Engle comes up just short in U.S. Open sectional qualifier and other results from 'Golf's Longest Day'

   T Mac Tees Off’s annual attempt at an overview of U.S. Open sectional qualifying day with a special emphasis on the guys who advanced out of the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifiers … and a few other interesting names that popped up.

   For a long time Monday, “Golf’s Longest Day,” sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, the dream of teeing it up at the Pebble Beach Golf Links was very much alive for Central Dauphin sophomore Garrett Engle.

   Engle, who had fired a ridiculous back-nine 29 at The Country Club of York in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier last month, played a solid opening round, a 69 at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y.

   But unlike the local qualifier, the sectional qualifier is a 36-hole test and Engle finally faltered a little in the afternoon at the Old Oaks Country Club, carding a 76. His 4-over-par 145 total left him two shots out of a 2-for-1 playoff for the final ticket to Pebble Beach.

   There were 73 players vying for just four berths in the U.S. Open, which tees off in 10 days at the iconic Pebble Beach layout on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula. The math is similar at most of the sectional qualifying sites.

   Scanning the results of the sectional qualifiers gives you an idea of just how much golf talent there is across this country. Just the names you recognize include PGA Tour pros – even the occasional major champion -- and club pros and guys who were college standouts of recent vintage trying to make their way through a professional landscape filled with land mines, current college stars, mid-amateurs, senior pros, senior amateurs.

   And even the occasional high school kid like Engle. And all of them can play, every last one of them. Engle was really impressive in his opening round at Century with birdies at the eighth, 15^th and 18^th holes around a single bogey at the 16^th. It was poise beyond his years. The burst of confidence he’ll get from that round will probably carry him throughout the summer.

   Brett Jones, a 43-year-old native of Australia who resides in Basking Ridge, N.J., was the co-medalist in the GAP-administered local qualifier at Medford Village Country Club. He matched Engle’s 4-over 145 total in Purchase, N.Y., opening with a 71 at Old Oaks and adding a 74 at Century and failed to advance.

   Reigning Pennsylvania Open champion Kevin Kraft, the head of instruction at the Bumble Bee Hollow Golf Center in Harrisburg, had a solid showing with a 74 at Old Oaks and a 72 at Century for a 5-over 146 total.

   Chris Crawford, who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep and collegiately at Drexel, landed at 148 after a 75 at Century and a 73 at Old Oaks. Crawford, who qualified for the U.S. Open in 2016 at Oakmont Country Club and in 2017 at Erin Hills while still an amateur, was the qualifying medalist in a GAP-administered qualifier at a rainy Country Club of Scranton.

   Crawford was joined at that figure by Scott Harvey of Greensboro, N.C., the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion at Saucon Valley Country Club who teamed with his buddy Todd Mitchell to claim the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Bandon Dunes last week. Harvey, the runnerup in the 2016 U.S. Mid-Am at Stonewall, struggled to a 77 in his opening round at Old Oaks before adding a 71 at Century.

   Former Radnor High standout Carey Bina, who advanced out of the GAP-administered qualifier at Makefield Highlands Golf Club, opened with a 75 at Century and added a 74 at Old Oaks. The 23-year-old Bina plans to turn pro after one last summer of amateur golf.

   Former Penn State standout Kevin Foley of Somerville, N.J., who shared medalist honors with Jones at Medford Village, landed at 150 after opening with a 74 at Century and adding a 76 at Old Oaks.

   Jack Wall, the youngest of the Wall brothers out of Brielle, N.J., also got himself in the mix in Purchase with an opening-round 70 at Century before falling back with an 80 at Old Oaks to join Foley in the group at 150.

   Jack Wall, who is headed for South Carolina, teamed with his Christian Brothers Academy teammate Brendan Hansen to earn a spot in match play in last week’s U.S. Four-Ball at Bandon Dunes.

   Big brother Jeremy Wall, a former Loyola of Maryland standout who captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship last summer at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, opened with a 75 at Century and added a 79 at Old Oaks for a 154 total.

   Jeremy Wall, who advanced out of the Makefield Highlands qualifier, will now be free to defend his Philly Am title next week at Stonewall.

   Jeremy Wall was joined at 154 by Anthony Sebastinelli, who starred scholastically Abington Heights and collegiately at Central Connecticut State and advanced out of the Country Club of Scranton qualifier. Sebastianelli opened with a 73 at Old Oaks, but struggled to an 81 at Century.

Penn State senior Ryan Davis, the reigning Met Amateur champion from Berkeley Heights, N.J., struggled in the opening round with an 80 at Old Oaks before bouncing back with a 75 at Century for a 155 total.

   The runaway winner of the qualifying medal in Purchase was Cameron Young of Scarborough, N.Y., who recently wrapped up an outstanding college career at Wake Forest. Young opened with a 68 at Old Oaks, which seemed to play the tougher of the two courses, and added a 68 at Century for a 4-under 137 that was five shots clear of the rest of the field.

   Matt Parziale, the Brockton, Mass. firefighter who played in last year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills on the strength of his victory in the 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, is going back to the National Open. Parziale added a 73 at Old Oaks to his opening-round 69 at Century to share second place with pro Andy Pope, the 2004 Atlantic 10 champion at Xavier from Glen Ellyn, Ill., at 1-over 142.

   Even though Vince Covello, a Llanerch Country Club guy who played scholastic golf at Episcopal Academy, didn’t advance out of a GAP qualifier this year, he did make it to sectionals, as he almost always seems to do.

