Ingraham three back at Philadelphia Section championship

   Technically, Stu Ingraham, the teaching pro at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, is a senior player now that he's in his 50s.
    But Ingraham can still keep up with the young guys in the Philadelphia Section PGA, which he proved again Wednesday with five birdies on the back nine at White Manor Country Club on his way to a 4-under 67 that gave him sole possession of second place heading into the final round of the section championship.
   Combined with the 72 he shot at St. Davids Tuesday, Ingraham's 2-under 139 total leaves him three shots behind Chris Krueger of Kings Creek C.C. Krueger fired a 66 at St. Davids Wednesday to go with his opening-round 70 at White Manor for a 5-under 136 total.
   The field was cut to the low 60 and ties and 61 players will tee it up at White Manor today for the final round. The top 11 finishers earn a spot in next year's PGA Professional National Championhship. The top finishers at the National Club Pro then earn spots in pro golf's final major, the PGA Championship. Ingraham has traveled that route six times to get to the PGA Championship in his career.
   Rich Steinmetz, the head pro at Spring-Ford C.C. and a two-time winner of this championship, heads a group of three players at 1-under 140.
   Radnor Valley C.C. head pro George Forster, who like Ingraham is a senior player, is alone in seventh place at 1-over 142.
   Others making the cut were Merion G.C. director of instruction Mark Sheftic (71-75) at 5-over 146, Aronimink G.C.'s Patrick Clark (75-72) at 6-over 147, Aronimink's Rob Agresti (72-76) and Overbrook G.C.'s Scott Hunter (75-73) at 7-over 148, and Concord C.C.'s Mike Moses (74-76) and Merion's George Forster Jr. (74-76), the son of the Radnor Valley head pro, at 9-over 150.

Haverford School off to fast start

   The Inter-Ac League may have moved from the spring to the fall and changed its format, but The Haverford School, which won the league title the last time it was contested in the spring a few months ago, is dominating in the early going of the inaugural fall season.
   The Inter-Ac season began with each team sending eight players to Sunnybrook G.C. Sept. 12. for a mini-tournament hosted by Chestnut Hill Academy.
   The Haverford School was led by sophomore Cole Berman and junior Scott Jaster, an All-Delco last season, each of whom carded 38s. Jake Van Arkel added a 40, Jimmy Ryan had a 41 and Timmy Brooks  and Ryan Tetrault each had 42s as the Fords posted a 241 total.
   The way the league is scoring the mini-tournaments, that gave the Fords a 5-0 mark for the day. Malvern Prep finished second to stand at 4-1.
   Mike Davis, the Newtown Square resident and Malvern Prep sophomore who won the Inter-Ac individual crown as a freshman last spring, matched the 38s shot by Berman and Jaster at Sunnybrook. Episcopal Academy was led by Sean Fahey and Kevin Flannery, both of whom posted 41s.
   Monday, the second mini-tournament was hosted by Episcopal Academy at Merion G.C.'s West Course and it was a testament to The Haverford School's depth that Jaster struggled to a 45, but his teammates picked him up and the Fords again won the day with a 240 total that was 18 shots better than the 258s posted by the host Churchmen and Malvern Prep.
   This time the Fords were led by senior Mac Selverian, an All-Delco as a sophomore, who carded a 38. Selverian had struggled at Sunnybrook, but bounced back in a big way at Merion West, a course Haverford School is also familiar with.
   Also scoring for the Fords at Merion West were Matt Grubb with a 39, Berman and Brooks with 40s, Ryan with a 41 and Tetrault with a 42.
    Leading the way for Episcopal were Alex Dupre and Drew DeBacco, each of whom carded 40s.
   Malvern will host the next mini-tournament Oct. 3 at Applebrook G.C., Germantown Academy is next Oct. 10 at Plymouth C.C., Penn Charter is the host Oct. 17 at Gulph Mills G.C. and The Haverford School hosts a mini-tournament Oct. 20, again at Gulph Mills.
   Penn Charter will host the Inter-Ac Tournament, which will crown the league's individual champion, Oct. 24 at the Philadelphia Cricket Club's Militia Hill Course.

Smith finally falls at U.S. Mid-Am

   Pittsburgh resident and two-time U.S. Walker Cup team member Nathan Smith finally saw his bid to claim a third straigtht U.S. Mid-Amateur championship halted in the semifinals Thursday.
   Randal Lewis of Alma Mich. knocked out Smith on the 19th hole of their semifinal match at Shadow Hawk in Richmond, Texas.
   At age 54, Lewis will attempt to become the oldest U.S. Mid-Am champion when he faces Kenny Cook, a 6 and 5 winner over John Engler in Wednesday's other semifinal, in today's 36-hole final.
  Earlier Wednesday, Smith rallied to edge Mike Stamberger of Plainfield, N.J., 2 and 1, in a quarterfinal match. The victory extended Smith's record for  consecutive match wins in the U.S. Mid-Am to 16 straight, a streak that was finally halted in the semifinals by Lewis.