Rusk's golf journey adds another chapter with Philadelphia Open victory at Applebrook

 

   Had a chance to chat with Jon Rusk in the spring of 2018 while doing a story about LuLu Country Club for Joe Burkhardt’s Tri-State Golfer.

   LuLu’s clubhouse was, quite literally, rising from the ashes of a 2015 fire. And maybe he didn’t know it at the time, but Rusk’s golf career was on the verge of a new beginning.

   At the time, Rusk, who, in partnership with some colleagues in the business of golf, had taken over LuLu in 2012, was the head pro at the venerable Donald Ross layout in Glenside.

   Rusk struck me as a bit of a wise guy, but in a good way. There was no mistaking his vision for LuLu. This place was going to be all about golf and a place where golf can be fun.

   In the ensuing years, Rusk, a phenom at Council Rock when he won the PIAA Championship in 1997 and a prized recruit at Auburn before turning pro and playing on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour, regained his amateur status and changed his title at LuLu from head pro to general manager.

   Wednesday at Applebrook Golf Club in East Gosen, Rusk, now 45, put his name on the Johnny J. McDermott Trophy by winning the Philadelphia Open in a four-hole aggregate playoff with Andrew Cornish, an assistant pro at Cedarbrook Country Club, and Zak Drescher, the reigning Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) Middle-Amateur champion who plays out of Bent Creek Country Club.

   The Philly Open has always been one of my favorite events on the local calendar. It is where all the various talent groups in the Philadelphia area come together for 36 holes of stroke play. The pros from an underrated Philadelphia Section PGA are there. The top amateur players and there is no shortage of talent in that group. The college kids and their unbounded potential. Even a couple of the talented juniors usually sneak into the field.

   They are young and old and everywhere in between. At one time or another, Rusk has been associated with all of those groups. Nobody knows better than he does how good a player you have to be to win one of these things.

   Rusk reached the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur two years ago at Philadelphia Country Club, although he seemed more excited that three of the four semifinalists were from LuLu than he was that he was one of those three.

   Greg Cunningham, who starred collegiately at Drexel, knocked off Rusk in the semifinals before falling to Michael R. Brown Jr. in the final, but to Rusk there were no losers with two LuLu guys battling it out for the title.

   This spring, with Rusk in the lineup, LuLu captured the title in GAP’s BMW Team Matches for the second time in four years. LuLu actually had its two top teams among the final four that battled it out in the Team Match playoff. Winning the Team Matches was probably a bigger goal for Rusk when 2024 dawned, but he’ll take the Philly Open victory.

   “I’ve never won a GAP major,” Rusk told the GAP website. “I haven’t really played in too many, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot the last year or so. I failed as a professional and I have a lot of scar tissue from that. (This) helps peel some of that away. It feels good.

   “I have some friends on that trophy, like Mr. (William) Hyndman in on there. Mr. (R. Jay) Sigel is on there. To have your name on a trophy with those guys is pretty cool to begin with. I’m proud of that fact.”

   Rusk got a share of the lead with Temple junior Darren Nolan, who starred scholastically at La Salle and was playing out of Cedarbrook Country Club, by the end of Tuesday’s opening round.

   They both managed to card a sparkling 4-under-par 66 over the 6,894-yard, par-70 Applebrook layout, an early work of Gil Hanse, who has gone on to become one of the most renowned golf course architects, and maybe more importantly, renovaters of classic golf courses, in the world.

   The opening round was played in real-feel temperatures well above 100, but Rusk got it going in the middle of his round when he rattled off four straight birdies at the eighth, ninth, 10^th and 11^th holes.

   It was nearly as hot for Wednesday’s second round and Rusk matched par with a solid 70 that left him with a 4-under 136 total.

   The 35-year-old Drescher, who outdueled Rusk, among others, to capture the GAP Middle-Amateur at Commonwealth National Golf Club in May, barged his way into the picture when his third shot at the 602-yard, par-5 16^th hole, a 9-iron from 141 yards away, found the bottom of the cup for an eagle.

   That enabled Drescher to post a second straight 2-under 68 and earn himself a seat at the table for the playoff with a 4-under total.

   The 25-year-old Cornish, a Pottstown resident, made birdies at the 14^th and 16^th holes on his way to the clubhouse for a second straight 2-under 68 as he joined Rusk and Drescher in the playoff at 4-under.

   Rusk immediately took control of things in the four-hole aggregate playoff when he holed out his 30-foot chip from the closely-mown area left of the green at the 583-yard, par-5 eighth hole for an eagle. Cornish made a par and Drescher a bogey.

   Rusk’s next stroke was also a beauty as he stuck a 9-iron at the 153-yard, par-3 ninth hole to eight feet and converted the birdie try.

