Hunter Stetson began the wraparound 2024-2025 college golf season as a hopeful freshman on the roster of Atlantic Coast Conference power North Carolina State.
He ended the season in the lineup for the Wolfpack in the NCAA Urbana Regional. It is as competitive an environment as you can imagine at the level of Division I golf and Stetson, who starred scholastically in the Inter-Ac League at Episcopal Academy, proved he belonged.
Last week at Waynesborough Country Club, not far from his home course, Aronimink Golf Club, Stetson proved he belonged among the best on the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) circuit by outlasting recent Drexel graduate Drue Nicholas in a playoff to capture the title in the 123rd Joseph H. Patterson Cup, presented by Provident Bank.
The two had finished with matching 3-under 210 totals following the regulation 54 holes.
It was already a memorable summer for Nicholas, who captured the title in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Aronimink in June, the very same week he walked in his Drexel graduation, and last month beat the Philadelphia’s best pros and amateurs by capturing a win in the Philadelphia Open at Bidermann Golf Course.
A victory in the Patterson Cup would have given the 23-year-old Nicholas, a Jersey Shore native playing out of Galloway National Golf Club, an unprecedented third GAP major championship in a single summer. And he very nearly pulled it off.
The Patterson Cup was traditionally a 36-hole event, but GAP made it a 54-hole event that makes top finishers eligible to receive World Amateur Golf Ranking points.
Stetson opened with a solid 3-under 68 over the 7,168-yard, par-71 Waynesborough layout and shared the lead with Williamsport Country Club’s Peyton Mussina, the son of Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina.
The 22-year-old Mussina, a recent graduate of Penn College of Technology, had a two-shot lead after 27 holes of Thursday’s 36-hole windup, but he couldn’t hold onto the lead.
Nicholas, who had begun the day trailing Stetson and Mussina by three shots after matching par with a 71 in the opening round, was playing five groups ahead of the leaders and, as many of competitors on the GAP circuit have come to expect, he started to make his move.
Nicholas made birdies at the 10th, 11th, 13th and 16th holes around a bogey at 12 to get it 3-under.
Nicholas had a chance to get into the clubhouse at 4-under Waynesborough’s 578-yard, par-5 finishing hole. But he couldn’t get it close from short range and his 25-foot birdie put came up a roll or two short.
Stetson had gotten it to 4-under when he stuck his approach close at the 552-yard, par-5 15th hole and converted the birdie putt.
But his tee shot at the 217-yard, par-3 17th hole left him in an awkward spot up against the collar. His next stroke with a putter wandered away in the wrong direction and he couldn’t get a 20-footer for par to fall and fell back into a tie with Nicholas at 3-under.
Stetson matched par in both loops around Waynesborough in the Thursday double round with a pair of 71s. After posting a 1-over 72 in Thursday morning’s second round, Nicholas’ back-nine charge in the final round gave him a sparkling 4-under 67.
Pretty sure the Patterson Cup utilizes a three-hole aggregate playoff. That’s what it was in the summer of 2022 when Nicholas claimed his first GAP major after the aggregate playoff turned into sudden death and he knocked off Michael R. Brown Jr., one of two players who owns victories in all four of GAP’s major championships.
Stetson and Nicholas both parred the first two holes of the playoff, the par-4 second and third holes.
They returned to the 472-yard second hole for the third hole of the playoff and Nicholas’ 3-iron shot from 218 yards away found a greenside bunker while Stetson reached the green in regulation with a 6-iron from 194 yards away.
Nicholas blasted out to 12 feet, but was unable to get his par putt to fall. Stetson’s 25-foot birdie try came up three feet short, but he was able to drop the par putt that gave him the title.
As I wrap up this post, the opening round of qualifying for match play in the U.S. Amateur is under way at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Nicholas opened with a 5-over 75 at The Olympic Club’s Ocean Course Monday and will have go really low Tuesday at the Lake Course to finish among the top 64 finishers who earn a spot in the match-play bracket.
I had watched Stetson capture the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual title in the fall of 2021 in a playoff as a sophomore at Bluestone Country Club and contend for the title as a junior at Llanerch Country Club a year later and as a senior on his home course at Aronimink in 2023.
He had a breakout summer in 2023, highlighted by a run to the second round of match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek Course in Charleston, S.C.
That’s probably where he caught the eye of some of the big-time Division I programs, including N.C. State. Now he is a solid returning player for the Wolfpack and the winner of a GAP major crown.
