Haberstumpf, Spaulding each win two matches and will battle it out for BMW Philadelphia Amateur title at Sunnybrook

 

   It’s been quite a journey through the collegiate ranks for Saucon Valley Country Club’s Jake Haberstumpf.

   A PIAA Class AAA qualifier in the pandemic fall of 2020 while at Bethlehem’s Freedom High, Haberstumpf began his college career at Moravian. He spent some time in Brian Quinn’s Temple program and was at Drexel as recently as last fall when he finished in a tie for third place and helped deliver the first tournament title for new Dragons head coach Scott Yurgalevicz, who was succeeding Ben Feld, in the Temple Invitational.

   Apparently, the journey is not over yet, either, as Haberstumpf will use up the rest of his college eligibility at Liberty, the Conference USA champion.

   It’s always a journey, too, to navigate the match-play bracket in a BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and Haberstumpf still has a little way to go to try to reel in the most prestigious title on the Golf Association of Philadelphia circuit.

   But Haberstumpf, after winning two matches Wednesday at Sunnybrook Golf Club, is one of the last two standing who will tee it up in the scheduled 36-hole final Saturday in the 126^th playing of one of America’s oldest championships.

   Haberstumpf’s opponent will be Eli Spaulding, a junior on the golf team at Loyola of Maryland from Freeport, Maine who is playing out of Briarwood Golf Club.

   Haberstumpf reached the final with a 4 and 2 victory over LuLu Country Club’s Christian Matt, a recent Saint Joseph’s graduate who was a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Wissahickon.

   The match turned with a little short-game wizardry on Haberstumpf’s part at the ninth and 10^th holes.

   With the match even at the 382-yard, par-4 ninth hole, the 23-year-old Haberstumpf stuck a 54-degree wedge from 72 yards away to three feet.

   The 22-year-old Matt caught a flyer and his gap wedge from 138 yards away ended up 30 feet away with a slick downhill putt. Matt left himself six feet for par and, when he missed the par saver, he conceded the birdie to Haberstumpf.

   At the 365-yard, par-4 10^th hole, Haberstumpf tried to drive the green, his tee shot ending up in a bunker 50 yards short of the green.

   After Matt hit a magnificent approach to eight feet, Haberstumpf delivered the dagger, blasting it on to the front of the green and then watching it roll right into the hole for an eagle.

   Haberstumpf added wins at the 14^th and 16^th holes to close out Matt.

   Earlier in the day, Haberstumpf withstood a game effort from Chester Valley Golf Club’s John Curran, who finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship in 2024 as a senior at Devon Prep, to reach the semifinals with a 2-up victory.

   The 19-year-old Curran, who took a gap year after graduating from Devon Prep, will join the program at Penn State later this summer.

   Two years ago, Haberstumpf reached the Philly Am semifinals at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club before falling to eventual champion Austin Barbin.

   Haberstumpf has played two rounds of qualifying for match play at Sunnybrook and The 1912 Club Monday, two matches Tuesday and two more Wednesday. One more potential 36-hole test awaits. He’s familiar with the journey.

   “Rest and recovery,” Haberstumpf told the GAP website concerning his approach this week. “Prioritizing that. If you didn’t hit it great, don’t worry. It’s going to get better tomorrow. Go home and sleep. These matches are so much stress on your body.”

   Matt reached the semifinals with a 4 and 3 victory over The 1912 Club’s John Barone, a former Temple standout.

   Spaulding is following in the footsteps of another Loyola of Maryland standout as Mike Crowley took out a membership at Briarwood in York and put his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy by defeating Patrick Isztwan on Isztwan’s home course, Huntingdon Valley Country Club, in 2023.

   Spaulding survived a hard-fought battle with Little Mill Country Club’s Troy Vannucci, the region’s top mid-amateur, to reach the final with a 1-up victory.

   The 20-year-old Spaulding got even with Vannucci when he ripped a 5-iron from 225 yards away to 12 feet at the 553-yard, par-5 16^th hole and made the eagle putt.

   When Spaulding got it up and down from the front bunker for par at the 460-yard, par-4 finishing hole at Sunnybrook, he was through to the final.

   The 34-year-old Vannucci, twice a winner of GAP’s Middle-Amateur Championship and also the owner of a Patterson Cup title, reached the semifinals with a 2-up victory over Huntsville Golf Club’s Cael Ropietski, a scholastic standout at Lake Lehman who is a junior on the golf team at Marshall.

