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Michael Kania, the two-time Haverford School All-Delco and two-time Inter-Ac League champion, chose the historic backdrop of Pinehurst, N.C. to record his first collegiate title.
A junior at Villanova, Kania carded a final-round of 2-over 73 at the 6,819-yard, par-71 Pinehurst No. 6 layout to claim the individual crown at the Pinehurst Intercollegiate earlier this month.
Kania, a member at Overbrook G.C. and a runnerup at the 2010 Philadelphia Amateur, had a three-shot over Old Dominion’s Garth McGee entering the final round. His lead was never less than two shots in the final round.
Kania started on the 10th hole and had six pars, two bogeys and a birdie to make the turn at 1-over. He had three birdies on the front side to build his advantage. He was 6-under on the par-5s for the 54-hole event.
"I want to thank my teammates and coaches," Kania said on Villanova’s website. "It was a real honor to win, but mostly I was proud of the team for getting to fifth place. I hope we can contiue to play well going into Big Easts and finish out the season strong."
Senior Brian Colbert actually bettered Kania’s final round with a 1-under 70 that that moved him to a tie for 14th. Junior Steve Skurla matched Kania’s final-round 73 as Villanova moved up from seventh to get fifth in the team standings. After struggling home with a 302 total in the first round, the Wildcats put up solid back-to-back 290s for a plus-30 882 total.
Junior Derek Jones finished in a tie for 44th with rounds of 79, 75 and 74 for a 228 total and Skurla was another two shots back in a tie for 50th at 17-over 230 and junior Jimmy Johnston finished in a tie for 52nd at 18-over 231.
Old Dominion won the team championship with an 871 total. The Wildcats finished just two shots back of fourth-place finisher Virginia Tech.
Villanova hosts the Wildcat Invitational at White Manor Country Club April 2 and 3.
Kan, Calamaro keep firing
Aurora Kan, the three-time Daily Times Player of the Year and 2010 PIAA champion at Chichester, finished in a tie for 61st to help Purdue finish third in the Insperity Lady Jaguar Intercollegiate last weekend at Augusta, Ga.
The Boilermakers were led by individual winner Paula Reto, who fired a brilliant final-round 64 to break the school record and cruise to a 10-shot victory. Reto’s 54-hole total of 9-under 207 (75-68-64) is also a Purdue record.
Laura Gonzalez-Escallon, who had set the single-round school record with a 65 less than a month earlier, finished in a tie for fifth with a 219 total. Kishi Sinha finished in a tie for eighth at 221.
Kan, a freshman, had rounds of 82, 77 and 81 for a 240 total.
She is competing for her spot in the starting lineup with two freshmen who joined the program for the spring semester after finishing high school early.
Vicky Scherer competed as an individual and her 228 total left her in a tie for 22nd. Kendall Dusenberry, the other recent high school graduate, rounded out the team scoring for Purdue in a tie for 68th with a 245 total.
Meanwhile, Jackie Calamaro, the 2009 PIAA champion and 2009-10 Daily Times Player of the Year at Radnor, competed as an individual for the University of Illinois in the Illini’s trip to the BYU Entrada Classic.
Calamaro, a Rolling Green Golf Club member, had rounds of 83, 81 and 86 over the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club course for a 34-over 250 total.
That left the redshirt freshman in 51st place and a shot back of the Illini’s final team scorer, junior Crystal Smith, who tied for 49th at 249.
Illinois’ final-round 305 was the best of the tournament and enabled the Illini to finish fourth with a 921 total. They were led by Hailley Koschmann who fired a final-round 71 to get a share of second place at 3-over 219. Sophomore Ember Schuldt closed with a 75 to finish in a tie for 13th at 14-over 230.
The end of Q-School and other changes
The PGA Tour policy board this week approved a couple of very significant changes that will end the Q-School — an event that had a special appeal to the more masochistic golf fans among us — and start the Tour calendar each year in October of the previous year.
Confused? I thought so.
The details on the calendar are still being ironed out, but the 2014 FedEx Cup race is going to start in October of 2013. Once the 2013 FedEx Cup wraps up, the events of what has come to be known as the Fall Series will count toward the 2014 FedEx Cup standings.
How much they will count is still being figured out. And the people at Frys.com, which has sponsored an increasingly popular Fall Series event, have apparently made it clear that they want their event to be considered a marquee stop — FedEx points and all — or they might pull out their sponsorship money and go home.
There will be a Q-School-type series as well, although getting there will be based on a player’s standing on either the Nationwide or PGA tours.
When the 2013 FedEx regular season ends in August 2013, the top 75 finishers on the Nationwide Tour and players who finished No. 126 through 200 on the PGA Tour will be eligible to play in a three-tournament series. The top 50 finishers in the series will earn PGA Tour cards for the following season.
There are still plans for a Q-School for the Nationwide Tour.
There are all sort of stats being bandied about that prove that the Nationwide Tour graduates have a much higher degree of success on the PGA Tour than Q-School graduates do.
But a feel-good story like 21-year-old John Huh, who went through all three stages of Q-School to reach the tour and then won the recent event in Mexico that was held opposite the WGC Match Play, will no longer be written.
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