Nicholas is a Shore thing in victory over Isztwan in BMW Philadelphia Amateur final at Aronimink

 

   Drue Nicholas was always a Jersey Shore guy.

   A junior phenom from Egg Harbor Township and a scholastic standout at St. Augustine Prep, Nicholas decided to continue his pursuit of golf glory at North Carolina State in the highest levels of Division I golf in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

   But it wasn’t working for him in Raleigh. He came home to study finance and become a stalwart on the golf team under Ben Feld at Drexel. And in Golf Association of Philadelphia events, Nicholas would represent Galloway National Golf Club, a layout at the Jersey Shore that has a reputation as a really tough golf course, particularly when the wind blows, which it does about 90 percent of the time.

   Nicholas became the first Galloway National member to have his name inscribed on the J. Wood Platt Trophy, which goes to the winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, when he pulled away in the afternoon of the scheduled 36-hole final Friday at Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross masterpiece in Newtown Square, to defeat Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Patrick Isztwan, 5 and 4.

   Nicholas had won another of GAP’s major championships, the Patterson Cup, in 2022 in a dramatic aggregate playoff with veteran Michael R. Brown Jr. that stretched to sudden death at St. Davids Golf Club.

   And while Nicholas was winning four individual titles for Drexel, and, believe me, winning any kind of Division I tournament is never easy, he couldn’t back up his Patterson Cup with more success on the GAP circuit.

   Because it’s just that competitive. And nobody knows it better than Nicholas does. It was the 125^th playing of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and Nicholas’ name on that J. Wood Platt Trophy will join some of the great names in the history of amateur golf in this region and beyond.

   “The stars aligned,” Nicholas, who collected his Drexel diploma Thursday on the eve of the Philly Am final, told the GAP website. “GAP is so strong these days that you can’t just come out here and wing it. It means a lot more than the Patterson Cup.

   “I missed match play for two years in a row. I haven’t performed well in GAP (since that win). (People were saying) I was just this good college player that wasn’t that competitive over the last few years. This is definitely validation.”

   The 22-year-old Nicholas was facing a formidable opponent in Isztwan, who was in the exact same position two years ago in the Philly Am final on his home course at Huntingdon Valley.

   The 21-year-old Isztwan fell to Mike Crowley in that final. He had finished up a solid college career at Richmond this spring and got back home in time to help Huntingdon Valley capture the coveted title in GAP’s BMW Team Matches.

   Isztwan, a scholastic standout in the Inter-Ac League with Penn Charter, drew first blood at Aronimink by winning the third hole with a par before Nicholas evened things up by taking the sixth with a par.

    Isztwan got back-to-back wins at the seventh and eighth holes with pars to build a 2-up lead, but he missed some good opportunities to stretch his advantage. Isztwan’s experience told him that a player as talented as Nicholas wasn’t going away.

   Sure enough, Nicholas got within 1-down when he flopped his approach at the par-5 16^th hole to tap-in range for a birdie. He then evened the match by taking the tough par-3 17 with a par.

   After breaking for lunch with the match all square, Nicholas came out on fire in the afternoon.

   He won the 19^th hole with a birdie, the 20^th with a par and the 21^st with a bogey and suddenly was 3-up. Nicholas went back-to-back, picking up a win at the 23^rd hole with a par the 24^th with a birdie. When he won the 26^th hole with a bogey, Nicholas was 6-up.

   Isztwan took the 29^th hole with a bogey and the 30^th with a par to cut his deficit to 4-down, but he was running out of holes.

   Nicholas went 5-up with five holes to play by taking the 31^st hole with a par and closed out Isztwan when they halved the 32^nd hole with pars.

   Isztwan is very proud of his Huntingdon Valley roots and, at a young age, has gained a spot in the club’s rich legacy in GAP events. He has been right in the middle of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur narrative each of the last three springs.

   Jersey Shore golfers have now accounted for three Philadelphia Amateur crowns in the last eight playings of the prestigious event with Jeremy Wall of the Manasquan River Golf Club going back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.

   And Nicholas, with two GAP majors on his resume now, is adding to a budding legacy of success not far from the beach.