Jarmas comes on strong to win Pennsylvania Open at Gulph Mills

   The Central League was producing some pretty good players in the first decade of the new millennium.

   One of them was Lower Merion’s Greg Jarmas, who capped his scholastic career with a runnerup finish in the 2009 PIAA Class AAA Championship. He went on to a solid collegiate career at Princeton and has been competing on mini-tours in Florida and South Carolina the last couple of years.

   He came home this week to play one of the classic golf courses that populate the area where he grew up. And he proceeded to go out and dominate Gulph Mills Golf Club, one of several course in the area where the design genius of Donald Ross is on full display.

   Jarmas finished off a three-day romp at Gulph Mills with a 5-under-par 66 Wednesday that gave him a remarkable 16-under 197 total and the $8,000 check that went to the winner of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 101^st Open Championship.

   “I was so happy to win this event,” Jarmas told the PAGA website after establishing a record total for the Pennsylvania Open since it went to a 54-hole event in 1997. “I’ve said it all week,  but it’s been on my calendar all year and I was really excited to come here. And to win at a course like Gulph Mills, it just makes me love this place even more.”

   And it wasn’t easy. Jarmas trailed former Penn State standout J.D. Dornes by three shots after    Dornes, who shot a course-record 9-under 62 in Monday’s opening round, birdied the 12^th hole.

But Jarmas might very well have won the tournament on that same hole. His drive found the water, but he drilled his third shot from 205 yards to 15 feet and dropped the putt for an incredible par save.

   Then he went to work. At 13, Jarmas hit a 7-iron to five feet and made the birdie putt while Dornes, a former Manheim Township standout, made bogey.

   A second two-shot swing happened at 15 as Jarmas rolled in a tough left-to-right breaking birdie putt while Dornes couldn’t save par after going over the green in two.

   A two-putt birdie at the par-5 18^th enabled Jarmas to finish at 16-under. He was two shots clear of Dornes, who plays on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, and Beau Titsworth of Wexford. Dornes had a final-round 69 while Titsworth caught him for a slice of second with a final round of 6-under 66.

   Dornes and Titsworth finished at 14-under 199 and lost by two shots, which is pretty remarkable in itself. It’s not like they could leave Gulph Mills feeling like they played badly.

   A couple of Lancaster pros, David Denlinger and David Hilgers, finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Denlinger, who was solid throughout, added a final-round 67 to rounds of 65 and 68 for a 13-under 200 total. Hilgers finished strong with a 7-under 65, the low round of the day,  to end  up at 12-under 201.

   Defending champion Robert Rohanna of Waynesburg and Daniel Obremski of Irwin finished tied for sixth place at 10-under 203. Rohanna had a 1-over 71 in the final round while Obremski matched par with a 70.

   Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club and the 2015 Pennsylvania Open champion, finished alone in eighth place at 7-under 206 with a solid 4-under 68 Wednesday.

   Former Radnor High standout Carey Bina and Wilmington University junior Ryan Rucinski shared low-amateur honors and were two of the five players tied for ninth place at 6-under 207. Bina and Rucinski fired matching 2-under 69s in the final round.

   Also in the group at 207 was Gulph Mills assistant pro Jordan Gibbs, who will defend his Philadelphia Section PGA championship next month at Laurel Creek Country Club and Burlington Country Club. Gibbs finished up with a 2-over 74.

   Rounding out the group at 207 were former Malvern Prep standout Cole Wilcox, who finished up with a 4-under 68, and Easton Renwick of Dubois, who had a final-round 71.

   Stewart and Wilcox make it two former Friars in the top 10. Had to give the Inter-Ac League power a little nod for that.