   And once again Covello failed to take the final step. Teeing it up in the sectional at Woodmont Country Club’s North Course in Rockville, Md., Covello opened with a 2-over 74 before adding a 72 in the afternoon for a 2-over 146. There was a 3-for-2 playoff for the final two tickets to Pebble Beach at 2-under 142 at Woodmont, where 63 players were bidding for just four U.S. Open berths.

   The good news for Covello, though, is he owns a Web.com Tour victory this year and is 11^th on the tour’s money list with $142,375 in earnings. He is playing some really solid golf in 2019.

Patrick Ross, the former Temple standout who dodged the raindrops at the Country Club of Scranton to reach the sectional, had rounds of 78 and 76 for a 154 total at Woodmont.

   He was joined at that figure by Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family out of Elkton, Md. Austin Barbin opened with a 79 before adding a 75.

   Older brother Zach Barbin, who just completed his sophomore season at Liberty, trailed Austin by three shots in the battle for low Barbin. Zach Barbin, who advanced out of the Makefield Highlands qualifier, had rounds of 78 and 79 at Woodmont for a 157 total.

   Zach Barbin was joined at that figure by former North Penn standout Ron Robinson, coming off a solid sophomore season at Monmouth, and Reading pro Alex Blickle.

   Robinson, who advanced out of the Medford Village qualifier, opened with an 80 before adding a 77 in the afternoon. Blickle, who played out of LedgeRock Golf Club and turned pro in 2015, was one of the co-medalists at The Country Club of York. He posted rounds of 79 and 78 at Woodmont.

   Ryan Dornes, the former Manheim Township standout who completed his senior season at Penn State this spring, struggled at Woodmont with rounds of 77 and 84 for a 161 total. Dornes, the runnerup in the 2014 PIAA Class AAA Championship, was the qualifying medalist at Makefield Highlands.

   Ellicott City, Md. amateur Connor Flach, who advanced out of The Country Club of York qualifier, had rounds of 80 and 82 for a 162 total at Woodmont.

   The co-medalists at Woodmont were PGA Tour pro Billy Hurley III, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, and Connor Arendell, a pro from Cape Coral, Fla., both of whom went 70-71 for a 3-under 141 total.

   Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club and the reigning Philadelphia Section PGA OMEGA Player of the Year, and Craig Hornberger, the 2012 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Manheim Township, got into sectionals as alternates.

   Their reward was a trip to Columbus, Ohio for the sectional at Scioto Country Club and Brookside Golf & Country Club. It has the most tickets to the Open with 18, but the field of 121 was populated by a lot of PGA Tour pros fresh off playing in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

   Stewart, like Covello, a Llanerch guy, carded a 74 at Scioto and a 76 at Brookside for a 150 total. Hornberger opened with a 79 at Scioto and added a 76 at Brookside for a 155 total.

   Among some of the notables who qualified out of Columbus were Arnold Palmer’s grandson, Sam Sanders, 2013 PGA champion Jason Dufner, former world No. 1 Luke Donald, and two of college golf’s top seniors, Brandon Wu, who helped Stanford win a national title last week at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., and California standout Collin Morikawa.

   Evan Thornton, the 2017 Berks Amateur champion out of LedgeRock Golf Club, teed it up in the sectional qualifier at the Streamsong Resort. Thornton, who won a playoff to get the final ticket out of the Country Club of Scranton qualifier, has turned professional and is playing out of Delray Beach, Fla.

   Not sure which course at Streamsong they were playing, but Thornton had rounds of 77 and 80 for a 157 total. Only three berths to the Open were up for grabs for the field of 56 and it took 11-under par to nab the final ticket. Medalist honors went to Callum Tarren of England, who opened with a sizzling 64 before adding a 68 for a 14-under 132 total.

   The sectional at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground, Ga. was a Georgia Tech party as former Yellow Jacket Ollie Schniederjans, who is plying his trade on the PGA Tour, and Noah Norton, who helped the Yellow Jackets win the Atlantic Coast Conference title this spring as a junior, shared medalist honors at 11-under 133.

   Another former Georgia Tech standout and current PGA Tour player, Roberto Castro, grabbed another of just four tickets to Pebble Beach available to the 67 players teeing it up at Hawks Ridge with rounds of 68 and 67 for a 9-under 135 total.

   Zac Blair of Orem, Utah was one of the four co-medalists at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio, where 73 players competed for five U.S. Open spots as he fired a pair of 3-under 67s for a 6-under 134 total. Blair is on the Web.com Tour this season after spending the last four years on the PGA Tour.

   The former BYU standout is a fledgling golf course architect whose interest in that aspect of the game brought him to Stonewall last summer for a round of golf and a chance to check out Tom Doak’s work at the Old Course.

   The medalist at Big Canyon Country Club and Newport Beach Country Club in Southern California was Chun An Yu of Taiwan, who was coming off a strong junior season with Pac-12 power Arizona State. Yu fired a 64 at Newport Beach and added a 67 at Big Canyon for a 12-under 131 total.

   Also earning one of five tickets to northern California for the Open available to the 99 golfers who teed it up was Stewart Hagestad, the author of an epic comeback that earned him the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur title at Stonewall. Hagestad, a Newport Beach native, carded a 68 at Newport Beach and added a 66 at Big Canyon as he finished tied for fourth at 9-under 134.

   With reigning champion Kevin O’Connell getting a U.S. Open bid on the strength of his victory last year at Charlotte Country Club and Hagestad and Parziale earning berths in sectional qualifiers Monday, the last three U.S. Mid-Am champions will be in the field at Pebble Beach.

   Up the coast at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Wash., Eric Dietrich, a former Connecticut standout who is a mini-tour professional, claimed medalist honors with rounds of 67 and 66 for an 11-under 133 total. Three tickets to Pebble Beach were up for grabs for the 55 players in the field at Wine Valley.