Bill Charpek Wins Senior Amateur Second Time In Three Years
Bill Charpek, 60, of Holmdel, won NJSGA 59th Senior Amateur Championship with a score of one-over-par 71-72-143, six shots better than a quartet of runners-up at the 6,121-yard Glen Ridge Country Club.
Charpek won once before, in 2015.
Tied for second at 149 were Phil Fabrizio of Knickerbocker (73-76-149), Dan Levinson of Bayonne (72-77-149), Tom DiCinti of Old York (78-71-149) and first-round leader Joe Roeder of Little Mill (69-80-149). Roeder's 69 in the first round was the low round of the event.
While the tournament was only scheduled for two days, lightning Wednesday morning forced the NJSGA to suspend play and return to Glen Ridge on Thursday to play the last few holes. Charpek didn’t let the rain stop him from playing well. He and the other players would much rather have completed play Wednesday, but the weather didn’t cooperate.
“That’s golf,” Charpek commented. “Sometimes things don’t work out as planned.”
“You get into a rhythm when you’re playing,” said Charpek when asked if the rain delay disrupted his game. But he agreed that suspending play was a smart move.
This summer seems to be a great one for Charpek. Just a month ago he won the award for low amateur at the NJSGA Senior Open at his home club, Navesink River Country Club, while his daughter Julia caddied for him.
Charpek is a three-time State Amateur runner-up. His victory exempted him into the 2018 State Open, State Amateur and State Mid-Amateur.
Charpek, a 10-time club champion at Navesink. He is also a member at esteemed Merion outside Philadelphia.
Charpek grew up in Middletown and attended Red Bank Catholic. He then matriculated to the University of North Carolina and made the golf team as a walk-on, winning one college tournament.
“I have played in a number of State Opens and State Amateurs. I’ve played in the U.S. Amateur three times in the 1980s and the U.S. Mid-Am twice, including the first one in 1981.
