A couple of interesting golf notes showed up in the days leading
up to Christmas:
The Golf Association of Philadelphia held its J. Wood Caddie
Scholarship Trust brunch at Philadelphia Country Club Saturday and the Francis
C. Poore Caddie of the Year award went to a looper at The Springhaven Club and
a female looper at that, one Shannon Spencer.
Not sure if a female had ever received the Poore before, but
it’s not surprising that a young lady from a Delco club would get the honor.
And she’s smart, too. Spencer is a graduate of Saint Joseph’s who is attending
the Penn State College of Medicine.
As a onetime beneficiary of the J. Wood Platt Caddie
Scholarship Fund and, obviously a former looper myself, I say, “Way to go,
Shannon Spencer.”
The J. Wood Platt scholars got to hear from four-time PGA
Tour winner and adopted son of Delaware County Sean O’Hair at the brunch.
O’Hair, the husband of Sun Valley All-Delco Jackie Lucas, is trying to bounce
back from a couple of down years on golf’s biggest stage.
But that didn’t prevent him from imparting some of the
wisdom he’s gained from a long and winding golf career, including turning pro
at age 17. I’m guessing O’Hair told the J. Wood Platt scholars they were making
the right move by attending college in their late teens and early 20s.
Temple junior Brandon Matthews, the 2010 PIAA champion as a
junior at Pittston and the 2013 Golf Association of Philadelphia Player of the
Year, finished off a victory in the Dixie Amateur Monday with a final round of
2-under 70 at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla.
Matthews opened the tournament with rounds of 66, 72 and 70
at Heron Bay Golf Club before cruising to a five-shot victory with his strong
final round at TPC Eagle Trace that gave him a 10-under 278 total.
Pat Ross, another Temple player, finished in a tie for 15th
at 6-over 294.
Matthews and Ross teamed up last fall to earn a trip to the
inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at the Olympic Club in May. Not sure how that
will fit into the college golf schedule, but they obviously will make a tough
team.
The Temple roster has two GAP Players of the Year on it as
senior Matt Teesdale followed up Matthews’ dominating summer of 2013 with a
pretty strong showing of his own in 2014, including a Philadelphia Open
victory, a title Matthews won in 2013, to win the William Hyndman III Award as
GAP’s 2014 Player of the Year.
Merion Golf Club’s
Michael McDermott, the runnerup to Teesdale at the Philadelphia Open
that day at Applebrook Golf Club, was also the runnerup to Teesdale in the
Player of the Year standings. McDermott has been the Player of the Year five
times in his career.
The GAP Junior Player of the Year story was chronicled in T
Mac Tees Off when two-time Daily Times
Player of the Year Cole Berman won the final GAP major of 2014, the Patterson
Cup at Tavistock Country Club, to win the GAP Junior Player of the Year honor
for a third straight year.
The Haverford School product and Georgetown University
freshman had made Player of the Year one of his major goals for his last summer
as a junior golfer, but he had a conflict with one GAP junior event and got
knocked out in the first round of match play at the GAP Junior Championship and
it looked that goal would not be met. But he beat the best players in the
Philadelphia area, not just the best junior players, in the Patterson Cup to
put him over the top in the race for Junior Player of the Year.
The GAP Senior Player of the Year is Reading’s Chip Lutz,
who isn’t just the best senior players in the Philadelphia area but one of the
best senior amateur players in the world and he has two Senior British Amateur
titles to prove it. Overbrook Golf Club’s Ray Thompson, who made a determined
run to the Philadelphia Amateur semifinals in June at White Manor Country Club,
was the runnerup to one of his longstanding rivals.
White Manor’s Don Donatoni was the GAP Super-Senior Player
of the Year.
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