By TONY CHERBY
BUENA VISTA — Around this time in June, for the past dozen years or so, I suddenly realize that the halfway mark of the Ocean City Tuesday Senior Golf League season isn’t far away.
After five matches, it’s time to start talking about our several leaderboards. We play for four season-long big awards: Most Points, Low Average Gross, Low Average Net and Low Averages Putts. We also vie for many single-day awards, such as Fewest Putts and the closest shots on each par 3 for the year. We’ll also recognize other notable achievements, such as most pars and birdies. Hopefully, someone will bag an eagle or two; one did come to roost last year. I lump all these contests under the rubric of a Race to September, culminating with a scramble, then our annual awards ceremony during a fine meal in The Bunker at Buena Vista Country Club. They serve the best pulled pork in the known world, by the way.
In the points race, Ralph DeLanzo leads with 20 followed by Bill Gardner (16), Tony Cornell (14), Dane Mayson (10), and Stan Borucki and Doug Baird (9 each). Last year, Bill Wright won a crystal trophy with 40 points.
Ralph DeLanzo, who went home with a trophy for in 2023 for Low Average Gross, continues to set the pace yet again with 88. Gerard Burton is a few swings back, with a tic over 88. Mark Lapham has 90.5, Bill Wright 91, and Rich Hawthorne is averaging 93.2.
Rick Schultz, Tony Cornell and Bill Brandreth lead in Low Average Net with 74. Tom Gahr has 74.7, and Wright and DeLanzo are at 75.5. Wright won Best Low Net last year.
In the competition for best single-day achievements so far, Dan Stang, who only recently made the trek back north, leads in Fewest Putts with 29. His is our first and only official sub-30 tally this year. On June 18, Dave Carter won hole 5 with an 8’1” effort, the best we’ve seen there. And here’s a wild prognostication: I say we’ve already seen the top pin-wins on the other 3s. On June 18, Frank Coppenbarger got to 2’7” from the cup on No. 8; that’s going to be tough to beat. So will Ralph DeLanzo’s shot on 12; on May 28, he parked his little sphere a mere 1’6” away. And on the same day, Gerard Burton got almost as close on 17; he was but 2’2” from the promised land. I‘m betting a lint-encrusted ball marker from Cornell’s hip pocket that No. 5 may feature the only pin win still up for grabs in 2024. Stay tuned to find out.
As for the action on June 25, no one broke 90 but Ralph DeLanzo and Mark Lapham tied for Low Gross with that mark. Jack Hiner won Low Net with a 67 – on his birthday. And that’s the best Low Net we’ve seen so far this year.
But the Star of the day was Roger Probert who, in just his second round with us in about 5 years, came home with a fantastic 79. That’s 5 dings better than Bill Wright’s 84 from a few weeks ago. But that was the only good news for Roger, because his sub-80 doesn’t count in the standings. He wasn’t playing in a match, as he is establishing his OCSGL handicap at Buena Vista. So Bill W. still owns the best score so far.
But who among us would not take Probert’s tally any day of the week, and twice on Sunday? He and Tom Bowman, a new member who is also working on a handicap, started on hole 10. Roger’s par on that treacherous track got him off and running in fine form. He made the turn at +1 after birdies on 12 and 17. Then he came home with a solid 42 on his inward nine and, like Stang, he only expended 29 putts. So Probert can lay claim to two unofficial bests this season: Low Gross and Fewest Putts. If he’d produced that round in a regular match, he’d have headed home with a bulging pocketful of change. As it is, all he gets is our undying envy and admiration.
In other notable achievements, Jim Hurston nailed birdies on No. 11 and No. 18, Gerard Burton bagged one on 15, and DeLanzo grabbed a rare one on 13, our hardest hole. That’s a heck of an achievement. Gerard Burton, Frank Coppenbarger and Dan Stang tied for most pars with 5.
Results of all 10 matches are: Tony Cornell 4, Jim Hurston 0; Frank Coppenbarger 4, Ed Lyons 0; Doug Baird 2, Mark Lapham 2; Tom Gahr 4, Bill Brandreth 0; Stan Borucki 4, Dave Carter 0; Bill Gardner 4, Bruce Goldberg 0; Jack Hiner 4, Rick Schultz 0; Dan Stang 4, Gerard Burton 0; A Ghost 4, Charles Smyth 0; Ralph DeLanzo 4, Rich Hawthorne 0.
WEEKLY WINNERS
LOW GROSS Ralph DeLanzo, Dan Stang (90)
LOW NET Jack Hiner (87; best so far in 2024)
FEWEST PUTTS Dan Stang (29)
CLOSEST TO THE PINS:
No. 5 Gerard Burton 42’
No. 8 Frank Coppenbarger 31’
No. 12 Bruce Goldberg 8’7”
No. 17 Ralph DeLanzo 6’9”
BIRDIES
Jim Hurston on 11 and 18, Gerard Burton on 15, Ralph DeLanzo on 13