Sheehan has big day at Sandy Run, winning Jock MacKenzie Memorial, Harry Hammond Award

   It’s been a frustrating last month or so for Talamore Country Club’s Patrick Sheehan, winner of the District One Class AAA Championship as a senior at Central Bucks East last fall.

   Sheehan’s been playing some great golf, but couldn’t get by a red-hot Austin Barbin, who beat Sheehan in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship final and then edged Sheehan by a shot in last week’s weather-shortened Christman Cup.

   Monday, however, Sheehan fired a 2-under-par 70 at Sandy Run Golf Club to capture the top spot in the Jock MacKenzie Memorial, like the Junior Boys and the Christman Cup, part of the GAP Junior Series, presented by Citadel.

  In the process, Sheehan also nailed down the Harry Hammond Award, GAP’s Junior stroke-play championship, which combines scores from the Junior Boys’ Championship, the Christman Cup and the Jock MacKenzie.

   Sheehan is not nearly as good at making sure he gets entered in these events as he is on the golf course. It took a late withdrawal Saturday to get Sheehan, who will join Greg Nye’s Penn State program at the end of the summer, in the field at the Jock MacKenzie, but hey, all’s well that ends well.

   “It’s nice to get a win because I haven’t won anything this summer,” Sheehan told the GAP website. “I like where my game is heading as I get ready for college.”

   Barbin was out of the picture Monday as he was teeing it up in the opening round of qualifying for match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo. Ohio. But that takes nothing away from the accomplishment by Sheehan, who, as he has over the last month, unleashed his power game in taming the 6,469-yard, par-72 Sandy Run layout.

   William Bennink of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club finished second, just a shot behind Sheehan at 1-under 71, but needed a 30-foot birdie putt to fall on the 18^th green to get within a shot of the winner. Bennink, who will play collegiately at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., was a key member of a Unionville team that was the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion and the runnerup last fall.

   Sheehan ripped off four straight birdies to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field.

   It started on the 540-yard, par-5 eighth hole where Sheehan’s wedge shot from 91 yards away finished 10 feet from the hole and he made the putt. He drove it over the green at the short 324-yard, par-4 ninth hole, chipped short and then chipped in.

   Sheehan used his 52-degree wedge to drop one eight feet away at the 128-yard, par-3 10^th hole and made that birdie try. He then launched a 4-iron from 260 yards away to the front of the green at the 490-yard, par-5 11^th hole and two-putted for birdie.

   After a bogey at the 14^th hole, Sheehan’s power was again on display at the 490-yard, par-5 15^th hole as he only needed an 8-iron to cover 193 yards and reach the green in two. His 30-footer for eagle came up just short, but he tapped in for a birdie.

   He closed with a bogey, but his 2-under total would hold up for the Jock MacKenzie victory.

   It was more than enough to take the Harry Hammond Award as Sheehan finished nine shots clear of Rolling Green Golf Club’s A.J. Aivazoglou. Sheehan was the medalist in qualifying for the Junior Boys’ Championship with a 1-under 70 at Coatesville Country Club and fired a 3-under 68 at The 1912 Club in finishing second to Barbin in the Christman Cup last week. His 70 Monday gave him a 6-under 208 total.

   Aivazoglou, who helped The Haverford School claim the last two Inter-Ac League crowns, was one of three players tied for third Monday at Sandy Run with an even-par 72. That gave him a 3-over 217 total in the Harry Hammond scoring.

   Joining Aivazoglou in the trio tied for third at even-par were Spring Mill Country Club’s Liam Hart, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, and Christopher Skean, a clubmate of Bennink’s at Kennett Square and Bennink’s teammate on Unionville’s PIAA Class AAA runnerup team last fall.

   Bennink and Hart finished in a tie for third in the Harry Hammond scoring, three shots behind Aivazoglou at 6-over 220.

   Two of the Catholic League’s top returning players, La Salle senior Steve Lorenzo of Manufacturers Golf & Country Club and St. Joseph’s Prep senior Joseph Morganti of Llanerch Country Club finished in a tie for sixth, each carding a 1-over 73.

   Gulph Mills Golf Club’s Charlie Baker and Joshua Ryan, a GAP Youth on Course entry, shared eighth place, each signing for a 2-over 74. Baker will be a senior at The Haverford School this fall as the Fords go for a third straight Inter-Ac title. Ryan reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his first two seasons representing Norristown High.

   Alec Stern of Philadelphia Country Club was another shot behind Baker and Ryan in 10^th place with a 3-over 75.

   The last two Bert Linton Inter-Ac League champions, Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Patrick Isztwan and Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Andrew Curran, were two of the three players tied for 11^th at 4-over 76. Isztwan was a freshman at Penn Charter when he captured the Inter-Ac individual crown in 2017 and Curran claimed the title to cap his senior season at Malvern Prep last fall.

   Isztwan finished fifth in the Harry Hammond scoring, a shot behind Bennink and Hart at 221.

   Rounding out the trio at 4-over was Zach Bruecks of Inniscrone Golf Club.

   Merion Golf Club’s Lauren Jones, a junior at Episcopal Academy, was a repeat winner in the Junior Girls division with a 6-over 78. The highlight of the round for Jones, who has led the Churchwomen to two straight Inter-Ac League titles, was a chip-in for birdie at the 14^th hole.

   Jones will represent GAP in the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship next week at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis. She earned her ticket to SentryWorld with a 1-over 73 in a GAP-administered qualifier at the Steel Club.

   Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Clare Gimpel, a two-time Class AAA East Regional qualifier in her first two seasons at Mount St. Joseph, was the runnerup with an 83, five shots behind Jones.

   Radley Run Country Club’s Nimah Narinesingh-Smith finished third with an 87, Huntingdon Valley’s Molly Gregor was fourth with an 89 and The Springhaven Club’s Grace Smith, who captured the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Girls’ Championship earlier this month, was fifth with a 91.

   Jack Homer of Wilmington Country Club claimed the Junior-Junior Boys title as the 12-year-old posted a solid 4-over 40. Jackson Fryer of Commonwealth National Golf Club and another member of Radley Run’s Team Narinesingh-Smith, Kasim Narinesingh-Smith, shared second place, a shot behind Homer with 41s.

   Paul Reilly of Hidden Creek Golf Club finished fourth with a 45, Shane Powelson of Bidermann Golf Club and Gavin Michener of Huntingdon Valley were tied for fifth at 47, and Joe Ciconte, a clubmate of Homer’s at Wilmington, was seventh with a 48.

   Gabrielle Courtney of North Hills Country Club was the lone entry in the Junior-Junior Girls division and posted a 66. Courtney will join Gimpel at Mount St. Joseph this fall.