Kovach takes a major step with victory in Patterson Cup at Tavistock

 

   LedgeRock Golf Club’s Brock Kovach, who has been campaigning on the Golf Association of Philadelphia since he was a junior golfer, became a major winner when he prevailed over Saucon Valley Country Club’s Evan Eichenlaub in a sudden-death playoff at Tavistock Country Club in Haddonfield, N.J. to capture the title in the 124^th Joseph H. Patterson Cup, presented by Provident Bank, Aug. 7^th.

   The Patterson Cup’s start Aug. 5^th was plagued by a couple of different rounds of rainy weather. Only the morning wave completed play that day.

   The afternoon wave went out early Aug. 6^th with the second round, after the field was cut, teeing off upon completion of the opening round. The leaders teed off a little after 4 p.m. Originally scheduled to be a 54-hole tournament, the Patterson Cup was cut back to 36 holes.

   Kovach and Eichenlaub finished in a tie atop the leaderboard Aug. 6^th, each ending up with a 7-under-par 135 total, but they took different routes to get there.

   One of those leaders when the opening round was finally completed was the 21-year-old Eichenlaub, a senior on the golf team at George Washington.

   Eichenlaub teed off at the 10^th tee and a wild and crazy first nine holes, that featured just a single par, ensued. Eichenlaub made a birdie at the 10^th hole, bogeyed 11, birdied 12 and 13, bogeyed 14, birdied 15, bogeyed 17 and birdied 18.

   Birdies at the fifth, seventh and ninth holes on a relatively calmer front nine gave Eichenlaub, who starred scholastically at Moravian Academy, a 5-under 66 over the 6,844-yard, par-71 Tavistock layout and a share of the lead following the opening round.

   Eichenlaub was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Lehigh Country Club’s Matt Zerfass, a scholastic standout at Emmaus who wrapped up his college career at Villanova in the spring. Zerfass matched Eichenlaub’s 5-under 66.

   Going off in the first group Aug. 6^th after surviving the cut with a 1-under 70 was the 30-year-old Kovach.

   He was still only 2-under for the championship when he headed for the incoming nine at Tavistock and proceeded to catch fire.

   Kovach made birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes and then got a huge par save at the par-4 12^th hole when he dropped a 10-footer after missing the green long.

   Kovach then rattled off four straight birdies at the 13^th, 14^th, 15^th and 16^th holes. He capped the run by hitting a 5-iron to eight feet at the 187-yard, par-3 16^th hole and converting the birdie try.

   Suddenly, Kovach was 8-under for the championship. He lost a shot when a poor drive led to a bogey at the 17^th hole. A 45-foot birdie putt at the finishing hole came up a roll short, leaving Kovach with a sizzling 6-under 65 and a 7-under total.

   All he could do after that was wait.

   Eichenlaub got his twilight round off to a nice start with birdies at the fifth and eighth holes to get it to 7-under for the championship.

   Eichenlaub lost a shot with a bogey at the 11^th hole, but got that shot back with a birdie at 12. A bogey at the 15^th hole dropped him to 6-under, but a birdie at 17 enabled Eichenlaub to end up with a 2-under 69 that left him in a tie with Kovach with darkness settling in at Tavistock.

   The playoff was the first thing in the morning Aug. 7^th and Kovach and Eichenlaub both made birdies at the 342-yard, par-4 10^th hole.

   Kovach, however, made a par on the second playoff hole, the 440-yard, par-4 18^th hole, to earn his first major victory on the GAP circuit.

   Earlier this year, Kovach prevailed in a three-way playoff to capture the title in one of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s major championships, the 85^th George Dressler Memorial at Out Door Country Club.

   “It’s unbelievable,” Kovach told the GAP website following his Patterson Cup victory. “I’ve been wanting one of these for a long, long time. I’ve been around the top of the leaderboard (for a while). It’s really special.

   “GAP has meant so much to me from being a junior golfer all the way all the way up through amateur, now the mid-am life. So, it feels incredible. That’s the easiest way to describe it.”

   Pretty funny, but I started this post in the early hours of Tuesday before heading up to Stonewall for a loop in a U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship qualifier at the Old Course.

