GAP team finishes second to Western Pa. in Williamson Cup

   The Golf Association of Philadelphia’s entry of four standout junior golfers was a solid runnerup as the 54^th A. Fred Williamson Cup was contested at the Pittsburgh Field Club, a classic layout that both Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast are said to have a hand in helping to design, Tuesday.

   The GAP foursome of GAP Junior Boys’ champion Dawson Anders, Christman Cup winner Ben Pochet, Harry Hammond Award winner Ron Robinson and Matt Graeff hung in there in the opening round, posting a 220 total to trail the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association by just four shots.

   But Western Pa., led by Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ champion Palmer Jackson, pulled away with a 4-under 209 in the second round for a 1-under 425 total. A team’s top three scores of the four were counted.

   GAP improved on its opening round by four shots with a second-round 216 to finish at 10-over 436, 11 shots behind the Western Pa. squad.

   Louis Olsakovsky, a recent Upper St. Clair graduate, fired a 4-under 67 in the afternoon round to lead the way in a strong second-round effort for Western Pa. Jackson, who finished tied for ninth in the PIAA Class AAA championship as a sophomore at Franklin Regional last fall, added a 1-under 69 and Mark Goetz, a Greensburg resident who captured the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association title as a senior The Kiski School, carded a 2-over 73.

   In the morning, Goetz and Jackson both matched par, each posting a 71 and Olsakovsky added a 74. Brady Pevarnik, who finished tied for third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a sophomore at Latrobe last fall, played pretty well with rounds of 76 in the morning and 74 in the afternoon, but Western Pa. had the luxury of tossing both of his scores.

   In the morning round, Team GAP was led by Anders, a Souderton graduate who will play for Brian Quinn at Temple. He had an even-par 71. Robinson, a North Penn graduate who is headed for Monmouth University, had a 73 and Pochet, a Drexel recruit who was the District One Class AAA champion as a junior at Spring-Ford last fall, had a 76. An 85 by Graeff, a Wissahickon graduate who is headed for Virginia Tech, was tossed.

   In the afternoon, Pochet fired a 1-under 70, Anders again matched par with a 71, Robinson had a 75 and Graeff’s 80 again was tossed out.

   The always strong Metropolitan New York Golf Association team finished third, six shots behind GAP at 442. The Delaware State Golf Association finished fourth at 446 and the Pennsylvania Golf Association, which had players from all ends of the state, took fifth, a shot behind Delaware at 447.

   The Delaware team had the Barbin brothers, Austin and Zachary, of Elkton, Md., Nikita Romanov, the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour 13-to-15 Player of the Year in 2016 from Wilmington, and Danny Dougherty.

   The PAGA team featured Haverford School junior A.J. Aivazoglou, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, Chris Tanabe, who captured the PIAA Class AA title as a senior at Quaker Valley last fall and is headed for Bucknell, White Manor Country Club’s Cole Berger and Karsen Rush, a junior at Chambersburg.

   While the emphasis was on the team competition, they were paying attention to the individual standings and the top finisher was the Met’s Chris Gotterup, a Little Silver, N.J. resident who starred scholastically at Christian Brothers Academy and is headed for Rutgers.

   Gotterup fired a brilliant 5-under 66 in the second round after opening with a 72 for a 4-under 138 total. Western Pa.’s Jackson (71-69) and Olsakovsky (74-67) finished second and third with respective totals of 2-under 140 and 1-under 141.

   GAP’s Anders (71-71) was fourth at even-par 142, Western Pa.’s Goetz (71-73) was fifth at 2-over 144 and Jason Lohwater (69-76) of the Rochester District Golf Association was sixth at 3-over 145.

Three players finished tied for seventh at 4-over 146 including Delaware’s Austin Barbin (73-73), GAP’s Pochet (76-70) and PAGA’s Rush (77-69).