CHA golf ties for championship

by TOM UTESCHER

Working under the name OMC, a Maori musician hit the charts in 1997 with a single called “How Bizarre.” CHA golf coach Jim Talbot thinks that the tune would’ve made an appropriate theme song for the Blue Devils’ home-away series with Haverford School last week.

A tie in a scholastic golf match is rare enough, but the Devils and Fords were deadlocked at the end of both of their bouts, leveling out at 238-all at Sunnybrook on Tuesday, and reaching a 242-242 stalemate at Gulph Mills two days later. Each sporting a final league record of 7-1-2, Chestnut Hill and Haverford will share the 2005 Inter-Ac title.

Both teams defeated Episcopal Academy and Germantown Academy twice earlier in the season. CHA also swept Penn Charter, and split its two matches against defending co-champion Malvern Prep. Haverford, the other co-champ in 2004, swept Malvern this spring, but lost one of its matches with Charter.

There was little wind when the Devils and Fords met at Sunnybrook on Tuesday, but the course was very dry, and hard bounces and long rolls were common. This failed to rattle CHA freshman Robert Robertson, who crafted a consistent performance that netted him a birdie on the second hole and par scores on the other eight for a one-under round of 35.

Chip Culp, Robertson’s partner in the third foursome, shot a 40, while the two Haverford golfers in this group produced rounds that were later discarded in the team scoring.

In the final tabulation of team scores, Chestnut Hill would scratch two scores it received from its first four men in the clubhouse. The Blue Devils counted a 39 from Nick Pearson, who birdied the third and parred five other holes, and CHA also received a 41 from Mike Soowal. Haverford’s results from the first two foursomes were a 36 from Tim Wilson, a 39 from J.D. Hall, a 40 from James Kania, and a 43 from Matt Fieger.

Overall, CHA held a slim lead as the final four golfers played the ninth hole, but a 39 from Corey Siegfried and a 41 from Mike Kania pulled the Fords even in the final reckoning. CHA also culled a 41 from this group, thanks to Jason Ochroch. His colleague, Steve Wetherill, turned in a perfectly respectable 42, but probably would’ve scored in the 30’s if he hadn’t lost his ball on the ninth hole and needed eight strokes to find the cup.

On the par-35 front nine at Gulph Mills two days later, Chestnut Hill’s Ochroch and Haverford’s James Kania each turned in a 36. Ochroch parred four holes, bogied three, and birdied the fourth and the seventh.

“On the seventh hole, there was this big gully on the left,” he related. “I decided to play it conservatively and avoid the gully, and it worked out well for me.”

Also one-over for the day, Haverford’s Kania double-bogied the 6th hole but immediately redeemed himself with an eagle on the seventh. One other player undercut the 40-stroke threshold, as CHA’s Soowal finished with a 39.

Two players from each squad came in at 40 strokes even; Pearson and Robertson for the Blue Devils, and Seigfried and Dominic Origlio for the Fords. A pair of 42’s by Mike Kania and Rob Sylvia completed Haverford’s team tally, while Chestnut Hill arrived at the same match total of 242 with a 43 by Culp and a 44 by Wetherill.