   And wasn’t Brock Kovach and his partner, Eric Edwards of Charlotte, N.C., in our group. And didn’t they fire a 6-under 64 that left them in a tie for medalist honors. It was, however, a three-way tie and only two spots to next spring’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Erin Hills in Wisconsin were available.

   Kovach and Edwards, college golf teammates at George Mason, survived the playoff with a par at the Old Course’s par-3 ninth hole, and are headed for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball for a second straight spring.

   Our group started off the 10^th tee and the pair finished with a flourish, Edwards hitting it close at the par-3 seventh hole and making the birdie putt, Kovach sending his approach at the tough par-4 eighth way up in the air, dropping it three feet from the hole and converting the birdie try and Edwards hitting it close again at the par-3 ninth hole and draining the birdie putt.

   Back at Tavistock and the Patterson Cup, Aronimink Golf Club’s Hunter Stetson, a junior on the North Carolina State golf team, made a solid defense of the Patterson Cup title he won a year ago at Waynesborough Country Club as he added a 3-under 68 in the second round to his opening round of 2-under 69 to finish in a tie for third place with a 5-under 137 total.

   Stetson captured the title in the Bert Linton Memorial for the Inter-Ac League’s individual title in 2021 as a sophomore at Episcopal Academy. The Patterson Cup was a tuneup for Stetson for his appearance in the U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club’s East Course and Philadelphia Country Club.

   Stetson was joined at 5-under by Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Tyler Stahle, who starred on some really good club teams at Villanova, and LuLu Country Club’s Christian Matt, who wrapped up his college career at Saint Joseph’s in the spring.

   Stahle had the same splits as Stetson, adding a 3-under 68 in the second round to his opening-round 69.

   Matt, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Wissahickon, opened with a 3-under 68 before adding a 69 in the second round.

   Never quite got around to giving Matt credit for playing a big role in putting LuLu over the top in the four-team playoff that decided the winner of the BMW GAP Team Matches in the spring.

   Matt and his partner, Kevin O’Brien, were the odd team out in the playoff in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball qualifier at Stonewall Tuesday after recording a sparkling 6-under 64. Matt and O’Brien are first alternates and it’s a long time between now and late May of 2027, so we’ll see.

   Zerfass added a 1-over 72 to his opening round of 5-under 66 at Tavistock to finish in a tie for sixth place with The Country Club of York’s Rij Patel and Saucon Valley Country Club’s Jake Haberstumpf, each ending up with a 4-under 138 total.

   Patel, who played his college golf at Harvard, had matched par in the opening round with a 71 before adding a sparkling 4-under 67 in the second round.

   Haberstumpf, who has had made several stops on his college golf journey, is headed for Liberty for his final year of eligibility. He added a 1-under 70 in the second round to his opening-round 68.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s David Colleran, a Radnor High standout who played his college golf at Drexel, and Richard Riva, a former standout at Saint Joseph’s, finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 3-under 139.

   Colleran opened with a 2-under 69 before adding a 70 in the second round. Riva opened with a 3-under 68 before matching par in the second round with a 71.

   Little Mill Country Club’s Troy Vannucci, the Patterson Cup champion two years ago at Concord Country Club, headed a trio tied for 11^th place at 2-under 140 that included Laurel Creek Country Club’s John Stevenson and Aronimink’s Liam Crowley. Vannucci opened with a 3-under 68 before adding a 1-over 72 in the second round.

   Stevenson, a scholastic standout at La Salle who is a junior on the Drexel golf team, carded back-to-back 1-under 70s.

   Crowley, the Bert Linton winner who will help Episcopal Academy defend its Inter-Ac title as a senior with the Churchmen, matched Vannucci’s splits, opening with a solid 3-under 68 before adding a 1-over 72 in the second round.

   Also decided at the Patterson Cup was the Silver Cross Award, GAP’s stroke-play championship for the summer, and it went to Merion Golf Club’s Drue Nicholas.

   Nicholas finished in a large group tied for 14^th place in the Patterson Cup with a 1-under 141 total.

