Bent Creek's Drescher takes a major step with GAP Middle-Amateur victory at Commonwealth National

 

   Have a lot of catching up to do after wading through the madness of May that is the NCAA men’s and women’s championships. Let’s start with the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s first major championship of 2024.

   Zak Drescher has always been a standout in Lancaster amateur circles, an 11-time winner on the LANCO circuit, including four Lancaster County Amateur crowns.

   Despite being a sleep-deprived father of a newborn, the 35-year-old Drescher gutted out a two-shot victory in the 41^st Golf Association of Philadelphia Middle-Amateur Championship, presented by NJM Insurance, which wrapped up with 36 grueling holes May 22^nd at Commonwealth National Golf Club in Horsham.

   It was a beefed-up version of the GAP Middle-Amateur this spring with an opening round of 18 holes followed by a double round the second day. By bumping the Middle-Amateur to 54 holes, it made top finishers eligible for World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points.

   Drescher, playing out of Bent Creek Country Club, opened with a solid 1-under-par 70 over the 6,874-yard, par-71 Commonwealth National layout that left him two shots behind the Moorestown Field Club’s Kevin Kramarski and Scott Hughes, a USGA/GAP entry who is a Pine Valley Golf Club caddy.

   Commonwealth National really showed some teeth for the second day and a 1-over 72 in the second round vaulted Drescher to the top of the leaderboard, two shots ahead of Kramarski, who added a 5-over 76 to his opening-round 68.

   With some talented pursuers nipping at his heels, Drescher put an exclamation point on his first GAP major championship win when he drilled a 6-iron from 198 yards away at the 457-yard, par-4 finishing hole at Commonwealth National to 10 feet and converted the birdie putt.

   The birdie at the last gave Drescher a final round of 4-over 75 and a 4-over 217 total.

   ”To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be holding the trophy today,” Drescher told the GAP website. “But I hung on. I’ll take it.

   “I felt like I was moving up and playing better in more and more GAP events. It was encouraging, but I didn’t think I’d win. I would say I have more confidence. But when you are under the gun, it’s a different ball game. I think I was able to handle everything today. I didn’t look at the scores at all. I had no idea coming up 18 of where I was.”

   Drescher ran into some difficulty early in the round when he bunkered his tee shot at the 167-yard, par-3 fifth hole and it led to a double bogey. He struggled a little on the incoming nine with bogeys at 14, 15 and 17, but Commonwealth National’s back nine was proving difficult for the rest of the field as well.

   But Drescher put this one away with his birdie at the finishing hole.

   Jon Rusk, still basking in the glow of LuLu Country Club’s BMW GAP Team Match crown – LuLu, of which Rusk is a part owner, actually had its top two teams competing in the final four for the title – was part of a talented trio of players who finished in a tie for second place, two shots behind Drescher at 6-over 219.

   Rusk, who had opened with a 3-over 74, recorded a 1-over 73 in the second round before closing with 1-over 72.

   Rusk was joined at 6-over by Aronimink Golf Club’s Michael Davis, the runnerup in the 2015 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, and The 1912 Club’s Scott McNeil, a winner of the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship in 2015 and 2021.

   Davis, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Princeton, sandwiched a 4-over 75 with in the second round with a pair of 1-over 72s.

   After adding a 3-over 74 in the second round to his opening-round 75, McNeil closed with a 1-under 70, one of just a handful of rounds under par in the final round.

   Karmarski headed a group of four players tied for fifth place at 7-over 220. After getting a share of the lead with his opening round of 3-under 68, Karmarski posted a pair of 5-over 76s in the second day’s double round.

   Karmarski was joined at 7-over by Philadelphia Cricket Club’s John Brennan, the 2012 GAP Middle-Amateur champion, Llanerch Country Club’s John Lalley, and LedgeRock Golf Club’s Brock Kovach.

   Brennan, winner of the Philadelphia Open two summers ago on his home Wissahickon Course at the Cricket Club, matched par in the opening round with a 71, but struggled a little in the second round with a 5-over 76 before closing with a 73.

   Lalley, who reached the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur a year ago at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, was only a shot out of the lead following a solid opening round of 2-under 69. He fell back a little with a 7-over 78 in the second round before closing with a 73.

   Kovach sandwiched a 3-over 74 in the second round with a pair of 73s.

   Rounding out the top 10 were Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre, winner of the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship in 2002, and Briarwood Golf Club’s Will Wears as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 8-over 221.

   Mestre opened with a 1-over 72 and fell back a little with a 76 in the second round before closing with a 2-over 73. Wears also closed with a 2-over 73 after recording back-to-back 74s in the first two rounds.