Some of this was
ticketed to be the last Golf Notebook of the summer in the print version of the
Saturday Daily Times. Until Charlie Manuel got fired …
At age 61, Overbrook Golf Club’s Ray Thompson reached back
in the memory bank for a putting grip that made him a Philadelphia Amateur
champion a mere 41 years ago.
And it worked well enough for the Drexel Hill resident to fire
a 1-under 71 at LedgeRock Golf Club in Berks County Monday and earn a trip to
the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship. Thompson shared medalist honors with Jay
Blumenfeld of Parsippany, N.J. and John Long of Centreville, Va.
The fourth and final spot to the U.S. Senior Amateur, which
will be contest Sept. 21 to 26 at Wade Hamton Golf Club in Cashiers, N.C., went
to White Manor Country Club’s Don Donatoni, who matched par with a 72.
“I figured I didn’t have anything to lose,” Thompson told
the GAP website. “My speed was off on a couple of shorter ones, I left them
right on the lip and I couldn’t believe they didn’t fall in. But they were on
line, so I’m doing something right. Everything’s getting started on the line I
want.”
Thompson dominated the GAP senior division in 2007, winning
all three majors on his way to Player of the Year honors. He won the GAP Senior
Amateur in 2011. And he was a U.S. Open qualifier in 1977 and ’78.
He made it to match play at the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2010
and 2011. When he heads for Wade Hampton, he’ll be in it to win it.
“It’s nice to go back again,” Thompson said. “I want to go
down and win the thing, to be honest with you. I’m running out of time.”
It looked like Thompson had medalist honors sown up when he
got it to 4-under by holing a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-3 14th.
But bogeys at 15, 16 and 17 dropped him back to 1-under.
“I thought if I could get through No. 15, then I knew I was
in,” Thompson said. “I was trying to get to the 17th tee at 4-under.
I didn’t quite get there.”
Kan falls in semifinals
Aurora Kan, coming off a run to the third round of the U.S.
Amateur, saw her bid to add a second Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur title to the
one she won prior to the start of her senior season at Chichester in 2010,
halted in the semifinals Thursday at Gulph Mills Golf Club by defending champion
Ellen Ceresko.
It was a rematch of a semifinal thriller in 2010 when Kan, a
junior at Purdue, had to go to 19 holes to knock out Ceresko, a Penn State
senior, on her way to the title. The Big Ten standouts renewed the rivalry
Thursday and this time Ceresko, playing out of Glenmaura National Golf Club,
got the better of Kan, 3 and 1. Kan was playing out of Hartefeld National Golf
Club.
Ceresko made it two straight Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur
titles Friday when she defeated Pennsbury junior Jackie Rogowicz, the PIAA
Class AAA runnerup last fall, 5 and 3, in the final.
The opening round of matches was washed out Tuesday, which
was made up with the quarterfinals and semifinals being played Thursday.
Kan reached the semifinals with a 5 and 4 victory over Erin
Lo of Center Square Golf Club while Ceresko won her second straight extra-hole
thriller, needing 20 holes to get past Overlook Golf Club’s Allison Weaver.
Weaver had reached the second round with a close win herself, edging Aronimink
Golf Club’s Lauren Bernard, a senior at Bucknell, in 19 holes.
Rogowicz’s road to the final included a 4 and 3 victory over
Radnor sophomore Brynn Walker, who won the Pennsylvania Junior Girls title
earlier this summer, a 2 and 1 win over reigning Philadelphia Women’s Amateur
champion Emily Gimpel, the former Mount St. Joseph standout who is at Maryland,
and a 4 and 3 victory over Kelli Pry of Coatesville C.C., the 2011 state
amateur champion.
Catherine Elliott, the former Notre Dame and Penn standout
who plays out of Merion G.C., also earned a spot in the championship flight,
but lost on the 19th hole to Shannon Gramley of Avalon G.&C.C.
in the first round.
Another Merion member, Loraine Jones, a scholastic standout
at Haverford back in the day, settled for a spot in the first flight and reached
the semifinals before falling , 4 and 3, to Lauren Waller of Southpointe G.C.
In what is likely as competitive a senior division as you
can find in any state in the country, Liz Haines, the Merion veteran, reached
the semifinals before falling, 3 and 2, to Noreen Mohler of Northampton C.C. Mohler
was on a winning U.S. Curtis Cup team as a player and captained a victorious
U.S. Curtis Cup squad in 2010.
Mohler claimed the senior title with a 6 and 5 victory over
Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Lisa McGill in the final.
Mason claims Pennsylvania Open title
Andrew Mason was the dominant amateur player in the
Philadelphia area the last two summers, earning the Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s William Hyndman III Player of the Year in 2011 and completing an
Impressive double in 2012 by taking the Philadelphia Open at legendary Pine
Valley Golf Club and the Pennsylvania Amateur right here in Delaware County at
Rolling Green Golf Club.
Mason decided to give the pro game a try and he’s been
teeing it up in a variety of mini-tours and hopes to get some status on the
Web.com Tour for 2014. This week at Commonwealth National Golf Club, the former
Temple standout grabbed the $8,000 winner’s check with a one-shot victory in
the Pennsylvania Open.
Mason opened play Monday with a 3-under 68 at the
7,117-yard, par-71 Commonwealth National layout. The second round was postponed
by Tuesday’s torrential rains, so a cut was made at 49 players and the
survivors played 36 holes Wednesday.
Mason fired a pair of 72s Wednesday to finish at 1-under
212, a shot better than John Popeck of Washington. Mason had a comfortable
four-shot lead in the final round before letting Popeck back in it with a
couple of loose holes, but held on for the victory.
