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| (From left to right): LedgeRock Golf Club’s Evan Thornton, Joe Butto, Alex Blickle and Grant Skyllas won the Four-Man Team at Moselem Springs Golf Club. |
LedgeRock linksmen fire 14 under, win 26th Four-Man Team
FLEETWOOD, Pa. — Forgive Evan Thornton for referring to Joe Butto as “Mr. Butto.” Force of habit when the 19-year-old addresses a fellow LedgeRock Golf Club member whom he’s known throughout adolescence.
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Thornton frequently uttered the greeting Tuesday. He and fellow LedgeRock youth Alex Blickle (22) and Grant Skyllas (28) joined Butto, at age 54 the group’s elder statesmen, to compete in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 26th Four-Man Team at Moselem Springs Golf Club (par 70, 6,386 yards). The Berks County collective, with course experience in its corner, carded an impressive 14-under-par 126 to prevail by seven strokes.
The two best scores of four on each hole count toward the team total.
“I didn’t do any coaching today. I didn’t impose my will unless they asked,” Butto, of Mohnton, Pa., said. “Evan and Alex were still in high school when I met them. I’ve known Grant since he was 13. We’ve been paired together many times. These guys are bombers. They hit it 60 yards past me.”
“It was a blast,” Blickle, of Wernersville, Pa., said. “It was everything I thought it would be: good guys playing good golf. The atmosphere was light and fun.”
Course knowledge aided the LedgeRock team as it trekked Moselem’s rolling terrain. Butto and Skyllas are both former members. Blickle and Thornton logged rounds at the venue as well.
“I think [course knowledge] was a factor,” Butto said. “For the most part, we knew where to play to the greens. I think it helped that the tees were up.”
“We knew where to hit it to so we’d have good looks at birdies,” Blickle, a Golf Association of Philadelphia Magazine Player to Watch in 2015, added.
Good and plentiful Tuesday.
Blickle, a recent Kenyon College graduate, started the team’s subpar steamroller on No. 2 (par 4, 388 yards), where he flipped a wedge 101 yards to eight feet. Thornton stopped a 7-iron at five feet on the par 3, 163-yard No. 3 for another birdie. Next to step aboard the accelerating locomotive was Skyllas, who smacked a wedge 80 yards to four feet on No. 4 (par 4, 361 yards). The whistle echoed throughout Moselem’s hillsides when the LedgeRock team arrived at No. 7 (par 5, 521 yards). Butto holed a 70-yard wedge shot for eagle.
“They were getting on me because I hadn’t birdied yet,” Butto said. “I didn’t see it. These guys came down the hill yelling.”
“We all went nuts. It was great,” Blickle, who recently captured the Berks County Golf Association’s Match Play Championship, added. Blickle and Thornton both birdied No. 7 to move the team to 6 under.
To cap its sensational outward venture, Skyllas sent a lob wedge into tap-in territory for a 3 on No. 9 (par 4, 333 yards).
“We could’ve easily been 11 under on the front nine. We had birdie looks on every hole,” Skyllas, of Wyomissing, Pa., said.
On No. 11 (par 4, 420 yards), Skyllas made good on a birdie look by knocking a pitching wedge 130 yards to 15 feet and converting a left-to-right breaker. The LedgeRock team continued to barrel down triumphant tracks with a pair of 4s on the strenuous par 5, 505-yard 12th hole. Butto and Thornton both bumped wedges into kick-in range. The former lifted a 7-iron 155 yards to four feet for a birdie on No. 14 (par 4, 375 yards). Thornton added to the group’s stellar play with a nifty chip-in birdie on the par 3, 128-yard 15th hole.
“Grant gave me a good read and I just knocked it in,” Thornton, of Wyomissing, Pa., said. “He was over the green too and chipped it to five feet.”
Back-to-back birdies seemed an appropriate curtain call on this day. Butto extracted a 7-iron from 148 yards out of the right rough on No. 17 (par 4, 386 yards) and landed it four feet below the flagstick. On the picturesque 18th hole (432 yards) — a downhill par 4 guarded by a water hazard on the right, Thornton hit a 7-iron to 12 feet and dropped a fist-pumping birdie putt. The incoming Temple University sophomore didn’t initially plan to compete Tuesday. He received a text last Friday from Skyllas asking if he could fill in for Christopher Storck, also of LedgeRock.
