Worthington Manor Fall 2026

The Maryland Amateur Players Tour opened its 2027 season on Saturday, October 10, 2026 at Worthington Manor Golf Club, the first of the chapter’s Maryland amateur golf tournaments on the new schedule. A field of 20 players competed across five divisions, with two net games also decided on the day. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index.

In Division 1, Keith Berkheimer of Gaithersburg, MD posted the low round of the day and never gave the lead up. Berkheimer turned in 1-under 35, picking up birdies at the par-5 5th and the par-5 9th, and he built the round on consistency as much as anything else — 11 pars against four bogeys. The inward half came in at 5-over 41, but by then the margin had only grown. Justin Applebaum, in from the Carolina Triad chapter and a resident of Linden, NC, was within two after six holes and still had a hand in it at the turn before slipping five back through twelve. He finished in 2nd, six behind at the close, as Berkheimer’s 4-over 76 stood up as the best number anyone posted all day.

Division 2 produced the tightest race on the property. Kevin Dick of Hagerstown, MD and Mike Vawter of Dayton, MD finished level at 8-over 80, seven clear of the rest of the division, and the title went to sudden death after the round. Dick made the most birdies of anyone in the field, three of them, at the par-5 5th, the par-3 6th and the par-5 9th, and he went out in 2-over 38 before coming home in 6-over 42. Vawter ran the two nines in 4-over 40 apiece, with birdies at the par-4 2nd and the par-4 7th, and he chipped away at a one-shot deficit that he had carried from the sixth hole all the way through the twelfth. By the time the pair had played fifteen, Vawter had drawn level, and neither man blinked over the closing stretch — Dick played the last three in 2-over, Vawter in 2-over.

Division 3 belonged to Chad Hertzog of Lebanon, PA, visiting from the Central Pennsylvania chapter, who put together one of the steadier cards of the day without ever making a birdie. Hertzog signed for 9-over 81 on the back of 11 pars and five bogeys, going out in 4-over 40 and returning in 5-over 41, and his closing three holes cost him only a single shot. Stan Lynch of Rosedale, MD trailed by three after six and by four at the twelfth, and was still within five with three to play, but he finished in 2nd as Hertzog closed it out by six. The division played over a golf course that gave very little away at the par-4 3rd, which surrendered no birdies at all across the 20-player field and played better than a shot and a half over par.

Division 4 was the largest gross division of the day, and Christopher Gentle of Hagerstown, MD won it by four with a round that got progressively better. Gentle went out in 9-over 45 and then came home in 4-over 40, with his lone birdie arriving at the par-4 12th. William Favinger of Fredericksburg, PA, another Central Pennsylvania visitor, followed the same pattern on a bigger scale: an 11-over 47 on the front, then 6-over 42 coming in for 17-over 89 and runner-up honors. Favinger was within two of Gentle after six holes before the gap widened to five by the twelfth and six through fifteen, and he played his last three holes in just 1-over. The par-4 16th was the most generous hole on the card for the field as a whole, giving up three birdies and nine pars between the two.

In Division 5, Jim Pritchett of Moseley, VA, in from the Virginia Capital chapter, won by three strokes with a 24-over 96. It was a genuine fight for most of the afternoon: Pritchett and Tim Butts of Gerrardstown, WV were dead level after six holes and still level after twelve, and Butts was only a single shot adrift with three to play before Pritchett answered where it mattered most over the closing holes. Butts took second with a 27-over 99.

The Mid-Am Net game finished in a tie at the top, with Christopher Gentle and Chad Hertzog both signing for net 2-under 70. The two share the points and split the purse, and their number was five clear of the next man on the board; four of the six players in the game finished within seven shots of the lead. Hertzog was five to the good after six holes and still two ahead of Gentle’s pace at the twelfth, which made the finish the story — Gentle ran him down over the closing holes to force the share. Both men had already won their gross divisions, Gentle in Division 4 and Hertzog in Division 3, and both added a piece of the net title to it.

Senior Net was the deepest contest of the day at 11 players, and Mike Vawter of Dayton, MD controlled it from the front. Vawter’s net 1-over 73 was the best net number posted in either game outside the Mid-Am tie, and it held up by two strokes. William Favinger of Fredericksburg, PA took second with a net 3-over 75, closing the gap down the stretch after sitting six back through six holes and ten back through fifteen. Five players finished within five shots of Vawter’s winning number. For Vawter it capped a productive Saturday, having also been part of the tie at the top of Division 2, while Favinger added the net runner-up finish to his second place in Division 4.

The chapter donated $23 to Folds of Honor from the event.

That is the 2027 season up and running in the Maryland chapter, with Berkheimer’s 76 the number to beat and points on the board in all seven contests. Watch the chapter schedule for the next stop — the season is just getting started, and there is plenty of golf still to play.