred on the downhill No. 1 (par 4, 417 yards). Brookreson and Hubbert sprayed their drives left and couldn’t contribute respective pars. Van Horn reached the green in regulation, but three-putted from 35 feet above the flagstick. With a pair of par 5s on the horizon, the team went on a birdie bonanza. Both Brookreson and Hubbert nestled tight wedges to three feet for a pair of 4s on No. 5 (514 yards). The two, along with Jacoby, surrounded the No. 9 (517 yards) flagstick with manageable birdie opportunities. Van Horn, however, came up short of the green with a 5-rescue from 163 yards. Playing first, he displayed his champion-esque touch with a spectacular chip-in birdie. Jacoby then validated a crisp 145-yard 7-iron shot with a 10-footer for birdie, sealing an essential 7 under on the team’s scorecard.

   Brookreson and Jacoby served as co-captains on Temple University’s golf team in 1970 and have remained good friends since. Hubbert, too, is a Temple alum who grew up at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club. Thursday marked his first GAP event and Senior Division debut.

   “It was fun. I had a great time,” Hubbert, 55, of Brigantine, N.J., said. “It was a hard golf course, but a very good golf course. We had a good team. We had a lot of birdie putts that we didn’t make.”

  Turns out the foursome didn’t need them after all.

   In a match of cards, McCall Golf & Country Club’s Rick Bunn, William McCabe, Jr. and Jon Stein, along with Aronimink Golf Club’s Jack Quinn edged Greate Bay Country Club’s William Care, Gregg Gipp, Paul Koelling and Mike Miklinevich to win the Net Division with a 127 total.

   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 145 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.