32nd Senior Four-Ball Preview

32nd Senior Four-Ball Preview

Tee Times

The Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) will crown new champions in both the Senior and Super Senior divisions when the 32^nd annual Senior Four-Ball Championship takes place on August 26-27 at Ligonier Country Club. The tournament is presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.

Plenty of familiar names with much past success are entered in the event but neither of the 2023 championship teams will return to defend their titles. It will be a 36-hole four-ball, stroke-play affair on the 6,238-yard, par 70, Xenophon “Zen” Hassenplug layout.

One of the top returning units in the Senior Division is Arnie Cutrell (Greensburg Country Club) and Bill Rosemeyer (Butler Country Club). The duo, which shot the tournament’s low round with an opening-day 63 a year ago, was one of three tied for the top spot after 36 holes before falling in a playoff that extended to five holes before the team of Dave Blichar (Olde Homestead Golf Club) and Dave Olexson (The Steel Club) grabbed the crown. Lehigh Country Club’s duo of Bob Beck and Tom Soares was the other playoff team registering a 10-under 132 as well.

With an impressive resume of past success both regionally and nationally, Cutrell, has registered some impressive recent wins including winning the Century Foursomes with Jeff Hovanec (Hannastown Golf Club), a win in the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association’s (WPGA) Senior 4-Ball title with Frank Fairman in July, and capturing the prestigious Westmoreland County Golf Association’s Senior Amateur two weeks ago edging out another highly-touted amateur Sean Knapp (Hannastown Golf Club). Rosemeyer reached the semifinals of PAGA’s Senior Match Play in May including a win over Cutrell and finished third in the WPGA Senior Four-Ball with Hovanec.

The new pairing of Bob Crnjarich (Allegheny Country Club) and Dan Brown (Manada Golf Club could also challenge for top honors. Brown is a former PAGA Mid-Amateur champion, while Crnjarich won PAGA’s 2021 Dressler Memorial senior title. Both have had success lately in this four-ball event with other partners as Crnjarich won the title in 2018 and posted other high finishes, while Brown has been among the top four teams in each of the last two years.

Hovanec, who is paired with LuLu Country Club’s Mark Czerniakowski, and Will Smith (LedgeRock Golf Club), another former PAGA Mid-Am champion, who is teamed with James Hughes (Country Club of Harrisburg), among others could also present a formidable challenge.

As usual, the Super Senior division has the makings of a tight finish as individuals and teams who have littered amateur leaderboards in recent years will tee it up at Ligonier. Don Erickson (Indiana Country Club) and Joe Corsi (Ligonier Country Club) are coming off a win in the WPGA’s Senior Four-Ball in July. Erickson, who has many USGA accolades in his past, canned a birdie putt on the 18^th hole of regulation and then the team captured the title on the second playoff hole. Erickson, a past WPGA Senior Player of the Year and PAGA Sigel Match Play champion, and Corsi, a five-time WPGA four-ball winner have been in the hunt several times for the PAGA Four-Ball and finished fifth a year ago.

Other teams to watch include Hannastown Golf Club’s pair of Bob Allshouse and Dave Denezza, Scott Christie (West Shore Country Club), who finished second a year ago and is paired with Colonial Country Club’s Tom Fleig. J.R. Cattoni and Ben Cook, representing Williamsport Country Club, the third-place finishers in the recent Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) Four-Ball championship, as well as Bob Gill (Fox Hill Country Club) and Brian Corbett (Country Club of Scranton), who finished fifth in the GAP event and have posted high places in each of the last two PAGA four-balls, all expect to contend for the championship.