When Spring-Ford Country Club’s Ryan Tall and Talamore
Country Club’s Patrick Sheehan won their opening-round matches in the Golf
Association of Philadelphia’s 104th Junior Boys’ Championship
Wednesday morning at Blue Bell Country Club, I wondered how many times there
was a rematch of a BMW Philadelphia Amateur match in the Junior Boys.
I’m guessing it hasn’t happened often. But I do know that it
happened Wednesday and it ended in dramatic fashion when Tall, a recent
Conestoga graduate who was the best player in the Central League the last two
years, holed out his approach to the par-5 17th at Blue Bell from 40
yards away for a walkoff eagle as he claimed a 2 and 1 victory.
The victory earned Tall a spot in the semifinals Thursday
morning against Austin Barbin, a Junior Players Club entry from Elkton, Md.,
who knocked off Radley Run Country Club’s Nicholas Gianelos, 1-up, by holing an
eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th green at the 6,444-yard, par-71
Blue Bell layout, an Arnold Palmer design.
Last week in the Philly Am at Whitemarsh Valley Country
Club, Tall edged Sheehan, 1-up, in the second round of match play and went on to
reach the semifinals before falling to Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Andrew Mason.
There’s nothing like four matches in an event like the
Philadelphia Amateur to get your match-play instincts honed to a high level.
And Tall displayed that right out of the gate Wednesday morning with a 7 and 6
victory over Anthony Barr, a Blue Bell member who rode his local knowledge to
qualifying medalist honors Tuesday.
Sheehan, meanwhile, took out Gulph Mills Golf Club’s Charlie
Baker, who helped The Haverford School capture the Inter-Ac League crown last
fall, 4 and 3.
I was going back and forth between Sheehan and Spring-Ford’s
Ben Pochet during the final round of the
District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club last fall,
a duel Pochet ultimately won. But Sheehan, who will be a senior at Central
Bucks East this year, is blessed with a lot of talent.
So give Tall credit for knocking him off in two big spots
the last two weeks. The hole-out for eagle to close out the match Wednesday was
a little icing on the cake.
“I was just happy to get it close, it ended up hitting the
hole,” a gracious Tall, who will continue his academic and golfing pursuits at
Lafayette, told the GAP website. “Patrick’s a great player. I’ve been able to
squeak by him with obviously a couple of shots that went my way.
“I can’t say any more good things about him. He’ll be back
in this tournament. Our match today was really fun.”
Barbin, who will be a senior at Red Lion Christian Academy,
also earned a match-play berth and won a match in last week’s Philly Am. He
knocked off Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Patrick Isztwan, winner of the
Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual title as a freshman at Penn Charter last
fall, 2 and 1, in the opening round.
Gianelos, meanwhile, was coming off what to be an emotional
opening-round win in 19 holes over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s
William Bennink, Gianelos' teammate on a Unionville team that claimed the PIAA
Class AAA team crown last fall. But he battled Barbin to the final hole before
falling.
The other side of the bracket will feature a semifinal
showdown between Rolling Green Golf Club’s A.J. Aivazoglou, a senior at The
Haverford School, and Shawnee Country Club’s William Mirams, who tied for
second in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a junior at Notre Dame of East
Stroudsburg last fall.
I was on Aivazoglou’s bag for a long, long day in a U.S.
Amateur qualifier last summer at Stonewall’s twin Tom Doak designs. I was left
impressed by the left-hander’s talent while seeing room for improvement in some
aspects of his game. The kid was going into his junior year in high school, but
he wasn’t physically overmatched by the considerable challenges presented by
the North Course and the Old Course at Stonewall. And it was hot. And then
there was a thunderstorm. Like I said, it was a long day.
Aivazoglou claimed a 3 and 2 victory in the opening round
over Nikita Romanov, another Junior Players
Club entry. Romanov of Wilmington, Del. plays a lot of Philadelphia
Section PGA Junior Tour events and I’m pretty sure it’s the second year in a
row he’s made the championship flight in the GAP Junior Boys.
Aivazoglou then reached the semifinals with a 5 and 3
victory over Alex Seelig of Reading Country Club.
Mirams pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Green Valley
Country Club’s Andrew Wallace in the opening round and then cruised to a 5 and
4 decision over The Springhaven Club’s Kevin Smith, a junior at Strath Haven, to
reach the semifinals.
Smith reached the quarterfinals with a 3 and 2 decision over
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Andrew Curran. It was a battle of Delco junior
standouts as Curran, who will be one of the senior leaders for Gary Duda’s
Malvern Prep team this fall, is a Media resident.
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