Philly Cricket, Lancaster and Whitford mixture snags Four-Man Team

  AMBLER, Pa. – The team of Joe Dellicarpini and Bryan Winsko of Philadelphia Cricket Club, John Marshalek of Whitford CC and Matt Smith of Lancaster CC finally found the correct medicine to cure a year-long ailment.

  It scorched Talamore CC (par 71, 6,157 yards) to the anthem of an astonishing 15-under-par 127 to win Thursday’s Four-Man Team. The team broke the event’s previous scoring record of 129, which Little Mill CC’s Michael and Thomas Hyland, Bill Narozanick and Jeffrey Zalis set in 2000 at Cavaliers CC. In 2009, the Dellicarpini, Marshalek, Smith and Winsko squad fell a stroke shy of victory in a scorecard playoff to Concord CC’s Larry Benedetto, Jeff DellaFranco, Conrad Von Borsig and David Woods at Whitford CC.

  “Last year was a heartbreaker for us, so this feels great,” Winsko said.

  “It’s awesome, especially following up last year,” Dellicarpini added. “We seem to jell really well together. It was good karma.”

  Dellicarpini, Marshalek, Smith and Winsko carded four birdies each and collectively surpassed the 37-team field.

  “We were really aggressive,” Dellicarpini said. “Not knowing the golf course really helped. We wouldn’t have been nearly as aggressive as we were. It worked out for us.”

  “I think it was being aggressive, and also being loose,” Winsko added. “We knew we could put up a good number, but we never thought about it. We just took it a shot at a time. It was just steady.”

  It didn’t seem that the team would post such a remarkable score, judging by its first shot of the day. Marshalek bumped his tee shot 15 yards into the water hazard on No. 10 (par 4, 364 yards).

  “We came back after the first drive of the day,” Winsko said jokingly. “That was tough one to shake off.”

  “Could you believe we made 16 birdies after that?” Marshalek added.

  Dellicarpini was the first to ink red on his team’s scorecard. Standing 75 yards from the No. 10 (par 4, 364 yards) flagstick, he pounded his sand wedge 75 yards to five feet. Dellicarpini, 42, drained a downhill, left-to-right breaking 20-footer on No. 15 (par 4, 415 yards) after banging his 8-iron 160 yards. He barely cleared the fairway bunker on No. 7 (par 4, 353 yards). With a difficult downhill lie, Dellicarpini, of Chestnut Hill, Pa., smacked his wedge 75-yards and tapped a three-footer in for birdie. On the following hole (par 3, 156 yards), he stuck his 8-iron to three-feet above the hole and cleaned up the birdie putt.

  Marshalek, of Exton, Pa., began to see red on the par 5, 500-yard 18th hole. He two-putted for birdie from 35-feet in front of the green after launching his 5-wood 210 yards.

  “It was unbelievable,” Dellicarpini said.

  Marshalek, 52, continued to shine from long distance on the green. He sunk a 20-footer for birdie on No. 2 (par 4, 351 yards) after sticking his approach wedge 111 yards. On the par 3, 145-yard No. 4, Marshalek avoided ample bunkering with a smooth 7-iron off the tee, but came up 25-feet short of the flagstick. He converted the ensuing birdie putt from the fringe.

  “We were struggling a little bit. We had just come off our first bogey, and Matt had the only ball on the green,” Marshalek said.

  Marshalek’s last birdie came two holes later on No. 6. He tapped-in from three feet after drilling his wedge 100 yards.

  Smith, of Lancaster, Pa., attained three of his four birdies during the group’s outward trek. He smoked his rescue 3-iron to three-feet on No. 14 (par 3, 190 yards). Another masterful tee shot came on No. 16 (par 4, 300 yards). With 30 yards left, he stuck his wedge to two-feet. One hole later (par 4, 327 yards), Smith, 20, hit his wedge 80 yards and executed a straightaway 10-footer from below the flagstick. He again annihilated a drive on No. 7 (par 4, 353 yards). A delicate wedge from 26 yards out left Smith, a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University, two-feet shy of the cup.

  “That might have been the shot of the day,” Winsko said of Smith’s tee shot.

  Winsko, of Schwenksville, Pa., knocked his wedge 80 yards and rolled in a five-footer for birdie on No. 15 (par 4, 415 yards). He also posted a red figure on the par 4, 300-yard 16th hole, though it didn’t come easy.

  “I snapped my drive left, and it hit a tree and came down,” he said. “I was a foot outside the out-of-bounds stakes. There was prickly bush behind me. I was able to get it out and up to three feet (from the flagstick).”

  Winsko, 34, also converted a six-footer for birdie on No. 6 (par 4, 390 yards) after striking his wedge 72 yards. His 8-iron stopped six-feet short of the flagstick on the par 3, 156-yard No. 8 to post his final red figure.

  As Marshalek mentioned, the group’s only blemish came on No. 3 (par 4, 341 yards). Dellicarpini and Winsko nuked their approach shots over the green while Smith three-putted for bogey. Marshalek made par thanks to a critical two-putt from 30-feet. But in the end, it didn’t truly matter.

  “We hit a lot of iron shots in close. We all helped each other out on the green,” Smith said.

  “Nobody should ever take four to six footers for granted. We made every four to six-footer,” Marshalek added. “It’s amazing how we all get along with the multi-generations.”

  Larry Bergman of Middletown CC, Tom Faro of Philadelphia Publinks GA, John Jester of Makefield Highlands GC and Steven Owens of Raven’s Claw GC carded a net 22-under-par to triumph in the Net Division of the event.

  The Four-Man Team is an 18-hole stroke play event in which the best gross and net scores count per hole. Participants from different clubs can compete on the same team. The event began in 1995.