Tournament Champions
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The Central Pennsylvania Amateur Players Tour opened its 2027 season on Sunday, October 25 at The Bridges Golf Club in Abbottstown, Pa. A field of 37 players competed across five divisions, plus two net games, in the first of the season’s Central Pennsylvania amateur golf tournaments. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index.
The Bridges Golf Club plays to a par of 72, and the scorecard made its position clear early. The par-4 2nd was the hardest hole on the property, surrendering a single birdie across the entire field and playing a shot and a quarter over par. The par-4 9th did not give up a birdie to anyone all day.
Division 1 went to Keith Berkheimer of Gaithersburg, MD, who posted a 1-over 73 — the low round of the day. Berkheimer’s card was the cleanest in the field: eleven pars, three birdies and only four bogeys. He turned in 1-over 37 after a birdie at the par-4 6th, then came home in even-par 36 with birdies at the par-4 12th and the par-4 14th. Berkheimer, one of five Maryland chapter players who made the trip north for the opener, never let the round get away from him.
In Division 2, Andy Gibbons of Lebanon, PA came out on top by a single stroke with a 6-over 78, and he had to earn every bit of it. Ian Farley of Mt Wolf, PA trailed by one through six holes, then flipped the switch and actually led by a stroke at the twelve-hole mark. Gibbons answered where it mattered most, playing his closing six holes in even par after birdies at the par-5 15th and the par-4 13th, and by the time fifteen holes were in the books Farley had slipped four back. Farley did not go quietly, going out in 4-over 40 and home in 3-over 39 with birdies at the par-4 17th and the par-5 18th — the closing par 5 was one of the gentler holes on the course, giving up two birdies on the day — to take runner-up honors at 7-over 79. Cassidy Salvador of Harrisburg, PA and William Marlowe of Rockville, MD shared third at 11-over 83.
Division 3 could not be settled in regulation. Nate Thomas of Mechanicsburg, PA, Skylar Holmes of Elizabethtown, PA and Steve Winnick of Ardmore, PA all signed for 13-over 85, and Thomas came through the playoff for the title. The race was every bit as tight as the final numbers suggest: Winnick held a one-shot edge on Thomas after six holes, still had it after twelve, and still had it with three to play before the margins finally collapsed to zero at the 18th. Holmes was never more than two back at any checkpoint. Four players finished within two shots of the lead in the division.
Division 4 belonged to Ryan Cool of Gettysburg, PA, who built a three-shot win with a 12-over 84. Cool went out in 5-over 41 and came home in 7-over 43, signing for seven pars on a day when scoring was hard to come by. Keith Adams of Pottstown, PA was level with Cool through six holes and James Beiler of Myerstown, PA was a single shot back, but Cool had pushed the margin to three by the turn and was never caught. Beiler took second at 15-over 87, turning his round around with a 6-over 42 on the inward half after a 9-over 45 going out. Catherine Malehorn of Rockville, MD and Adams tied for third at 17-over 89, Malehorn going out in 9-over 45 and back in 8-over 44.
Division 5 produced the day’s biggest swing. Dakota Siok of Edgewater, MD was four shots clear of Jeremiah Cassidy after six holes and still one ahead after twelve, but Cassidy, of Ephrata, PA, took the lead back by the fifteenth and closed it out by four strokes with a 23-over 95. Cassidy went out in 14-over 50 and found something on the back, playing the inward nine in 9-over 45. Siok finished at 27-over 99.
Cool was not finished. He completed the double-dip in the Mid-Am Net with a net 1-under 71, the only sub-par number in the game and a one-shot win. Farley made it two trips to the podium on the day, taking second at net even-par 72, with Berkheimer third at net 1-over 73 to round out the money positions. Three players finished within two of the lead.
The Senior Net was just as tight. Mike Vawter of Dayton, MD took it by a single stroke with a net 4-over 76, holding off a pair of Central Pennsylvania players who tied at net 5-over 77 — Cassidy, who added a second result to his Division 5 win, and Winnick, who backed up his Division 3 runner-up finish. Four players finished within two shots of Vawter, and eleven of the twelve were within seven.
The chapter donated $55 to Folds of Honor from the event.
That is the 2027 season underway in Central Pennsylvania, with the chapter’s schedule ahead and the points race open from here.
