Centreville duo wins Middle Atlantic Father-Son
After shooting 64 in the Middle Atlantic Father-Son Monday morning, Tom and Charlie Winegardner departed Worthington Manor Golf Club, confident that their score would go unchallenged.
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But two hours later, in the final group of the 76-player field, John and Jeffrey Long had other ideas. When Jeffrey, 22, rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, the Longs also had an 8-under-par 64. With the Winegardners home in Anne Arundel County, unable to compete in a playoff, the Longs were winners by default in the 47th annual event.
“We were just going along,” said Jeffrey Long, 22, who recently completed his college golf career at Old Dominion. “[A tournament official] asked us if we wanted to know where we stood, we said ‘No.’ We didn’t want to change our game plan.”
The strategy apparently was to make a lot of birdies. The Longs made eight of them in the best-ball event, including four in the final six holes.
“He played in the Virginia Open the last four days,” said John Long, 57, retired after 30 years in the Justice Department. “So he was kind of burned out a little bit. He finished 17th at the Virginia Open, but he managed to make it here today.”
While Jeffrey made birdie with 6-foot putts at No. 3 and No. 6, John answered with birdie putts from 15 feet at No. 5 and No. 10. Down the stretch, Jeffrey, a Westfield High graduate, took over.
At No. 13, a par 5, Jeffrey hit his second shot over the green into a bunker, but recovered with a spectacular explosion to within a foot to a front pin, 75 feet away, for a birdie.
On No. 15, a par 3, Jeffrey hit an 8-iron to within 8 feet and made the birdie putt. At No. 17, another par 3, with John looking at a birdie putt from 10 feet, Jeffrey canned a 35-footer for another birdie.
“I told him I was going to make it,” said Jeffrey Long, a member at Evergreen. “So I made it.”
At No. 18, Jeffrey thought he hit a good drive, but it bounded left, into a hazard. After taking a drop from 183 yards out, Jeffrey nailed an uphill 5-iron to the front of the green. Then he made the 17-foot birdie putt, which rattled into the hole off the right edge.
More than an hour away, at home in Lothian, Charlie Winegardner, a sophomore this fall at Coastal Carolina, took the news gracefully.
“We thought 64 would be good enough,” said Winegardner. “My dad wanted to get to work. We didn’t want to wait around for that long. But congratulations to them.”
While the Winegardners were seeking their first Middle Atlantic title after winning the Maryland Father-Son in 2008 and 2006, this was the biggest title for team Long.
“I’m good at making par. I’m a grinder,” said John Long, a scratch player who will compete in his first British Senior Amateur, Aug. 5-7 at legendary Prestwick (Scotland). “[Jeffrey] is more of a flashy player.”