   Spaulding had a similar scenario to his semifinal victory several hours earlier in his quarterfinal match. Spaulding arrived at the 18^th hole clinging to a 1-up lead over Lehigh Country Club’s Dane Mohap, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a sophomore at Nazareth last fall.

   This time, Spaulding got it up and down from the bunker to the right of the 18^th green to close out a 2-up victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McGinn captures title in Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship by three shots at Bellewood

 

   I’ve fallen behind in my reporting on Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour events and have every intention of catching up. But the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship is too big an event to wait to report the results …

   Before he ever strikes a shot in a high school match for Williamsport, Logan McGinn will have teed it up in one of the marquee national events for junior golfers.

   McGinn has been knocking on the door in some big junior events the last few years, but he kicked the door down Monday in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at Bellewood Country Club, across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.

   The 14-year-old from South Williamsport opened with a sparkling 2-under-par 69 at Bellewood and matched par in the afternoon with a 71 in the grueling, one-day, 36-hole test in gusty winds for a 2-under 140 total that bested the field by three shots.

   The win assured McGinn a spot in the Boys Junior PGA Championship, a national junior event staged by the PGA of America, which will tee off July 28 at Fields Ranch East and West at the PGA of America’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

   Players 13 to 18 were eligible to try to qualify for the Boys Junior PGA Championship. The Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions, so I’ll round up those age groups while referring to the overall scoring.

   Pretty sure only Ridley senior Declan Conner, who has had a couple of really strong weeks, is assured of joining McGinn at PGA Frisco with his runnerup finish in the overall scoring.

   Conner added a clutch 2-under 69 in the afternoon at Bellewood to his opening-round 74 for a 1-over 143 total and then defeated Quinn Gallagher, a Bryn Mawr resident and a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School, in a playoff to nail down the runnerup finish.

   The Philadelphia Section may be awarded a second wild card into the Boys Junior PGA Championship and if it does, pretty sure it will go to Gallagher.

   By the way, the time has come to graduate the Philly Junior Tour players to their next grade, so Class of 2027 guys like Conner and Gallagher will now be referred to as seniors.

   McGinn, though, is a 2030 kid and will only be a freshman at Williamsport this year. Looks like the Millionaires are getting a player. Pretty impressive that the overall winner at Bellewood came out of the younger 13-to-15 age group.

   McGinn was really steady in grabbing the lead with his 2-under opening round.

   He made birdies at the second, fourth and 18^th holes and had 14 pars on his scorecard, including a string of eight straight pars from five through 12.

   If McGinn felt the pressure of being the one everybody was chasing in the afternoon, he never let it show.

   McGinn made birdies at the second, seventh and 18^th holes and had 12 pars on his card, including a pair of runs of four pars in a row from three through six and again from 14 through 17 while matching par with a 71.

   That left him alone at the top of the 13-to-15 division and in first place in the overall scoring.

   Benjamin Allwein, who finished in a tie for seventh place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a freshman at Annville-Cleona last fall, finished four shots behind McGinn to earn runnerup honors among the younger guys and end up in fourth place in the overall scoring with a 2-over 144 total.

   Allwein matched par in the opening round with a 71 as he made an eagle at the par-5 10^th hole, added birdies at one, seven and 15 and had 10 pars on his card, including a run of five straight pars from two through six.

   Allwein opened his afternoon round with back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a string of five straight pars to conclude his round, as he closed with a 1-over 73.

   Allwein survived a playoff with Jaden Irvin, a senior on the Hershey golf team playing in the 16-to-18 division, to take fourth place overall. Not sure if that gets Allwein to PGA Frisco for the Boys Junior PGA Championship, buy we’ll see.

   Trebor Melendez, the talented 13-year-old from Vineland, N.J., was another six shots behind Allwein in third place in the 13-to-15 division, but was unable to crack the top 10 in the overall scoring with an 8-over 150 total.

   Melendez finished strong, making birdies at the second, seventh, 11^th and 15^th holes with nine pars on his card, as he closed with a 1-over 72.

   He had struggled in the morning with 14 pars on his card, including a run of six straight pars from the second through the seventh holes, but couldn’t find a birdie in a 7-over 78.

