Thompson, Burton take Tournament of Champions titles

  Huntingdon Valley, Pa.–Ray Thompson of Overbrook GC repeated as the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Tournament of Champions winner. Firm and fast greens did not stop the 53-year-old resident of Springfield, Pa. from carding a 3-under-par 67 on the William Flynn designed (par 70, 6764 yard), Huntingdon Valley CC.

  Thompson won the event last year on the North Course of Philmont CC, shooting a 1-over-par 71. He is also a former Amateur champion (1972, Aronimink GC).

  Thompson tied Robert Bechtold of Inniscrone GC, but was named winner when Bechtold failed to show for the playoff.

  A front nine of 32 put Bechtold in prime position for the title, but two bogeys coming home, one on the 201-yard, par-3 17^th and another one on the 434-yard, par4 18^th cost him the outright title.

  Thompson started his round strong, registering a birdie on Nos. 1 (par 4, 385 yards) and 3 (par 3, 182 yards). One bogey on No. 7 caused a minor slip up in his round, but it did not take him long to get back on track with a birdie on No. 9 (par 4, 424 yards). On the back nine, he recorded bogeys on Nos. 10 (par 4, 400 yards) and 17 (par 3, 201 yards) as well as birdies on Nos. 15 (par 5, 571 yards), 16 (par 4, 400 yards) and the difficult (par 4, 434 yard) finishing hole.

  The Tournament of Champions is open to all current club champions and past event champions.

Senior Champions
  Dan Burton of Bent Creek CC carded a 1-under par 69 to take the Senior Amateur Division championship (par 70, 6308 yards).

  Burton had two birdies and two bogeys to round out an even-par 35 front nine.

  He heated up on the back nine with birdies on Nos. 12 (par 4, 355 yards), 13 (par 3, 162 yards) and 15 (par 5, 553 yards). Two bogeys coming home on Nos. 16 (par 4, 363) and 17 (par 3, 194) did not keep Burton from winning by two strokes over Michael Dougherty of Huntingdon Valley CC and Frank Polizzi of Whitemarsh Valley CC, who each carded 1-over par 71s.