Blame it on the weather if you will, but the forces of
nature certainly seemed to conspire to give Jeff Osberg, the region’s best
mid-amateur golfer, his third Patterson Cup victory after the second rogue
thunderstorm of the day Thursday halted play at Applebrook Golf Club in East
Goshen for the final time.
The first round of the 117th Joseph H. Patterson
Cup, presented by Callaway Golf, had been suspended by rain and lightning
Wednesday afternoon. The plan was to have everybody complete their opening round
Thursday morning, have a rolling cut and get the second round completed.
The weather forecast seemed promising, but two little cells
that didn’t hit everywhere, but did seem to target Applebrook threw a wrench
into the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s best-laid plans to get in two
rounds in the last of its four major championships for 2019.
The final delay meant that 20 players, including Osberg,
would not be able to complete their second round, so the decision was made to
revert back to the completed first round. The 35-year-old Osberg, who plays out
of Pine Valley Golf Club, had completed a sparkling 4-under-par 67 before play
was suspended Wednesday and it turned out that was good enough to earn him his
third Patterson Cup victory and fourth Silver Cross Award.
The 4-under 67 fired by Merion Golf Club’s Tug Maude and the
sparkling 5-under 66 registered by Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Will
Davenport, who had captured the first GAP major of the season, the
Middle-Amateur Championship at Rolling Green Golf Club in May, were wiped off
the books.
Give them both credit for carving out really nice rounds on
the Gil Hanse original set up in championship conditions.
Maude and Davenport were in the clubhouse at 3-under and
Osberg was trying to get up and down for par to remain at 3-under on the 13th
hole when the siren blew halting play just before 7:30 p.m.
Anybody who plays competitive golf at the level of a GAP
major is aware that weather will inevitably affect the outcome of a golf
tournament somewhere along the way.
That’s what happened at Applebrook this week and none of it
takes away from the fact that Osberg is the dominant player on the GAP circuit
right now.
Osberg’s 2019 was eerily reminiscent of his 2016 when he
lost to his rival and friend Michael McDermott in an epic BMW Philadelphia
Amateur final at McDermott’s home course, the unparalleled East Course at
Merion, then proceeded to capture the Philadelphia Open in a playoff at The
Ridge at Back Brook and the Patterson Cup at one his former home courses, the
William Flynn gem at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
He admitted it felt a little like 2016 after he dropped a
hard-fought 3 and 2 decision to Jeremy Wall of the Manasquan River Golf Club in
the Philly Am final at Stonewall in June.
“We talked at Stonewall after I lost in the final and I kind
of joked that the year was very similar (to 2016),” Osberg told the GAP website
after adding the 2019 title to his Patterson Cup wins in 2010 and ’16. “I don’t
know if it was foreshadowing or what. I said I had a ton of confidence after
the first two events (Middle-Amateur and Amateur championships), even though
they didn’t go my way.”
He beat the region’s toughest field, which includes
Philadelphia Section PGA pros as well as the top GAP amateurs, to capture the
Philadelphia Open, again at Huntingdon Valley, before adding the rain-shortened
Patterson Cup at Applebrook this week, swelling his total of GAP major wins to
six.
Danny Harcourt of Mercer Oaks Golf Club, who fell to Osberg
in the Philly Am semifinals at Stonewall, headed a group of three players tied
for second at 3-under 68.
Joining Harcourt at that figure were LuLu Country Club’s
Matt Teesdale, an assistant to Temple head golf coach Brian Quinn, and Eric
Williams of Honesdale Golf Club. Teesdale had captured the 2014 Philadelphia
Open at Applebrook when he was still a member of the Temple golf team.
Youngstown State junior Kevin Scherr, the 2016 PIAA Class
AAA champion as a senior at Nazareth Area, headed a group of four players tied
for fifth at 2-under 69. Scherr plays out of Woodstone Country Club &
Lodge.
Joining Scherr in that foursome were LedgeRock Golf Club’s
Grant Skyllas, the runnerup to Gregor Orlando in the 2017 BMW Philadelphia
Amateur, West Shore Country Club’s David Herbst and Conestoga Country Club’s
Connor Sheehan.
Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre, who has been dominating
the GAP senior circuit, headed a group of six players tied for ninth at 1-under
70. The 58-year-old Mestre will represent GAP in the U.S. Senior Amateur later
this month at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C. after claiming medalist
honors in a GAP-administered qualifier at LuLu Country Club.
Also in that group was Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Zachary
Barbin, a junior on the Liberty golf team who was coming off a tie for 11th
in last week’s Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.
Rounding out the group tied for ninth were Bent Creek
Country Club’s Richard Riva, a senior on the Saint Joseph’s golf team, Galloway
National Golf Club’s Peter Barron III, Running Deer Golf Club’s Stephen Barry
and Woodcrest Country Club’s Ben Keyser.
The battle for the Silver Cross Award was not nearly as
close as Osberg nailed down his fourth GAP stroke-play championship by six
shots over Scherr and Barbin.
The Silver Cross combines the scores from the BMW
Philadelphia Amateur qualifying rounds with the Patterson Cup rounds, which
became just one Patterson Cup round this year.
Osberg was very tough in carding a pair of 1-under 69s on a
windy day at Tom Doak’s twin gems at Stonewall, the Old Course and the North
Course – trust me, I was looping that day, the wind really blew, especially
early in the day – that gave him medalist honors in the Philly Am qualifying.
His 67 at Applebrook Wednesday gave him a 6-under 205 total
as he added the 2019 Silver Cross to his previous Silver Cross summers of 2010,
’15 and ’16.
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