   Nicholas’ rounds at Tavistock, an opening round of 1-under 70 and an even-par 71 in the second round, combined with his scores in qualifying for match play for the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, a 3-under 69 at Sunnybrook Golf Club and a 1-under 69 at The 1912 Club gave him the Silver Cross Award with a 5-under 279 total.

   Eichenlaub finished two shots behind Nicholas in second place with a 3-under 281 total.

   It was the first Silver Cross Award for the 24-year-old former Drexel standout who already owns titles in four GAP major championships, the Patterson Cup in 2022 at St. Davids Golf Club, the Philly Amateur a year ago at Aronimink, and back-to-back Philadelphia Open crowns at Bidermann Golf Club a year ago and at Lancaster Country Club last month.

   Nicholas joined Merion earlier this year and was given the honor of striking the first drive when the U.S. Amateur teed off at his new home course, the historic East Course at Merion, Aug. 10^th.

 

 

 

 

 

Millichip edges Robertson in final to capture title in WGAP Match Play Championship at Hershey's Mill

 

   Barbora Millichip is a native of Czechia, but has increasingly popped up doing good things on the golf course in the Philadelphia area from her base at Honeybrook Golf Club.

   Saw her celebrate when she earned a trip to the 2022 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Fiddlesticks Country Club’s Long Mean Course in Fort Myers, Fla. in a local qualifier staged at Stonewall’s North Course.

   A year ago, Millichip reached the final of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship at Trenton Country Club before falling to White Manor Country Club’s Jill Burks, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga.

   This year, Millichip got to the final again and reversed the outcome, claiming a 2-up victory over Allie Robertson of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve July 29^th at Hershey’s Mill Golf Club.

   The WGAP Match Play Championship isn’t what it once was, but Millichip’s name goes on the Glenna Collett Vare Cup along with some of the greats in the history of Philadelphia area women’s golf alongside Dottie Porter, Helen Sigel Wilson, Ann Laughlin-Fulginiti, Meghan Stasi (she was Meghan Bolger when she won the title seven straight times from 1999 to 2005), the winning U.S. Curtis Cup captain at Bel-Air Country Club in June, and Laura Hammond, the current executive director of WGAP.

   The Senior Division actually had more competitors at Hershey’s Mill and Lisa Day made it a sweep for Honeybrook as she rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over DuPont Country Club’s Angie Coleman in the final July 30^th.

   Millichip got the jump on Robertson in the final with wins at the first and second holes. Robertson got one back with a win at the third hole, Millichip restored her 2-up edge by taking the fourth and Robertson again battled back with a win at six to cut her deficit to 1-down.

   Wins at the seventh and 11^th holes gave Millichip a commanding 3-up lead, but Robertson wasn’t done as she took the 12^th and 14^th holes to creep within 1-down with four holes to go.

   Millichip, however, grinded out halves at the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th holes before getting a win at the last to complete her 2-up victory.

   Millichip reached the final with a 2 and 1 victory in the semifinals over Rolling Green Golf Club’s Alaina Carson, a junior at Cardinal O’Hara who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf.

   Robertson earned a 3 and 2 decision over Concord Country Club’s Sophia DeSantis, a scholastic standout at West Chester Rustin who is a junior on the golf team at Fairfield.

   The four semifinalists comprised the entire field and Robertson earned medalist honors in qualifying July 27^th with an 8-over 79.

   Carson was a shot behind Robertson in second place with an 80, Millichip was third with an 85 and DeSantis was fourth with an 86.

   In the Senior Championship, Day ripped off consecutive wins at the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to turn a 1-down deficit into a 3-up advantage.

   Coleman got a win at the 10^th hole to cut her deficit to 2-down, but Day responded by taking the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes, giving her a commanding 5-up advantage. Day needed just a half at the 14^th hole to finish off her 5 and 4 victory.

   Day reached the final by pulling out a thriller on the 19^th hole over her Honeybrook clubmate Allison Long.

   Day was 3-down when she picked up wins at the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes to even the match. Long grabbed a 2-up advantage by taking the 15^th and 16^th holes, but Day battled back with wins at 17 and 18 to send the match to extra holes before pulling out the victory.