   Radnor sophomore Gavin Reger, who helped the Raptors finish in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall, and Taimoor Naseem, the talented 13-year-old from Sinking Spring, finished in a tie for fourth place with a 152 total.

   Reger opened with a 3-over 74 before adding a 78 in the afternoon. Naseem struggled a little in the opening round with a 79 before closing with a solid 2-over 73.

   Bryce Bussom of Lewisburg was another shot behind Reger and Naseem in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division as he added a 5-over 76 in the afternoon to his opening-round 77 for a 153 total.

   Sam Vinc, a PIAA Class AA qualifier as a freshman at Tamaqua last fall, and Max Davis, a freshman on the Malvern Prep golf team last fall, shared seventh place among the younger guys as each landed on 156.

   Vinc opened with a solid 3-over 74, but struggled in the afternoon with an 82. Davis added a 6-over 77 in the afternoon to his opening-round 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Sebastian Leone, Reger’s classmate on Radnor’s state runnerup team, and Helmut Dang of Newtown Square as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each ending up with a 157 total.

   Leone added a 7-over 78 to his opening-round 79 while Dang bounced back from an opening-round 85 with a solid 1-over 72 in the afternoon.

   Conner was a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior for Ridley last fall, but he has really taken his game up a notch this month.

   Conner’s runnerup finish in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship enabled him to punch his ticket to a second major national junior championship in less than a week.

   Last Thursday, with temperatures rising, Conner was the runnerup in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier with a 2-under 70 at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Weyhill Course.

   That means Conner will be right back at Saucon Valley when the U.S. Junior Amateur tees off July 20 at the Old Course and the Grace Course.

   Crediting a switch from one Scotty Cameron putter to another in a roundup of the qualifier on the GAP website, Conner made enough putts to survive the heat and the always pressure-packed atmosphere of a USGA qualifier to earn a return trip to Saucon Valley.

   A couple of Jersey guys, Roger Rice, a senior at Chatham High School, and Daniel Kim of Franklin Lakes, nabbed the other two tickets to the U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley.

   Rice was the medalist with a sparkling 3-under 69. Lee registered a 1-under 71 and then survived a playoff among four players for the final berth out of the qualifier to the U.S. Junior Amateur.

   Before all that, Conner showed up in the final qualifier for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship June 3^rd at Elmhurst Country Club and unleashed a sparkling 3-under 69 that earned him medalist honors and proved to be a preview of things to come.

   Conner’s second-round 69 at Bellewood was a study in patience as he rattled off 16 straight pars before making birdies at the 17^th and 18^th holes.

   Conner only made five pars in his opening round of 3-over 74, but offset some annoying bogeys, and worse, by making birdies at the second, seventh, eighth, 14^th, 17^th and 18^th holes.

   It added up to a 1-over 143 total that left him tied for the top spot in the 16-to-18 division with Gallagher and the runnerup in the overall scoring after he defeated Gallagher in a playoff for second place.

   Gallagher had the best individual round of the day as he made birdies on the seventh, 10^th, 11^th, 15^th and 17^th holes and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including six straight pars to open his round, as he tallied a sizzling 4-under 67 in the afternoon to join Conner at 1-over.

   Those four birdies on the incoming nine enabled Gallagher to tour the back nine at Bellewood in 3-under 32.

   Gallagher made a birdie on the seventh hole and had 12 pars on his card, opening his round with four straight pars and again rattling off four pars in a row from 14 through 17, as he opened with a 5-over 76.

   Jaden Irvin, a senior on the Hershey golf team, closed with a solid 1-under 70 after opening with a 3-over 74 to finish in third place in the 16-to-18 division and in fifth place overall with a 2-over 144. Irvin lost in a playoff to Allwein from the 13-to-15 division for fourth place.

   Irvin made birdies on the first, third, seventh, 10^th and 18^th holes and had nine pars on his card while getting it into red figures in the second round. Irvin made a birdie on the seventh hole, wrapped up his round with back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18 and had 10 pars on his card in his opening-round 74.

   Cole Powell, a Fell Township resident and the PIAA Class AA champion as a sophomore at Scranton Prep last fall, finished a shot behind Irvin in fourth place among the older guys and sixth overall with a 3-over 145 total.

   Powell matched par in the second round with a 71 after opening with a 3-over 74.

