A couple of bombers separated themselves from the field and
grabbed the two available tickets to the U.S. Amateur in a Golf Association of
Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Laurel Creek Country Club in Mt. Laurel,
N.J. last Tuesday.
There was no pressure-packed playoff with several players
going for the last one or two spots as 24-year-old Zach Arsenault of Little
Mill Country Club and the 23-year-old Anthony Sebastianelli, a recent Central
Connecticut State graduate who plays out of Glen Oak Country Club, were the
only two players under par for two rounds over the 6,865-yard, par-71 Laurel
Creek layout.
Arsenault claimed medalist honors as he added a 2-under-par
69 to his opening round of 3-under 68 for a 5-under 137 total. Sebastianelli,
who finished third in the 2013 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at
Abington Heights, opened with a 4-under 67 and added a 1-over 72 for a 3-under
139 total.
The first alternate is Matthew Long of East Stroudsburg, who
set the pace in the morning with a 5-under 66, but fell back with an afternoon
76 and ended up three shots behind Sebastianelli at even-par 142. The second
alternate is Lukas Clark of Holland, who had steady rounds of 71 and 72 for a
1-over 143. Clark, a Council Rock South product, is coming off his freshman
season on the Penn State golf team.
The U.S. Amateur will be played at one of America’s classic
golf courses, the Pebble Beach Golf Links, with match-play qualifying getting
under way Aug. 13.
Arsenault, a developer who is focusing on turning around
neighborhoods in Camden, N.J., really got his day going when he finished up his
morning round with back-to-back birdies on his last two holes, Nos. 8 and 9.
Arsenault dropped in a 35-foot birdie putt on the eighth
hole and then reached the par-5 ninth in two and two-putted to finish off his
3-under 68.
Arsenault’s length helped him to record birdies on two of
Laurel Creek’s par-5s in the afternoon, the ninth, again, and the 15th.
And he finished with a flourish, crushing a drive on the 445-yard, par-4 18th
hole that left him just 135 yards from the hole. His 52-degree wedge shot left
him with a 15-foot birdie putt that he buried.
Sebastianelli also finished strong in his morning round as
he needed just a 7-iron to reach the par-5 ninth in two, hit it to 10 feet and
made the putt for an eagle. If left him just a shot behind Long following the
morning round.
Sebastianelli got a birdie on the fifth hole in the
afternoon, reaching that par-5 hole in two and two-putting it.
Dawson Anders, the 2017 GAP Junior Boys’ champion who is
coming off a solid freshman season at Temple, fired a 2-under 69 in the
afternoon, but left himself too much to do after an opening-round 76 and ended
up at 3-over 145.
Strath Haven junior Kevin Smith finished among the group at
148, adding a 1-over 72 to an opening-round 76. Two days later, Smith, who
plays out of The Springhaven Club, put together two more solid rounds for a
runnerup finish to Spring-Ford Country Club’s Ben Pochet in the Christman Cup
at Whitford Country Club.
Also in the group at 148 were Hartford junior Ambrose
Abbracciamento (73-75) and Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Benjamin Smith
(77-71).
Radnor senior David Colleran, the Central League co-champion
last fall who plays out of Overbrook Golf Club, had a pair of 75s at Laurel
Creek for a 150 total.
Recent Penn Charter graduate Brian Isztwan, who plays out of
Huntingdon Valley, bounced back from an opening-round 79 with a 1-over 72 for a
151 total. The Harvard-bound Isztwan was also tuning up for his appearance in
the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., which teed
off Monday.
Former North Penn standout Ron Robinson, coming off his
freshman season at Monmouth, joined Isztwan in the group at 151, following up a
77 in the morning with a 74 in the afternoon.
J.T. Spina, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of his last
two seasons at Pope John Paul II, opened with a solid 2-over 73, but slipped
back to a 79 in the afternoon for a 152 total. Spina will join the Saint Joseph’s
program later this summer.
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