Melton just in front of the pack in Philadelphia Open with 66 at St. Davids

   Brett Melton, an assistant pro at Radley Run Country Club, has been the best player in the Philadelphia Section PGA for the last two years and that’s saying something in one of the most competitive Sections in the country.

   And when you put together all those Section pros with the cream of the amateur crop from the Golf Association of Philadelphia for GAP’s 114^th Open Championship, you have all the makings of an epic shootout on the Donald Ross gem at St. Davids Golf Club.

   A birdie at the par-5 eighth – three of Melton’s four birdies came on par-5s – enabled Melton to inch ahead of the pack with a 4-under 66 over the 6,531-yard, par-70 St. Davids layout on a gorgeous summer Wednesday for the opening round of the Philadelphia Open.

   There are 23 more players within four shots of the lead, but Melton got himself out in front with an efficient four-birdie, no-bogey effort.

   The 44-year-old Coatesville resident grew up playing at a Donald Ross design in French Lick, Ind. and he learned to appreciate the nuances of one of the masters of golf course design.

   “Donald Ross courses are similar,” Melton, who had never set eyes on the course before an abbreviated eight-hole practice round Tuesday, told the GAP website. “They have a certain look and feel. You can kind of see where to hit the ball and what he gives you.”

   In his first year in the Philadelphia Section in 2017, Melton captured the Omega Player of the Year title. He is leading the Omega Player of the Year points race, presented by The Haverford Trust Company, again this season with three victories.

   Melton headed the five-man Philadelphia Section contingent that survived two cuts and played four rounds in last month’s PGA Professional Championship at the Bayonet and Black Horse Golf Courses on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula. He finished tied for 25^th, just missing the top-20 finish he needed to be among the group of club pros who qualified for the PGA Championship.

   Starting on the back nine, Melton made three birdies on St. Davids’ inward nine. He made an eight-footer for birdie after nearly reaching the par-5 11^th in two, missed a good look at eagle when he fired a 5-iron from 195 yards away on the par-5 16^th hole to six feet and settled for birdie, and birdied the 18^th when he hit a sand wedge from 111 yards away to six feet and made the putt.

   He again used the 5-iron from 194 yards away at the par-5 eighth to finish just off the back in two. He made a five-foot birdie putt to get it to 4-under.

   Good par saves at the 12^th and third holes, two of just four greens he missed in regulation, kept his momentum going.

   Lurking just a shot off of Melton’s pace are two of the Philadelphia Section’s abundant supply of senior standouts as well as the Philadelphia area’s top mid-amateur.

   Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, who at 62 seems to get better the older he gets, and 52-year-old Philmont Country Club assistant pro David Quinn each carded a 3-under 67.

It is the rare year – it might be the first time it’s happened since he became senior-eligible -- that Forster didn’t play in a PGA Tour Champions major championship, either the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship or the U.S. Senior Open. Quinn is the reigning Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship winner.

   Joining them at 3-under was Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Jeff Osberg, who captured this title in 2016 at The Ridge at Back Brook during a sizzling stretch during which he also won another of GAP’s major championships, the Patterson Cup, on his home course at Huntingdon Valley.

   Waynesborough Country Club assistant pro Zac Oakley and Bethlehem Golf Club assistant pro Alex Knoll are tied for fifth after each posted a 2-under 68.

   Nine players are tied for seventh at 1-under 69, led by two of the Philadelphia Section’s top assistant pros, Brian Bergstol of Shawnee Country Club and Billy Stewart of The Ace Club. Bergstol shared low pro honors in the Philadelphia Open a year ago when Matthew Mattare became the ninth straight amateur to claim the title at Philadelphia Country Club.

   Also in the group at 1-under is newly crowned BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Jeremy Wall, the recent Loyala of Maryland graduate who plays out of Manasquan River Golf Club.

   The only other pro in the group at 1-under is Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro David Pagett. 

   Also carding 69s Wednesday were home-course favorite Stephen Dressel, Peter Barron III of Greate Bay Country Club, Vincent Kwon of Little Mill Country Club, Matthew Finger of DuPont Country Club and Richard Riva, a Saint Joseph’s junior who plays out of Bent Creek Country Club.

   Ten more players are tied for 16^th at even-par 70, just four shots out of the lead, headed by Mattare, the defending champion who plays out of Saucon Valley Country Club.

   Also in the group are 2015 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Cole Berman, a recent Georgetown graduate who plays out of Philadelphia Cricket Club, and Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, another of the Philadelphia Section’s over-50 types who nearly won the PGA Professional Championship last summer at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon, falling in a playoff to former PGA Tour regular Omar Uresti.

   Knoll, Stewart and McNabb are three of the other four Section pros beside Melton who played all four rounds at this year’s PGA Professional Championship last month at Bayonet and Black Horse.

   The fifth member of that group, Brendon Post, the assistant coach and director of player development for the Delaware men’s golf team, also made the cut at St. Davids, posting a 2-over 72. The cut fell at 3-over 73.