“I didn’t realize we were playing in a tournament. I thought we were just playing a round,” Thornton said. “Grant said we have a good team and I was like, ‘What do you mean we have a good team?’”
A great team is more like it.
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 150 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.
|
Gross
|
|
Name, club
|
Score
|
|
Alex Blickle,
Joe Butto, Grant Skyllas
& Evan Thornton, LedgeRock Golf Club
|
126
|
|
David Maddock,
Michael Manci, Michael Kerzetski
& Frank Petrillo, Glen Oak Country Club
|
133
|
|
Jason Barkley, Huntsville
Golf Club; Rodney James, Golden Oaks Golf Club; Donald Kozik,
Moselem Springs Golf Club & Todd Vonderheid,
Huntsville Golf Club
|
134
|
|
Joe Dellicarpini
& Bryan Winsko, Philadelphia Cricket Club; John
Marshalek & David West, Whitford
Country Club
|
137
|
|
Kirby Martin, Commonwealth
National Golf Club; Daniel Pinciotti, Jr., Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
Daniel Feeney & James Wybar, Philadelphia
Cricket Club
|
137
|
|
Kevin Sarlo,
Burlington Country Club; Michael Dunn, Thomas Hyland & Troy Vannucci, Little Mill Country Club
|
138
|
|
Gavin Grimes, Michael Grimes,
John Grove & John Monday, Chester Valley Golf Club
|
138
|
|
Gary Baum, J. Kirk Luntey, Dave Kornblatt & Robert
Wagner, Merion Golf Club
|
139
|
|
George Griffaton,
Greg Gottshall, Scott Orr & Scott Sucoloski, Bellewood Country
Club
|
142
|
|
Jeff Rittenhouse, Blue Bell
Country Club; Anthony White, Jr., Indian Valley Country Club; Mark Gerdelmann & Matthew Manfred, Commonwealth National
Golf Club
|
143
|
|
David Goldberg, Daniel Rexon, Eric Sulock & Oren
Thomas, IV, Tavistock Country Club
|
144
|
|
Michael Baltimore, Patrick McCusker, Jr., Gerard Rosato
& Dino Volpi, III, Plymouth Country Club
|
144
|
|
Paul Baker, Huntingdon Valley
Country Club; Tom Privette, White Manor Country
Club; John Rowe, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club
& Bruce Schneider, Whitford Country Club
|
146
|
|
Pat Henneghan,
John Webb, III, Chris Yard & W. Scott Yard, Whitford
Country Club
|
146
|
|
Jay Francis, RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve; David Gibbons, Rob Peskin & Richard Senker,
Stonewall
|
147
|
|
Jim Chambers, Michael Dellabarba, Doug Dockery & Mark Wunderlich,
Kennett Square Golf & Country Club
|
147
|
|
Matthew Ade, David Gall,
Kevin Kramarski & Ben Litt,
Riverton Country Club
|
148
|
|
Mike Keenan, Peter Kyriakodis, John Nottage &
Sean Torpey, Commonwealth National Golf Club
|
148
|
|
Thomas Ritter, Hidden Creek
Golf Club & Ed Hale, Paul Koelling & Mike Miklinevich, Greate Bay Country
Club
|
149
|
|
Clifford Bridges, Lehigh
Country Club; Mark Wachter, DuPont Country Club;
Evan Angel & Steve Yassky, Edgmont
Country Club
|
150
|
|
Mark Anderson, Thomas Grimac, Robert Sweigart &
Robert Widerman, Tavistock
Country Club
|
152
|
|
Ken Farabee,
Old York Road Country Club; James Gillespie, Cedarbrook
Country Club; David Lovitz, Whitemarsh
Valley Country Club & David Macesic, Lu Lu Country Club
|
153
|
|
Mike Cavanaugh, John Riccio, Richard Speranza &
Joe Warusz, Jericho National Golf Club
|
153
|
|
Joe Cronk
& Kerry O'Keefe, Makefield Highlands Golf Club;
Matthew Harris & Steve Mroozian, Middletown
Country Club
|
154
|
|
