Bob Beck and Bert Kosup
(GAP Photo)

The Senior 27-Hole Challenge, now in its ninth year, features three formats: better-ball of partners, selective drive/alternate shot and team aggregate.

“I think his strength is that he doesn’t have a weakness,” Kosup, 61, of Flemington, N.J., said. “He hit the ball very well today. He hits the ball very far off the tee — 30 yards past me. He’s very consistent and makes being his partner pretty easy.”

“He played real solid today. He made two birdies on the last nine that really helped us out,” Beck, 56, of Allentown, Pa., added. “That took a lot of heat off.”

The Beck and Kosup team sensed the bright lights given their leaderboard status after 18 holes. The two stood at 3 under, one clear of Lancaster Country Club’s Daniel Burton and Kenneth Phillips. Kosup toweled off the team sweat with a five-foot birdie on No. 2 (par 4, 435 yards. He and Beck inked red on the par 5, 495-yard No. 4. Kosup converted a 12-footer; Beck, a Lehigh Country Club member, logged two putts from 15 feet after reaching the green with a 3-hybrid. The par 3, 115-yard No. 6 meshed with Kosup. He banked a pair of three-footers, courtesy of 9-iron set-ups, upon each visit.

“I just figured at that point, if I could keep it under par, and Bob gets it under par or keeps it even, we have a pretty good chance,” Kosup said. “It frees you up a little bit.”

A bogey-free, 2 under in the selective drive/alternate shot portion also afforded a sense of freedom. Beck’s length spearheaded birdies on a pair of par 5s. Following his boomer on No. 11 (484 yards), Kosup, who calls The Ridge at Back Brook home, found the green with a 5-wood, and the team two-putted from 15 feet. Beck drove it into the right greenside bunker on the par 4, 289-yard 15th hole. Kosup splashed into gimme range.

Beck and Kosup met at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Member-Guest (Norborne Berkeley), an event both have participated in for the last decade.

“We both have the same kind of personality,” Kosup said. “We like to have fun. We like to laugh. We want to enjoy golf, but we don’t take it too serious that we get on each other’s nerves. I always enjoy playing against Bob. It’s even more fun to play with him as your partner.”

SUPER SENIOR DIVISION

A month ago, Robin McCool defeated Frank Polizzi, 2&1, for the Super-Senior title in the Brewer Cup presented by Callaway Golf. Following their match, the two chatted in the men’s grill at Overbrook Golf Club and struck up a partnership for the Senior 27-Hole Challenge.

It proved to be a successful one, too. McCool, a Saucon Valley Country Club member, and Polizzi, of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, carded an even-par 141 to take the event’s Super-Senior (par 71, 5,879 yards) title.

“After we played each other in the Brewer Cup, I was so impressed with his game. [I thought] if I could have him for a partner, that would be marvelous,” McCool, 65, of Bethlehem, Pa., said. “There are certain things I do well. One of them is picking partners.”

“I took maybe half a second to say, ‘Yes,’” Polizzi, 70, of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., added. “Our match was pretty exciting. Robin is such a good player. To have him ask me right away … I was really appreciative. I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks now.”

The McCool and Polizzi team immediately grabbed the division’s top spot thanks to a 3 under in the better-ball portion. On No. 3 (par 3, 122 yards), Polizzi, the reigning Super-Senior titleholder in the GAP Senior Amateur, stopped a pitching wedge at four feet. McCool followed with a six-footer for birdie on the next hole (par 5, 485 yards). He almost holed a knockdown wedge from 100 yards for eagle on the next par 5 (No. 6, 523 yards). Not to be outdone, Polizzi nearly dunked a gap wedge from 101 yards on No. 9 (par 4, 333 yards). He cleaned up a four-footer for birdie.

“It was a very steady day. We held each other up when we needed to,” McCool, who won the Super-Senior title in the Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross) earlier this year, said. “Each of us contributed as far as birdies were concerned.”

“For 27 holes, we never made any double bogeys,” Polizzi added.

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