Pevarnik holds two-shot lead in rain-delayed Pennsylvania Amateur at Sunnehanna

   Let’s face it, when you’re a good player, pars are boring. Birdies and eagles, that’s where it’s at. Of course, those pars are OK compared to those nasty other things, those bogeys or worse, the hated double bogey.

   There is still golf to be played in the second round of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 105^th Pennsylvania Amateur, presented by LECOM, after rain forced the suspension of play at 4:13 p.m. Tuesday at Sunnehanna Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast classic in Johnstown.

   But 12 straight boring pars kept Latrobe senior Brady Pevarnik, a Penn State recruit, right where he started the day, alone atop the leaderboard.

   Pevarnik, playing out of Hannastown Golf Club, completed a 1-under 69 over a Sunnehnna layout that is the home to one of the premier tournaments on the summer amateur circuit, the Sunnehanna Amateur, before rain halted play.

   Combined with his opening-round 65, it left Pevarnik at 6-under 134 through two rounds.

   “Today’s round was kind of boring,” Pevarnik had to admit to the PAGA website.

   Boring, but effective.

   Starting on the back nine, Pevarnik, who finished third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a sophomore in the fall of 2016, did have an eagle right out of the gate at the par-5 11^th hole. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as the 9-iron he slam-dunked from 144 yards away to complete his opening round with a hole-out eagle, but it was an eagle nonetheless.

   He made bogeys at 13 and 14 that dropped him back to even for the round before he got it back in the red with a birdie at the other par-5 on Sunnehanna’s inward nine, the 15^th. Then it was those 12 straight pars.

   Still, it was good enough to leave him two shots clear of the field. His closest pursuer, Anthony Sebastianelli of Huntsville Golf Club, had the day’s best round going at 4-under, but he has to return Wednesday morning and play the last five holes of his round.

   Sebastianelli completed a solid collegiate career at Central Connecticut this spring. He finished third in the 2013 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Abington Heights. He had five birdies against a lone bogey through 13 holes Tuesday to make a charge at Pevarnik.

   Defending champion J.D. Hughes, a Penn State senior who plays out of Carlisle Country Club, is the only one of the three players tied for third at 3-under par who completed his round Tuesday.

   The big left-hander, who captured a Pennsylvania Amateur a year ago at White Manor Country Club that had some weather issues, had fired a sizzling 4-under 66 in Monday’s opening round and added a 1-over 71 Tuesday to get into the clubhouse at 137.

   One of the two players still on the course at 3-under has won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship four times and he won this championship in 2009 at Waynesborough Country Club a few weeks before wearing Red, White & Blue and helping the United States win the Walker Cup Match at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course.

   So yeah, look out for Nathan Smith of Pinecrest Country Club, who opened with a 1-under 69 Monday and was 2-under for his round Tuesday through 13 holes when the horn sounded.  Oh yeah, he won the Sunnehanna Amateur on this golf course in 2011.

   Joining Smith at 3-under is Daniel Thompson, who plays out of another Johnstown area course, Windber Country Club. Thompson opened with a 2-under 68 and was 1-under through 13 holes for his round Tuesday.

   Drexel junior Connor Schmidt of Nemacolin Country Club and Mitch Mercer of Shannopin Country Club completed their rounds and are tied for sixth at 2-under 138. Schmidt, a former Peters Township standout, added a 1-over 71 to his opening-round 67 while Mercer carded his second straight 1-under  69.

   Oakmont Country Club’s Chuck Nettles, a Peters Township standout a decade or so before Schmidt was, completed his round Tuesday, adding a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 70 and at 1-under is tied for eighth with West Virginia sophomore Mark Goetz, another player like the leader Pevarnik who calls Hannastown his home course.

   Goetz, a scholastic standout at Kiski Prep, opened with a 1-over 71 and was 2-under through nine holes Tuesday, so he has some work to do to complete his second round.

   The southeast Pennsylvania contingent at Sunnehanna was led by three players tied for 10^th at even-par. One of them, Alexander Butler of Bluestone Country Club, carded his second straight 70 to get into the clubhouse at 140.

   Paul Mauer, a senior at the Naval Academy and an occasional looper at Stonewall, where his dad, also Paul, has been the manager since Day One, was 1-under for his round Tuesday through nine holes after opening with a 71 Monday.

   Mauer, a member of St. Joseph Prep’s 2014 PIAA Class AAA championship team, accompanied the Patriot League champion Middies to the NCAA Norman Regional as an alternate. He ended up getting inserted in the lineup and played solid golf among some of the elite players in Division I golf.

   Also at 1-under for his round through nine holes Tuesday was Evan Brown, the Ches-Mont League champion as a senior at Kennett in 2016 who is coming off his freshman season at Loyola of Maryland. Brown, playing as a PAGA individual member, had opened with a 71 Monday.

   The projected cut is 5-over, although that number could change. Then it will be a charge to the finish. It will be interesting to see how the high school kid holds up in the final round. It would be neat to see a Pennsylvania Amateur champion show up to compete for a PIAA championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in October.