For the second straight summer, an Isztwan is making a deep run in a marquee amateur match-play event on his home course at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
A year ago it was Brian Isztwan, who recently wrapped up a solid career on the Harvard golf team, battling to the final of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship and defeating clubmate Ben Cooley in a 20-hole thriller.
This time it’s Brian Isztwan’s younger brother Patrick displaying his considerable local knowledge on the William Flynn test that he grew up playing while making a bid for the title in the 123rd BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship.
When Conor McGrath won the Philly Am title two years ago at Cedarbrook Country Club two years ago, he was the 16th Huntingdon Valley player to put his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy. Huntingdon Valley has accounted for 25 Philly Am winners overall in the storied history of this championship.
After rolling to a 4 and 3 victory over St. Davids Golf Club veteran Brian Gillespie in Wednesday afternoon’s quarterfinals, Patrick Isztwan, a junior on the Richmond golf team, found himself in the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur.
“I’s a dream come true, honestly,” Patrick Isztwan told the Golf Association of Philadelphia website. “I’ve grown up at Huntingdon Valley. It’s like a second home. The community here is so good. I’ve had a lot of support out there the last couple of days. I’s just been incredible. Very surreal.”
Patrick Isztwan briefly fell behind in his quarterfinal match when Gillespie won the third hole. But Patrick Isztwan won four of the next five holes to turn his 1-down deficit into a 3-up advantage and take control of the match.
There was a 110-minute delay for rain and lightning during the quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Patrick Isztwan survived a tough test against The Ridge at Back Brook’s Brandon Dalinka in the round of 16, pulling out the victory on the 21st hole. Half of the round of 16’s eight matches went to extra holes.
Patrick Isztwan was ahead for much of the match against Dalinka, who starred scholastically at Council Rock North and played his college golf at North Carolina. But Dalinka kept battling and forced extra holes by winning at the last with a 4.
But Patrick Isztwan pulled out the victory on the third hole of sudden death with a 3.
Dalinka is a really solid player and won the New Jersey Mid-Amateur crown for the second time in four years last summer.
Patrick Isztwan’s semifinal opponent Thursday morning will be Llanerch Country Club’s John Lalley, who pulled out a 1-up decision over Rutgers sophomore Logan Paczewski, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during a standout scholastic career at Dallas.
There’s something about those slick putting surfaces at Llanerch that make Llanerch members good putters no matter where they go.
Lalley got a little bit of a break in the always grueling Philly Am schedule with an easy 7 and 6 victory over Saucon Valley Country Club’s Evan Eichenlaub in the round of 16 earlier Wednesday. Eichenlaub wrapped up an outstanding scholastic career at Moravian Academy by finishing in fourth place in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State as a senior last fall.
On the other side of the bracket, Mount St. Mary’s senior Ben Smith, playing out of the Country Club of Harrisburg, reached the semifinals with a 2 and 1 victory over Xiong Da, a native of China who wrapped up his sophomore season at Delaware this spring.
Smith, who began his college career at Penn State, and Da took out the only remaining past champions in the field in the round of 16 earlier Wednesday.
Smith claimed a dominating 5 and 4 victory over Pine Valley Golf Club’s Jeff Osberg, who was a Huntingdon Valley member when he captured the Philly Am title in 2014 at White Manor Country Club, one of the seven Golf Association of Philadelphia major championships on his glittering resume.
Smith’s match with Osberg began on the 10th tee and Smith had a 4-up lead by the time they made the turn to the front nine at Huntingdon Valley.
Da, a USGA/GAP entry, pulled out a round-of-16 victory over the defending champion, Michael R. Brown Jr. of LuLu Country Club, on the 20th hole.
When Brown won the Philly Am crown a year ago at Philadelphia Country Club, he joined Osberg and Overbrook Golf Club legend Chris Lange as the only players to have completed the career grand slam of GAP major championships, which includes the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship, the Philadelphia Open and the Patterson Cup, in addition to the BMW Philadelphia Amateur.
Smith’s semifinal opponent will be Mike Crowley of Briarwood Golf Club as he pulled out a 1-up decision over Campbell Wolf in the fourth quarterfinal match.
Crowley, a Hunt Valley, Md. native, was the runnerup in the Patriot League Championship at Hillendale Country Club as a junior at Loyola of Maryland this spring.
Crowley had begun his day by taking out the only other current Huntingdon Valley member still left in the match-play bracket, earning a 2 and 1 victory over former Villanova standout Andy Butler.
Butler served as the captain for Huntingdon Valley’s BMW GAP Team Matches teams and Huntingdon Valley won the title in the top tier for a record 34th time this spring.
It’s already been a banner spring at Huntingdon Valley. A couple more match wins for Patrick Isztwan would make it even better.
The winners of Thursday morning’s semifinal matches will meet in a scheduled 36-hole final Saturday morning.
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