Dornes goes low with 62 at Gulph Mills to take lead in Pennsylvania Open

   (I finally got around to amending this since the original version was written thinking J.D. Dornes started his round on the first hole when he actually started on the 10th.)

   Gulph Mills Golf Club, the Donald Ross design tucked in the midst of all that hustle and bustle in Upper Merion, has never been considered an easy golf course.

   But former Penn State standout J.D. Dornes made it look that way Monday in the opening round of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 101^st Open Championship, presented by LECOM, firing a brilliant 9-under-par 62 to grab a three-shot lead.

   It appears Dornes, a former Manheim Township standout, has turned professional. He certainly played like one Monday, blitzing the Gulph Mills layout for 10 birdie.

   It was reminiscent of his opening round in last summer’s Pennsylvania Amateur when he fired a scintillating 62 – that was only 8-under par – at another tough golf course, Moselem Springs Golf Club in Fleetwood. He eventually was caught and passed by has Penn State teammate, Cole Miller, for the top prize, but Dornes showed he isn’t afraid to take it low.

   And he may need to keep his foot on the gas because lurking three shots behind is a Penn State standout from a decade or so ago, Robert Rohanna, who has won the Pennsylvania Open twice, including last year by six shots at The Club at Nevillewood.

   Joining Rohanna at 6-under 65 are a couple of amateurs whose high school careers I chronicled in my Delco Daily Times days, Georgetown senior Cole Berman, a product of The Haverford School who finished fourth in the Pennsylvania Amateur a couple of weeks ago at White Manor Country Club, and former Radnor High standout Carey Bina, who’s been playing solid golf all summer.

   Two other pros are in the fivesome tied for second, including one that might know a thing or two about the golf course. That would be Gulph Mills assistant pro Jordan Gibbs, winner of the Philadelphia Section PGA Championship a year ago. Rounding out the quintet at 6-under is Lancaster pro David Denlinger.

   Dornes completed his Penn State career by helping the Nittany Lions earn a ticket to the NCAA Regionals in the spring of last year along with Miller and Dornes’ younger brother Ryan. In a very real way that team set the stage for this year’s squad, which took the next step, qualifying for the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

   Dornes started on the 10th tee Monday and started fast with four straight birdies at 10, 11, 12 and 13. He added birdies at 16 and 18 for a back-nine 30. After making pars on Gulph Mills' challenging first three holes, he birdied the par-3 fourth before making his only bogey of the day at th3e fifth to fall back to 6-under for his round.

   But Dornes' finish was nearly as strong as his start as he birdied seven, eight and nine to end up at 9-under.

   Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The Ace Club who won this championship two years ago at Rolling Green Golf Club, is in a group of three players tied for seventh at 5-under 66.

   The ageless Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, is also in that group. He tied for second at Rolling Green two years ago and won the Pennsylvania Open in 1998, known in some circles as the previous millennium. Ingraham played the weekend in last month’s U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass., finishing tied for 49^th.

   Rounding out the trio at 5-under 66 is Hershey professional David Hilgers.