By TONY CHERBY
BUENA VISTA — In addition to a scramble every month, Ocean City Senior Tuesday Golf League members compete for crystal trophies in four “Races to September.”
With half the season now in the hopper (six rounds), somebody better do something about a stream engine known as Steady Ralph DeLanzo and it better happen quickly. DeLanzo is dominating in most points with 24 notches on his putter grip. Tony Cornell is second, but he’s pretty far back with 18 dings. Bill Gardner is in the show position with 16, Dane Mayson has 14 and Stan Borucki follows with 13 points. Bill Wright won last year with 40 points, so Ralph is on pace to better that mark. And he also leads or contends on the other three leaderboards as well.
DeLanzo has our best YTD Average Gross score, an 87.3. He won last year with 87.1. Gerard Burton is just 1 back but he’s only had three matches. At least 10 will be required to qualify for all four big awards, and DeLanzo has perfect attendance. Mark Lapham is third with 89.3, Bill Wright has 92.2 and Rich Hawthorne rounds out the top five, averaging 93.
But DeLanzo’s way back in Average Net. Tom Gahr and Rick Schultz are setting the pace on that leaderboard, with net 73s. Bill Brandreth has a 74.3 average, and Cornell checks in at 74.8. Ralph owns a 75 count, so it’ll be tough for him to win but this is golf and our races, like our golf balls, can bounce in any given direction on any given day. (The best average low net in 2024 was Wright’s 75.8.)
Our fourth big race is for Average Putts, and Dan Stang has 31.5 taps with the short stick, but he’s only completed two rounds. Dave Carter, with six rounds in, is next; Captain D has a fine 32.1 average. That’s exactly the best we saw last year by Bill Wright, who is in second place this time with 32.8. Stan Borucki has 33 and there’s that Ralphie again, averaging 33.5 putts per round, just 2 back of Dan. So, a gaggle of golfers are in the running for that crystal come September.
Each of our matches is worth 4 points: 2 for low net (Medal Points), and 2 for most holes won (Match Points). A tie in either means 1 point for each player. July 2 matches ended with these scores: Stang 3 points, Wright 1 point; DeLanzo 4, VanZandt 0; Carter 3, Hurston 1; Lapham 4, Goldberg 0; Mayson 4, Baird 0; Schultz, 4 Hawthorne 0; Cornell 4, Lyons 0; Borucki 4, Hiner 0; Brandreth 4, Smyth 0; Gahr 4, George Curtis 0. Coppenbarger lost to one of those ghosts that lurks in the dark shadows of our website. We’re not quite done with Mr. DeLanzo’s very good day in the sun, sand and turf on a sultry South Jersey Day in July. He won Low Gross with an 84, tying Wright for the best YTD and he tied Mark Lapham for most pars (6). Tom Gahr captured Low Net (68), and Doug Baird had a fine day on the greens with the Fewest Putts (31) for the day.
Big Doug probably would have broken the 30-putt mark if Cornell hadn’t been fuming and hollering NSFW stuff on his (Baird’s) backswing a few holes earlier. When Doug mentioned that breach of etiquette to Cornell, expecting at least a bit of sympathy, TC told him, in typical TC fashion, that he shouldn’t be listening in on other people’s conversations.
Finally, we also have to give DeLanzo our “Shot of the Day” honors, a nominal prize for which he was nominated by Bill Wright. On hole 2, looking a bogey right between its nasty eyes, Steady Ralph nailed a putt from well over 40 feet, snatching an incredible par from the depths of defeat.
More birdies were bagged in a single round for as long as I can remember, and all 6 appeared on holes 3 and 12. Ralph Shultz birdied both, propelling him to a win in his match. Dan Stang, Bruce Goldberg and Rich Hawthorne got birds on hole 3, and VanZandt on 12. Those aren’t our easiest holes, but they sure were pushovers this time around.
Speaking of hard holes, DeLanzo and Charlie Smyth grabbed the only pars on 13, Buena Vista’s unique par 5 that features a very two-tiered green, the severity of which I’ve never seen anywhere else. Get on the wrong level, and you can go back and forth for so long that someone will have to deliver your PJ’s and evening meds. We won’t say much about other scores there, except that there were four scores of 9, two of which may have been 10 or more. But we have a “Mercy Rule”: once someone hits the quadruple bogey mark he puts his putter away, takes a few cleansing breaths, goes directly to the next tee and tries to get on with what’s left of the rest of his life. As for what’s left of his game? Not so much.
All our stats and much more are available on our website in “Documents.” Go to: ocstgl.golfleague3.net/ Go now, right now. What are you waiting for? You can even see what we look like.
WEEKLY WINNERS
LOW GROSS DeLanzo (84); ties Wright for YTD best
LOW NET Gahr (68)
FEWEST PUTTS Baird (31); Bowman had 30 but he’s playing for a handicap
CLOSEST TO THE PIN
No. 5 Hawthorne 12’4”
No. 8 Mayson 22’10”
No. 12 Schultz 26’4”
No. 17 VanZandt 4’2”
BIRDIES Schultz 2, Stang, VanZandt, Goldberg , Hawthorne
MOST PARS Lapham, DeLanzo (6)