In the Baltimore Upper division, perennial power Rolling Road, the champion in 2004 and 2005, advanced with a pair of decisive wins over the weekend. Rolling Road beat Green Spring, 12-6, Saturday, followed by a 14-4 defeat of Chartwell.
Baltimore Country Club, bidding for a return to the finals, knocked off Hayfields, 9.5-8.5, in Sunday?s round of 16. In its short history, Hayfields has never advanced to the final round of the A-Team Championship. BCC is gunning for its first championship since 1950.
In the Baltimore Lower division, two relative novices, Green Hill and Mountain Branch advanced. Neither team has played in an MSGA A-Team final, but both were impressive this weekend.
Green Hill of Salisbury dominated Nassawango, 16.5-1.5, Saturday, and took care of Upland, 13-5, Sunday. Mountain Branch of Joppa rolled past Chesapeake Bay, 12-6, Saturday and Brentwood, 15-3, Sunday.
In an exciting set of matches where home teams dominated, Columbia edged Manor by a tally of 9 1/2 to 8 1/2 to move into one of the Washington area semi-finals of the Maryland State Team Matches with a showdown set for next Saturday with Chevy Chase Country Club. In a long-distance battle, Breton Bay will face Beaver Creek in the upper part of the Washington bracket next Saturday..
In the Columbia-Manor struggle, Mike Mitchell and Henri de Lozier of Columbia took a 3?0 win over Mike Hritz and Brian Gallagher of Manor, Doug O?Brien and Ted Donatelli (Columbia) achieved the same margin versus Dave Boynton and Dave Tacchetti (Manor), and Marty West and Todd Fullmer (Columbia) edged John Ohly and John Vollmer (Manor) 2?1. This was just enough to offset the only slightly less resounding victory of Manor at home, where assistant golf professional Tim Ruddo and amateur partner Britt Sloan (Manor) vanquished head golf professional Bob Dolan and Dan Brigati (Columbia) 3?0, Jim Castagna and Brian Borda (Manor) defeated Chris Lamond and Eric Mitchell (Columbia) 2?1, and Tim Meinhardt and Scott Sturley (Manor) topped Dan DeRisio and Jason Campbell (Columbia) 2 1/2?1/2.
At the same time, Chevy Chase Country Club punctured the Cinderella team of Kenwood Golf & Country Club with a 13?5 win as Chevy Chase took 8 1/2 of the 9 points at home and added 4 1/2 away. After the area semi-final contests on Saturday, the area finals will be conducted on Sunday and the Baltimore-Washington final will be held on Saturday, May 5th.
