There’s a ton of college golf going on in the fall and I’ve
tried to keep up with the Philadelphia men’s teams as much as possible, but I
missed a few events. I probably kept up with Temple and Villanova the most
after doing a couple of college spotlight features on those programs for Joe
Burkhardt’s Tri-State Golfer earlier
this year.
They were all together in one place Saturday for the City 6
Championship, a golf tournament that makes so much sense it’s great that Temple
coach Brian Quinn and his City 6 colleagues have made it a point to punctuate
the fall season with this event.
Coming from an old-school Big 5 basketball perspective, it
just makes sense to have all these schools play in one event, just them, no
outsiders. A one-day 18-hole shootout isn’t that tough to fit into the
schedule. The teams are an interesting collection of recent PIAA and Catholic
League standouts, Golf Association of Philadelphia regulars and guys from all
over the country, not to mention La Salle freshman Zaffar Sikkander from Sri
Lanka.
You want to talk about the Palestra? There are about a dozen
Palestras in the Philadelphia area when you start talking about classic golf
courses.
They didn’t even have to venture outside the city limits to
tee it up Saturday at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale, a 6,470-yard,
par-70 Donald Ross classic. Last year they played at a William Flynn gem at
Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
Temple won the team title in a playoff with Villanova at
Huntingdon Valley a year ago and the Owls were in the hunt for the team title
right to the end again at Torresdale.
But Drexel senior Aaron Fricke, a former Garden Spot
standout, birdied the last hole to give him the
individual title with a 1-under-par 69, but also lift the Dragons to the
team title by a shot over the Owls.
It was the last of Fricke’s four birdies in a sizzling
back-nine charge. Playing out of Lancaster Country Club, Fricke was showing up
in GAP events all summer. He reached the second round of match play in the BMW
Philadelphia Amateur at Philadelphia Cricket Club, another one of those
Palestra-type golf courses, before falling, 1-up, to eventual finalist Grant
Skylass of LedgeRock Golf Club.
Fricke’s birdie at 18 gave Drexel an 8-over 288 with Temple
just a shot back in second at 9-over 289. A solid effort by Penn gave the
Quakers third place at 295. The Holy War had to be called a draw in this one as
Villanova and Saint Joseph’s finished tied for fourth at 305 and La Salle was
sixth at 310.
It looks like teams were given the option of fielding a
six-man starting lineup rather than the usual five, although, as usual, the top
four scores counted. There are often a lot of “competing as individuals” in an
event like this, but it looks like the six-starters option was a nice
compromise to give teams a chance to get somebody a start without the field
size getting out of control with a lot of extra starters.
The Golfstat program
seems to have run out of gas late in the day, so I don’t have everybody’s
place, but I’ll run down everybody’s score.
Temple went 2-3 with John Barone, a redshirt junior from
Dunmore, matching par with a 70 to finish just a shot behind Fricke, and senior
Mark Farley, a Calvary Christian standout getting his first action of the fall,
taking third with a 1-over 71.
Backing up Fricke for Drexel was Adam Mistretta, a sophomore
from Livermore, Calif. who shared fourth place with Penn’s Carter Thompson, a
senior from Tallahassee, Fla., at 2-over 72. Thompson, who began his college
golf career at Florida State, lost out in a 4-for-1 playoff for the final
ticket to the U.S. Amateur in a qualifier at Stonewall last summer.
A third Drexel player, sophomore Alex Butler, a member of
St. Joseph Prep’s 2014 PIAA Class AAA championship team, was in a group of
three players tied for sixth at 3-over 73. He was joined at that figure by
Villanova’s Matt Barnes, a freshman from Bethesda, Md., and Penn’s Josh
Goldenberg, a junior from Scarsdale, N.Y.
Also for Ben Feld’s Dragons, junior Mike Cook, a product of
a perennial Central League power Conestoga, and sophomore Connor Schmidt, a
member of Peters Township’s 2015 PIAA Class AAA runnerup team, each posted a
4-over 74 and Jeffery Cunningham, a freshman from West Palm Beach, Fla., carded
a 79.
Backing up Barone and Farley for Temple were junior Gary
McCabe, a former La Salle High standout from Collegeville, and senior Bobby
Firth, a Jenkintown product, both of whom carded a 4-over 74. Two of the
Temple’s top regulars, Trey Wren, a junior from Suffolk, Va., and junior Sam
Soeth, a former Marple Newtown standout, had respective rounds of 77 and 79.
Quinn has taken his top two freshmen, Academy of the New
Church product Liam McGrath and Souderton’s Dawson Anders, who captured GAP’s
Junior Boys’ crown last summer, on a couple of the Owls’ trips this fall, but
he used the City 6 as an opportunity to give a couple of his seniors a shot and
they performed pretty well.
Backing up Thompson and Goldenberg for Penn were Matthew
Cornell, a freshman from Incline Village, Nev., and Amay Poria, a senior from
Morgan Hill, Calif., both of whom signed for a 5-over 75. Zareh Kaloustian, a
junior from Sherman Oaks, Calif., had a 77 and Eric Ganshaw, a sophomore from
Greenwich, Conn., had an 80.
Saint Joseph’s was led by freshman Wills Montgomery, a
Downingtown East product who has had a pretty nice start to his collegiate
career this fall. Montgomery carded a 4-over 74. Junior Ross Pilliod, a Berks
Catholic product and an occasional Stonewall looper, had a 76 and Michael
O’Brien, a sophomore from West Chester, Ohio, had a 77. Pilliod and O’Brien
have probably been the most consistent performers for the Hawks this fall.
Nice to see sophomore Alec Kerr, a Cardinal O’Hara product,
get a shot in the St. Joe’s lineup and responding with a 78. Sophomore Richard
Riva, a Lancaster Catholic product, had an 80 and sophomore Reed Winkler, a
former Salesianium standout, had an 83.
Backing up Barnes for Villanova was its senior leader Andy
Butler, a Manheim Township product who carded a 75. Connor Daly, a sophomore
from Bronxville, N.Y. who had a solid freshman campaign, added a 78. Andrew
MacMillan, a senior from Scottsdale, Ariz., and Will Byrne, a senior from
McLean, Val., each had a 79 and Reb Banas, a freshman from Winnetka, Ill., had
an 84.
La Salle was led by freshman David Kim, a former Upper
Dublin standout who posted a 4-over 74. Junior Nick Geiman, a York Catholic
product, had a 77 and Ron Fischang, a freshman from McKinney, Texas added a 79.
Sikkander, the freshman from Sri Lanka, had an 80 and Nick
Gruber, a junior from Cincinnati, and senior Brandon Raihl, a Conrad Weiser
product, each carded an 83.
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