Josh Gass rallies on back nine to best Baley Lehr in 43rd Berry Memorial

STREATOR – When a Gass and a Lehr are coming in on the back nine of the Richard J. Berry Memorial Championships neck-and-neck atop the leaderboard, history has shown there simply isn’t any margin for error.

Defending Berry Memorial champion Baley Lehr had a rough three-hole stretch late Sunday at the Eastwood, and Josh Gass – already having a fabulous, borderline history-making final round of the two-course, two-day tournament – took full advantage on his way to a 9-under-par, two-stroke victory in the 43rd year of the venerable tournament.

“Usually when Baley and I compete together,” Gass said, “it’s who makes the first mistake. It just so happens that it happened for him, unfortunately, on [No. 13]. You hate to see it, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

Gass’ victory came after trailing Baley Lehr by a single stroke following the opening round played Saturday at Pine Hills in Ottawa. Baley Lehr held onto that advantage through the front nine plus one hole Sunday at the Eastwood.

That’s when Gass carded a birdie on No. 10 while Baley Lehr bogeyed, then took full advantage of the former leader’s double-bogey on the par-4, 402-yard No. 13 with a birdie – the first of four straight Gass birdies – to open up a four-stroke advantage with five holes to contend.

“A three-hole stretch today,” Baley Lehr said. “I played really well besides those three holes. That’s what happens. ...

“We were just trying to shoot the lowest scores possible, and Josh didn’t make the mistakes I did on the back nine. It’s always fun though, and Josh, he played really well.”

With the win, Gass becomes just the third man to score five Championship Flight victories at the Berry, formerly known as The Times Men’s City Championships. He has won the tournament’s top flight in 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 and now 2023, tying him with fellow five-time champion Bob Berry behind eight-time winner Rich Holloway in the all-time standings.

“The last one was 2020, so this one’s been a long time coming. It feels good,” Gass said. “My game’s been in a good spot. I just had to put everything together for two days, and I finally did it again.”

Gass (133) flirted with the course record before bogeying both 17 and 18, but that was the only disappointment he had to deal with as he held off Baley Lehr (135), third-place Jeremy DeBernardi (138) and fourth-place Mason Kimberly (140), all of whom finished their 36 holes under par.

Brian Lehr (143), Breyer Harris (143), Rick Lehr (145), Patrick Guilfoyle (146), Drew Sabol (146) – after a stellar 68 at Pine Hills placed him in the final foursome – Drake Kaufman (147), Tony Muscato (149), Paul Snook (149), Jonathan Cooper (150), Rick Krumscheid (150) and Jake Delaney (151) closed out Championship Flight’s top 15.

It was Dane Lehr, however, who hit the shot of the weekend. Using a wedge on the Eastwood’s 145-yard No. 16, he recorded his first career hole-in-one, placing his shot just past the pin and watching it spin back in.

In the 43rd Berry’s other flights:

• Steve Limberg (147) marked a 73 at Pine Hills and 74 at the Eastwood to run away with Championship 2 Flight’s top trophy, scoring a six-stroke victory. Cole Park (153) won a three-man playoff for second, with Al Retoff (153) third and JD Joanis (153) fourth.

• In A Flight, Grant Plym (158) and Collin VanDuzer (158) finished tied through 36 holes, sending the pair to a sudden-death playoff where Plym birdied to take the title. Third-place Eric Arambula (161), Kylen Krasnican (161) and Ryan Yuhas (163) completed A Flight’s top five.

• In B Flight, Tom North didn’t shoot as well Sunday at the Eastwood (86) as his round at Pine Hills (77), but his two-day 163 was enough to take home the flight title by two strokes over hard-charging Mike Renner Jr. (165). Aaron Biagioni (167), Adam Brown (168) and Mitch Barton (169) rounded out the top five.

• In C Flight, it took a three-hole tiebreaker for Andrew Barton (170) to hold off second-place Dakota Limberg (170) and third-place Logan Aukland (170). Drew Donahue (171) was fourth and Austin Slusarski (173) fifth.

• In D Flight, Derek Kruger (174) ran away with the title by 11 strokes over runners-up Jeff Harcar (185) and Dustin Masley (185), with Masley winning a one-hole playoff for second place. William Missel (189) finished fourth, and Dave Durgach (190) was sixth).

• In the Legends Flight closer-tee senior division, Bill Sipula shot a 156 to come out ahead of Charlie Monroe (158), Bud Dilley (159) and Bill Mattingly (160).

• Muscato (149) repeated as Senior Flight winner, finishing four strokes ahead of Retoff (153).