It's a Mac Attack

    The real definition of a true mid-amateur player is somone who might have to put the clubs away every once in a while because the demands of family and work are a little higher priority than hitting the little white ball around.
   Such was the case with Michael McDermott. And he's not just any mid-amateur. The Haverford High and Saint Joseph's University product is a five-time winner of the William Hyndman III Award that goes to the Golf Association of Philadelphia's Player of the Year.
   McDermott had been the best amateur player in the Philadelphia area for a decade when his name suddenly stopped showing up in GAP competitions a year ago.
   Well, he'll be back again when the first GAP major event of the year, the Middle-Amateur Championship, tees off Wednesday at Laurel Creek Country Club in Mount Laurel, N.J.
   "I just decided not to dedicate any time to golf last year, so it makes this year sort of interesting or exciting because I haven't played in tournaments in 18 months," the 2008 GAP Mid-Am champion told the GAP website. "My time (last year) was best spent not even worrying about golf. It was a great move. This year, I feel like I can give it a good effort because guys like (defending Mid-Am champ Tom) Gramigna, (2009 Mid-Am champion Michael) Brown and (Jeff) Osberg are really playing great golf. I've been watching them closely over the past year, even though I haven't been playing myself."
   McDermott captained the Merion G.C. team that reached the playoff round in the top tier of the GAP Team Matches and actually ran into Osberg, a member at Llanerch C.C., in a key match that pitted McDermott's new club against his old stomping grounds at Llanerch, where the rest of his family still plays.
   Don't expect that the absence from competition will have hurt McDermott's game much. He says he feels "pretty good" about his game. If anything, being away from tournament golf may serve to restoke the competitive fires.
   "I historically thought I played better in competition than in social rounds, but that was because I played a lot of competition," McDermott said. "Now that I've taken time off, that'll certainly be tested. Hopefully, I wake up on the right side of the bed and I have a swing amd a putting stroke. I don't think one year off is going to have a dramatic impact."

A near miss for Purdue

    Caught up with PIAA girls champion Aurora Kan of Chichester at the Delco Athletes Hall of Fame scholarship awards luncheon Thursday and she indicated she'd be rooting for Purdue, where Kan is headed in the fall, as the Boilermakers tried to repeat as the NCAA champions this weekend at The Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.
    And Purdue, which became the first "cold-weather" college to win an NCAA golf title a year ago, almost pulled it off.
    After a just-good-enough-to-qualfy effort at the regionals, Purdue turned on the switch at the NCAA Tournament in finishing second to UCLA when all the shots were counted Saturday.
   The final tally had Purdue four shots behind. The margin would have been only two shots, but Purdue's Thea Hoffmeister was disqualified for signing for a score lower than her 75. Purdue had to use Maude-Aimeer LeBlanc's 77. The mistake didn't cost Purdue the title and it didn't affect the Boilers' second-place standing, but coach Devon Brouse hopes the lesson is learned.
   "We shouldn't have to teach that lesson many more times, because if you do that at the NCAA championship the last round, it obviously has consequences," Brouse told The Associated Press.
   Purdue was led by Laura Gonzalez, who finished third in the individual chase with a 286 total, five shots back of LSU freshman Austin Ernst, who claimed the title. Purdue's Numa Gulyanamitta finished in a tie for eighth at 289.
   Tiffany Lua finished in a tie for fourth at 287 to lead the way for UCLA.