Aronimink looper Weir proves he belongs with victory in Elite Series No. 2 at Saucon Valley's Weyhill Course

    Thomas Weir isn’t playing college golf at West Chester as he finishes up the requirements for his degree.

   Weir is just an Aronimink looper, good enough to have won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Caddie Tournament in 2018 at Bala Golf Club. The 23-year-old has plenty of game, a point that was driven home Tuesday as Weir captured GAP’s Elite Series No. 2 at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Weyhill Course.

   Weir came on strong on the back nine of the 6,787-yard, par-72 Weyhill Course layout to fire a solid 1-under-par 71 and capture the Elite Series No. 2 victory in a scorecard playoff with East Tennessee State junior Campbell Wolf, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Cumberland Valley.

   GAP put together a couple of tournaments for men and women ages 18 to 24, designed to give some of the local college kids whose programs have been shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, a couple of competitive opportunities. The Aronimink looper proved he isn’t out of his league against a field loaded with college players, many of whom are decorated scholastic and junior standouts.

   “Once I saw the GAP post about these events, I knew I was going to play,” Weir told the GAP website. “I’m so happy I got the chance to play in this today. This is the Elite Series. I came here to play golf and compete against really good players.”

   Weir was 2-over for his round when he arrived at the tee at the 536-yard, par-5 ninth hole. He reached the putting surface in two with a 3-wood and just missed for eagle from 15 feet. The two-putt birdie got him going in the right direction.

   Weir had 138 yards into the 413-yard, par-4 11^th hole and his pitching wedge spun to 10 feet from the hole. He converted the birdie opportunity to get it back to even-par for the round.

   Weir got a huge par save at the 145-yard, par-3 16^th hole, holing a 25-footer to get it up and down from a greenside bunker. He rode the momentum of that big putt to the next hole, the 343-yard, par-4 17^th hole, where he stuck a wedge from 94 yards away to five feet and made the birdie putt.

   That 2-under back nine gave Weir the tiebreaker edge when Wolf matched his 1-under 71.

   Brandon Raihl, who played collegiately at La Salle after a standout scholastic career at Conrad Weiser, Alvernia junior Kyung Hwan Chung, a native of Nicaragua, and Rider senior John Devereaux, a looper at Manasquan River Golf Club, each matched par with a 72 and shared third place, two shots behind Weir and Wolf.

   A couple of PIAA Class AAA champions from Holy Ghost Prep and teammates at Drexel were next in line on the leaderboard.

   Liam Hart, a freshman for the Dragons who was the 2017 state champion as a junior at Holy Ghost, finished alone in sixth place with a 1-over 73. Stephen Cerbara, a senior at Drexel who was the 2015 state champion as a senior at Holy Ghost, posted a 2-over 74 to get a share of seventh place with Caleb Ryan, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during a standout scholastic career representing Norristown High that concluded in the fall of 2018.

   Brock Fassnacht, a sophomore at West Chester who was the 2017 Class AAA East Regional champion as a junior at Warwick, finished alone in ninth place with a 3-over 75.

   Temple junior Anthony Barr, who starred scholastically at Souderton, and former Springfield (Montco) standout Chris Binet rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each signing for a 76.

   Greg Welsh of Ambler finished alone in 12^th place with a 77 and Griffin Smith, who was a scholastic standout at Council Rock South and played collegiately at Rider, was another shot behind Welsh in 13^th place with a 78.

   Former Malvern Prep standout Andrew Curran, a sophomore at Temple, headed a group of five players tied for 14^th place, each landing on 7-over 79. Curran capped his scholastic career in the fall of 2018 with a tournament-record 6-under 66 at Sunnybrook Golf Club that gave him the title in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League’s individual championship.

   Also in the group at 7-over was Delaware senior R.J. Wren, a scholastic standout at Twin Valley and a former Stonewall looper. Wren reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in 2016.

   Rounding out the fivesome at 79 were Cabrini junior Gerald Haftman, Matt Kreider, an Ephrata product who wrapped up his college career at Penn State-Berks last spring, and Jonathan Wilson, a Dallas product who completed his college career at Penn State-Wilke-Barre last spring.

   Allison Cooper-Wix, a four-time PIAA qualifier during an outstanding scholastic career at Central Dauphin, again was the only woman to compete in the Elite Series stop at Saucon Valley. Cooper-Wix posted a solid 4-over 76. Cooper-Wix was the only woman to tee it up in the Elite Series No. 1 last week at North Hills Country Club.