The Pennsylvania Golf Association

White Manor CC’s Bernstein, Borowsky take
18th State Better-Ball title

LITITZ, Pa. – Jason Bernstein, 19, of Paoli., Pa., and Alan Borowsky, 21, of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., longtime friends and golfing buddies from White Manor CC, carded a final-round 65 to finish at 12-under par and captured the 18^th Better-Ball Championship by a stroke on Wednesday at Bent Creek CC (par 71, 6,731 yards).

It was the first state better-ball crown for the duo who entered the second and final round as tri-leaders at 6 under. Chris Gallagher, 25, of West Chester, Pa., and Phil Over, 40, of Malvern, Pa., members at Penn Oaks GC, birdied three of the final four holes to finish alone in second place at 11 under.

George Elias (left) and Tony Kondracki tied
for third place.

A group of four teams, including fellow first-round tri-leaders George Elias, 61, of Swoyersville, Pa., and Irem Temple CC and Tony Kondracki, 53, of Kingston, Pa., and Fox Hill CC, placed third at 10 under.

"We’ve been playing together since we were 6 years old," said Bernstein, a sophomore at the University of Delaware. "We felt we had just as good a shot as anyone coming into the tournament."

This was the first better-ball title of any kind for Bernstein and Borowsky.

Nine holes into the final round, Elias and Kondracki appeared poised to take the crown. The two made eight straight 3s on the front side thanks to some white-hot putting and a par 5 on the ninth hole (548 yards) to make the turn in 29 and 12-under par. Bernstein and Borowsky, a group behind, posted a 4-under par 31 and were two strokes back with nine holes to go.

However, a birdie by Bernstein on No. 11 (par 4, 369 yards) tightened the gap and when Elias and Kondracki bogeyed No. 17 (par 4, 310 yards), their first over-par score of the day, the two groups fell into a tie. In the meantime, Gallagher and Over had already posted their final score in the clubhouse.

Minutes later on No. 17, Bernstein and Borowsky took the lead for good. Bernstein launched his drive into the back greenside bunker while Borowsky played safe and placed his approach shot from 120 yards out to eight feet. Bernstein stayed aggressive and followed his drive up by knocking the bunker shot to two feet. The easy birdie put the two at 12 under with the reachable par 5, 18^th (523 yards) left.

Elias and Kondracki seemingly ran out of steam, however, and made another bogey with errant tee shots on the final hole. Bernstein and Borowsky, knowing a par would win, played conservative. Both recorded fives after leaving themselves with short approach shots.

"I told Jason we had no control over what anyone else does so we can’t worry about that," said Borowsky, a recent graduate of Lehigh University. "I told him we need to take it one shot a time."

On the front nine, Bernstein recorded three birdies and Borowsky two. Bernstein sucked a wedge back to two feet on No. 3 (par 4, 431 yards), made a downhill 18-foot slider on No. 8 (par 4, 418 yards) and knocked a 25-foot chip on No. 9 to five feet.

Borowsky put a sand wedge from 102 yards to eight feet on No. 4 (par 4, 403 yards) and made a tricky downhiller on the driveable 7^th hole (par 4, 321 yards) after both he and his partner came up about 10 yards short.

Gallagher and Over made a stirring push to get close. The two made the turn in 3-under 32 and found themselves in the hunt when Gallagher hit it to a foot on No. 15 (par 3, 235 yards) with a 3-iron; go up-and-down from the right greenside moguls on No. 17 and hit a flop shot from long and right of the 18^th green to six feet.

"I knew we were chasing all day," said Over. Added Gallagher, "I though we would need 62 to win."

A total of 61 teams competing in the Better-Ball Championship. Heading into the final round, 20 teams were within three strokes of each other at the top of the leaderboard.

