OWOSSO – Rick Herpich of Orchard Lake and his golf game are aging like fine wine.
A day after shooting a 1-under 66 for his age of 67, he shot a 2-under 70 to garner a four-shot win in the 6th GAM Super Senior Championship Wednesday at Owosso Country Club.
“Tell you what, it was a great couple days,” said the Orchard Lake Country Club member. “I love the golf course. It’s one that really fits my eye. It’s not one you can overpower, but it’s more of a finesse golf course where it has a lot of doglegs and stuff like that, and I got off to a really good start. Yesterday, I shot my age for the first time ever. I’m 67 years old and I shot 66 so I was pretty excited about that.”
Pete Walz of Jackson, who closed with a 69 for 140, finished second in the championship that featured 50 GAM golfers over age 65, including a Legends Division for golfers age 70-plus.
Dan Hughes of Saginaw, who shot 67, was third at 141, and two-time defending champion Ian Harris of Bloomfield Hills, who shot 71 for 144, tied with Craig Camalo, who closed with a 70.
In the Legends Division, Terry Westbrook from Grand Rapids shot a 74 for 147 and the win. Terry Moore of Grand Rapids, who won the Super Senior title in 2015, shot 77 for 150 and second.
Rounding out the top five among the Legends were Thomas Johnson of Gobles, who shot 76 for 151, Dick Bachtel of Linden, who shot 80 for 153, and Fred Mann of Waterville, who shot 79 for 153.
Herpich has been having a good summer. He won the Orchard Lake Senior Club Championship and won a club invitational.
“I’ve been on a roll the last four or five weeks and it has been awesome,” he said. “My game has been coming around and it has been fun. Anytime you win it means a lot because you lose a lot in this game. And Ian (Harris) has been so dominant in the Super Senior Division and that makes it even tougher to win. I’m really proud of myself. I finished it off today. I couldn’t be happier.”
He hopes to continue the fun via an invitation to the Society of Seniors National Super Senior Championship scheduled for Sept. 27-30 at Pinehurst in North Carolina.
Westbrook, a Watermark Country Club member, said not to tell his wife he has been playing a lot of golf this summer.
“Yesterday I was an escape artist, mostly in the trees, but getting up and down from everywhere making putts, and today I make no putts, but I’m so totally different,” he said. “I think a little experience helps a lot on this course. My ball-striking was better today even though my score was one higher.”
