They can play some golf in western Pennsylvania, the region
that gave the world “The King,” one Arnold Palmer.
Rick Stimmel of Diamond Run Golf Club is one of those
western Pa. guys who’s been a good player forever. The 50-something Stimmel
once gave professional golf a try, but has settled for being one of those old
guys who can still compete at a pretty high level as an amateur.
Still compete as in a brilliant 7-under-par 29 on the front
nine at the Country Club of York, the final nine holes of his round, that gave
Stimmel medalist honors in qualifying for the 17th R. Jay Sigel
Amateur Match Play Championship, a Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) event
presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods, with a scintillating 8-under 64.
Hannastown Golf Club’s Mark Goetz, a redshirt junior on the
West Virginia golf team and former scholastic standout at The Kiski School,
ended up just a shot behind Stimmel in second place with a sparkling 7-under 65
over the par-72 Donald Ross classic at the Country Club of York.
Another Hannastown guy, Gregor Meyer, a sophomore at High
Point University who finished fifth in the 2018 PIAA Class AAA Championship as
a senior at Fox Chapel, and LuLu Country Club’s Michael Brown Jr., who owns
three Golf Association of Philadelphia major championship wins, the most recent
the 2018 Patterson Cup, shared third place, each carding a 5-under 67.
Stimmel’s round started off quietly enough as he recovered
from a bogey at the 12th hole with birdies at 14 and 15 that left
him at 1-under heading to the first tee. But back-to-back birdies at the first
and second holes lit the fuse for an explosive run on the Country Club of York’s
outgoing nine.
Stimmel rattled off birdies at the fourth, fifth and seventh
holes to get it to 6-under then finished it off in a style with an eagle at the
Country Club of York’s par-5 ninth hole.
Of the four players who finished in a tie for fifth place at
4-under 68, one stands out. That would be Pinecrest Country Club’s Nathan
Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, a three-time member of the U.S.
Walker Cup team and six-time winner of the R. Jay Sigel Match Play. All of
which makes it abundantly clear that the guy’s really good at match play.
Josh Ryan, recently crowned as the GAP Junior Boys’
champion, was also in the group at 4-under. Ryan, home-schooled by Commonwealth
Connections Academy, represents Norristown High on the golf course and is a
three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier, finishing in a tie for third last fall
after capturing the District One Class AAA Championship.
Rounding out the foursome tied for fifth place were Merion Golf Club’s Tug Maude, who has
been working his way back into competitive golf after a brief professional
career and a lot of years devoted to work and family, and Ambrose
Abbracciamento, a Newtown, Bucks County resident who lost the last half of his
senior season at San Diego State to the coronavirus pandemic. Maude reached the
semifinals of the R. Jay Sigel Match Play a year ago at Llanerch Country Club.
Penn State senior Louis Olsakovsky, a former Upper St. Clair
standout who was the runnerup to Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Sean Semenetz in
this championship a year ago at Llanerch, headed a group of four players tied
for ninth place at 3-under 69. Olsakovsky, who defeated Maude to reach the
final at Llanerch, Abbracciamento and Ryan are all competing under the PAGA
individual member banner.
Joining Olsakovsky at 3-under were Hartefeld National Golf
Club’s Brandon Raihl, Chambersburg Country Club’s Scott Kegerrels and Indiana
Country Club’s Kyle Grube, who is taking up the NCAA on its offer for an extra
year of eligibility after the last half of his senior season at Robert Morris
was lost to the pandemic.
Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Austin Barbin, GAP’s Junior Player of
the Year in 2019 after a red-hot stretch that included a win in the Junior
Boys’ Championship, headed a group of four players who rounded out the 16-man
match-play bracket as they finished in a tie for 13th place, each
signing for a 2-under 70.
Barbin, younger brother of this summer’s BMW Philadelphia
Amateur champion Zach Barbin, had worked his way into the lineup at Maryland
when his freshman season came to a premature end. Austin Barbin will draw
Stimmel in the opening round of match play Tuesday morning.
One of Pennsylvania’s top junior players, the Country Club
of Harrisburg’s Garrett Engle, also landed at 2-under. Pretty sure Engle played
some matches at Central Dauphin, but he was home-schooled and never
participated in the PIAA individual postseason.
Big 12 power Oklahoma thought enough of Engle to make him
part of the Sooners’ recruiting class that will arrive in Norman in the summer
of 2021. Engle’s family is moving to the Pinehurst, N.C. area for his senior
year of high school.
Rounding out the foursome at 2-under were Aronimink Golf
Club’s Max Siegfried, a former Haverford School standout who was a redshirt
junior on Viilanova’s 2019-2020 roster, and Nemacolin Country Club’s Brett
Young.
PAGA always likes to run a team competition at its events
and Hannastown, behind the 65 by Goetz and the 67 by Meyer, won by six shots
with a 12-under 132 total. Hannastown tossed the 1-under 71 posted by 2017 U.S.
Senior Amateur champion Sean Knapp in the three-score-two format and it shows
you how competitive this thing is when 1-under doesn’t even get you a spot in
the match-play bracket.
LuLu was the runnerup at 6-under 138 behind the 67 by Brown
and the 1-under 71 turned in by Drexel junior Jeffrey Cunningham.
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