Ryan makes it three straight GAP Junior Boys' crowns by beating Guertler in final at Bala

    At some point this summer, Josh Ryan will leave his days as a junior golfer behind.

   His legacy on the Golf Association of Philadelphia junior circuit is certainly secure as Wednesday he became the first player in more than 100 years to win GAP’s Junior Boys’ Championship three years in a row with a 5 and 4 victory over Merion Golf Club’s Nathan Guertler, a senior at Haddon Heights from Merchantville, N.J.

   There was an air of inevitability about Ryan’s victory in the 108^th Junior Boys’ Championship at Bala Golf Club, but even at age 18, Ryan has learned to take nothing for granted, especially on the golf course. Heck, the guy lost his chance to defend his 2019 District One Class AAA title because of a global pandemic caused by the arrival of a virus nobody had ever seen before.

   Ryan has learned to take things as they come. Ryan matched the feat of Merion’s Meredith M. Jack from 1914 to 1916 by winning the Junior Boys for a third straight time Wednesday. Only Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Robert Galbreath has won more Junior Boys crowns, capturing the title four times with wins in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

   Ryan already has some significant accomplishments at the next level of amateur golf, most notably a victory in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship in 2020 at the Country Club of York, a tie for third place in the Philadelphia Open back at the Country Club of York last summer and a tie for fourth later last summer in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course.

   Knowing he had another year of eligibility for junior golf, Ryan took a gap year and will join the Liberty program this summer. He will team up with 2019 GAP Junior Boys champion Austin Barbin there.

   But Ryan clearly wanted another shot at this championship, which he won for the first time in the pandemic summer of 2020 at the course he now calls home, The 1912 Club. He captured it again a year ago at Overbrook Golf Club. Ryan even relished the opportunity to gear down his big game at the 5,306-yard, par-68 Bala layout this week.

   “I’ll be grateful,” Ryan told the GAP website when asked how he’ll look back on his experiences playing in the Junior Boys. “It’s always nice to play in GAP events. They’re run amazingly and we play at great courses. Bala is a hidden gem, being 5,300 yards. It’s in great shape and you really have to think your way around the golf course.

   “I’m grateful. This is a really cool thing to have happened.”

   Ryan was particularly effective on the 10^th, 11^th and 12^th holes at Bala all week, especially during the semifinals Wednesday morning and in the final against Guertler.

   Guertler rolled in a 28-foot birdie putt on the 164-yard, par-3 ninth hole to cut into Ryan’s early lead and was only 2-down heading to the back nine at Bala. But Ryan closed the door by winning the next three holes to take a commanding 5-up lead with just six holes remaining.

   Ryan needed just an 8-iron to reach the green in two at the 487-yard, par-5 10^th hole from 164 yards away. He two-putted from 30-feet for a birdie.

   Ryan pulled a 2-iron off the tee at the 385-yard, par-4 11^th hole. After getting relief from a cart path, he knocked it on the green and two-putted from 15 feet to take the hole with a par.

   Ryan’s drive at the 306-yard, par-4 12^th hole found the right greenside bunker, which he had come to learn was an acceptable outcome off that tee. He splashed out his bunker shot to 15 feet and two-putted for another winning par.

   Guertler staved off defeat by winning the 13^th hole, but Ryan closed him out by taking the 14^th hole to put his name on the Peg Burnett Trophy for a third straight year.

   In the morning semifinals against Whitford Country Club’s Keller Mulhern, Ryan birdied all three of those first three holes on Bala’s incoming nine to turn a relatively close match into a blowout as he cruised to a 6 and 5 victory.

   Mulhern was the regular-season individual points leader in the Inter-Ac League as a senior at Malvern Prep last fall and will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer. He was able to creep within 2-down by winning the eighth hole in his match with Ryan, but the eventual winner pulled away by taking the next four holes in succession.

   The best match of the day was the other semifinal between Guertler and Wilmington Country Club’s Matt Homer, a senior at the Tatnall School who had lost to Ryan in the semifinals a year ago at Overbrook.

   Homer sent a lob wedge into the 293-yard, par-4 17^th hole from 82 yards away to 15 feet and dropped the birdie try to even the match with Guertler and send it to extra holes.

   It looked like the match was over on the 19^th hole, the 336-yard, par-4 first hole at Bala, when Guertler stuck a 54-degree wedge to three feet, but he was unable to convert the birdie try.

   Both players found trouble on Bala’s 303-yard, par-4 second hole, but Guertler ultimately holed a tough 17-foot putt for par to earn his spot in the final against Ryan.

   In the first flight final, Carlisle Country Club’s James Ulsh, a recent Trinity graduate, rolled to a 7 and 5 victory over recent Central Bucks West graduate Kevin Lydon, playing out of Commonwealth National Golf Club.

   Both were PIAA qualifiers last fall, Ulsh in Class AA and Lydon in Class AAA. Lydon, who will play college golf at La Salle beginning later this summer, was coming off a strong run to the quarterfinals in last week’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Philadelphia Country Club.

   In the semifinals Wednesday morning, Lydon rolled to a 5 and 5 victory over Jack Orr of Little Mill Country Club. Ulsh, meanwhile, cooled off a red-hot Ethan Martin, representing GAP Youth on Course, with a 2-up decision.

   Martin, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at La Salle last fall, has been the best player on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour in the last couple of weeks.