   Jake Jaffe, a senior on the Central Bucks South golf team, and David Dempsey of Franklinville, N.J. finished in a tie for fifth place in the 16-to-18 division, each landing on 4-over 146. Jaffe defeated Dempsey in a playoff to take seventh place in the overall standings with Dempsey finishing eighth.

   Jaffe matched par in the opening round with a 71 before adding a 4-over 75 in the afternoon. Dempsey added a 1-over 72 in the afternoon to his opening-round 74.

   Defending champion Colby Komancheck, who will be one of the top returning players in the Inter-Ac League as a senior at Malvern Prep, and Ian Rotto, a junior on the Kennett golf team, finished in a tie for seventh place among the older guys and rounded out the top 10 in the overall standings, ending up in a tie for ninth place at 5-over 147.

   Komancheck captured the title in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship a year ago at RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, where his parents, Jamie and Kelly, form the husband-wife team of PGA professionals that runs the golf operation. Komancheck represented the Philadelphia Section in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. last summer.

   Komancheck, who capped his junior season last fall by capturing the individual title in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship at Radley Run Country Club, opened with a solid 1-under 70 at Bellewood, but struggled to a 6-over 77 in the afternoon.

   After opening with a 2-over 73, Rotto added a 74 in the afternoon to join Komancheck at 5-over.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Liam Crowley, winner of the title in the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship as a junior with Episcopal
Academy at The 1912 Club last fall, and Ty Sheftic, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Wissahickon last fall, as each ended up with a 6-over 148 total.

   Crowley, who helped the Churchmen capture the Inter-Ac team crown, carded a pair of 3-over 74s. Sheftic opened with a solid 1-over 72 before adding a 5-over 76 in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt, a recent Saint Joseph's graduate, soars into BMW Philadelphia Amateur quarterfinals at Sunnybrook

 

   Christian Matt was a steady presence in the lineup at Saint Joseph’s as a senior during the wraparound 2025-2026 season.

   A two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during a standout scholastic career at Wissahickon, Matt suddenly found himself as an elder statesman among a young group of Hawks.

   Playing out of LuLu Country Club, Matt won a pair of matches Tuesday at Sunnybrook Golf Club to earn himself a spot in the quarterfinals in the 126^th BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship.

   Matt capped a second straight long day of golf with a 2-up victory over Noah Wallace of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, the runnerup in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship two years ago at The Ridge at Back Brook, in the round of 16.

   Wallace, a scholastic standout at North East High in Elkton, Md., just wrapped up his sophomore season at Wilmington University.

   The match started off the 10^th tee and Matt had Wallace dormie, 3-down with three to play, after winning the sixth hole. Matt made a bit of a mess of the seventh hole and then Wallace added a win at eight to cut his deficit to 1-down.

   But Matt pulled out a win at the ninth hole to move into the quarterfinals.

   Earlier in the day, Matt claimed a 2 and 1 victory over The 1912 Club’s Scott McNeil, a two-time winner of the GAP Middle Amateur Championship.

   Matt was 2-down to McNeil through nine holes when he took the 11^th hole and then ripped off consecutive wins at 14, 15 and 16 to take control of the match.

   Matt closed out his career on Hawk Hill by finishing in a tie for 24^th place in the Atlantic Ten Championship with a 5-over 221 total at the Evermore Resort’s Cypress Course in Orlando, Fla. St. Joe’s finished in ninth place with a 30-over 894 total.

   In a little touch of irony, Wallace earned his date with Matt in the round of 16 by outlasting John Stevenson of Laurel Creek Country Club in 20 holes, Wallace avenging his loss to Stevenson, a scholastic standout at La Salle and a junior on the Drexel golf team, in that GAP Junior Boys’ final two years ago at The Ridge.

   Matt’s quarterfinal opponent will be former Temple standout John Barone, who is playing out of The 1912 Club. Barone earned a 2 and 1 victory over Briarwood Golf Club’s Caleb Itzoe, a junior at Delaware who was a scholastic standout at Calvert Hall in Maryland.

   Barone had opened his Philly Am bid with a 3 and 2 victory over McCall Golf Club’s Seiji Sako, a recent Lower Merion graduate who capped an outstanding scholastic career with his third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall.

