Nicholas outlasts Brown in a battle of heavyweights in Patterson Cup at St. Davids

    You’d be hard pressed to find a couple of guys on the local scene playing at a more consistently high level over the last year or so than Drue Nicholas, a junior at Drexel, and Michael R. Brown Jr.

   The two hooked up in a memorable edition of the Joseph H. Patterson Cup, the 120^th edition of this Golf Association of Philadelphia major championship presented by Provident Bank, this week at St. Davids Golf Club, a Donald Ross classic that sits where Radnor Township, Delaware County meets Tredyffrin Township, Chester County.

   Tied after 36 holes at 7-under-par 133 over the 6,546-yard, par-70 St. Davids layout Thursday afternoon, Nicholas and Brown engaged in a four-hole aggregate playoff with Nicholas sending it to sudden death by dropping a miraculous 30-foot bomb for par at the 220-yard, par-3 17^th hole.

   Nicholas finally ended the battle of heavyweights by sticking a 60-degree wedge from 89 yards away to three feet at St. Davids’ 385-yard, par-4 first hole and converting the birdie try to outlast Brown and claim his first GAP major title.

   “I hit it really good,” Nicholas told the GAP website concerning his approach to the fifth hole of the playoff. “I just didn’t want it to hit the pin. I know that sounds hard to say. Luckily, it was perfect. I figured Michael was going to make par.

   “I knew I had to make the putt. I was so happy (when it went in). It rolled end over end. I said, ‘I think it’s in, I think it’s in.’ I was just relieved. Michael’s one of the best. To be able to beat him on a pretty big stage, almost mano-to-mano, so to speak, was awesome.”

   Nicholas, a 20-year-old from Egg Harbor Township, N.J., was a junior phenom at the Jersey Shore and a scholastic standout at St. Augustine Prep. He went to North Carolina State in the high-powered Atlantic Coast Conference.

   But then he decided to come home, focus on a career path in finance at Drexel and play for head coach Ben Feld’s Dragons. He made an immediate impact at Drexel last fall, winning an individual title in the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate at Kilmaric Golf Club in Powells Point, N.C. and helping Drexel capture the City 6 Championship team title by finishing in a tie for third place at Llanerch Country Club.

   In the spring, Nicholas finished in a tie for fourth place individually, helping Drexel land in third in the CAA Championship at the Dataw Island Club’s Cotton Dike Course on Saint Helena Island, S.C.

   Nicholas had an internship this summer and had to pick his spots. The Patterson Cup was one of those spots.

   At 49, Brown, a Maple Shade, N.J. resident who is playing out of LuLu Country Club, is playing some of the best golf of his life. At one point last summer, he had the state amateur trophies of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania in his possession.

   When Brown defeated Nicholas’ Drexel teammate, Jeff Cunningham, in the final to capture the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Philadelphia Country Club in June, he became just the third player in the history of GAP to complete the career grand slam of the organization’s four major championships.

   And he was very much in contention to add a second Patterson Cup title to the one he won on another Donald Ross gem in 2018 at Gulph Mills Golf Club, not far from St. Davids.

   There was a favorable course setup for Wednesday’s opening round and the best amateur golfers in the Philadelphia area took full advantage.

   Leading the pack was Nicholas, who established a single-round Patterson Cup record with a scintillating 7-under 63. Nicholas started off the 10^th tee and really got it going in the middle of his round, rattling off six straight birdies at the 16^th, 17^th, 18^th, first, second and third holes.

   Not that Brown was far behind as he carded a pretty strong 6-under 64, sharing second place after the opening round with Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Andy Butler, the former Villanova standout.

   But with the championship on the line Thursday afternoon, pars were what mattered.

   Nicholas made pars on the last six holes, including a nifty save from the left greenside bunker on the 17^th hole, where he would make that huge 30-footer for par to keep his hopes alive an hour or so later. That enabled Nicholas to add an even-par 70 to his opening-round 63.

   Brown held up his end of the bargain with seven straight pars to conclude his round as he added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 64 to catch Nicholas at 7-under.

   Brown did not leave St. Davids empty-handed, though. That final-round 69 enabled him to overtake Carlisle Country Club’s John Peters to capture the Silver Cross Award, GAP’s Stroke Play Championship. It was the first Silver Cross for Brown.

