Berman, Tetrault give Haverford School the edge

   With reigning Daily Times Player of the Year Cole Berman and fellow senior Ryan Tetrault firing 35s at Waynesborough Country Club Thursday to share overall medalist honors, The Haverford School got past host Malvern Prep and the rest of the field in the third Inter-Ac League mini-tournament of the fall.

   Otis Baker and Jay Losty added 38s and the Fords only needed two of the 40s recorded by Jake Van Arkel, Jack Henderson and Max Ziegfried for a 226 total.

   Malvern finished six shots back in second. Senior Mike Davis, the Inter-Ac League champion as a freshman in the spring of 2011, led the way with a 36. Brendan Bacskai and Mike Szipszky added 37s. Bacskai leads Berman in the individual standings through three mini-tournaments.

   But Haverford School holds the edge in the team standings at 14-1-0 to Malvern Prep’s 12-2-1 mark.

   Episcopal Academy once again finished third with a 245 total. Joe Chambers and Andrew Jannetta led the way for the Churchmen with 39s. Also scoring for Episcopal were Trey Croney, Jack Cassidy and J. Nolan Perry with 40s and Cole Testaiutti with a 47. Chambers and Cassidy stand at three and four, respectively, in the individual match standings.

   It appears from the updated schedule on interacgolf.com that the Bert Linton Memorial Inter-Academic League Golf Championship – basically the Inter-Ac’s individual tournament – will be played Saturday, Oct. 19 at Merion Golf Club’s East Course. You might recall there was a little gathering at the historic East Course in June called the U.S. Open that Justin Rose won with a hard-fought 1-over 281 total.

Thompson falls to Lutz at Senior Amateur

   We left those who follow golf on the printed pages of the Daily Times hanging a little as to the outcome of the U.S. Senior Amateur matchup of Golf Association of Philadelphia foes, Overbrook Golf Club member and Drexel Hill resident Ray Thompson and Reading’s Chip Lutz, Wednesday at the Wade Hampton Golf Club in Cashiers, N.C.

   Well, Lutz, winner of the British Open Senior Amateur in 2011 and 2012, birdied six of the first 12 holes in his way to a 4 and 3 triumph over Thompson.

   Thompson, a Marple Newtown product, won the second hole when Lutz made a double bogey and stopped the bleeding a little with a win at the 10^th with a birdie of his own, but he just couldn’t withstand the birdie barrage from the reigning three-time GAP Senior Player of the Year.

   Lutz got a taste of his medicine in the semifinals Thursday as eventual champion Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga., threw four birdies at Lutz, who was the qualifying medalist in the event, on the front nine to build a 4-up lead on his way to a 3 and 2 victory.

   Hanzel then came back Thursday afternoon to claim the title with a 3 and 2 victory over Pat O’Donnell of Happy Valley, Ore.

O’Hair keeps battling at Web.com Championship

   The guys on The Golf Channel sure made it sound like the par putts on the eighth and ninth holes that Sean O’Hair was grinding over -- and made -- Friday at the Web.com Tour Championship were enough to secure his PGA Tour card for the 2014 season.

   If you’re having a hard time figuring out why O’Hair is playing the Web.com playoffs to earn his Tour card, get in line. Basically the Web.com playoffs supplant the old PGA Tour Qualifying School, but there is simultaneous battle going on among the guys who played the Web.com Tour all year as opposed to guys like O’Hair who played the PGA Tour, but finished outside the top 125 in earnings. And that makes the whole process a little difficult to understand.

   O’Hair is a West Chester resident (Pocopson Township to be precise), but he is an adopted son of Delco since he married Sun Valley All-Delco Jackie Lucas. O’Hair is a regular at Concord Country Club, where the Lucas family has maintained a membership, in the offseason and he is also a member at Aronimink Golf Club.

   I was aware that O’Hair needed to play well in the Web.com playoffs to secure playing privileges for 2014 on the PGA Tour. I knew he had two decent finishes and missed a cut in the four-tournament series. And I’m not certain he’s officially in for 2014 yet, but he did make the cut for the weekend and The Golf Channel guys made it sound like that’s what he needed to do to retain his PGA Tour card. We’ll see.

   Of course, The Golf Channel guys also said the three-footer O’Hair faced for par on the ninth hole, his last day of the day, was the biggest putt of his career. Which probably means they were unaware that he first made the PGA Tour in his sixth try at Q-School. It was 2004, with father-in-law Steve Lucas on the bag, when O’Hair finally broke through and earned his tour card.

   So he’s grinded it out through some tough rounds before in his career.