McDermott edges Osberg to win BMW Philadelphia Amateur for a third time

   It would almost be enough to just say what happened Saturday, that Michael McDermott won the BMW Philadelphia Amateur title for the third time at age 41 over one of his best friends, Jeff Osberg, on his home course, Merion Golf Club’s historic East, one of the most treasured layouts in the world.

   It would almost be enough to just say that McDermott won the scheduled 36-hole final on the 36^th hole, 1-up, halving the hole with a par on a day when halved holes were the exception rather than the rule.

   But that wouldn’t quite say enough about where McDermott fits as the time line of the Philadelphia amateur golfer stretches past this 116^th playing of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Amateur Championship.

   McDermott talked freely when he had his name inscribed on the J. Wood Platt Trophy for the second time after a victory over Alexander Hicks at one of his other home course, Aronimink Golf Club, three years ago about how he had followed the example of players like Chris Lange and David Brookerson.

   That unbroken line stretches back to Jay Sigel and Buddy Marucci to William Hyndman III, whose name appears on the GAP Player of the Year award that McDermott has won five times.  You can follow it back to Woody Platt himself if you keep going.

   And now McDermott is the mentor to guys like last year’s Philly Amateur finalists Cole Berman and Michael Davis and to Patterson Cup winner Chris Crawford, who capably represented Philadelphia golf in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club this week.

   Of course, the mentoring thing isn’t quite as effective if you’ve lost too much off your fastball and McDermott continues to prove that he can play at a high level, especially on the classic courses in this area on which par is still a very good score.

   McDermott, a Haverford High and Saint Joseph’s product, and Osberg, an Owen J. Roberts and Guilford College (N.C.) product, met in the second round of the Philly Amateur a year ago at Llanerch Country Club, a course both know well. They made birdies in bunches and McDermott claimed a 2-up decision.

   But both longed to do it again, but for 36 holes in the final. And what better stage than the 6,697-yard, par-70 Hugh Wilson design in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township that has been the site of five U.S. Opens, most recently Justin Rose’s 2013 triumph? It was the first time the Philly Amateur returned to Merion in 62 years and Philly golf fans got the final they wanted on the golf course they wanted to see it on.

   Frequent updates were being sought in this Stonewall looper’s group Saturday afternoon. Even if they were playing golf elsewhere, the Philadelphia golfer wanted to know what was going in this match.

   What they saw, even from afar, were wild momentum swings, right to the very end when the 31-year-old Osberg, playing out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, seemed to seize control of the match by winning the 31^st hole (Merion’s classic little par-3 13^th) with a birdie and the 32^nd hole with a par to take a 2-up lead with four holes to play.

   Of course, Osberg would never make the mistake of underestimating his partner in the recent U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, especially in match play.

   And McDermott showed his resilience by making a winning birdie on the 33^rd hole that ignited a string of three straight wins that brought McDermott to the 18^th tee with a 1-up lead. McDermott won the 34^th (Merion’s quarry 16^th), and the 35^th (Merion’s treacherous par-3 17^th) with pars, but par is a good score on both of those holes.

   As it is on Merion’s last, where Ben Hogan needed a par to force a playoff in the 1950 Open, where Rose drilled a 4-iron for a par that secured the 2013 Open. And McDermott got the par he needed to win the match.

   It all started early Saturday morning quietly enough with the combatants halving the first four holes. Then the fireworks began.

   McDermott won the fifth with a birdie, the sixth with a par and the seventh with a birdie to go 3-up. Osberg, who won the 2014 Philly Amateur title at White Manor Country Club, shrugged and won eight with a birdie, nine with a bogey and 11 with a birdie to get the match all square.

   McDermott won the 12^th with a par, Osberg answered with a birdie at 13. McDermott won 14 with a par, 15 with a birdie and 16 with a par to take a 3-up lead into the lunch break. After halving the first four holes, only three others were halved in the first 18 holes.

   Osberg quickly fought his way back into the match, winning the 22^nd and 23^rd holes with pars, to cut the deficit to one hole. McDermott won the 24^th with a par to go 2-up.

   Osberg won the 25^th with a birdie, the 27^th with a par and the 29^th hole – for you history buffs, that’s the 11^th, where Bobby Jones completed the Grand Slam in 1930 by winning the U.S. Amateur – with a birdie to go 1-up.

   McDermott got it all square by taking the 30^th with a par, but then Osberg unleashed those back-to-back wins to set the stage for McDermott’s late run to victory.

   In many ways it was the perfect ending to a close-to-perfect week on the perfect golf course. And the weather? As perfect as weather can be.

   It was McDermott’s 10^th victory in a GAP major, quite an accomplishment.  But the really good news is that the Philadelphia amateur golfer -- as gracious in defeat as he is in victory, a tenacious competitor, always representative of his home base when on the road -- will continue on its unbroken line because Michael McDermott is setting the example that the next generation can’t help but want to emulate.