   It was another tight semifinal in the other half of the bracket as Coleman earned a 1-up decision over Nancy Jones of Radley Run Country Club.

   Coleman was staring at a 4-down deficit after eight holes, but rallied with wins at the 10^th, 14^th, 15^th and 17^th holes to even the match before completing her comeback by taking the 18^th to advance to the final.

   Coleman had sprung a huge upset in the quarterfinals with a 2 and 1 victory over three-time defending champion Suzi Spotleson.

   Spotleson listed Scottsdale, Ariz. as her home when she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Ore. a year ago, falling to 2023 champion Sarah Gallagher.

   But Spotleson, playing out of RiverCrest, always seems to make room on her schedule for the week of the WGAP Match Play Championship.

   Day had opened her journey to the title with a 9 and 7 victory over Jaynee Costanzo of Hartefeld National Golf Club.

   Long earned a 5 and 4 decision over Muffy McCabe of French Creek Golf Club to set her semifinal showdown with Day.

   Jones reached the semifinals by edging Diane Cardano-Cascio of Cedarbrook Country Club in a 20-hole thriller.

   Long was the medalist in qualifying with a solid 7-over 78 at Hershey’s Mill. Day and Cardano-Cascio finished in a tie for second place, each tallying an 81.

   In the Senior First Flight final, Diane Bartunek of RiverCrest defeated Overbrook Golf Club’s Karen McFadden.

   Bartunek reached the final with a 4 and 2 victory over Tish Lawson of Talamore Country Club in the semifinals. McFadden cruised to a 4 and 3 decision over Lisa Dichter of Meadia Heights Golf Club in her semifinal match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Manor's Turner tames Sandy Run with a 66 to capture title in Jock MacKenzie Memorial

 

   White Manor Country Club’s Logan Turner made an immediate impact in his rookie season of high school golf at Devon Prep last fall.

   Turner finished in a tie for 15^th place in his debut in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State’s White Course and then helped Devon Prep finish in third place in the Class AA team chase.

   Turner was pretty quiet for much of this summer, but that all changed when he fired a sizzling 6-under-par 66 July 28^th at Sandy Run Country Club in Oreland to capture the title in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s final major junior event of the summer, the 42^nd Jock MacKenzie Memorial.

   Turner made a birdie at the first hole, but really heated up when he ripped off three straight birdies at seven, eight and nine.

   He added three more birdies on Sandy Run’s incoming nine at the 13^th, 15^th and 16^th holes to get it to 7-under for the round before finishing up with a bogey at Sandy Run’s closing hole, the only blemish on his scorecard.

   It left Turner three shots clear of runnerup Seiji Sako, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Lower Merion last fall with a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship, as Sako put together a solid 3-under 69.

   Sako, playing out of McCall Golf Club, has had a really strong summer, including a victory in the Christman Cup, another of GAP’s major championships for juniors, at the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve earlier in July. He is headed for Penn State and plans to try to make the golf team as a walk-on.

   A McCall guy I ran into at the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club said that Penn State has become aware that they have a pretty good player coming to Happy Valley and plan to give Seiko a shot at joining the program.

   Not sure if there’s scholarship money involved or if he will be a preferred walk-on, but Sako has certainly proven that he’s capable of playing at a pretty high level.

   Turner was well aware that anytime you win one of GAP’s major championships for junior golfers, you’re beating a deep and talented group of players. Turner’s 66 equaled the Jock MacKenzie record established by Phoenixville Country Club’s Morgan Lofland, who starred scholastically at Conestoga and collegiately at Penn State, in 2020.

   “Tying the tournament record is really cool,” Turner told the GAP website. “GAP’s history is really strong and over a long period of time. To be part of that is really cool. I’ve been wanting to win a GAP tournament ever since I started playing. It really means a lot of me.”

   The trio of Llanerch Country Club’s Bryce Ciochetto, Waynesborough Country Club’s Gavin Reger, Quinn Gallagher, another McCall guy, and The Legacy Club’s Tyler Whitney shared third place, each ending up a shot behind Sako with a 2-under 70.

