Brian Isztwan’s consistency during the Inter-Ac League’s
regular season last fall was rewarded when, as a junior at Penn Charter, he
finished atop the league’s point standings, compiled during the league’s six
mini-tournaments.
That same kind of consistency at the Golf Association of
Philadelphia’s 103rd Junior Boys’ Championship, presented by PURE
Insurance, this week at Spring-Ford Country Club was rewarded with a spot in
the final.
Isztwan, playing out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, won
two matches Wednesday to earn a chance to put his name on the Peg Burnett
Trophy in a match against Dawson Anders, a recent Souderton graduate who plays
out of Indian Valley Country Club.
The title match was originally scheduled for Wednesday
afternoon, but Monday’s thunderstorm pushed the schedule back. It will be
played at a mutually agreeable later date.
For now, Isztwan can get some satisfaction from battling
through the kind of tough junior competition that is a hallmark of this event
to get to the final.
“I’m really excited about it because I think I shot 79 every
other year (and missed the match-play cut), so it was really a struggle,” the
17-year-old Isztwan, who captured the Inter-Ac’s Bert Linton individual championship
as a freshman at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course, told the GAP
website. “I came into the week knowing
that if I made as many pars as I could, I figured I would make the championship
flight.
“After the qualifier, I really am a match play kind of guy.
I felt good about my chances once I made it through.”
With younger brother Patrick on the bag, Team Isztwan played
its par strategy to perfection in a 4 and 3 victory over Patrick Sheehan, a
Central Bucks East junior who plays out of Talamore Country Club, in the
semifinals.
Isztwan parred every hole on the front nine and emerged with
a 2-up lead at the turn.
Sheehan was coming off an impressive victory in the
Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Precision Pro Golf Open at Hickory
Valley Golf Club’s Presidential and Ambassador courses last weekend. In the
quarterfinals, he knocked off Isztwan’s fellow Huntingdon Valley member Conor
McGrath, who was the qualifying medalist at Spring-Ford, 3 and 1.
Isztwan make it 3-up by winning the 11th with yet
another par and then took a commanding 4-up lead on the 12th by
chipping in for birdie after getting in trouble off the tee.
Isztwan displayed a little more short-game magic in
finishing off another tough customer, Zachary Barbin, a GAP Junior Players Club
representative from Elkton, Md., 4 and 2, in the quarterfinals. Isztwan had a
3-up lead heading to the par-3 16th hole at Spring-Ford, but his tee
shot ended up in a greenside bunker.
He promptly holed out his bunker shot for birdie and the
match was over.
Anders earned his spot in the final with a 3 and 2 victory
over Applecross Country Club’s Wills Montgomery, a Downingtown East standout.
Anders’ bid for a Junior Boys’ title a year ago was halted in the semifinals.
Anders also faced a tough quarterfinal challenge from Nikita
Romanov, a GAP Junior Players Club entry from Wilmington, Del., before
prevailing, 2-up. Romanov was the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s
13-to-15 Player of the Year in 2016.
Montgomery reached the semifinals with a 4 and 2 win over
Bent Creek Country Club’s Will Riva, who helped Lancaster Catholic capture the
PIAA Class AA team title last fall.
As for the first flight, once recent Methacton graduate Kyle
Vance landed in the consolation bracket, he was the odds-on favorite to come
out on top. Last summer, Vance, a two-time District One champion and a prized
Kansas State recruit, earned a trip to the U.S. Junior Amateur at The Honors
Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. and reached match play.
Vance reached the first flight final with a 5 and 4 win over
Spring-Ford’s Ryan Tall, the Central League champion at Conestoga last fall.
His opponent in the final is Jake McCloskey of Radley Run Country Club, who
pulled out a win on the 19th hole over Rolling Green Golf Club’s
Andreas Aivazoglou, a Haverford School standout.
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