Collegians Lee Detmer and Evan Katz combined for nine birdies in recording a record-tying 9-under-par 30-31–61 and captured the 57th Four-Ball championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at Bethesda Country Club, August 20. The course was played at 6,649 yards to a par of 70.
The score equaled the mark (70-9-61) set by Henry Blue and Joel Kaye in 1994 at Kenwood CC, and not only matched their 9-under mark against par but also the 9-under against par posted by Jeff McKnight and Tom Winegardner with 71-9-62 in 2006 at Beechtree GC.
Detmer, a 21-year-old Wake Forest University senior, had seven of the birdies, and Katz, 20, a rising sophomore at Duke University, cited a 25-foot putt at the 14th hole (to get to 8 under) as the one that took the pressure off the situation. A birdie at the par-3 17 wrapped up the victory.
“We both hit it pretty solid and gave ourselves a lot of chances,” Katz, a Bethesda CC member from Washington, reported. “There were several times when we were both in position for birdie, and the only green we missed, the third, we both chipped in for birdie.”
Both players qualified for the MSGA Amateur and Open. In the Amateur, at Baltimore CC, Detmer, from the Chevy Chase Club, qualified with the second-lowest round, a 69, and went to the third round before losing to two-time champion Ben Warnqust; Katz lost in the first round. In the Open, at Fountain Head CC in Hagerstown, both were part of a four-way tie for first and they lost in the ensuing playoff.
The winning margin here was three shots, as Old South CC members Joey Rice and Charlie Winegardner finished 33-31–64. Rice, a MSGA Amateur finalist and Washington Metropolitan Amateur co-medalist, ended with four birdies, including the last two at 15-16. Winegardner, who won the Washington Metropolitan Amateur, and finished second in the MSGA Mid-Am and qualified second for the U.S. Mid-Amateur earlier in the month, contributed three birdies.
The Bethesda CC father-son team of Paul and Dugan McCabe tied for third at 65 with Columbia CC members Brendan and Billy Peel, while there were eight teams (out of a field of 65) at 66.
Included in the larger group was Thomas Wharton who, with Travis Russell as partner, won the event in a playoff at the CC of Maryland last year, and who had David Putney as partner this time. Also, Ben Shields-Mike Filler, who tied for second a year ago (Shields was the medalist in the recent U.S. Mid-Am qualifying), along with Warnquist-Alex Taylor.
Joe Scheffres, from Woodmont CC, the Washington Met Mid-Am titlist, highlighted his effort with a hole-in-one at the 173-yard uphill ninth, his last hole of the round. The 6-iron shot was the second of his career and gave him and partner Myke Cohn a 67.
The last time this event was at Bethesda, 2001, members Ed Ofterdinger and Matt Sughrue won with 64. This time, Ofterdinger and partner James Milam finished with 18 pars for a 70.
Reported by John Stewart
