It had been a long time between Golf Association of
Philadelphia victories for Brian Gillespie, a Newtown Square resident and
one-time scholastic standout at Conestoga.
Gilliespie, who has been a member at St. Davids Golf Club
for 16 years, won a biggie when he captured the 2001 BMW Philadelphia Amateur
Championship. Since then, nothing. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. He was
runnerup to Overbrook Golf Club’s James Kania Jr. at the 2009 Patterson Cup at
Llanerch Country Club and tied for fourth at the Mid-Amateur Championship in
2013, among other close calls.
So it was pretty satisfying for Gillespie when he matched
par at the 6,667-yard, par-72 LedgeRock Golf Club outside of Reading last
Thursday to claim the Marston Cup title and end his drought.
“Champ, I like the sound of that,” Gillespie told the GAP
website. “It feels great to walk away with a win and to see my name on another
GAP trophy. I must have played over a hundred GAP events since my last win. You
beat your brains in because it’s just hard to win and to be first in a field of
so many great players.”
The Marston Cup, named for legendary Philadelphia amateur
Max Marston, who won the 1923 U.S. Amateur with wins over Bobby Jones and
Francis Ouimet on his way to the final, is limited to players ages 40 to 54,
and there is no shortage of quality players in that age group in this area.
Gillespie went 1-under on his final nine holes, including a
birdie on the par-5 13th and a crucial par on the dangerous
408-yard, par-4 17th, to preserve his one-shot margin of victory
over Brian Dorey of Metedeconk National Golf Club in New Jersey and Ryan Gelrod
of Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Paul Liebezeit of Aronimink Golf Club was one of three
players tied for fourth at 2-over 74. Among some of the other finishers were
Edgmont Country Club’s Peter Moran (79), Aronimink’s Jeff Fialko (82),
Aronimink’s Bill Holstein (84), Concord Country Club’s Joe Granahan (84) and
Llanerch Country Club’s Patrick Conroy (86).
Philadelphia Country Club’s P. Chet Walsh, who won the
Marston Cup for the second time a year ago at Trenton Country Club, carded an
84.
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