Stevenson gets his chance and takes Christman Cup a second straight time in a playoff at Huntingdon Valley

 

   At the end of what is always a long day at the Christman Cup, the second of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships for junior golfers, Sunnybrook Golf Club’s John Stevenson had successfully defended the title he won a year ago at Huntingdon Valley Country Club in Lower Moreland Township July 10^th.

   Stevenson, a recent La Salle graduate who will join the program at Drexel next month, had forgotten to sign up for the 25^th Christman Cup, so when the day began, he was on site, but without a starting time. After an hour and 20 minutes, a spot opened up and Stevenson made the most of the opportunity.

   As usual, it’s worth checking out the GAP coverage of the event for a lot of the emotions Stevenson went through.

   Bottom line, though, Stevenson became the first player in the history of the GAP junior program to successfully defend titles in both the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship and the Christman Cup. Seems like whenever that familiar GAP flag is flying at a tournament, Stevenson is at his best.

   The two events couldn’t be more different. The Junor Boys is 18 holes of stroke-play qualifying followed by four tough matches. The Christman Cup is one day, 36 holes of stroke play, and it’s almost always, as it was again last week, one really hot day.

   Stevenson, just happy to get a chance to compete, opened with a 2-over-par 72 over the 6,656-yard, par-70 William Flynn design at Huntingdon Valley.

   That left him two shots behind James DeRocini of Westwood Golf Club as DeRocini matched par in the opening round with a 70.

   With a chance to regroup, Stevenson found a little something on the range and got it going in the second round.

   Stevenson reached the 567-yard, par-5 seventh hole in two shots and two-putted for birdie. He knocked a pitching wedge from 135 yards away at the 410-yard, par-4 eighth hole to 12 feet and converted the birdie try.

   Again wielding the pitching wedge, Stevenson hit it to four feet at the 320-yard, par-4 12^th hole and made the birdie putt.

   But, like most of the rest of the field, Stevenson struggled down the stretch, making four straight bogeys at the 13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th holes on his way to a second straight 2-over 72 that left him with a 4-over 144 total.

   Sean Curran, a junior at The Haverford School playing out of Merion Golf Club, had a chance to grab the title, but three-putted for bogey at the 17^th hole and couldn’t get a 15-footer for par to fall at the finishing hole.

   Like Stevenson, Curran, who helped the Fords capture the Inter-Ac League crown last fall, finished with a second straight 2-over 72 and a 4-over 144 total.

   John Diamond, a junior at St. Joseph’s Prep playing out of the John F. Byrne Golf Course, dropped in a 35-foot birdie bomb at the 435-yard, par-4 18^th hole as he, too, carded a second straight 2-over 72 for a 4-over 144 to join Stevenson and Curran in a sudden-death playoff for the Christman Cup title. A long day had gotten a little longer.

   It looked like Diamond was going to take the title when he bombed his tee shot on the first hole of the playoff, the 386-yard, par-4 first hole at Huntingdon Valley, to just 40 yards from the pin. He knocked a wedge to two feet for a certain birdie.

   Stevenson, on the other hand, found a fairway bunker and managed to find the putting surface, but was 22 feet away. But Stevenson somehow got that birdie putt to fall and the playoff continued.

   Curran missed the green and could no better than par and was eliminated from the playoff.

   On the second hole of the playoff, the 402-yard, par-4 second hole, Stevenson striped his drive and knocked a 52-degree wedge to 10 feet. Diamond caught a tree off the tee that left him with a lot to do. His 4-iron shot found the putting surface, but he was 55 feet away.

   Diamond missed his birdie try and Stevenson made his and the title belonged to Stevenson.

   “It’s pretty emotional,” Stevenson, who led La Salle to a runnerup finish in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall, told the GAP website. “I never had anything like this happen. I didn’t even know if I was going to play. I was sitting there, hoping and waiting.”

   DeRocini just missed joining the playoff as he added a 5-over 75 in the afternoon to his opening-round 70 to finish a shot behind the top three in fourth place with a 5-over 145 total.

   One of Stevenson’s teammates on perennial Catholic League power La Salle, Liam Littleton, also like Stevenson, playing out of Sunnybrook, added a 2-over 72 in the second round to his opening-round 75 as he finished two shots behind DeRocini in fifth place with a 7-over 147 total.

   Malvern Prep sophomore Colby Komancheck, playing out of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, opened with a solid 2-over 72 before adding a 76 in the afternoon as he finished in sixth place with an 8-over 148 total.

   A couple more of Stevenson’s teammates on La Salle’s state Class AAA runnerup team, Sebastian Botero and Chris Vahey, both playing out of North Hills Country Club, were joined in a three-way tie for seventh place at 9-over 149 with Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, a senior on The Tatnall School golf team.

   Botero added a 4-over 74 in the second round to his opening-round 75. After opening with a solid 3-over 73, Vahey added a 76 in the second round. Homer had the same splits as Vahey did, adding a 76 in the afternoon to his opening-round 73.

   A fourth member of the La Salle contingent at Penn State last fall that finished second in the PIAA Class AAA team competition, Nolan Corcoran, playing out of Cedarbrook Country Club, headed a group of five  players that rounded out the top 10 in the Christman Cup by finishing in a tie for 10^th place at 10-over 150.

   Corcoran added a 6-over 76 in the afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 74.

   Aronimink Golf Club’s Gregor Weissenberger, who captured the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship while playing for The Haverford School on his home course last fall, was also among the group at 150 as he bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a 3-over 73 in the afternoon.

   Rounding out the group tied for 10^th place were another Aronimink guy in Jack Crowley, Radley Run Country Club’s Kasim Narinesingh-Smith, and another North Hills entry in Adam Fluehr.

   Crowley, who helped Episcopal Academy earn a runnerup finish in the Inter-Ac race as a senior with the Churchmen last fall, carded a pair of 5-over 75s.

   Narinesingh-Smith, who capped an outstanding scholastic career at Kennett by earning a second straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, opened with a solid 2-over 72 before adding a 78 in the afternoon.

   Fluehr, who got a share of second place in last fall’s District One Class AAA Championship as a member of the Springfield (Montco) golf team, struggled in the opening round with an 80, but matched par and the low round of the tournament in the afternoon with a 70.