Goetz has two-shot lead with six holes to play at Oakmont in pursuit of medalist honors in U.S. Amateur qualifying

    It was just about this time last year when Greensburg’s Mark Goetz finished in a tie for fourth place in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh.

   Wednesday morning Goetz will play the last six holes of the front nine at the venerable Henry Fownes design, site of the U.S. Open nine, count ’em nine times, with a very real chance to win medalist honors in the U.S. Amateur. Point being, Goetz, who will return to West Virginia for the fifth season of eligibility offered by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic, knows his way around Oakmont well enough that he just might be able to close the deal.

   Point also being that no matter what happens Wednesday morning, Goetz will make the bracket for match play, which will get started as quickly as the Oakmont greenkeeping crew can change the pin positions after 36 holes of qualifying and an almost certain playoff are concluded.

   Goetz, a product of The Kiski School, had opened qualifying with a sizzling 6-under 64 at the Longue Vue Club Monday. Starting on the back nine at Oakmont for the second round Tuesday, Goetz made eight pars and a birdie at the short, par-4 17^th hole. He then made back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes. He was 3-under for his round at Oakmont with six holes to play and 9-under overall, good enough for a two-shot lead when play was suspended by darkness at 8 p.m.

   A thunderstorm had halted play in the middle of the afternoon and there were plenty of players still left on the course at Oakmont and Longue Vue when darkness put a halt to play.

   It took a miracle – John Peters holing out for eagle from 193 yards away on the East Course at Merion Golf Club’s classic finishing hole – to deny Goetz a Pennsylvania Amateur title two weeks ago. Goetz would probably have advanced to the NCAA Championship as an individual in the spring had Purdue’s Cole Bradley not birdied five of the last seven holes in the Noblesville Regional at The Sagamore Club.

   The guy’s been playing really good golf for a while now and even-par for the last six holes of Oakmont’s front nine just might give him a nice little keepsake from a U.S. Amateur at every western Pennsylvania golfer’s most cherished golf course.

   Goetz’s closest pursuers are Clemson senior Jacob Bridgeman of Inman, S.C. and No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and Harvard sophomore Brian Ma of Milpitas, Calif. both of whom were 7-under with a lot of golf to be played at Oakmont when play was suspended.

   Bridgeman had set the pace in Monday’s opening round with a sizzling 7-under 63 at Longue Vue and was even-par through seven holes at Oakmont. Ma had opened with a solid 5-under 65 at Longue Vue Monday and was 2-under through the first four holes at Oakmont.

   Leading the southeastern Pennsylvania contingent was Merion’s Peter Bradbeer, coming off his second career victory in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Joseph H. Patterson Cup, a major championship in GAP, last week at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club.

   Bradbeer, a four-year standout in a Bucknell career that wrapped up when the pandemic hit in March of 2020, had opened with a 3-over 73 at Oakmont Monday. He was 1-under through eight holes at Longue Vue and stood in a tie for 54^th place at 2-over when play was suspended. Bradbeer started his round off the ninth tee at Longue Vue and birdied the 15^th hole and made seven pars.

   Former Council Rock South standout Lukas Clark added a 3-over 73 at Oakmont to the opening round of even-par 70 he posted at Longue Vue and was tied for 71^st place in the clubhouse at 3-over 143. The USGA website put the projected cut line for match play at  4-over, so Clark is in with a good shot.

   Clark had a solid final spring at Penn State this year and I’m hearing he’s taking his fifth year of eligibility at Dayton. He got off to a great start on Oakmont’s back nine with birdies at the 11^th and 13^th holes. But this was Oakmont. Clark made a bogey at the 14^th hole, a double bogey at 16, a birdie at 17 and another double bogey at 18 for a wild and crazy 2-over tour of the incoming nine.

   Clark made a bogey at the third hole and grinded out six straight pars to complete a 3-over round.

   Penn State junior Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team, is 5-over with five holes to play on Longue Vue’s front nine, so he’s still got a shot to make match play. Meyers had opened with a 4-over 74 Monday at Oakmont and was 1-over through 13 holes at Longue Vue when play was suspended.

   Stanford fifth-year player Nate Menon, the 2015 PIAA Class AA champion as a junior at Wyomissing, and former Temple standout John Barone of Dunmore are also at 5-over with a lot of golf left to play. Menon, who opened with a 77 at Oakmont was 2-under through four holes at Longue Vue with a realistic shot to go lower. Barone opened with a 4-over 74 at Longue Vue and was 1-over through six holes at Oakmont. Going 2- or 3-under for the last 12 holes at Oakmont would be a tall order, but Barone still has a shot.

   LuLu Country Club’s Michael R. Brown Jr., winner of state amateur championships in Delaware and New Jersey this summer, completed two rounds at 6-over 146 after adding a 3-over 73 at Longue Vue to his solid opening-round 73 at Oakmont.

   Holy Ghost Prep senior Calen Sanderson, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, and Temple senior Conor McGrath, winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Cedarbrook Country Club earlier this summer, both completed two rounds at 7-over 147.

   Sanderson, who plans to join the Notre Dame program in the summer of 2022, added an even-par 70 to his opening-round 77 at Oakmont. McGrath carded a 1-over 71 Tuesday at Longue Vue after opening with a 76 at Oakmont.

   Three-time Lancaster County amateur champion Conner Sheehan added a 3-over 73 to his opening-round 75 at Oakmont and completed two rounds at 8-over 148.

   Patrick Sheehan, like Meyers a junior at Penn State, and Stewart Hagestad, the winner of the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Stonewall and No. 12 in the WAGR, were both 8-over with some golf to be played when darkness fell.

   Patrick Sheehan, the 2018 District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East, struggled to a 79 at Oakmont Monday and was 1-under through eight holes at Longue Vue. Patrick Sheehan has strung together some birdies in a summer of strong play in 2021. Hagestad, who has played on three straight winning U.S. Walker Cup teams, had opened with a 77 at Oakmont and was 1-over through nine holes at Longue Vue.

   Sean Knapp, whose distinguished amateur career grew from his days as an Oakmont looper as a young man, couldn’t muster any Oakmont magic Tuesday. Knapp, winner of the 2017 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, signed for a 77 at Oakmont Tuesday after opening with a 74 Monday at Longue Vue for a 12-over 152 total.

   Notre Dame junior Palmer Jackson, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Franklin Regional, never got it going this week. He added a 76 at Oakmont to an opening-round 76 at Longue Vue to join Knapp at 152. Jackson made a splash in the 2019 U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort when he reached the quarterfinals a couple of weeks before he started his college career.

   Neal Shipley, a redshirt sophomore at James Madison, had opened with a solid 74 at Oakmont Monday, but was 7-over through 13 holes at Longue Vue through 13 holes when play was suspended Tuesday. Shipley was a teammate of Meyers on the Pittsburgh Central Catholic team that won the 2018 state team crown in Class AAA.

   Two other players with a chance to catch Goetz in the battle for medalist honors, Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, Wash. and No. 23 in the WAGR and Travis Vick of Houston and No. 46 in the WAGR were at 6-under with some golf to be played when darkness fell.

   Highsmith, a senior at Pepperdine who had a large role in the Waves’ national championship run at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in the spring, had opened with a 6-under 64 at Longue Vue Monday and was even-par through 10 holes at Oakmont.

   Vick, a sophomore at Texas who helped the Longhorns capture the team title in the NCAA Noblesville Regional, had opened with a 3-under 67 at Longue Vue and had it going at Oakmont at 3-under through eight holes when play was suspended.