Written By: Greg Johnson
BATH – David LeVan of Traverse City and Bill Ulle of Novi met 25 years ago at Rackham Golf Course in Detroit and have maintained their friendship through golf.
They have also maintained their golf games and teamed up to win the 20th GAM Senior Four-Ball Championship presented by Sullivan Golf Travel at Eagle Eye Golf Club on Monday and Tuesday.
“Winning this is special,” LeVan said after they shot a final-round 5-under 67 Tuesday on the heels of Monday’s first-round 64.
“It was a great event. We want to thank everybody from the GAM and from Eagle Eye for putting together a great event. The course was in spectacular shape. We definitely ham-and-egged it. We were a good partnership.”
Their 13-under 131 total bested the field by five shots.
Chris Bailey of Rochester and Tom Senkowski of Rochester Hills shot a closing 67 for 136 and runner-up honors.
Bob Carson of Oxford and Jerry Dagenais of Lake Orion shot a closing 67 for 137 and third place.
Dave Lee of Mason and Robert Matthiesen of Grand Ledge shot a second consecutive 69 for 138 and fourth place, and four teams finished at 140.
Super Senior champions (age 65-plus) were also crowned in the championship that had a total of 58 Senior and Super Senior teams.
Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Randy Lewis of Alma and Jim Hegarty of Grand Rapids, also longtime friends, played together in a team event for the first time and shot two rounds of 67 for a 10-under 134 two-day total.
They won by just one shot over two teams.
Steve Maddalena, another Michigan Golf Hall of Famer, and partner Mike Raymond, both from Jackson, shot a closing 66 for their 135, and they finished tied with another Jackson duo, Greg Zeller and Harold West, who shot a closing 69.
In the Senior Division, LeVan and Ulle carried on with the momentum provided in Monday’s round of 64.
“It was windy yesterday and I don’t think we expected to shoot that kind of number,” LeVan said. “We just kind of got it rolling on the back nine. We were even-par through seven and birdied eight of the next 11. So that definitely gave us some confidence going to today, and the fact we never made a bogey for two days was big for us.”
Ulle said he was able to keep the ball in play and that was the key for the duo.
“I didn’t hit it out-of-bounds a bunch, so he didn’t get mad at me,” he quipped.
Ulle said they stayed positive, which made it fun.
“It’s awesome just to be on that trophy with some of the names, and we just had a great time,” he said. “You know, it’s always fun when you play well and win. But regardless, we just had a great time. You know, even on holes where we were kind of struggling on, we never got negative.”
Things didn’t get negative for Lewis and Hegarty in the Super Senior Division either.
They didn’t have to put a bogey on the scorecard through the two rounds, and both made key plays coming down the stretch on Tuesday.
“In something like this tournament, you can’t go backwards,” Lewis said. “There are too many good players, so it was nice to keep the cards clean both days. We did just enough to get by. Jim made a crucial putt on 15, an eight or nine-footer right straight down the hill. That was huge.”
Hegarty said Lewis made some 10-to-15-foot par putts that held the rounds together both days and made a big birdie on 17 in the final round.
“It was a thrill to play with him and not disappoint him,” he said and laughed.
The duo met 45 years ago during a Michigan Publinx Match Play practice round at The Pines Golf Course at Lake Isabella, and Lewis calls it the greatest week of his life.
“I got paired with Randy and this cute young woman behind the counter at Lake Isabella says, ‘Hey, you just met him. Can you introduce me to him?’” Hegarty said. “And it’s now his best friend and wife of many, many years. And we’ve been great friends ever since.”
