Bob Beck lips a birdie putt on No. 18 (par 4, 335 yards) as his son Bobby looks on.

Becks, Wisemans crowned co-champions in Father & Son (Younger)

  HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa. — The Father & Son (Younger) presented co-champions for the second straight year. Playing in the morning, Lehigh Country Club’s Bob and Bobby Beck set the scoring bar with a 5-over-par 75 at Philmont Country Club (par 70, 6,250 yards) Thursday. The Bucks Club’s Ben and Barry Wiseman held steady in the afternoon, etching a 1-over 36 on their inward tour to match the Becks.

  It marked the first competitive father/son tournament for both teams.

  “That alone was a lot of fun for me,” Bob Beck, 55, of Allentown, Pa., said. “[Being out with Bobby] was the most rewarding part of the day.”

   “It was an all-new experience for me. It’s exciting [to be co-champions],” Bobby, 14, also of Allentown, Pa., said.

  Playing golf together isn’t uncharted territory for the Wisemans; the two do so twice a week. When it comes to competition, however, dad is typically the chauffer.

  “When he goes out in Junior tournaments, I just drop him off and pick him up,” Barry, 52, of New Hope, Pa., said. “I don’t get involved, so it was kind of fun being on a team and seeing how he goes along hole-by-hole.”

  The trying 17th (par 3, 167 yards) and 18th (par 4, 335 yards) holes on Philmont’s North Course framed a co-champion finish. On the first, Bobby, a rising sophomore at Moravian Academy, escalated a 35-footer over a ridge and four feet past the jar. Bob missed the comebacker. The next hole nearly yielded a disqualification. Bob, a former GAP Executive Committee member (1999-2004), stormed after a 12-footer for birdie as it skirted the left edge. An alarm rang in Bobby’s mind. He sensed that dad was on the brink of a routine tap-in, which is prohibited given the event’s selective drive/alternate shot format. Bobby immediately spoke up, and his dad stepped aside.

  “He was very helpful there,” Bob said. “That would have cost us the tournament.”

  “That was scary. I thought I was going to be the one to do that today,” Bobby added.

  The dialogue between the Wisemans on the 17th hole seemed a little less panicky. Standing at 4 over, Barry faced a near-identical putt to Bobby Beck’s — uphill to a back right hole location. Uneasy with his speed all day, Barry deferred to Ben, who addressed a 20-footer from the right fringe.

  “I thought I could hit it close, and he didn’t think he could hit his putt close,” Ben, 15, a rising sophomore at New Hope Solebury High School, said. Ben steep looped it to five feet. Barry missed the ensuing par putt.

  On the 18th hole, Ben ripped a drive to the right side of a sloping fairway. Barry then knocked a lob wedge 74 yards to 20 feet. Ben, unaware of the team’s leaderboard status at the time, breezed his birdie attempt a foot past the cup. Barry secured co-champion status with a swift stroke.

  “It was fun. The course was in great condition,” Ben, of New Hope, Pa., said. “Every time we play he gives me advice. I’m a little more comfortable [playing golf with my dad]. There’s not as much pressure.”

  “I’m trying to teach him how to think on a golf course when you’re under pressure,” Barry, who won the New Jersey State Golf Association Mid-Amateur in 2004, added. “He can go to Bucks and shoot close to par every day, but then you come out in a tournament, and you can throw 10 shots away.”

  The Becks, too, viewed Thursday as a learning experience.

  “He definitely helps out a lot on the course,” Bobby said. “If I missed a shot, he made it.”

  “He’s been working hard at his game. He’s starting to get more stable and confident,” Bob added.

Junior-Junior
  Colman Mitchell bypassed the Delaware State Golf Association’s Junior Championship for a chance to play with his father Randy.

  “It’s our last time playing the Junior-Junior flight and I wanted to come back and win it,” Colman, 13, a soon-to-be eighth grader at Forsyth Country Day School, said.

  Win they did. The Mitchells, of Wilmington Country Club, carded a 5-over-par 75 to claim the event’s Junior-Junior (ages 10-13) title. Colman and Randy finished as co-champions in 2012.

  “It was great,” Randy, 54, said. “He played really well. He really carried us. I just love being with him. He knows it. Today is special for us. We wanted to play together.”

  The par 4, 355-yard 15th hole highlighted Colman’s play Thursday. He hit a gap wedge 101 yards to a foot. Randy cleaned up the birdie putt.

  The Mitchells continue to leave an indelible mark on the Father & Son (Younger). Randy and his son Davis are former Junior-Junior (2010-11) and Junior (2013-14) champions. The family relocated to Winston-Salem, N.C. late last year. They plan on spending the summer in Wilmington, Del. before returning south in the fall.

   The Father & Son (Younger), now in its 58th year, is open to father and son teams with sons 17 years of age and younger.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  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 151 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.