Leading the local contingent at Commonwealth National was
Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, who finished in a tie for
fourth at 3-over 216 as he sandwiched a 77 in the middle round with a 2-under
69 in the opening round and a 1-under 70 in the final round.
Billy Stewart, the one-time Llanerch Country Club member who
was the low pro at last month’s Philadelphia Open, finished in a tie for 13th
at 6-over 219.
A couple of Villanova teammates last spring, Cory Siegfried
(234) of Aronimink Golf Club and Ted Brennan of Philadelphia Country Club (235)
finished 45th and 46th, respectively. Both are former
Haverford School standouts. And Overbrook Golf Club’s Greg Jarmas, the former
Lower Merion standout who was the Ivy
League champion as a junior at Princeton last spring, finished in a tie for 48th
at 238.
Tough trip to U.S. Amateur
For those who aren’t among that exclusive group of my
Twitter followers (@Tom_McNichol), it was a rough couple of days for the trio
of Stephen Seiden, Sean Fahey and Scott Jaster in U.S. Amateur qualifying
Monday and Tuesday at The Country Club and Charles River Country Club in
suburban Boston.
Llanerch Country Club’s Seiden bounced back from an
opening-round 82 at the more difficult Country Club layout with a 72 at Charles
River to finish at 14-over 154.
Jaster, the three-time Haverford School All-Delco who plays
out of Talamore Country Club, added a second-round 77 at The Country Club to
the 79 he put up at Charles River for a 16-over 156 total. Overbrook Golf Club’s
Fahey, an Inter-Ac League rival of Jaster’s at Episcopal Academy, opened with
an 83 at The Country Club and bounced back with a 74 at Charles River to finish
a shot back of Jaster at 17-over 157.
Jaster and Fahey are off to Hanover, N.H. where they will be
teammates at Dartmouth and strong additions to Rich Parker’s Big Green squad.
Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour
The Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour made a stop at St.
Davids Golf Club Monday and two up-and-coming girls battled it out for top
honors in the 13-to-15 division.
Kaitlyn Lees, the Agnes Irwin eighth-grader who won the
Inter-Ac League title last spring, carded an 83 to finish two shots ahead of
incoming Radnor freshman Gabriella Kim. Lees birdied the par-5 11th
hole on her way to her fourth individual title on the Junior Tour circuit.
Two Notre Dame sophomores, Maddie Keane (98) and Gabby
Morganti (108), finished in a tie for third and fifth, respectively.
Notre Dame senior Coryn Mullen earned her first title of the
year by firing a 91 to finish first in the 16-to-18 division. Episcopal Academy
senior Ashley Mauch finished in a tie for third with a 99. Mauch’s fellow
Episcopal senior, Victoria Johnson, finished in a tie for sixth with Julia
Devine of Media at 102.
A couple of returning Inter-Ac standouts, Haverford School
junior Otis Baker and Episcopal Academy junior Trey Croney had high finishes in
the 16-to-18 division.
Baker carded a 78 over the 6,503-yard, par-70 St. Davids
layout to share second place with Jack Henderson of Wayne. Brendan Bacskai of
Berwyn topped the division with a 2-over 72. Croney and Nick Calabrese of
Newtown Square finished in a tie for fourth at 79.
Garnet Valley senior John Concannon was eighth with an 82,
fellow Jaguar senior Jack Highfill finished in a tie for 10th with
an 84, Teddy Selverian of Radnor finished 12th with an 85 and Joshua
Katz of Bryn Mawr was 17th with a 91.
In the 13-to-15 division, Luke Nichols of Bryn Mawr and
Jacob Calamaro of Newtown Square shared fourth place at 87. Daniel Bullock of
Wayne finished in a tie for 18th with a 99.
Among a big group of nine-holers who teed it up at St.
Davids, D.J. Colleran of Radnor finished fifth with a 44, William Blatchford of
Wayne, Dolan Cox of Newtown Square, Case Hummer of Glen Mills and Stephano
Blake of Radnor were among a group tied for seventh at 47, Joseph Morganti of
Havertown was 12th at 48, Charlie Baker of Wayne was 14th
with a 51, James Quinn of Radnor finished in a tie for 15th with a 52,
Hayden Smith of Havertown finished in a tie for 18th with a 54 and
June Kim of Wayne finished 22nd with a 59.
Croney continued his strong play as the Junior Tour headed
for the Shore Tuesday and Wednesday for
a Cleveland/Srixon Golf elite event at Atlantic City Country Club. The
Episcopal senior had rounds of 72 and 75 over the historic 6,481-yard, par-70
Atlantic City layout to finish in a tie for second in the 13-to-18 division at
7-over 147. Travis Sterrett of Middletown, Del. took top honors with a 6-over
146 total.
Garnet Valley’s Highfill bounced back from an opening-round
82 with a solid 2-over 72 in the second round for a 153 total that left him in
a tie for eighth. Ryan Bowman of Newtown Square had four nds of 77 and 87 foir
a 164 total that left him in 22nd place.
Lees and Kim, coming off their 1-2 finish at St. Davids,
also fared well in A.C. Lees had rounds of 83 and 76 to finish second in the 13-to-18 division with a 159 total. She
finished three shots back of division winner Erin DiDonato (79-77) of
Hammonton, N.J. Kim had rounds of 85 and 88 to finish fifth at 173.
In a Junior Tour stop Thursday at Chisel Creek Golf Club in
Chester County, Bryn Mawr’s Katz finished 10th in the boys 16-to-19
division with a 90.
Among the nine-holers, Newtown Square’s Cox finished fourth
with a 45.
In the 13-to-15 division, Hale Connor of Garnet Valley finished
13th with a 108.
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