Howson caps a Super season with year-end honorJay Howson, Jr. entered 2009 with more questions than answers. He finished the year with more wins than anyone else in the Golf Association of Philadelphia. Howson, a life-long St. Davids GC member, turned the Super-Senior division into his own personal victory tour this summer with triumphs in four of five Major Super-Senior tournaments.Howson actually opened his campaign quietly, with a tie for sixth in the Warner Cup (Gross) at Hopewell Valley GC. However, the 71-year-old resident of Malvern, Pa., responded in championship form with consecutive victories in the Brewer Cup, Chapman Memorial (Gross) and Senior Amateur Championship, the latter also giving Howson the Super-Senior Silver Cross Award (awarded to the player with the lowest aggregate score in the Warner Cup, Chapman Cup and Senior Amateur Championship rounds). He would total 631 Player of the Year points, a staggering 236 points clear of his nearest competitor, Charles McClaskey of Wyncote GC.
“I generally have been a good putter for a long time but have always felt I was a mediocre ball striker. A change in posture this past June contributed significantly to hitting better shots than I have for some time. Hitting more greens and continued good putting helped my confidence and produced lower scores over the past three months.” And lots of victories. In mid-July at the Brewer Cup, Howson easily qualified for Super-Senior Division match play with a 78 before rattling off a pair of 4&3 victories en route to the final against Richard Smith of Philadelphia CC. In the title match, Howson, who trailed Smith for the prior 16 holes – the two halved No. 1. – squared the match on No. 18 with a chip-in birdie from the back fringe of the green some 25 feet from the hole before taking his only lead on the 20th hole with a par for the win. Just 15 days later, Howson again needed more holes. This time he defeated long-time friend O. Gordon Brewer, Jr. of Pine Valley GC on the first playoff hole for the Chapman Memorial (Gross) title. “I realized after winning those two tournaments back-to-back that the 2009 season had the potential to be not only a great season but also my best year ever.” That left the Senior Amateur Championship and Super-Senior Silver Cross on Howson’s to do list. The Super-Senior Player of the Year would take care of itself. The smooth-swinging righty opened the Senior Amateur at a challenging Jericho National GC with a 73 and followed that up with a businesslike 74 on Day Two for a three-shot Super-Senior Division victory. Howson finished with 14 pars, three bogeys and a birdie. That win, additionally, helped Howson claim the Super-Senior Silver Cross by three strokes. “It did not even occur to me as a possibility early in the season,” said Howson of his success. “After I won the Chapman Cup, it was readily apparent that if I could win the Senior Amateur Super-Senior Championship, I would also win the Silver Cross and the Player of the Year. “The Player of the Year award is very special to me. It is recognition to me that the level of my play this season has been better than that of the many fine players in my peer group, and that at age 71, I can still compete at a high level.” Ironically, all those victories as well as the ensuing Super-Senior Player of the Year couldn’t unseat Howson’s most satisfying moment of 2009. “As great as this year was in the Super-Senior Golf Association of Philadelphia tournaments, I would say that winning the Father-Son (Older) with my son Greg for the second consecutive year was the most memorable moment of 2009.” Just one of many for Golf Association of Philadelphia followers. |
A Walk Through Time
GAP is the oldest state or regional golf association in the country. It started courtesy of a friendly competition – the Team Matches – and has grown into the preeminent golf association in the country. Along the way, golf history has been made.
