Patrick Brady and Steve Harwell (CGA photo)
The lead changed hands several times during the final round of the Carolinas Senior Four-Ball Championship but when the dust settled, Patrick Brady of Reidsville, N.C., and Steve Harwell of Mooresville, N.C. who took home the hardware.
Brady and Harwell, who first met 35 years ago as roommates playing for the Guilford College golf team, shot a final-round 6-under 66 to finish the championship at 12-under 204.
Brady said their strategy was to play aggressively early and see if they could get back into contention. They did exactly what they needed to get back in it, making six birdies and three pars in route to a 30 on the first nine.
“We saw the scores after nine and saw that we'd gotten back in the tournament,” Brady said. “So, we played the back side a little tighter than we did the front.”
The duo played their second nine at even par, making two birdies and two bogeys to win the championship by one shot.
Thirty-five years after they first met at Guilford College, the two are still playing together every chance they get. Their first CGA four-ball title came at the 2006 Island Four-Ball Championship.
“We’ve played together for years and years playing four-balls all over the country together,” Harwell said. “We just know each other’s games so well. We help each other out when we need it and we’ve just learned each other tendencies. We know when it’s time to step up.”
Both men have been part of a winning Carolinas Four-Ball Championship team but never as partners. Harwell won the Carolinas Four-Ball Championship in 1997 with partner Macon Moye. Brady won in 2011 with partner Scott Harvey. Brady’s father, Pat Foy Brady, won the inaugural North Carolina Amateur Championship at Wilson Country Club in 1961.
Three teams tied for second place at 11-under, 205, including Dean Channell of Cary, N.C., and Preston Edmonson of Morrisville, N.C., whose final round of 7-under 65 tied for the lowest round of the championship.
The defending champions, Stan Sill of Spartanburg, S.C., and Mike Gravley of Greer, S.C., who had pulled within one shot of the lead after Round 2, also finished one shot off the lead after shooting a 5-under, 67 in the final round.
Our first- and second-round leaders, Walter Todd Sr. of Laurens, S.C., and Todd Hendley of Columbus, N.C., finished with a 1-under 71 in the final round of the championship.
View results for Carolinas Senior Four-Ball
ABOUT THE
Carolinas Senior Four-Ball
The Carolinas Senior Four-Ball Championship is
conducted at 54 holes of four-ball stroke play. Entry is
open to any male amateur golfer who is a legal resident
of North Carolina or South Carolina and at least 55
years old.
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