   There was a seismic shift in the Philly Am match-play bracket early Tuesday when defending champion Drue Nicholas, who had claimed medalist honors in qualifying a day earlier, was stunned, 3 and 2, in the opening round by LuLu’s Jack Melville, who starred scholastically at Upper Darby and collegiately at Delaware.

   Melville got the jump on Nicholas, a year removed from an outstanding career at Drexel and playing out of Merion Golf Club, by winning the first hole. Melville then ripped off four straight wins at the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes to take a commanding 5-up lead.

   Nicholas, GAP’s reigning William Hyndman III Player of the Year, battled back, as you would expect.

   Nicholas won the 10^th, 13^th and 14^th holes to cut his deficit to 2-down, but Melville took the 15^th and closed it out on the next hole.

   Melville, however, couldn’t maintain the momentum from his big victory and suffered a 2 and 1 setback at the hands of Saucon Valley Country Club’s Jake Haberstumpf in the round of 16.

   Haberstumpf had several stops on his college journey, including Temple and Drexel.

   Haberstumpf’s quarterfinal opponent will be Chester Valley Golf Club’s John Curran, who rolled to a 3 and 2 victory over Saucon Valley’s Evan Eichenlaub, a scholastic standout at Moravian Academy who is coming off his junior season on the George Washington golf team.

   Curran finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a senior at Devon Prep in the fall of 2024. Looks like he took a gap year, went to Florida and made some big strides in his golf game. He will join the program at Penn State later this summer.

   Earlier in the day, Curran knocked out Jeremy Wall of Manasquan River Golf Club, back-to-back winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur crown in 2018 and 2019, with a 4 and 2 decision.

   The door may be wide open for the region’s top mid-am, Little Mill Country Club’s Troy Vannucci, to add a Philly Am crown to his two GAP Middle-Amateur titles and a Patterson Cup win.

   Vannucci reached the quarterfinals with a 4 and 3 decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s James Gradisek, who can occasionally be seen hanging out at Stonewall, where he hosted his Appalachian State teammates the last few summers to tune up for the upcoming season.

   Vannucci survived on the 19^th hole in his opening-round match with Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Stephen Cerbara, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep in 2015 who finished his college career at Drexel.

   Vannuccci will get a tough customer in the quarterfinals in Huntsville Golf Club’s Cael Ropietski, the runnerup to Nicholas in Monday’s 36 holes of qualifying.

   Ropietski, who finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship in 2023 as a senior at Lake Lehman, recently wrapped up his sophomore season at Marshall. Ropietski pulled out a 2-up decision over Scott Kalamar of Green Pond Country Club in Tuesday afternoon’s round of 16.

   Earlier in the day, Ropietski ousted Green Valley Country Club’s Ben Feld, who stepped down after a successful stint as the head coach at Drexel at the end of the 2024-’25 season, with a 2 and 1 verdict.

   The biggest thriller of the round of 16 saw Lehigh Country Club’s Dane Mohap, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall as a sophomore at Nazareth, prevail on the 20^th hole over Philadelphia Cricket Club veteran Mark Miller.

   Looks like Mohap might try to speed up his development by attending the IMG Academy in Florida.

   Earlier in the day Tuesday, Mohap claimed a 2 and 1 decision over Medford Lakes Country Club’s Jack Irons, the runnerup to Conor McGrath in the 2021 Philly Am at Cedarbrook Country Club.

   Miller took out Huntingdon Valley’s Patrick Isztwan, the Philly Am runnerup in two of the previous three playings, with a hard-fought 1-up decision in Tuesday morning’s opening round.

   Mohap’s quarterfinal opponent will be Briarwood’s Eli Spaulding, who recently wrapped up a solid sophomore season at Loyola of Maryland. He is following in the footsteps of former Greyhound Mike Crowley, who captured the Philly Am crown in 2023 while representing Briarwood by defeating Isztwan in the final on Isztwan’s home course at Huntingdon Valley.

   Spaulding reached the quarterfinals by pulling out a 1-up victory over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Salesianum with a runnerup finish in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at Baywood Greens last month.

   Spaulding rolled into the round of 16 with an 8 and 6 victory over Green Pond’s John Meyers.

   Only two players will be left standing after a quarterfinal round Wednesday morning followed by the semifinals in the afternoon.

   The semifinal winners will square off in a scheduled 36-hole final Saturday at Sunnybrook with the winner putting his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy.