Michael McDermott will be the first one to tell you that his
friend and rival, Jeff Osberg, is the best amateur player in the Philadelphia
area.
And Osberg has gone about proving that point all summer.
McDermott got his third BMW Philadelphia Amateur title by
beating Osberg in a dramatic finish at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, but
since then, it’s been all Osberg. Friday at his home course, Huntingdon Valley
Country Club, the 32-year-old Bryn Mawr resident captured the Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s final major of the season, the Patterson Cup, in a four-hole
aggregate playoff with David Hicks of Wildwood Golf & Country Club.
That comes on the heels of a victory in the Philadelphia
Open in another four-hole aggregate playoff, that one over Chris Crawford of
Spring Mill Country Club.
The victory in the Patterson Cup also earned Osberg the
Silver Cross, GAP’s stroke-play championship which combines the two BMW
Philadelphia Amateur qualifying rounds with the two Patterson Cup rounds. Osberg’s
284 total edged runnerup McDermott by two shots. Osberg holds a commanding lead
in his bid to win the William Hyndman III Player of the Year race for the
second straight year.
“I would like the playoff to not be necessary, but it’s
better than not being in the playoff,” Osberg told the GAP website. “Last year,
I think I played my best golf that I’ve ever played and walked away not winning
a tournament, although I did take the Silver Cross.
“I kind of walked out of that season thinking, ‘Did I get
everything out of my game that I could have?’ This year it was top priority to
not go another season without winning. It was unbelievable to get the win at
the Open. Coming here at my home course and winning in front of the members and
my family was unbelievable.”
Osberg opened up with a 2-under 68 on his 7,0276-yard,
par-70 home course Thursday and held a tenuous one-shot edge with a lot of
talented players chasing him.
Hicks, a sophomore at William & Mary, made four of the
five birdies he recorded in his round in the last eight holes on his way to a
3-under 67 that gave him a 3-under 137 total.
Osberg, meanwhile, needed a nearly miraculous up-and-down
after blowing it 10 yards over the final green to finish with a 1-under 69 and
match Hicks’ 137 total.
Osberg made pars on the first three holes of the playoff,
Nos. 10, 11 and 17 while Hicks was making bogeys. Osberg finished the playoff
with a 16-18 edge over Hicks.
The Ridge at Back Brook’s Roland Massimino, a sophomore at
Kansas State and a former New Hope standout, matched Hicks’ 67 for the low
round of the day to finish third at 1-under 139. Merion Golf Club’s McDermott had
a pair of 70s to finish in a tie for fourth place with another Huntingdon
Valley member, Benjamin Smith, and Aronimink Golf Club’s Max Siegfried at
even-par 140. Smith had rounds of 72 and 68 while Siegfried, a recent Haverford
School graduate, also added a 68 Friday to his opening-round 72.
Aronimink’s Michael Davis, a junior at Princeton and a
former Malvern Prep standout, was alone in seventh place with rounds of 70 and
71 for a 1-over 141 total. The Springhaven Club’s Mike Calabrese had rounds of
73 and 69 to finish alone in eighth place at 2-over 142.
Rounding out the top 10 were Green Valley Country Club’s Ben
Feld and DuPont Country Club’s Matthew Finger, who finished in a tie for ninth
at 3-over 143. Feld added a 71 to his opening-round 72. Finger had a 3-over 73
after opening with an even-par 70.
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