Salvitti pulls away from the field to capture Pennsylvania Amateur crown by five shots at Huntsville

 

   Rocco Salvitti finished in the top 10 in each of his four trips to the PIAA Class AAA Championship during a brilliant scholastic career at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, capped by a runnerup finish as a senior in 2022.

   Salvitti, a junior at Notre Dame, might not have won a state championship as a high school player, but he grabbed a bigger prize Wednesday when he finished off a dominant five-shot victory in the 112^th Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Huntsville Golf Club.

   Dick’s Sporting Goods is the title sponsor for all of the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) championships.

   Notre Dame had not reached the NCAA Championship since 1966 when Salvitti arrived at South Bend, Ind. in the fall of 2023. By the end of the wraparound 2023-2024 college season was over that long streak of frustration was over, partly in thanks to Salvitti, who, as a freshman, led the way for the Figthin’ Irish as they finished in third place in the NCAA Austin Regional.

   While it might have been a little cooler at Huntsville, in Dallas, north of Wilkes-Barre, than it was here in the Philadelphia area Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, there was still plenty of heat and humidity with which to deal.

   None of it seemed to bother Salvitti, playing out of Oakmont Country Club. He opened with a sizzling 8-under 63 that left him a shot behind the equally red-hot Matt Mattioli, a recent graduate of Miami of Ohio who was playing out of the Pittsburgh Field Club.

   It was a career low for Mattioli, a member of Fox Chapel’s 2019 PIAA Class AAA championship team, as he had eight birdies, an eagle and nary a bogey on his scorecard.

   But Salvitti was right on Mattioli’s heels as he made birdies at the first, third, fifth, sixth and ninth holes in a torrid 5-under 31 tour of the outgoing nine at Huntsville. He stayed hot with birdies at the 11^th and 13^th holes around an eagle at par-5 12^th before cooling off with five straight pars to close out the incoming nine.

   Salvitti then took control of the tournament with a 6-under 66 in Tuesday’s second round that gave him a two-shot lead over Mattioli going into Wednesday’s final round.

   Salvitti made birdies at the fifth, seventh, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th holes leading up to an eagle at the par-5 14^th that got him to 7-under for the round. A bogey at the last, his first blemish of the championship, left him at 15-under going into the final round.

   Mattioli had a 3-under 69 in the second round and held down second place at 13-under.

   Salvitti, however, would not be denied. He closed with a 2-under 70 for a 17-under 199 total that was five shots clear of runnerup Michael Lugiano, who finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a senior at Lake Lehman in 2023 and who was playing on his home course at Huntsville.

   Playing smartly with the lead, Salvitti made a birdie at the second hole, a bogey at four, birdies at seven and 12 and a bogey at 13 before settling the issue by ripping a 4-iron second shot to four feet at the par-5 14^th and making the putt for eagle. He had the luxury of making a bogey at the finishing hole.

   “The past two days I had a really good mindset of just going out there and playing the best golf I could,” Salvitti told the PAGA website. “I was obviously hitting it great and it allowed me to be free out there on a tough golf course. My motto today was to just stay in my lane and keep hitting quality shots. I knew if I hit enough of them, it was going to be hard for someone to catch up.

   “I played smart into the greens, had a lot of good birdie looks and made a lot of stress-free pars. It feels great to win. I haven’t been in the winner’s circle recently, but doing it in your state amateur is exciting. I haven’t been able to process it yet.”

   Lugiano, who worked his way into the lineup as a freshman at Liberty during the wraparound 2024-’25 season, closed with a 3-under 69, his third round of the tournament in the 60s, as he earned runnerup honors with a 12-under 204 total.

   Lugiano had opened with a 5-under 67 before adding a 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Mattioli struggled a little in the final round with a 2-over 74 that left him a shot behind Lugiano in third place with an 11-under 205 total.

   Tim Peters, who is transferring to Penn State after two outstanding seasons at Millersville, sandwiched a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 4-under 68s to finish a shot behind Mattioli in fourth place with a 10-under 206 total.

   Peters, a two-time PIAA Class AA qualifier at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy in Boalsburg, was the PSAC individual champion as a freshman at Millersville in 2023.

   Chuck Tragresser, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Franklin Regional in 2020, closed with a 1-under 71 to finish a shot behind Peters in fifth place with a 9-under 207 total.

   Tragresser, a redshirt junior at Robert Morris playing out of Willowbrook Country Club, had opened with a 3-under 69 before adding a 5-under 67 in Tuesday’s second round.

   David Mecca of the Country Club of Scranton, the 2023 Golf Association of Philadelphia Middle-Amateur champion, carded his second straight 2-under 70 in the final round to finish a shot behind Tragresser in sixth place with an 8-under 208 total. Mecca had opened with a 4-under 68.

   Nice showing by former Episcopal Academy standout and North Carolina State sophomore Hunter Stetson as he finished in a tie for seventh place with Nathan Platt, another Oakmont representative, each landing on 7-under 209.

   Stetson, winner of the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac League individual championship as a sophomore with the Churchmen in 2021, added a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round to his opening round of 4-under 68 before closing with a 1-under 71.

   Stetson, playing out of Aronimink Golf Club, worked his way into the lineup for N.C. State as a freshman, teeing it for the Wolfpack in the NCAA Urbana Regional.

   Platt moved up the leaderboard on the strength of a 4-under 68 in the final round after adding a 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round to an opening-round 70.

   Nick Turowski, a sophomore at West Virginia who captured the title in another PAGA major championship, the R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship in early July at Rolling Green Golf Club, finished in ninth place with a 6-under 210 total.

   Turowski, who lost in a playoff for the PIAA Class AAA Championship in 2023 as a senior at Penn Trafford, got it going in the opening round with a sizzling 8-under 64 that left him just two shots behind Mattioli.

   Turowski, playing out of Hannastown Golf Club, matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 72 before closing with a 2-over 74.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Pennsylvania Amateur was Drexel junior John Keba, who finished a shot behind Turowski with a 5-under 211 total.

   Keba, a scholastic standout at Allentown Central Catholic playing out of Bethlehem Golf Club, had a pair of 3-under 69s in the first two rounds at Huntsville before closing with a 1-over 73.