Beaver Creek’s depth carries it to A-Team title
With 22 players carrying handicaps of 3 or better, including seven former club champions, Beaver Creek captain Bernie Deane had a lot of talent to choose from when formulating his roster for the Maryland A-Team championships.
He didn’t waste it. With a 10-8 victory over Hillendale, the Hagerstown club won the title for the second time.
“We had so many guys who came up clutch,” said Deane, a guidance counselor at Thomas Johnson High. “All I did was round ’em up and made sure people were happy with who they were playing with and where they played.”
Deane, 38, a former basketball player at Sherwood High, is among a group of strong golfers who have joined the semi-private club since Beaver Creek won its first title in 1999, also over seven-time runner-up Hillendale.
One of those players, Chuck Thatcher, a psychologist with Frederick County schools, was spectacular throughout the month-long event as he and partner Denny Stoner toppled some of the most talented players in the state, including Mike Watson (Holly Hills), and Matt Sughrue (Bethesda).
In the finals, Thatcher-Stoner handled Baltimore Amateur champion Chris Baloga and perennial partner Chris Stallings 2.5-0.5. In the final three rounds, the duo won eight of a possible nine points.
“Chuck took down some of the best players in the state,” Deane said. “He was a birdie machine.”
Chris Taylor and Ken Lampard were clutch in the finals as well. After losing their opening nine, the duo won the back and the overall to win their match 2-1 at Hillendale.
Playing at home, the duo of Brian Crabtree and Randy Barnes contributed 2.5 points in the finals. In the semifinals at Bethesda, they won two points despite never having played the course.
Beaver Creek players who contributed to both A-Team championships were Finley Benjamin, Tim Steiner, Greg Henry, Barnes, Lampard and long-hitting professional Dirk Schultz.