Phil Over, Penn Oaks Golf
Club; Philip Bernstein, White Manor Country Club; Rick Haring & Vincent
Marino, Stonewall
|
154
|
|
Tim Stringer, Berkshire
Country Club; Don Hadley, Dave Morris & Richard Newstein,
Reading Country Club
|
154
|
|
Russell Baribault,
Penn Oaks Golf Club; Dave Burchmore, Edgmont Country Club; Rich Driscoll, Makefield
Highlands Golf Club & Andrew Repetto,
Philadelphia Publinks GA
|
155
|
|
David Deem, Moselem Springs Golf Club; Thomas Deem, John Garber &
Neil Olson, Philadelphia Cricket Club
|
155
|
|
Gary Ames, Bala Golf Club;
Robert Agran, Rick Ames & William Erskine, Philadelphia
Publinks GA
|
155
|
|
Dewey Dimarzio,
Lee Fraser, Jack Hoffman & Ken Watterson, Penn Oaks Golf Club
|
156
|
|
A. Dent, Ed Ciel, Thomas Gramlich &
Bill Watts, Medford Lakes Country Club
|
157
|
|
Rick Kazigian,
Radley Run Country Club; Matt D'Alonzo,
James Dougherty & Daniel Zingani, Kennett
Square Golf & Country Club
|
159
|
|
Nick Cordaro,
Jr., Denny Hess, Bud Lewis & Brian Vermeer, Reading Country Club
|
159
|
|
Christopher Beringer, Theodore Beringer,
John Leighbody & Edward McGill, Philadelphia
Country Club
|
159
|
|
John DiMarzio,
Joseph Martella, Tom Mastroni
& Tom Mee, Sandy Run Country Club
|
161
|
|
Jeffrey Shapiro, Applebrook Golf Club; David Brumbaugh,
Martin Dempsey & David Williams, Waynesborough
Country Club
|
162
|
|
Gary Ackerman, Drew Barrett,
Bernie Pfeiffer & Roger Smith, RiverCrest Golf
Club & Preserve
|
162
|
|
Sandro Corrado, Robert Elker, Edward
Murphy & Eric Murphy, Indian Valley Country Club
|
162
|
|
Lawrence Dolan, Thomas Lee,
Michael Reynolds & Ronald Vogel, Sandy Run Country Club
|
167
|
|
David Cagnetti,
Lu Lu Country Club; James Cardano,
Cedarbrook Country Club; Lloyd McGinley, Trenton
Country Club & Ronald Rice, Sr., Old York Road Country Club
|
171
|
|
|
|
Net
|
|
Name, club
|
Score
|
|
David Maddock,
Michael Manci, Michael Kerzetski
& Frank Petrillo, Glen Oak Country Club
|
122
|
|
Gavin Grimes, Michael Grimes,
John Grove & John Monday, Chester Valley Golf Club
|
125
|
|
Jeff Rittenhouse, Blue Bell
Country Club; Anthony White, Jr., Indian Valley Country Club; Mark Gerdelmann & Matthew Manfred, Commonwealth National
Golf Club
|
125
|
|
Paul Baker, Huntingdon Valley
Country Club; Tom Privette, White Manor Country
Club; John Rowe, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club
& Bruce Schneider, Whitford Country Club
|
126
|
|
Jay Francis, RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve; David Gibbons, Rob Peskin & Richard Senker,
Stonewall
|
126
|
|
Jim Chambers, Michael Dellabarba, Doug Dockery & Mark Wunderlich,
Kennett Square Golf & Country Club
|
127
|
|
Alex Blickle,
Joe Butto, Grant Skyllas
& Evan Thornton, LedgeRock Golf Club
|
129
|
|
Joe Dellicarpini
& Bryan Winsko, Philadelphia Cricket Club; John
Marshalek & David West, Whitford
Country Club
|
129
|
|
Gary Baum, J. Kirk Luntey, Dave Kornblatt &
Robert Wagner, Merion Golf Club
|
129
|
|
George Griffaton,
Greg Gottshall, Scott Orr & Scott Sucoloski, Bellewood Country
Club
|
129
|
|
David Goldberg, Daniel Rexon, Eric Sulock & Oren
Thomas, IV, Tavistock Country Club
|
129
|
|
Joe Cronk
& Kerry O'Keefe, Makefield Highlands Golf Club;
Matthew Harris & Steve Mroozian, Middletown
Country Club
|
129
|
|
Jason Barkley, Huntsville
