Vincelli Rallies In Super Seniors
ORLANDO | Pat Vincelli had carded a 5-over-
par 77 on the second day of the 2012 John Kline
Super Seniors Championship and stood four
back of the leaders. So,
you could excuse him if he
didn’t feel he was about to
set the golfing world on fire
when he prepared for the
third and final round of this
annual Society of Seniors
event. Or make much of a
run for the title. But Vince-
lli’s host, Chip Landon, a fellow SOS member
whose residence overlooks the 11th green at
the Country Club of Orlando course on which
the tournament was being staged, apparently
felt differently. So much so that he made a
breakfast table prediction.
“Chip told me I would shoot 69 today,” said
Vincelli, who is from Rosemount, Minn. And
that is exactly what Vincelli ended up doing on
the classic, Donald Ross-designed track. His
3-under round was good enough to give him
the Kline by two strokes in the 65-69 division,
over Arnold Edwards, of Charlotte, N.C., John
Baldwin, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and John
Casstevens, of Glen Allen, Va.
In the 70-74 group, Russ Berkoben, of
Naples, Fla., and Perrysburgh, Ohio, eked out
a one-stroke win over Jim Holbrook, of North
Andover, Mass., by posting a 1-under 71 in the
final round. Walt Martin, of Oakton, Va., finished
third, three strokes back.
As for the 75-80 division, Claud Johnston, of
Ann Arbor, Mich., prevailed again, capturing his
third consecutive SOS tourney. This was a little
tougher than the SOS Spring Classic in Naples,
Pat Vincelli
Fla., that he had won in March, and the SOS
Senior Masters he had taken a couple of weeks
before in Palm Springs, Calif. Johnston had taken
a six-stroke lead into the last day of the Kline, but
needed to hole a twisting 30-footer on the final
hole of regulation to force a playoff with Sonny
Holt, of Leeds, Ala. Then, Johnston came out on
top by carding a par on the first playoff hole.
As for the 80-plus grouping, it was a battle
between a pair of transplanted Minnesotans
and frequent four-ball partners, with Bob
Harris, of Boynton Beach, Fla., besting Bud
Chapman, of Treasure Island, Fla.
RESULTS
JOHN KLINE SUPER SENIORS NOTEBOOK
As most SOS regulars know, Dave King
eschews air travel and makes a habit of driving
instead from tournament to tournament. And
the end of the Kline signified the near-end of
a golf trek during which he has logged some
8,000 miles – from his Washington D.C.-area
home to Palm Springs for the SOS Senior
Masters, then to Plano, Tex., for a club-fitting at
Adams Golf, and finally to the Kline in Orlando.
“I am stopping in Asheville, N.C., for the
wedding of my youngest niece,” King said after
a first-round 73. “Then, I am heading home.” l
John Steinbreder
Golf
Now
