Tall stands tall with hole-out eagle to edge Sheehan and reach GAP Junior Boys semifinals

   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 104^th 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 17^th 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 18^th 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.