“I think mostly, experience was the biggest thing,” said Woelfling. “I never played in anything like this. I’ve mostly played in individual events and four-man scrambles. I think it’ll be good experience moving forward.”

 It was rewarding because it wasn’t easy.

 On a handful of ocassions yesterday, Brown-Woelfling had to fight off charges from their playing partners in the final group, Kintzer and Kreiser.

 Nursing a single-shot advantage, the turning point came at the 172-yard, par-three 17th hole, where Brown drained a hard-breaking 25-foot birdie putt, while Kintzer-Kreiser were forced to take bogey. Brown’s short birdie at the par-five 18th was simply icing on their championship cake.

  “Seventeen was the back breaker,” said Brown. “We made a ‘two’ and they made a ‘four’. They (Kintzer-Kreiser) birdied three of the first four holes on the back. We bogeyed 13 and they birdied, and that got them within one. Ryan birdied 14, but we bogeyed Number 15 and that got them within one again.

 “It doesn’t take much, a lot of the time, with the birdie-bogey situation,” added Brown. “I told Ryan, ‘It’s still close. We’ve got to keep plugging away.’ After Nine, we had hot dogs and we were cooling down, and it took us a little to get warmed back up.”

 “Once they got closer I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to pick it up,'” said Woelfling. “I had to play good too. That’s tournament golf.”

 With a hot start to their second round, Brown and Woelfling threatened to run away with the trophy.

 Thanks to three Brown birdies and an eagle and birdie from Woelfing, they went six-under par over their first six holes to open a five-stroke lead over the field. Brown and Woelfling made the turn with a four-shot advantage.

 “I personally like it when it gets tight,” said Brown. “I wanted to see a little reaction from Ryan. We were free flying, but then it was like, ‘They’re coming back. We’ve got to get it going again.’

 “Tournament golf is something I do a lot of,” Brown continued. “I don’t play too much recreational golf. The area has a certain level of tournaments. It’s about trying to get better for me, at this point of my life. The more you do it, the better you’re going to get. Golf is a game of repetition. Typical results come from that.”

  “Overall, it was a good experience,” said Woelfling. “I wasn’t necessarily going to play in it. But when he (Brown) asked, I couldn’t really turn him down.”

  Kintzer and Kreiser didn’t record their first birdie on Sunday until the par-four fourth hole, but then proceeded to give it right back at the par-five fifth. Birdies at the par-five tenth, the par-four 11th and the par-three 13th got Kintzer-Kreiser to within a single shot of the lead, but they did not make a birdie over their last five holes.

 “Josh played awesome all weekend,” said Kintzer. “He carried me. After the turn, we put some pressure on them. It was a dogfight. To come that close was amazing.

 “They (Brown and Woelfling) came out and played into us,” added Kintzer. “We were down six strokes going into Number Seven. Most people would think it was over. But it wasn’t over at all.”

 Thanks in part to Massar’s hot blade, he and partner Shank made a back-nine charge with four birdies in five holes. But ultimately they were doomed by a bogey at the par-four 16th.

 “I thought 64 was the number we would’ve needed,” said Shank. “We got it to five (under) for the day. We got it to five (under) with three (holes) to go, and we thought we needed (birdies) all of them.

 “We got off to a slow start,” continued Shank. “That isn’t good out here. The first six holes are scoring holes. But it was a good team effort, between the days. We just didn’t have enough.”

 For Gebhard and Gardner, it also may have been the case of too little too late, after starting the final round with two shots to make up. Gebhard-Gardner carded five birdies on the back-nine, after registering just a pair on the front.

 “I said to Gebby, ‘We needed to flip the script,'” said Gardner. “We needed to shoot 63 to have a chance. I don’t think we were ever in contention. On Seven tee, we were two-under, but we heard Danny and Ryan were four-under after the first four holes.

 “Gebby played fantastic,” added Gardner. “He definitely carried us to our score. I think he made six birdies (on Sunday). He made a bunch of them. I only helped a couple of holes.”

 The combos of Tony Deraco-Greg Behney and Matt Cecil-Steve Sherk finished in a tie for first place in the first flight. Top honors in the second flight went to Justin Arnt-Scott Franco.

 To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

 28th Annual Lebanon County Better-Ball-of-Partners

 (at 6,037-yard, par-72 Pine Meadows Golf Course)

	Championship Flight
	Pos.	Team	Total To Par Gross	R1	R2	Total Gross
	1	Brown / Woefling	-17	63	64	127
	T2	Kintzer / Kreiser	-13	63	68	131
	T2	Gardner / Gebhard	-13	66	65	131
	T2	Massar, Jr / Shank	-13	64	67	131
	5	Ebersole / Preis	-9	66	69	135
	T6	Brown / Potts	-8	68	68	136
	T6	Kohr / Schwab	-8	68	68	136
	8	Rowe / Rowe	-4	68	72	140
	T9	Albright / Killian	-1	68	75	143
	T9	Heckard / Massar	-1	67	76	143
	First Flight
	Pos.	Team	Total To Par Gross	R1	R2	Total Gross
	T1	Behney / Deraco	-6	69	69	138
	T1	Cecil / Shirk	-6	70	68	138
	3	Lutz / Nygaard	-3	70	71	141
	T4	Hurst / Hurst	-2	70	72	142
	T4	Umlauf / Wentiling	-2	71	71	142
	6	Sander / Snader	-1	69	74	143
	7	Brandt / Wentling	E	71	73	144
	8	Day / Day	+3	70	77	147
	9	Pesta / Stone	+7	71	80	151
	Second Flight
	Pos.	Team	Total To Par Gross	R1	R2	Total Gross
	1	Arnt / Rocco	-3	72	69	141
	2	Leeper / Leeper	-2	72	70	142
	T3	Ditzler / Ditzler	E	73	71	144
	T3	Fake / Layser	E	73	71	144
	5	Bashore / Krall	+3	72	75	147
	6	Boltz / Emmerich	+4	74	74	148
	7	Calhoun / Kirsch	+6	72	78	150
	8	Fake / Mowrey	+7	78	73	151
	9	Murray / Murray	+9	81	72	153
	10	Weaver / Weaver	+12	77	79	156

 

Lebanon County Better-Ball

 Past Champions