By TONY CHERBY/For the Sentinel
BUENA VISTA – June 16 marked the fifth week and fourth round of match play for the Tuesday edition of the Ocean City Senior Golf League. Happily, El Nino has been El Nullo in these parts, with a bit of nip in the air as we started our engines and scattered in shotgun style to our designated holes. There’s nothing like a nice late spring day for doing friendly battle with esteemed opponents, but mostly with “Old Man Par.”
“Old Man Par” is an ancient metaphor popularized or maybe even coined by Bobby Jones, a man who remains the standard for what golf in America should be all about. It reminded him to do battle with the course, not his opponents.
I feel it’s time, since about a third of our season is over, to do some bean counting and review our leaderboards. As boring as this is, it recaps what we play for and why we are here; in addition, of course, to the grand company that we enjoy.
In addition to our many weekly prizes, we contend for a bunch of “Season’s Best Awards.” With two scores of 78, newcomer Greg Harlan is going to be tough to beat for Low Average Gross come September. Roger Probert’s 82 is next best, then Chris Ramsay (85) and Ralph DeLanzo (86.25). Cherby’s 89.5 rounds out the Top Five. Last year, Probert won with a stellar 83.4 average. Like Harlan, he and Mark Lapham also fired 78s, our best rounds in 2025.
Not surprisingly, Harlan’s 68.5 also leads for Low Average Net. Cherby is a distant second at 71.25 followed by Doug Baird (72.7), Ramsay (73), Lou Salgado (74), and Dane Mayson (74.5). Bob Van Zandt, who finally joined us from Shoobie Land, averaged 73.9 last year when he won the crystal.
Harlan also leads for Low Average Putts with 29. (See the pattern here?) Next come Probert (31), DeLanzo (31.5), Cherby (32), Ramsay (32.25), and Ed Lyons (33.25). Dave Carter was best in 2025 (31.5).
Harlan and Rich Hawthorne are tied for Few Putts/Single Round. Both have 27. Carter’s final day 25 took that prize last year.
Closest Par-3 Shots so far are Wright (6’6” on 5), Gardner (2’10” on 8), Coppenbarger (9’5” on 12), and Cherby (3’4” on 17). Last year, Rick Schultz (1’5”), Ralph DeLanzo (3’2”), Roger Probert (2’), and Ralph DeLanzo (4’1”), were the best we saw.
For a low handicapper like Greg Harlan, the Most Points award is tough to win because of the unique role that handicaps play in our game. They allow sloggers like me to compete with guys for whom the ball actually goes where they aim. (If they had handicaps in other sports, they’d make Brandon Marsh and Kyle Schwarber use putters when they come to the plate and Wembanyama would have to play on his knees.) Anyway, DeLanzo and Cherby are tied at 16, Ramsay, Schultz and Mayson 12, Lyons 10, and “Way too Many to Mention” 8. Frank Coppenbarger won this award in 2025.
It’s easy to sum up what happened in week 5: Greg Harlan won just about everything. Low Gross, Fewest Putts and most birdies. And he tied for most pars and Low Net. What a round. But I’m giving Rich Hawthorne the Shot of the Day. On 11, he jarred a 33’ downhiller on a very fast green for a great birdie. My AI gizmo says touring pros only make about 7 percent of those, so good for you, Rich. Now, get rid of those socks.
This week’s big match featured our two best handicappers, and our two best scores resulted. Chris Ramsay’s nice 85 could not match Greg “Him Again” Harlan’s 78, tying the best we’ve seen at Buena Vista Country Club. GH’s card is highlighted by 3 birdies, and he leads that overall count with 7 followed by Mark Franks’s 5. Greg and Chris also had 8 pars, along with Steady Ralph DeLanzo.
Anyone who bags a birdie on 10, our seond hardest hole, must be acknowledged, and Fire Marshall Bill Gardner did just that. Other than the feathers he ruffled, only 4 pars were recorded on 10, which indicates how tough it is. And on 13, our hardest hole, newcomer Lou Salgado also deserves to be congratulated: he got the only par. That, along with 4 8s and a 9. Wow. That place, with its dipsy-doodle green, would make 2 nice par-3s, with enough territory left over for some laughs and giggles. I’ll tell Simon. Maybe he’ll take the hint.
MATCH RESULTS: Franks 3, Coppenbarger 1. All others ended 4-0; here are the winners/losers: Harlan/Ramsay, Lyons/Carter, Cherby/Hawthorne, Cornell/Curtis, Schultz/Wright, Mayson/Hurston, Salgado/Baird, DeLanzo/Van Zandt, Borucki/Gardner
WEEKLY WINNERS
Low Gross (78): Harlan
Low Net (69): Cherby, Harlan, Mayson
Fewest Putts (27): Harlan
Birdies: Harlan (3), Baird, Cherby, Franks, Gardner, Hawthorne, Schultz,
Most Pars (8): DeLanzo, Harlan, Ramsay
Most Bogies (11): Mayson
CLOSEST TO THE PINS
No. 5: Wright 6’6”
No. 8: Mayson 8’6”
No. 12: Coppenbarger 9’5”
No. 17: Cherby 3’4”
