Llanerch loses one of its biggest boosters

   It was June 2002 and I was wandering around the parking lot at Llanerch Country Club looking for Billy Stewart, whom I was going to interview after he had won the Philadelphia Amateur championship a few weeks after graduating from Malvern Prep.
   I had never been to Llanerch and didn’t really know my way around. A cart screeched to a halt next to me and all of a sudden I wasn’t lost at all. It was my cousin Joe McNichol. I apprised him of my situation. He called Billy The Kid on his cell phone and told me Stewart was stuck in traffic, but was on his way. Joe then showed me where to wait in the clubhouse and then was off to practice for, if I recall, an upcoming Member-Guest weekend.
   Last week I lost my cousin and Llanerch lost one of its biggest boosters when Joe McNichol died much too young at age 61.
   When you grow up Irish Catholic, it can be tough to keep in contact with even first cousins. I didn’t see Joe that much, we certainly didn’t travel in the same circles. But he was aware I was covering golf for the Daily Times and he recognized me immediately that day and was a big help.
   He had an ulterior motive, too. He figured I was going to give some positive pub to his favorite place, Llanerch.
It was at Llanerch where I most often ran into Joe. He was there when Llanerch hosted qualifying for the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion and when Llanerch’s Jeff Osberg won the U.S. Amateur qualifying medal last summer. He was there for the 2009 Patterson Cup.
   But it was in 2008 when Joe was the chairman for Llanerch’s 50th anniversary celebration of the 1958 PGA Championship, that he really showed how much he cared about getting Llanerch its due among the fine courses in Delaware County and in the Philadelphia area.
  I put together a nice story about the 1958 PGA for which Joe complimented me and that meant a lot coming from him. But, working with former Norristown Times Herald sports editor Tony Leodora, Joe put together enough material on the ’58 PGA that the story wrote itself.
   At times, Llanerch’s legacy might get overshadowed in an area where so much golf history has been made. But not to Joe McNichol, who devoted a lot of his time and energy to making sure as many as people as possible knew that Llanerch has a pretty rich tradition in its own right.

 

Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour

   Springfield junior Brian Todaro continued his strong play this summer as he fired a 7-over 79 to finish second in the 16-to-18 age group in a match of cards as the Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour made a stop Monday at Whitford C.C.
  “My putting was off, but my ball-striking was good,” Todaro told the Philadelphia PGA website. “I also had two chip-ins for birdie.”
   Ryan Bowman of Newtown Square finished in a tie for fifth with an 83. Cardinal O’Hara junior Kevin George finished in a tie for ninth with an 85. And Jake Hudock of Glen Mills finished in a tie for 17th with an 88.
   In the 13-to-15 division, Griffin Colvin of Media finished third with an 80.

   In the girls 13-to-15 division, Radnor sophomore Julia Curley finished second with an 80. Radnor junior Julianne Horgan finished third in the 16-to-18 division with a 100.
   Among the nine-holers, John Updike of Wayne finished in a tie for first with Nikita Romanov of Wilmington, Del., as each carded 43.
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   In a Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour stop Tuesday at Laurel Creek C.C., Harry Bellwoar of Newtown Square finished sixth in the 13-to-15 division with an 82.
   Gabriella Kim of Wayne finished fifth among the nine-holers with a 47.
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   In a Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour stop Wednesday at Honeybrook G.C., Christian Dambly of Media finished in a tie for 12th in the 16-to-18 division with a 78.
   Other Delco finishers in the division included: John Miller of Wayne (83); Cardinal O’Hara junior Nicholas Familetti (85); and Jake Hudock of Glen Mills (85).
   Colvin finsihed in a tie for fourth in the 13-to-15 division with a 77.
   Among the nine-holers, Gabriella Kim of Wayne finished fourth with a 41 and Jacob Calamaro of Newtown Square finished in a tie for fifth with a 42.

Patterson Cup qualifying

   Andrew Caldwell of host The Springhaven Club led a strong Delco contingent that earned berths in next month’s Patterson Cup in a qualifying round Thursday.
   Caldwell fired a 1-under 69 on his home course to finish in a tie for second behind medalist Thomas Fisher of North Hills C.C., a junior at Hatboro-Horsham.
   Also earning spots in the Patterson Cup, which will be played Aug. 9 and 10 at Philadelphia C.C., were: Haverford School All-Delco Cole Berman (70); Llanerch C.C.’s Kevin McDermott (70); Overbrook G.C.’s Oscar Mestre (71); Overbrook’s Chris Lange Jr. (72); and Rolling Green G.C.’s Alex Dupre (73), an Episcopal Academy senior.

Philadelphia Section PGA

   One of the most anticipated stops on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit is the William Hyndman III Memorial Classic, for both the site, Huntingdon Valley C.C., and for the tournament’s namesake, the late patriarch of one of the Philadelphia area’s most accomplished golfing families.
   Monday’s event took an added significance with the death last week of William “Bucky” Hyndman IV, son of the tournament namesake and an outstanding player in his own right.
   Joe Kogelman, an assistant pro at Indian Valley C.C., claimed the Hyndman Memorial title by firing a 4-under 66 over the challenging 6,800-yard, par-70 Huntingdon Valley layout.
   Stu Ingraham, the teaching pro at M Golf Range in Newtown Square, was one of four players who finished in a tie for second at 2-under 68.

Kan heads for collegiate tourney

   Boothwyn resident Aurora Kan, the 2010 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur and PIAA champion, will join up with Kishi Sinha to represent Purdue at the third annual Pure Silk Women’s Collegiate Team Championship beginning July 31 at the Wedgewood G.&C.C. in Powell, Ohio.
   Kan, a three-time Daily Times Player of the Year at Chichester, is coming off a solid freshman campaign at Purdue as she helped a young Boilermakers squad finish ninth at the NCAA Tournament. Kan saved the low round of her freshman season for the third round at the nationals, a 69 that helped Purdue surge into contention for the team crown.
Sinha, a redshirt senior from India, competed in all 11 events for the Boilermakers.
   The teams at the Pure Silk will play alternate shot the first day, better-ball the second day and aggregate score of both players on the final day of the 54-hole event.
   Episcopal Academy product Amanda Terzian will team with Andrea Slane to represent the University of Delaware.
The event will be preceded by a collegiate-amateur event that will benefit A Kid Again, an Ohio-based charity that provided fun-filled group activities for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.