Orlando is tied for 28th at 1-over after opening round of qualifying in U.S. Mid-Amateur

   Gregor Orlando, who captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur championship on his home course at Philadelphia Cricket Club in June, led a Golf Association of Philadelphia contingent that generally struggled on the opening day of qualifying in the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship Saturday in Atlanta.

   Orlando, who reached the second round of match play in last year’s U.S. Mid-Am when it was played a little closer to home at Stonewall, carded a solid 1-over-par 72 at Atlanta National Golf Club and is tied for 28^th, in solid position to make match play again.

   Orlando and the rest of the field will give it a rest Sunday as the United States Golf Association made a wise decision to let the remnants of Hurricane Nate pass by the Atlanta area and postponed the second round until Monday.

   There was no mention of difficult conditions in any of the accounts from the opening day of qualifying, but it had to be at least a little breezy with a Category 1 hurricane lurking only a few hundred miles away in the Gulf of Mexico.

   Starting on the back nine at the 6,784-yard-par-71 Atlanta National layout, Orlando, the 2007 PIAA champion at Erie Cathedral Prep before playing his college golf at Virginia, made bogey at 14, but got the shot right back with a birdie at the par-5 15^th. He made bogeys at the first and fourth holes before getting back to 1-over with a birdie at the par-3 sixth.

   Michael R. Brown Jr. of Lu Lu Country Club was the GAP contingent’s next-highest finisher as he posted a 3-over 73 over the Capital City Club’s 7,207-yard, par-70 Crabapple Course.

   The difference in par between the par-70 Crabapple Course, the main course for the event when match play gets under way Tuesday, and the par-71 Atlanta National layout that is being used only for qualifying always makes for some awkward scoring until everybody plays two rounds. Bottom line: You want to be one of those top 64 who qualify for match play and take your chances from there.

   It will be a battle for most of the locals in the field, but they are all guys capable of taking it a couple or three under, which they might have to do.

   Merion Golf Club’s Michael McDermott, coming off a dramatic Crump Cup victory at Pine Valley Golf Club a couple of weeks ago, struggled to a 5-over 75 at the Crabapple Course and is tied for 129^th. McDermott, who reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Mid-Am at an Old Course layout at Stonewall that he was very familiar with, was 2-over after making a birdie at the 12^th before coming home with bogeys at 14, 15 and 18.

   DuPont Country Club’s Matthew Finger, the qualifying medalist in the GAP-administered U.S. Mid-Am qualifier at White Manor Country, carded a 4-over 74 at the Crabapple Course and is tied for 89^th.

   Also in that group tied for 89^th at 4-over is the Cricket Club’s Conrad Von Borsig, who qualified at Arcola Country Club in Paramus, N.J. Von Borsig, the 2009 BMW Philadelphia  Amateur champion,  could only manage one birdie against five bogeys on the  Crabapple Course.

   Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Jeff Osberg, arguably the Philadelphia area’s top mid-am player, has some work to do to make match play after posting a 6-over 76 at the Crabapple Course, which leaves him tied for 154^th. Also at 6-over with a 76 at the Crabapple Course is John Sawin, who lives in San Francisco, but grew up as a member at Merion Golf Club and was a scholastic standout at The Haverford School.

   The Cricket Club’s Ryan Gelrod posted an 8-over 79 at Atlanta National and is tied for 147^th.

Two other players who came out of the qualifier at White Manor, Llanerch Country Club’s Joseph Kerrigan Jr. and Stone Harbor Golf & Country Club’s Peter Barron III are in a group tied for 230^th at 10-over. Kerrigan, the baseball coach at Radnor High, posted an 81 at Atlanta National while Barron carded an 80 at the Crabapple Club.

   Two players are tied for the lead at 3-under, although they have different scores. 

   Chad Wilfong, a 37-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., carded a 3-under 67 at the Crabapple Course while Joshua Irving, a 31-year-old from Dallas, had a 68 at Atlanta National. Irving was a quarterfinalist a year ago at Stonewall.

   Defending champion Stewart Hagestad, the low amateur at the Masters and a member of the U.S. team that rolled to a 19-7 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup Match, is in the group tied for 38^th at 2-over after a 73 at Atlanta National.

   It was an up-and-down round for the 26-year-old who rallied from 4-down with five to play to defeat Scott Harvey on the 37^th hole in a dramatic final at Stonewall. The Newport Beach, Calif. native – he grew up playing Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course where the Walker Cup was staged – had five birdies and three double bogeys.

    Harvey of Greensboro, N.C. won this title in 2014 at Saucon Valley Country Club. He is in the group tied for 67^th at 3-over after a 74 at Atlanta National.

   Pittsburgh’s friendly rivals, Nathan Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur winner, and Sean Knapp, coming off a victory in the U.S. Senior Amateur last month, are in the group tied for 38^th at 2-over. Smith, who won the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play championship for a fifth time this summer, and Knapp each posted a 2-over 72 at the Crabapple Course.

   Also at 2-over is the central Pennsylvania dark horse, Mechanicsburg’s Jeff Frazier (I said Carlisle in my preview, but I wasn’t too far off), who also carded a 72 at the Crabapple Course.

   I had the distinct pleasure of watching Frazier’s game up close while carrying his bag and that of his partner, Brent Will, in the Fall Scramble at Stonewall last fall. The left-hander can really play and he is teeing it up in his seventh U.S. Mid-Am. He will be a tough out if he can make it to match play.