   Mother Nature intervened a couple of holes later when approaching weather forced a nearly one-hour delay with Rusk looking at a 45-foot putt for birdie at Applebrook’s 483-yard, par-4 finishing hole. When play resumed, Rusk had the luxury of three-putting for a bogey, but still finished two shots clear of Cornish and four shots better than Drescher.

   Cornish got a nice consolation prize, though. As the low pro, he claimed the top prize of $8,000 out of a total purse of $40,000 available to the professionals in the field. It was the biggest check Cornish has earned in his fledgling pro career.

   Ryan Tall, who starred scholastically at Conestoga and collegiately at Lafayette, didn’t quite beat out Rusk for low LuLu honors, but he was just a shot out of the playoff among a quartet of players tied for fourth place at 3-under 137.

   Tall recorded a solid 4-under 66 in Wednesday’s second round after opening with a 1-over 71.

   Tall was joined at 3-under by Applebrook’s Billy Howard, Penn State junior Billy Pabst, playing out of Elmhurst Country Club, and Danny Lewis, the head pro at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s St. Martins Course.

   Howard matched Tall’s sparkling 4-under 66 in Wednesday’s second round after opening with a 1-over 71.

   Pabst, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup in 2021 as a senior at North Pocono, added a 1-under 69 in Wednesday’s second round to his opening-round 68.

   Lewis was the second-best pro finisher behind Cornish as Lewis had the identical splits as Pabst, adding a 1-under 69 in the second round to his opening-round 68.

   Pabst’s teammate at Penn State last season, recent graduate Patrick Sheehan, closed with a solid 3-under 67 to join a foursome of players tied for eighth place at 2-under 138. Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion in 2018 as a senior at Central Bucks East, had opened with a 1-over 71.

   Sheehan, who plays out of Talamore Country Club, was coming off one of the most gratifying wins of his amateur career as he captured the title in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship with a 4 and 3 victory over Peyton Mussina of Williamsport Country Club at Sunnehanna Country Club, the A.W. Tillinghast classic in Johnstown.

   Pabst was on the bag for Sheehan for his final matches in his march to the Sigel Match Play crown. Sheehan had lost in the Sigel Match Play final in 2021 to an old scholastic rival in Palmer Jackson, who went on to a standout college career at Norte Dame that wrapped up in the spring.

   Sheehan was joined at 2-under by Drexel senior Brockton English, LedgeRock Golf Club’s Zach Dilcher and Zach Barbin, who plays out of the Chesapeake Bay Golf Club pro shop.

   English, a Shelby Township, Mich. native, added a 2-under 68 in Wednesday’s second round to his opening-round 70.

   Dilcher had the best round of the tournament, a sizzling 5-under 65, in Wednesday’s second round after opening with a 3-over 73.

   Barbin won a pair of GAP major championships in the pandemic summer of 2020 when he was still an amateur as he captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur crown at Lancaster Country Club and the Patterson Cup at The 1912 Club.

   Barbin, who has quickly emerged as one of Philadelphia Section’s rising stars, registered a pair of 1-under 69s at Applebrook.

   Mike Little of Clubhouse 54 was the lone pro in a quartet of players who finished in a tie for 12^th place at 1-under 139.

   Little, winner of the Philadelphia Open in the pandemic summer of 2020 at Doylestown Country Club, finished up with a 1-under 69 in Wednesday’s second round after matching par in the opening round with a 70.

   Joining Little at 1-under were Little Mill Country Club’s Troy Vannucci, Briarwood Golf Club’s Michael Crowley and DuPont Country Club’s Jackson Debusschere.

   Vannucci, winner of the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship in 2022 at Jericho National Golf Club, added a solid 3-under 67 in Wednesday’s second round to his opening-round 72.

   Crowley, who starred at Loyola of Maryland and captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur crown a year ago at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, matched par in the second round with a 70 after opening with a 1-under 69.

   Debusschere, who starred scholastically at Strath Haven and is coming off a solid junior season at Cornell, was just one shot out of the lead following his opening round of 3-under 67. He fell back a little with a 2-over 72 in Wednesday’s final round.

   Nelson couldn’t maintain his momentum following his opening-round 66 as he struggled to a 77 in Wednesday’s final round and finished among the group tied for 33^rd place at 3-over 143.

   It looked like Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, was on track to repeat as Philadelphia Open champion when he opened with a 3-under 67 that left him just a shot out of the lead.

   But Shattuck backed off with a 3-over 73 in Wednesday’s second round and was one of six players who finished in a tie for 16^th place at even-par 140.

   Shattuck, who has already won twice this season on the Philadelphia Section circuit, made the cut at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Country Club in Lexington, Ky. and was the low club pro in May.