“Winning this is a whole other level,” the 19-year-old Stetson told the GAP website. “Just the feeling of knowing all the hard work has paid off. And knowing that I’m a good player and I can keep competing.
“Drue is an amazing player. I knew if I stuck to my game plan and play the way I have been playing, the rest will be taken care of. All I can do is control what I can control at the end of the day.”
Stetson is the seventh Aronimink player to capture the title in the storied history of GAP’s stroke-play event, but the first since the great Jay Sigel won the Patterson Cup in 1986.
Any Aronimink player knows the significance of being mentioned in the same breath with Sigel, one of America’s finest amateur players who went on to play on what then was known at the PGA Senior Tour. Sigel died in April.
Stetson also walked away from Waynesborough with the Silver Cross Award that goes to GAP’s stroke-play champion for the summer. The Silver Cross combines a player’s scores from the two rounds of qualifying for match play in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and the three rounds of the Patterson Cup.
Stetson finished with a 3-under 352 total, two shots better than Nicholas.
The difference? Nicholas could only manage a 3-over 75 at Radley Run Country Club in qualifying for match play in the Philly Am, although it was Nicholas who hoisted the J. Wood Platt Trophy at the end of the week.
Stetson carded a 2-over 72 at his home course at Aronimink and got around Radley Run in 2-under 70. Nicholas had a 1-under 69 at Aronimink, but Stetson finished two shots ahead of him that day, which ultimately would prove to be the difference in the Silver Cross standings.
Although Mussina had faltered down the stretch, he still had a chance to join the playoff when he reached the green at the par-5 finishing hole at Waynesborough in two. Mussina’s 20-foot putt for eagle came up just short and he ended up a shot behind Stetson and Nicholas with a 2-under 211 total.
Mussina had added another 3-under 68 in Thursday morning’s second round to his opening-round 68, giving him a three-shot advantage over Stetson going into the final round at 6-under. Mussina closed with a 4-over 75.
LuLu Country Club’s Kevin Lydon, a senior at Drexel who starred scholastically at Central Bucks West, closed with a 2-over 73 to finish two shots behind Mussina in fourth place with an even-par 213 total.
Lydon matched par in the opening round with a 71 and a 2-under 69 in Thursday morning’s second round left him just four shots behind Mussina going into the final round.
Lydon is also in the U.S. Amateur field at The Olympic Club, but struggled in the opening round with an 84 at the Ocean Course.
Defending Patterson Cup champion Troy Vannucci of Little Mill Country Club headed a foursome tied for fifth place at 1-over 214, a shot behind Lydon.
Vannucci, who also owns another GAP major championship with his 2022 Middle-Amateur crown, got into contention with a 2-under 69 in Thursday morning’s second round after he had matched par with a 71 in the opening round.
Vannucci closed with a 3-over 74.
Joining Vannucci at 1-over were Briarwood Golf Club’s Will Wears, an assistant coach for the Loyola of Maryland men’s golf tream, Bent Creek Country Club’s Zak Drescher, winner of the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship in the spring of 2024 at Commonwealth National Golf Club, and Merion Golf Club’s Jack Hamilton.
Wears, who also starred collegiately with the Greyhounds, matched par in the opening round with a 71 before adding a 1-under 70 in Thursday morning’s second round and closing with a 2-over 73.
After opening with a 2-over 73, Drescher surged into contention after lighting up the Waynesborough layout to the tune of a 7-under 64 in Thursday morning’s second round. He struggled in the final round, closing with a 6-over 77.
Hamilton matched par in Thursday morning’s second round with a 71 after opening with a 1-under 70. He finished up with a 2-over 73.
Michael Lugiano, the runnerup in the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship a couple of weeks ago on his home course at Huntsville Golf Club, and Thomas Weir, a former Aronimink looper and a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 2-over 215.
Lugiano, a sophomore at Liberty who starred scholastically at Lake Lehman, opened with a solid 1-under 70, added a 2-over 73 in Thursday morning’s second round and closed with a 1-over 72.
Lugiano is also in the U.S. Amateur field at the Olympic Club and he put himself in position to earn a spot in the match-play bracket as he opened with a 1-over 71 at the Lake Course that left him among the group tied for 38th place.
After opening with a 1-over 72, Weir surged into contention on the strength of a sparkling 5-under 66 in Thursday morning’s second round before struggling to a final round of 6-over 77.
No comments:
Post a Comment