   Cicochetto wrapped up his scholastic career at Haverford High by qualifying for the District One Class AAA Championship last fall. Reger, Cicochetto’s Central League rival in his freshman season at Radnor, helped the Raptors finish in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase, just a shot behind state champion Unionville.

   Gallagher will be a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School this season.

   Gallagher’s teammate with the Fords, Merion Golf Club’s Sean Curran, headed a group of four players that rounded out the top 10 in the Junior Boys division of the Jock MacKenzie as he posted a 1-under 71.

   Curran, who is joining the program at Penn in the Ivy League, was the Inter-Ac League’s best player as a junior in the fall of 2024, sweeping to titles in the Bert Linton Memorial for the Inter-Ac's individual crown and in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship and leading the Fords to the Inter-Ac championship before dropping off only slightly as a senior last fall. He captured the title in the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Merion’s West Course in the summer of 2025.

   Joining Curran at 1-under were Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Adam Cifra, a senior at Catholic League power La Salle, Overbrook Golf Club’s Lannon Boyd, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at Radnor last fall, and RiverCrest’s Colby Komancheck, who will be one of the Inter-Ac’s top returning players as a senior at Malvern Prep this season.

   Sako’s showing at Sandy Run enabled him to wrap up the Harry Hammond Award, a summer-long stroke-play competition that includes rounds from GAP’s major championships for junior players.

   Sako recorded a 74 in qualifying for match play in the Junior Boys’ Championship at Chester Valley and a 67 in winning the Christman Cup, shortened from 36 holes to 18 holes by stormy weather, along with his 69 in the Jock MacKenzie to finish with a 3-under 210 total.

   Boyd, who is joining the program at Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10, and Komancheck shared second place, three shots behind Sako.

   Boyd lost in a playoff to his Central League rival Sako after Boyd matched Sako’s 4-under 67 in the Christman Cup at RiverCrest.

   Sako and Boyd wrapped up their careers as junior golfers by representing GAP in the 62^nd Williamson Cup, a gathering of nine teams of junior golfers from nine golf associations, included two from Canada, hosted by the Metropolitan Golf Association at Knickerbocker Country Club in Tenafly, N.J. Aug. 10^th and 11^th.

   Rounding out the GAP team were Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, a junior at Cinnaminson High who claimed the title in the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Chester Valley, and The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt, a Strath Haven standout who lost in the GAP Junior Boys final to Lane.

   Kleinschmidt is joining the program at PSAC power Millersville.

   Pretty good testament to Central League golf that three of the four members of the GAP team came out of the Central.

   Sako earned a share of medalist honors with David Kim from the Maryland State Golf Association in the individual scoring as each landed on 3-under 141.

   Sako added a 1-under 71 to his opening round of 2-under 70 while Kim matched par in the opening round with a 72 and caught Sako with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the second round.

   Kim led MSGA to the team crown with a 9-under total. Sako led the way for GAP as it earned runnerup honors, nine shots behind MSGA at even-par.

   In the Jock MacKenzie Junior Girls division, Valleybrook Country Club’s Cara Chojnacki was the lone entry and carded a 103.

   In the Junior-Junior Boys division, Llanerch’s Ryan Comly blitzed the incoming nine at Sandy Run with a sizzling 3-under 33, the lowest score in the history of the event, to capture the title.

   After opening his round with a bogey at the 10^th hole, Comly ripped off three straight birdies at 13, 14 and 15 before adding a fourth birdie at 17.

   Overbrook’s Bobby Stefanski and Gulph Mills Golf Club’s Jack Gilbert, the son of Gulph Mills head pro Tom Gilbert, shared second place as each signed for a 2-under 34.

   Baylor Keim of Huntingdon Valley Country Club took fourth place with a 1-over 37 and Ryan Diamond, a GAP Youth on Course representative, rounded out the top five as he finished fifth with a 40.

   In the Junior-Junior Girls division, Huntingdon Valley’s Stella Seese finished at the top of the leaderboard with a 48.

   Annie Remaker, playing on her home course at Sandy Run, finished two shots behind Seese in second place with a 50.

   Northampton Valley Country Club’s Avery Jaffe rounded out the field in the Junior-Junior Girls division as she finished a shot behind Remaker in third place with a 51.