Quartet tops Brewer Cup Qualifier; McClaskey heads Super Seniors

  Scores ranged from a 1-under-par 71 for the four medalists to 74, where there was a seven-man-for-one qualifying position playoff.

CHARLES MCCLASKEY

  The first round of the Brewer Cup begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday with the second round to follow.

  “There will be some great matches tomorrow with the field so tight,” said Tom DiCinti of Little Mill CC, who posted one of the day’s four low scores. “There will be no upsets because anyone of us can win a given match. It should be fun.”

  Joining DiCinti, 61, of Voorhees, N.J., atop the leaderboard were Roc Irey of Lookaway GC, Lee King of Heidelberg CC and Rich Thon of The Springhaven Club. Seeding was determined by the order in which scorecards were returned. Accordingly, Thon, who posted the tournament’s low round, first, will be the No. 1 seed; Irey is the No. 2 seed; King is seeded third and DiCinti will be No. 4.

  In the Super-Senior Division (par 72, 6,539 yards), for players 65 years of age or older, Charles McClaskey of Back Creek GC finished with a flurry to card a sensational 70 and earn the No. 1 seed. McClaskey carded two birdies and an eagle in the final four holes to card the lone Super-Senior Division under-par score. The cut line for the Super-Senior Division fell at 77.

  In the Senior Division, both DiCinti and King recorded rounds of 17 pars and one birdie. DiCinti, who said he had 14 birdie chances on the day, drained an eight footer on No. 15 (par 5, 477 yards) for his lone red figure while King chipped in from the left rough some 30 feet away on No. 12 (par 3, 165 yards) for his only under-par score.

  “I made all the putts I needed to for par and missed all the birdie ones,” said King, 56, of Reading, Pa. “I had it 10 to 15 feet seven times for birdie and didn’t make any.” King got up-and-down for par five times. He missed the first three greens on the back side, his initial nine, and the first two greens on the front.

  Irey and Thon recorded a few more circles (birdies) and squares (bogeys) on their scorecards. Irey had five birdies and four bogeys while Thon had three birdies and two bogeys.

  The long hitting Irey registered red scores on Nos. 1 (par 4, 345 yards), 4 (par 4, 331 yards), 9 (par 4, 324 yards), 10 (par 3, 129 yards) and 16 (par 4, 377 yards) with his longest birdie putt measuring six feet. He hit a 105-yard sand wedge to five feet on No. 1; knocked a 60-yard sand wedge to three feet on No. 4; hit the same sand wedge from the same distance on No. 9 to six feet; lipped out of the hole on No. 10 for an ace and a tap-in birdie from a foot and hit another sand wedge from 105 yards out on No. 16 to two inches.

  “Other than a few holes I was pretty steady,” said Irey, 58, of Furlong, Pa. “Once I made a few birdies early, I decided to try and be medalist again. (Irey was the medalist and a finalist last year in this event.)”

  Thon carded a birdie and bogey on his front side, the back nine, before almost holing out on No. 2 (par 3, 187 yards) with a 4-iron that stopped two inches from the cup to move to 1 under. He bogeyed No. 5 (par 4, 416 yards) when his drive left found trouble but rallied on No. 7 (par 4, 320 yards) when he hit a 52-degree wedge from 108 yards to five feet for the birdie.

  “I just wanted to get under par a little bit and stay there,” said Thon, 55, of Swarthmore, Pa. “I wanted to get to par, 1 under, and figured that would do it.” It did.

  In the Super-Senior flight, McClaskey, the 2008 runner-up, stood on the No. 15 (par 5, 477 yards) tee at 2 over before draining a 15-footer for birdie. On No. 16 (par 4, 377 yards), the 71-year-old Elkton, Md., resident knocked a sand wedge from 100 yards to eight feet and on No. 17 (par 4, 385 yards) he hit that same club to six feet short and watched it trickle into the hole for a two.

  This is the third annual Brewer Cup.

  The tournament is named in honor of O. Gordon Brewer, Jr., the former president of Pine Valley GC, is a two-time U.S. Senior Amateur Champion and veteran of 42 USGA Championships. He’s captured two Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur Championship titles (1967, 1976), a GAP Senior Amateur Championship crown (1997) and a Senior Player of the Year (1997) as well as countless invitational titles. And two years ago he was recognized for his contributions to the game with the USGA’s Bob Jones Award.

  The Brewer Cup is open to Senior players with a handicap index of 7.0 or less and Super Seniors with an index of 12.0 or less.

  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 142 Member Clubs and 56,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The purpose of the Association is simple: To promote, protect and preserve the game of golf in the region.