Golf

St. Joseph's Prep edged regular-season champ La Salle by two strokes to captured the team trophy at the Catholic League golf championships yesterday at the Golf Course at Glen Mills. Led by individual champion Kevin Melnick, who carded a 3-over-par 74, the Prep had a team score of 492 in the nine-team competition. Monsignor Bonner's Steve Minnick and La Salle's Kevin Genuardi shot 75 each.

Player              School           Class        Major Dan Drazen          Rutgers-Camden Jr.        Economics Brendan Kelly          Villanova          Sr.        Finance Andrew Mason       Temple             Sr.     Real estate Michael Serensits    Drexel             Jr.        Bus. admin. Greg Verde             Cabrini             So.

A mob associate paid cash for a five-day "golf getaway" in Florida for Camden Mayor Milton Milan and his girlfriend, in the winter of 1998, witnesses testified yesterday. The jury in Milan's corruption trial saw a videotape of the mayor and his then-girlfriend, Kathryn Santa (now Milan's wife), and Camden attorney and mob associate Daniel Daidone at Philadelphia International Airport, about to board a plane to West Palm Beach. The silent video was shot by Philadelphia Police Det. Marcelino "Mark" Pinero, who has been assigned to an FBI organized crime squad for the past 17 years.

Sugar Ray Leonard was in Philadelphia to host the 2d Inner City Golf Classic yesterday.

Golf is hot; tennis is not. No, the Ryder Cup is not more popular than the U.S. Open, which starts today. But in the last five years, golf - slow golf, boring golf, too-privileged golf - has risen in popularity as never before. The 1998 Statistical Abstract of the United States reported that the number of golfers skyrocketed from 13 million to 25 million during the previous two decades, while the number of tennis players fell from 34 million to 18 million. Golf has Tigermania.

The owners of the bankrupt Rancocas Country Club in Willingboro may sell the property to developers despite a deed restriction limiting the land to use as a golf club, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The owners of the 130-acre site, which closed last month, had sought the ruling because the property could be sold for more money if used for development. However, township officials and residents adjacent to the golf course argued in briefs filed with the court that a restriction in the deed limited the grounds to use as a golf course.

The 75 Warminster residents who sat through last week's raucous, 5 1/2-hour Board of Supervisors meeting heard Ray Regan, the board's lone Democrat, accuse his Republican counterparts of a "massive financial cover-up on the golf course. " It was not the first time that Regan had cried foul about the financial condition of the township's Five Ponds Golf Course, claiming it was a drain on the township's resources. But this time, his volley came on the heels of an announcement that the course would show a profit - thus leaving the residents baffled.

Plans for an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course in Whitpain Township are one step closer to becoming reality. On Monday, the Whitpain Board of Supervisors approved two subdivision plans for a private golf course community at DeKalb, Morris and North Wales Roads, known as Normandy Farms. Franklin Realty Development Corp. in Whitpain and Hansen Properties of Horsham plan to develop the 350-plus acre tract into an 18-hole golf course and a 750-house development. During its meeting, the board voted, 4-0, to approve the request of David P. Greger to subdivide his 65-acre property at North Wales Road and sell a portion of the land to Franklin and Hansen.

Rob Ockenfuss' scores were low enough to attract the attention of Indiana University's golf team, and his grades were high enough to earn an academic scholarship to the Big Ten Conference school. The Pennridge senior has decided to continue his education at Indiana, where he plans to play golf and major in business. "He's worked a long time for what he's getting," said Bob Ockenfuss, his father and coach. "He's worked very hard on academics and golf. He wants to balance academics and sports.

Forever is not such a long time, as Willingboro residents are finding out. In the early 1960s, when William Levitt was building Willingboro, he hired Robert Trent Jones, a talented and prolific golf course architect, to design a 130-acre country club on the new community's western end, near the Rancocas Creek. Levitt made a deal with the township government at the time. If he were allowed to build homes on smaller lots around the golf course, he would agree that the golf course land would be zoned open space forever.

The Marlton real estate group that won the auction for Woodcrest Country Club is planning to reopen the Cherry Hill club as a public golf course, township officials said Tuesday. The Haydingers - principals of First Montgomery Group - contacted Mayor Chuck Cahn on Tuesday and shared their plans for the property, saying "they do not at this point plan to seek a zoning change," township spokeswoman Bridget Palmer said. Township officials, who have opposed development of the 155-acre property, "are cautiously optimistic," Palmer said.