   The Silver Cross counts the two scores from qualifying for match play in the Philadelphia Amateur at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course and Philadelphia Country Club with the two rounds of the Patterson Cup.

   Peters, a sophomore at Duke, was the co-medalist in qualifying for the Philly Am and had a five-shot advantage over Brown entering the Patterson Cup. Brown’s 64 in Wednesday’s opening round at St. Davis closed the gap, but Peters – he of the dramatic hole-out for eagle from 193 yards away on the iconic 18th hole at Merion Golf Club’s East Course to win last summer’s Pennsylvania Amateur – posted a 67 and still led Brown by two shots in the Silver Cross battle.

   Peters closed with a 3-over 73 to end up with a 6-under 277 total in the Silver Cross scoring while Brown’s 69 gave him an 8-under 275 total. Peters was part of a group of five players who finished in a tie for 15^th place in the Patterson Cup standings with an even-par 140 total.

   Merion Golf Club’s Cole Willcox, who is a reinstated amateur after a professional career, carded his second straight 3-under 67 to finish a shot out of the playoff in third place with a 6-under 134 total.

   Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Andrew Keeling and Fieldstone Golf Club’s Joe Tigani were another two shots behind Willcox in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 4-under 136 total.

   Keeling, who finished in a tie for fourth place in last year’s Patterson Cup at Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club, added a 3-under 67 to his opening-round 69. Tigani, who played college golf at Hamilton College, had the best round of the day in Thursday’s final round with a 4-under 66 after matching par in the opening round with a 70.

   Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Conor McGrath, a fifth-year player at Temple and the 2021 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, finished alone in sixth place after adding a 1-over 71 to his opening-round 66. McGrath will be representing Huntingdon Valley and the Owls when he tees it up in the U.S. Amateur later this month at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. after punching his ticket in a GAP-administered qualifier at Rolling Green Golf Club.

   Another Huntingdon Valley guy, Harvard senior Brian Isztwan, and Kevin Kramarski of the Moorestown Field Club finished in a tie for seventh place, each ending up at 2-under 138.

   Isztwan, whose solid summer includes a victory in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship on his home course at Huntingdon Valley, recorded a second straight 1-under 69. Kramarski matched par in Thursday’s final round with a 70 after opening with a 2-under 68.

   Huntingdon Valley’s Butler couldn’t maintain the momentum from his opening-round 64 as he closed with a 75 that left him among a group of six players tied for ninth place with a 1-under 139 total.

   A couple of players from the talented stable of golfers at Philadelphia Cricket Club, Gregor Orlando, the 2017 Philadelphia Amateur champion, and Marty McGuckin, were also part of the group at 1-under as each carded a 1-under 69 in Thursday’s final round after matching par in the opening round with a 70.

   Orlando made a run to the quarterfinals in last summer’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Sankaty Head Golf Club on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts.

   Rounding out the group at 139 were LuLu’s Ryan Tall and Briarwood Golf Club’s Chris Baloga, both of whom added a 1-over 71 to an opening-round 68, and Galloway National veteran Peter Barron III, who carded a 1-under 69 in Thursday’s second round after matching par in the opening round with a 70.

   Tall, winner of GAP’s Boys’ Junior Championship in 2018, represented Lafayette in the NCAA’s New Haven Regional in the spring.

   Among the players joining Carlisle’s Peters in the tie for 15^th place at even-par 140 were a couple of members of The Haverford School’s 2018 team that made a perfect 30-0 run through the Inter-Ac League’s six regular-season invitationals, Bucknell sophomore Jake Maddaloni and Lehigh senior David Hurly, both products of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club.

   Maddaloni erupted for a sparkling 5-under 65 in the opening round before cooling off with a 75 in Thursday’s final round. Hurly added a solid 2-under 68 in Thursday’s second round to his opening-round 72.

   Rounding out the fivesome at even-par were Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matt Mattare and Phoenixville Country Club’s Morgan Lofland, both of whom were in contention after opening with a 3-under 67 before falling back with a 3-over 73 in Thursday’s second round.

   Mattare is headed for his first U.S. Amateur appearance later this month at Ridgewood after a strong showing in the qualifier at Rolling Green. Lofland, who starred scholastically at Conestoga, is coming off a solid freshman season at Penn State.