Stimmel heats up on final nine holes to take medalist honors in R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship

   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 17^th 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 12^th 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 13^th 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.