Private Club

The last two pairings went to the 18th green and the Private Clubs won both of them to take a 7-5 lead after the first day of the annual Challenge Cup match with the Public Courses at Mount Pleasant. Twelve singles pairings this morning at Hunt Valley GC will conclude the event. Eddie Lipski and Charlie Harris, even with Tim Elliott and Mike Castrilli through 16 holes, took the 17th and 18th for a 2-up decision. Jim Winner and Mike Hudak were 2 up through 15, lost the 16th hole to Al Medlin's birdie, then halved 17 and 18 with Medlin and Blair Laubach to earn a 1-up victory.

Andy Pataki of Rolling Road Golf Club and Paul Steinhardt of Hayfields Country Club each went 4-0 during the three days of the seventh-annual team match between members of Private Clubs and the Public Courses, helping the Private side to a 19 1/2 -10 1/2 victory, which concluded yesterday at the Suburban Club. The Private forces won nine of the final-day 12 singles matches, with only Tim Elliott, Tim Osgood and Larry Cronise producing wins for the Public team. Despite the lopsided margin, most of the matches were close and hard-fought, with seven going at least to the 17th green, and three more to the 16th.

Paul Steinhardt was part of two winning sides in staying unbeaten as the Private Clubs built a 10 1/2 -7 1/2 lead after two days of the seventh annual Challenge Cup competition against a Public Course team yesterday. In foursomes and four-ball, the Private Clubs won the last two afternoon pairings to gain a 6 1/2 -5 1/2 edge for the day at Mount Pleasant Golf Course. Steinhardt, from Hayfields Country Club, playing with three different partners, was the only one of the two dozen players to win three times in as many tries.

EASTON -- Almost 200 hunters -- many from the Baltimore area -- filled a high school cafeteria Wednesday night to press for continued hunting on Eastern Shore land purchased by the state last year. Although everyone agreed that hunting should not be curtailed on the Chesapeake Forest property, the hunters debated whether the privilege should continue to belong only to the clubs that currently lease the land, or whether it should be shared by the public. The 58,000-acre Chesapeake Forest land consists of 29,000 acres owned by the state and 29,000 acres purchased by the Conservation Fund that will be donated to the state next year.

It's not quite party time again on little St. Helena Island, but a businessman's plan to turn his mansion there into a private club has won a key victory from the Anne Arundel County Board of Appeals.Overturning a hearing officer's decision, the board ruled, to the dismay of neighbors, that Keith J. Osborne could operate a club on the island in Little Round Bay without meeting on-site parking requirements.The island is inaccessible to cars, the board noted, and guest parking would be accommodated on a private lot on the mainland.

A Circuit judge prohibited a Crownsville man yesterday from using his mansion on St. Helena Island to hold weddings and other affairs -- except for the nuptials of one anxious June bride who's been worrying about the court decision. Her wedding will go on as planned.Judge Joseph P. Manck said he believed Keith Osborne, who owns the Annapolis-based Fantasy Island Management Inc., had used the island for commercial purposes in violation of county zoning laws.Osborne will have to cancel the two September weddings he booked on his 6-acre island.

More than 40 angry Crownsville residents showed up at an Anne Arundel County hearing yesterday to rail against an Annapolis businessman's plan to turn part of a secluded island in Little Round Bay into a private club for weddings and parties.The residents, and Annapolis Alderman Louise Hammond and Gregory C. Pinkard, a Baltimore businessman whose family owns a third of St. Helena Island, which lies just off the Severn River, voiced their opposition during a three-hour hearing before Stephen M. LeGendre, the county administrative hearing officer.

More than 40 angry Crownsville residents showed up at an Anne Arundel County hearing yesterday to rail against an Annapolis businessman's plan to turn part of a secluded island in Little Round Bay into a private club for weddings and parties.The residents, and Annapolis Alderman Louise Hammond and Gregory C. Pinkard, a Baltimore businessman whose family owns a third of St. Helena Island just off the Severn River, voiced their opposition during a three-hour hearing before Stephen M. LeGendre, the county administrative hearing officer.

The Private Clubs team put its superior shotmaking on display where it would do the most good -- in singles -- as it registered an 11 1/2 - 1/2 decision for the first one-sided victory in the fourth annual match against a Public Links team.After yesterday's play at Caves Valley Golf Club following Saturday's matches at Pine Ridge Golf Course, the final score was 22 1/2 -1 1/2 .The Private side, featuring mostly champions of their respective clubs, went beyond the 15th hole in only four of the 12 matches.