There was a stretch in the last decade when one of head coach Brian Quinn’s Temple Owls won the Philadelphia Open, one of the region’s toughest tests, five years in a row.
But it had been a while since a Temple player captured the title in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship. You had to go back to 1999, before Quinn began his 17-year run at the helm of the Temple program, since the Cherry & White could claim a Philly Am champion. That was Jim Sullivan Jr., a Huntingdon Valley Country Club member.
It was kind of surprising because Quinn had made it a point to try to fill his roster with some of the area’s top scholastic performers. Well, the drought is over and it was another Huntingdon Valley guy who ended it.
Temple junior Conor McGrath grabbed the lead early in his scheduled 36-hole final against Little Mill Country Club’s Jack Irons and never let it go, claiming a 3 and 2 victory and etching his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy as the 121st edition of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship concluded Saturday at Cedarbrook Country Club.
Afterward, McGrath admitted that it’s been Quinn who has been a driving force in taking his game to the next level. Quinn made McGrath realize that you only get to hoist trophies like the J. Wood Platt Trophy with hard work.
“It took me a little while to understand what needed to be done practicing and the time spent on your game,” the 21-year-old McGrath told the Golf Association of Philadelphia website. “As I got older, growing through Temple and seeing all the good players around me, I knew I had to step it up.
“I’ve definitely ramped things up (beginning) last summer. It’s been 1,000-percent better with the amount of time I’m putting in and I would say my focus as well. You have to be willing to put in the time.”
McGrath quickly got in front in the title match with the 19-year-old Irons, who lives in Naples, Fla., but spends his summers in Medford Lakes in South Jersey.
At the 380-yard, par-4 fourth hole, McGrath sent in a 60-degree wedge from 91 yards away to five feet and converted the birdie try to grab a 1-up lead. He drove the green at the 275-yard, par-4 eighth hole and two-putted for a birdie and a 2-up advantage. A par at the 213-yard, par-3 ninth hole increased his lead to 3-up.
The lead would grow to 4-up when McGrath won the 170-yard, par-3 16th hole, but Irons made a par on the 18th hole at the 7,015-yard, par-72 Cedarbrook layout to cut his deficit to 3-down heading into the brief lunch break.
Irons, however, would never really go away and when he won the 28th hole, the 538-yard, par-5 10th hole, with a birdie and the 29th hole, the 388-yard, par-4 11th, with a par, McGrath’s lead was suddenly just 1-up.
But McGrath had the answer on the very next hole, the 557-yard, par-5 12th hole, as he reached the putting surface in two by drilling a 5-iron 230 yards and two-putted for birdie to give him some breathing room. A par at the 220-yard, par-3 13th hole, the 31st of the match, enabled McGrath to restore his 3-up advantage with five holes to play.
A decade ago it was Andrew Mason, another Huntingdon Valley member, who started Temple's roll in the Philly Open by claiming back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. Brandon Matthews, who claimed his third PGA Tour Latinoamerica title last weekend, won a Philadelphia Open crown in 2013 followed by current Temple assistant coach Matt Teesdale in 2014 and Matthews once again in 2015.
McGrath also joined a list of Huntingdon Valley greats to hoist the J. Wood Platt Trophy. He became the 16th Huntindon Valley member to earn a Philly Am victory and those 16 players have accounted for 25 championships among them. McGrath is Huntingdon Valley’s first Philly Am winner since Jeff Osberg claimed the title in 2014 at White Manor Country Club.
When Temple reconvenes for what, hopefully, will be a full 2021-2022 golf season, Quinn will point to the Philly Am champion in the Owls’ midst with pride and McGrath will have evidence that all the hard work pays off.
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