By Dominick DiRienzo
August 17, 2008 11:33 pm
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CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP — Talk about coming out of nowhere.
In its first season of Crawford Cup competition, Country Meadows shot a 6-over-par 219 as a team Sunday and stormed back from third place to win the Crawford Cup men’s golf tournament.
It is the first time in the tournament’s 16-year history somebody other than Oakland Beach, The Country Club, Mt. Hope or Whispering Pines won the title.
The father-son tandem of Bob and Randy Wright led the charge for CM at the 6,209-yard, par-71 Venango Valley layout.
Randy Wright was the in the clubhouse leader for medalist honors with a 72 until about 30 minutes later when his father nailed an 8-footer for par and a 71. Wright tied Oakland Beach’s Jim DuPont Sr. for overall medalist honors.
“Coming in we were thinking about second,” Randy Wright said. “I thought the gap was too big.”
Country Meadows’ 17 1/2-point day was the biggest round of the year in the men’s competition and one stroke away from a sweep of all three top spots.
“We had a good, solid team this year,” Country Meadows golfer Todd Woods said.
Mt. Hope struggled without Clarion University star Jared Schmader, who had won his flight in three of the first four rounds. The Hopers scored just seven points and were unable to hold off Country Meadows’ charge.
“Mt. Hope had a rough day,” Woods said.
The Guys Mills-area course had a 9 1/2-point lead over Country Meadows and was 6 1/2-points in front of Oakland Beach at the start of yesterday’s round.
“We came in kind of hoping for second,” said Bob Wright.
But Mike Pero shot 78 in Flight A for 1 1/2 points and Ken Stewart carded an 81 in Flight C for another 1 1/2-point round to open the door for Country Meadows.
Flight C was where the fireworks were.
Oakland Beach’s Jim DuPont Sr. bounced back from bogeys on Nos. 2 and 5 to shoot 2-under for the remaining 13 holes.
“It was just two old guys taking it to the young guys,” said DuPont Sr. Both Wright and DuPont Sr. are 63.
Wright said he and DuPont Sr. were watching each other’s scores.
“I knew what his score was,” DuPont Sr. said. “I had an 11 or 12-footer to beat him on 18.”
Wright said he knew had had to drain an 8-footer for par to tie DuPont Sr.
“The competition is fierce,” Bob Wright said.
Even though DuPont Sr. pulled in 5 1/2 points, the Beachers couldn’t make up any ground on Mt. Hope and dropped to third as Country Meadows rocketed to the top.
“Our goal was second or third,” Randy Wright said. “A lot of us don’t have experience playing in tournaments. (We were) a little bit of an underdog. A lot of people don’t know Country Meadows or don’t play there. I hope this bring some legitimacy to Country Meadows”
Island Green had the second-best day, pulling in 11 1/2 points behind solid rounds from former Linesville High School star and Titusville basketball coach Tim Miller and former Cochranton High School pitching ace and Emory University baseball player Jared Northcott. Miller shot a 76 and picked up 4 1/2 points, while Northcott shot 79 and scored 4 points.
Host Venango Valley had the third best total of the day and was led by Paul Polach’s 75, which was good for four points.
The Country Club (43) finished fourth, while Venango Valley (38), Whispering Pines (32 1/2) and Island Green (24) rounded out the standings.
Dominick DiRienzo can be reached at 724-6370, ext. 274 or by e-mail at ddirienzo@meadvilletribune.com.
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