Name	Club	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Total
Bernstein, Jason/Borowsky, Alan	White Manor CC	65	65	130
Over, Phil/Gallagher, Chris	Penn Oaks GC	67	64	131
Cohan, Jason/Cohan, Adam	The ACE Club	66	66	132
Kliewer, Craig S./Gast, Corey	Meadia Heights GC	67	65	132
Elias, George/Kondracki, Anthony G.	Irem Temple CC/Fox Hill CC	65	67	132
Fink, Jr., Artie/Miraglia, John	Sinking Valley C C	68	64	132
Hanford, Stuart/Gebhard, Chris	Lebanon CC	67	66	133
Detweiler, Brandon/Detweiler, Marlin	Lancaster CC	68	65	133
Prowant, Zach/Choate, Warren J.	Williamsport CC	66	68	134
Williams, Eric W./Gardas, James M.	Honesdale GC	67	67	134
Sweeney, John/Campbell, Robert	Lancaster Country Club	70	64	134
Boerner, Stephen J./Griest, Jeffrey L.	PGA Individual/Waynesborough CC	67	67	134
Texter, Jarred/Hostetter, Jerry D.	Lancaster CC	67	68	135
Pugh, Scott/Boyer, Bennett S.	CC of Harrisburg/Blue Ridge CC	67	69	136
Gemmill, Jud/Over, Alan R.	Lancaster Host GC/Bent Creek CC	66	70	136
Mattare, Matthew E./Fardon, David M	Saucon Valley CC	67	70	137
Llewellyn, Tim/Maurer, Matthew	PGA Individual/CC of Harrisburg	68	69	137
Baker, Shawn/Daniels, Jeff	Dauphin Highlands/Lancaster CC	65	72	137
Barry, John/Groff, Brian K.	Lancaster CC/Conestoga CC	66	71	137
Kania, Jr., James/Willcox, Cole	Overbrook GC/Philadelphia CC	67	71	138
Ascolese, Gerard F./Sheva, Gregory A.	North Hills CC	70	68	138
Vassil, Michael/Domanish, Michael J	CC of Harrisburg/Elmhurst CC	71	67	138
Balcavage, Frank P/Lauver, Nat	Bellewood GC/Lost Creek GC	68	71	139
Pheasant, Jay/Destefano, Stephen	Sinking Valley CC	69	70	139
Smith, Benjamin/Albert, Brixton	PGA Individual/Meadia Heights GC	70	69	139
Tait, Charles N./Mayne, Scott	Dauphin Highlands/Hershey CC	69	71	140
Knoll, Edward H./Troutman, George E.	Deer Run GC	74	67	141
Wuerstle, Jeffrey J./Klee, Scott R.	Indian Valley GC	70	71	141
Dietrich, Matt/Simmons, Jim	Whitford CC/Stonewall GC	67	74	141
Filling, Jay J./Leaman, Mark E.	Bent Creek CC/PGA Individual	71	70	141
Barlik, Francis/Gregorczyk, Edward	PGA Individual/Glenmaura National GC	71	71	142
D'Amato, Phil/Adams, Gregory	Deer Run Golf Club/Dauphin Highlands	74	68	142
Fugal, Jack/Smith, William F.	The ACE Club/Chambersburg CC	69	73	142
Wolf, Austin A./Rowe, Ben P.	Bent Creek CC/Conestoga CC	71	72	143
Hope, J. S./Horutz, John	CC of Harrisburg/Glenmaura National GC	72	71	143
O'Sullivan, John/Domenick, Michael	Chester Valley GC/Phoenixville CC	72	71	143
Pompey, Alexander D./Gross, Richard	CC of harrisburg/Glenmaura National GC	70	74	144
Umani, Richard E./Terebesi, Christopher J.	Philadelphia Publinks/Chester Valley GC	69	75	144
Sutherland, Nathan/Ryder, Samuel	Berkshire CC/Aronimink GC	68	77	145
Gambacurta, Chris L./Franks, Ryan M.	Sinking Valley CC/Totteridge GC	75	70	145
Abrams, Andrew C/Rugg, Patrick	Rolling Green GC	74	71	145
Strohl, David/Blichar, David J	Moselem Springs GC/Blue Ridge CC	74	71	145
Gross, Michael J./Hudacek III, Stephen L.	Glenmaura National CC	71	75	146
Weaver, Jason/Brubaker, Erik	Heidelberg CC/Foxchase GC	67	79	146
Farrell, Kevin/Gunnison, Kyle	C C of Harrisburg	77	69	146
Webber, Rich/Brown, Dan	Royal Oaks GC/Pine Meadows GC	75	71	146
Stewart, Bob/Mairone, Thomas	Westmoreland/McCall G&CC	69	78	147
Riley, Fred/Porter, R.J.	Toftrees GC	74	73	147
Corbett, Brian T./Gill, Robert	Huntsville GC/Fox Hill CC	78	70	148
Wolf, Bob/Lefever, Connor	Bent Creek CC/Lancaster CC	74	74	148
Howell, Robert/Cherrix, Vincent	Dauphin Highlands/Monongahela Valley	74	74	148
Sullivan, Patrick/Welsh, Matthew	Philadelphia Publinks/St. Davids GC	73	75	148
Callaghan, Jim/Lavin, Jon E.	Rolling Green GC	70	78	148
Maguire, Bo/Brown, Jason	Brookside CC/Huntsville GC	72	77	149
Strickler, Ryan W./Strickler, Ed	Huntingdon CC	78	72	150
Mesko, Jason A./Mesko, Jr., John P	CC of Scranton	75	75	150
Fogarty, James James/Eckert, Gerald C.	Bent Creek CC	74	77	151
Smedley, Mark A./Bell, Andrew	Bellewood GC	77	74	151
Rolli, William J./Berry, David	PGA Individual	76	76	152
Kowalski, Jason/Kowalski, Robert C.	PGA Individual/Philadelphia Publinks	76	77	153
Connors, Chris/Connors, Dan J	Sewickley Heights GC/Pilgrims Oak GC	77	77	154

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White Manor CC’s Bernstein, Borowsky take 18th State Better-Ball title

White Manor CC’s Bernstein, Borowsky take
18th State Better-Ball title