Spectator carts are positioned behind the 14th green at Fox Hill June 26 as David Kluger follows the flight of his approach shot. Kluger and Eric Williams wrapped up their fourth title since 2009 by halving the hole with finalists John Mulhern Jr.-Zach Mulhern.

Spectator carts are positioned behind the 14th green at Fox Hill June 26 as David Kluger follows the flight of his approach shot. Kluger and Eric Williams wrapped up their fourth title since 2009 by halving the hole with finalists John Mulhern Jr.-Zach Mulhern.

EXETER – David Kluger and Eric Williams picked up momentum on the third and fifth greens and never slowed down in the June 26 final of the 76th annual John A. Allan Invitational at Fox Hill County Club.

Kluger and Williams went on to defeat John Mulhern Jr.-Zach Mulhern, 4 and 3, in the final round of the championship flight.

The Mulherns were up one hole with the help of Williams three-putting on 2 where he missed a six-footer.

Williams made one tough birdie putt on 3, then Kluger made another two holes later.

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The first birdie erased an early deficit and helped settle Williams.

“In the beginning, I felt jittery,” he said. “ … Gradually, I just got better and better, got more confident in my swing and really made some clutch shots.”

Williams saved par after a bad second shot went over the green on 4, then Kluger put the champions in front on 5.

“The up-and-down on 4 kept that momentum going for me personally, then the putt that Dave made on 5 was ridiculous,” Williams said. “Putts like that on 3 and 5, you kind of think, ‘well maybe it is our week’.”

For the fourth time at the Allan – and the third time in the last seven years – it was.

Kluger praised the play of Williams, a Honesdale Golf Club member.

“He’s one of the best players in northeast PA,” Kluger said. “He’s always great. The magic of the Allan is something great for me because I always play better in the Allan than I do normally.

“With Eric, all I’ve got to do is supplement him a little bit. If I get off to a good start and get a couple of early birdies, you know he’s going to get more later.”

Kluger managed to do that and the partners, after earning the fourth seed during June 24 qualifying, helped each other through the grind of four match play rounds in two days.

“We worked on greens and club selection,” Kluger said. “We really partnered well.”

It all added up to an enjoyable weekend.

Standing near the 15th green after closing the match with the help of winning three out of four holes from 10 through 13, Williams pointed to the large crowd following the final foursome. He described the Allan as one of the three-day, member-guests around the northeastern Pennsylvania circuit that has maintained its tradition. Kluger said the work of grounds superintendent Ron Garrison, general manager Shane Bradley and pros Ross Brown and Victoria Petrosky was an important part of making it a special weekend at the club.

Kluger-Williams shot a 2-under-par, 69 in qualifying. Their half of the bracket got a jolt Saturday morning when 16th seeds Michael Crossin-Evan Joyce knocked out top-seeded John Mikiewicz-Tom Biscotti on the first playoff hole of the first round of match play after finishing 13 strokes higher when the defending champions were posting a 65 in qualifying.

That left the Mulherns as the highest-remaining seed in the field. They fought their way to the finals with wins in 19 and 21 holes on the first day of match play before beating 11th-seeded Mark Answini-Shamus Gartley, 2 and 1, in the semifinals.

Kluger-Williams had their toughest match in the semifinal with a 1-up victory over ninth-seeded Donald Crossin-Ryan Crossin.

Full championship flight results from the four weekend rounds of match play:

First round – Michael Crossin-Evan Joyce over John Mikiewicz-Tom Biscotti, 19 holes; Donald Crossin-Ryan Crossin over Michael Hannagan-Eric Weiscarger, 6 and 4; David Kluger-Eric Williams over Jamie Anzalone-Bill Musto, 5 and 3; R.J. Nemetz-Marty Behm over Robert Santarelli-Patrick Mitchell, 20 holes; John Mulhern Jr.-Zach Mulhern over Paul Keating-Matt Teasdale, 19 holes; Robert Gill-Brian Corbett over Joseph Carroll-Eric Plisko, 19 holes; Lorenzo Medico-Tyler McGarry over William Gill-Joe Weiscarger, 5 and 4; Mark Answini-Shamus Gartley over Chris Tracy-Ryan Tracy, 2 and 1.

Quarterfinals – Crossin-Crossin over Crossin-Joyce, 4 and 3; Kluger-Williams over Nemetz-Behm, 2 and 1; Mulhern-Mulhern over Gill-Corbett, 21 holes; Answini-Gartley over Medico-McGarry, 2 and 1.

Semifinals – Kluger-Williams over Crossin-Crossin, 1 up; Mulhern-Mulhern over Answini-Gartley, 2 and 1.

Final – Kluger-Williams over Mulhern-Mulhern, 4 and 3.

Of the other 20 flights, 18 were made up of four teams each and decided their titles on the round-robin results of match play, each of three days against one of the other teams in the flight. One point per hole was available for 18 points in each match with teams capped at a maximum of 14 points in any one match.

The top two finishers of those flights, with their point totals:

First – Michael Brown-Anthony Bellino, 30½; Gary Peters-Josh Peters, 30.

Second – Brian Lombardo-Michael Lazevnick, 32; Mark Rowan-Alex Rowan, 28½.

Third – Thomas Gill-Mark Pianelli, 32½; Jon Melvin-Randall Marcotte, 30½.

Fourth – William Boyle-Chris Boyle, 30; Scott Gartley-Josh Gartley, 26½.

Fifth – tie Derek Zambino-Patrick Son, 28½, and Daniel Fusco-Mike Ruggere, 28½.

Sixth – Thomas Sharkey-Don Loughney, 35; Michael Valenti-Bill Briggs, 27.

Seventh – John Lasko-John Lasko Jr., 32; Thomas Crossin-Tim Crossin, 27.

Eighth – Stephen Clemente-Jeff Clemente, 34½; Robert Razvillas-Joseph Carr, 27½.

Ninth – Dante Bovani-Jimmy Charney, 32; Ken Sorick-Kenneth Sorick, 31.

10th – Sean Tracy-David Tracy, 33½; Ted Harris-Anthony Heck, 27.

11th – James Devers-P.J. Adonizio, 33; Murray Jay Miller-John Carey, 27½.

12th – Charles Manganiello-Matthew Bluhm, 28½; Thomas Melone-Peter Albano, 27.

13th – Joe Valenti-Joe Valenti Jr., 31; Mark Nobile-Mark Nobile Jr., 29½.

14th – Fred Lombardi Jr.-Fred Lombardi Sr., 36; John Carr-Ryan Carr, 26½.

15th – Joseph Bruno-David Bruno, 34½; Alan Rosen-Max Rosen, 26½.

17th – Dave Voitek Jr.-David Voitek III, 40; Timothy Yorek-Joe Tedesco, 28½.

18th – Jerry Champi-Craig Champi, 30; William Anzalone-William Anzalone Jr., 28½.

20th – Richard Kleynowski-Greg Banks, 32½; Thomas Quinnan-Andy Hornberger, 28½.

Two other flights had one team each drop out prior to the start of play Friday. Those flights switched to Stableford scoring for the three days.

The top two teams in those flights were:

16th – Joseph Stella-Dean McKernan 70; Wayne Lauer-Steve Menn, 65.

19th – Stephen Selenski-Leonard Selenski, 66; Ronald Gold-Rick Gold, 65.