Golf Club; Rodney James, Golden Oaks Golf Club; Donald Kozik,
Moselem Springs Golf Club & Todd Vonderheid,
Huntsville Golf Club
|
132
|
|
Thomas Ritter, Hidden Creek
Golf Club & Ed Hale, Paul Koelling & Mike Miklinevich, Greate Bay Country
Club
|
132
|
|
Phil Over, Penn Oaks Golf
Club; Philip Bernstein, White Manor Country Club; Rick Haring & Vincent
Marino, Stonewall
|
132
|
|
Tim Stringer, Berkshire
Country Club; Don Hadley, Dave Morris & Richard Newstein,
Reading Country Club
|
132
|
|
Kirby Martin, Commonwealth
National Golf Club; Daniel Pinciotti, Jr., Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
Daniel Feeney & James Wybar, Philadelphia Cricket
Club
|
133
|
|
Michael Baltimore, Patrick McCusker, Jr., Gerard Rosato
& Dino Volpi, III, Plymouth Country Club
|
133
|
|
Kevin Sarlo,
Burlington Country Club; Michael Dunn, Thomas Hyland & Troy Vannucci, Little Mill Country Club
|
134
|
|
Christopher Beringer, Theodore Beringer,
John Leighbody & Edward McGill, Philadelphia
Country Club
|
134
|
|
Clifford Bridges, Lehigh
Country Club; Mark Wachter, DuPont Country Club;
Evan Angel & Steve Yassky, Edgmont
Country Club
|
135
|
|
Mark Anderson, Thomas Grimac, Robert Sweigart &
Robert Widerman, Tavistock
Country Club
|
135
|
|
Ken Farabee,
Old York Road Country Club; James Gillespie, Cedarbrook
Country Club; David Lovitz, Whitemarsh
Valley Country Club & David Macesic, Lu Lu Country Club
|
135
|
|
Gary Ames, Bala Golf Club;
Robert Agran, Rick Ames & William Erskine,
Philadelphia Publinks GA
|
135
|
|
A. Dent, Ed Ciel, Thomas Gramlich &
Bill Watts, Medford Lakes Country Club
|
135
|
|
Russell Baribault,
Penn Oaks Golf Club; Dave Burchmore, Edgmont Country Club; Rich Driscoll, Makefield
Highlands Golf Club & Andrew Repetto,
Philadelphia Publinks GA
|
136
|
|
Jeffrey Shapiro, Applebrook Golf Club; David Brumbaugh,
Martin Dempsey & David Williams, Waynesborough
Country Club
|
136
|
|
Lawrence Dolan, Thomas Lee,
Michael Reynolds & Ronald Vogel, Sandy Run Country Club
|
136
|
|
Nick Cordaro,
Jr., Denny Hess, Bud Lewis & Brian Vermeer, Reading Country Club
|
137
|
|
Pat Henneghan,
John Webb, III, Chris Yard & W. Scott Yard, Whitford
Country Club
|
138
|
|
Mike Cavanaugh, John Riccio, Richard Speranza &
Joe Warusz, Jericho National Golf Club
|
138
|
|
Dewey Dimarzio,
Lee Fraser, Jack Hoffman & Ken Watterson, Penn Oaks Golf Club
|
138
|
|
David Cagnetti,
Lu Lu Country Club; James Cardano,
Cedarbrook Country Club; Lloyd McGinley, Trenton
Country Club & Ronald Rice, Sr., Old York Road Country Club
|
138
|
|
Mike Keenan, Peter Kyriakodis, John Nottage &
Sean Torpey, Commonwealth National Golf Club
|
139
|
|
David Deem, Moselem Springs Golf Club; Thomas Deem, John Garber &
Neil Olson, Philadelphia Cricket Club
|
139
|
|
Rick Kazigian,
Radley Run Country Club; Matt D'Alonzo,
James Dougherty & Daniel Zingani, Kennett
Square Golf & Country Club
|
139
|
|
Matthew Ade, David Gall,
Kevin Kramarski & Ben Litt,
Riverton Country Club
|
144
|
|
Gary Ackerman, Drew Barrett,
Bernie Pfeiffer & Roger Smith, RiverCrest Golf
Club & Preserve
|
144
|
|
John DiMarzio,
Joseph Martella, Tom Mastroni
& Tom Mee, Sandy Run Country Club
|
146
|
|
Sandro Corrado, Robert Elker, Edward
Murphy & Eric Murphy, Indian Valley Country Club
|
147
|
|