GOLF'S GOVERNING bodies approved a rule yesterday that outlaws the putting stroke used by four of the last six major champions, a move opposed by two major golf organizations that contend long putters are not hurting the game. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club and U.S. Golf Association said Rule 14-1b will take effect in 2016. "We recognize this has been a divisive issue, but after thorough consideration, we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf," R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said.

Cherry Hill is partnering with Camden County to bid on the bankrupt Woodcrest Country Club in an effort to preserve it as open space. At the county's request, the Township Council voted Friday to spend up to $960,000 on the bid at Monday's auction. The move comes after the county Board of Freeholders voted Tuesday to commit the required deposit of $650,600 from its open-space fund in order to participate in the bidding. The club's only secured creditor is Sun National Bank of Vineland, N.J., which is owed about $11 million.

Cherry Hill Republicans on Monday night challenged plans by the township to bid on Woodcrest Country Club, questioning Mayor Chuck Cahn's support for a public purchase of the bankrupt golf course after receiving thousands of dollars in political donations from board members of the club's main creditor. Cahn, who became mayor in January 2012, received more than $16,000 in campaign contributions from members of the Brown family, some of whom serve on the board of directors of Sun Bank, according to election filings.

Robert Coyne (Downingtown West) and the Millersville men's golf team got off to a strong start at the opening round of the NCAA Division II Atlantic/East Super Regional on Monday. The Marauders closed the first of three rounds on the par-71 course in Wheeling, W.Va., with a 309 total, good for fourth and just 1 shot behind Indiana (Pa.) and Charleston. Coyne shot a 2-over-par 73, putting him third. Teammate Kevin Davis (Hatboro-Horsham) posted a 6-over 77 and is tied for 19th.

Ernest L. Ransome III, 86, of Okatie, S.C., and formerly of Camden County, a nationally ranked college athlete who earned the 1995 Ike Grainger Award from the U.S. Golf Association for more than 25 years of volunteer work, died Sunday, May 5, at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. A 16-year resident of Okatie, he previously resided at Pine Valley Golf Club in Pine Valley, Camden County, a daughter, Elizabeth Ransome, said Tuesday. Mr. Ransome since 1988 had been board chairman of his family firm, Giles & Ransome Inc., distributor of heavy construction equipment, with headquarters in Bensalem.

Former Masters winner Fred Couples and Ryder Cup stalwart Colin Montgomerie shared the stage in St. Augustine, Fla., on Monday night when both were inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, along with three others in the Class of 2013. Also inducted: former U.S. Open champion and broadcaster Ken Venturi , former European Tour director Ken Schofield and two-time British Open champion and architect Willie Park Jr. SOCCER: New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry ($4.35 million)

The driveway around Merion's handsome clubhouse directs visitors not with standard traffic indicators but rather with small signs discreetly inscribed with the golf club's iconic logo, a directional arrow, and one simple word, "Please!" That understated civility is a Merion trademark. It's reflected in the rules governing the golfing shrine: No hats under cover. No collarless shirts or sockless feet. No denim or cargo pants. No use of electronic devices. No mulligans on the first tee. No range-finders on the course, where - no surprise - there are no yardage markers or tee directions.

MICHAEL ROSATI had never sung in an opera, but he was eager to participate when he had the opportunity to be part of the chorus in a production of "Aida" in New York's Central Park in June. So what if he was in his early 80s? It made no difference to him. He still had a voice and he was practicing to lend that voice to the special demands of opera. But it was not to be. He died Saturday of cancer. Michael Rosati, an Air Force veteran who worked in the family plumbing business and as a pipe fitter at the old Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and whose passions included singing, coaching baseball and golf, was 82 and lived in Malvern, Chester County.

GREG NORMAN said golf's anti-doping procedures are "disgraceful" and blood testing needs to be instituted as soon as possible. "You only have to look at what happened to Vijay Singh just recently to know the drugs issue is there," Norman told The Australian newspaper. Singh acknowledged in a magazine interview in January that he had used deer antler spray, which contains a muscle-building hormone banned by the PGA Tour. It can be detected only by blood tests. "How deep it is [the problem]