Casey Boyns

The teams of Casey Boyns and Terry Foreman and brothers Jim and Douglas Williams will head into Friday’s final round of the annual NCGA Senior Four-Ball Championship holding a three stroke lead over the rest of the field, but there’s also a number of other teams that are still in the mix.

Boyns and Foreman made the biggest move in Thursday’s second round at par-71 Poppy Hills Golf Course, posting a stellar 6-under 65 that moved the duo into a tie for first with the Williamses at a 36-hole total of 8-under 134.

Boyns, who won the recent NCGA Senior Championship, and Foreman, who finished third at last month’s Alameda Commuters Championship, made their charge thanks to sensational play on Poppy’s tougher front-nine.

The duo first got going by carding an eagle on the par-5 4th. Following a par on No.5, Boyns and Foreman took off, penciling in four straight birdies from holes No.6 through No.9 for an nine hole score of 30. After making the turn, the two added another birdie on the 14th before finally cooling off with a bogey on the par-5 18th. The round enabled Boyns and Foreman to climb three spots up the leaderboard.

While Boyns and Foreman were busy doing their thing, the Williamses, who were coming off an opening 66, posted a 68. Douglas, who’s from Southern California, and Jim, who’s from Orinda, got to a total of 8-under after birdying the 9th for a front-nine 33.

They’d tack on another birdie on the par-5 10th, but then had to settle for pars before bogeying the 17th. The two, whose bogey on 17 was their first of the championship, finished their day with another par on 18.

Foreman and the Williamses are going for their first Senior Four-Ball victory. Boyns won the title in 2012 playing with Mark Miller.

While the two squads will enter the finale with a three-stroke edge over the field, there’s still a number of teams that could make a move should they go low.

In a tie for third at 137 are the tandems of Dennis Dachtler and Craig Gandy and Joe Beato and Bill Storey.

Dachtler, who won the Plumas Lake Senior Amateur, and Gandy went from an opening 71 to a 66 to move up the leaderboard. The two stumbled with an early bogey on No.3, but then birdied five of their next 10 holes.

Beato and Storey, who’d opened with a 69, went one shot lower, carding a 68 that featured five birdies and two bogeys.

Only four strokes behind the leaders at 138, meanwhile, are the formidable teams of defending champions Frank Pieper and Mike Staskus and Jim Knoll and Gary Vanier.

Pieper and Staskus, who shot a championship record 62 en route to winning last year’s championship at Saddle Creek Resort, followed up an opening 70 with a 68. Knoll, whose won NCGA Senior Player of the Year honors each of the last four years, and Vanier, who won the recent San Francisco City Senior title, also went from 70 to 68 to put themselves in contention. Vanier won the 2013 Senior Four-Ball, also playing with Miller.

In at 139, five behind the co-leaders after matching rounds of 68, are the tandems of Greg O’Malley and Ralph Costanzo and Scott Anderson and Steve Wilson.

Over in the inaugural Super Senior Championship, the tandem of 2001 U.S. Senior Amateur champ Kemp Richardson and James Myers are the ones to catch. The duo posted a 2-under 69 to get to 4-under 138, good enough to take a two shot lead over the teams of Dennis Younglove and Kent Powell and Herb Jensen and Thomas O’Grady.

Younglove and Powell also shot 69, while Jensen and O’Grady, who had shared the first round lead with Richardson and Myers, slipped backwards with a 71.

At six strokes behind the Super Senior leaders are the tandems of Bob Olds and Ron Johnson (72) and Jeff Early and Bob Rowland (71).

The cut line (low 22 and ties) in the Senior Four-Ball came at 3-over 145. The cutline (low 8 and ties) in the Super Senior Four-Ball came at 4-over 146.

Friday’s final round will tee off at 7:30 a.m.

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