If you need any confirmation that it’s been a lousy weather
year for golf, just ask any caddie in the Philadelphia area.
Heck, even the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 72nd
Caddie Tournament, scheduled for Aug. 13, had to be postponed by rain. It’s
been tough to get by with that old reliable, “Sir, can we lose the umbrella?”
line when you’re trying to lighten the load a little.
To its credit, GAP rescheduled the Caddie Tournament for
Monday, although a lot of the younger kids – high school and college -- who
might have been able to tee it up at Bala Golf Club a month ago are back in
school and couldn’t make it.
Thomas Weir, a 21-year-old looper at Aronimink Golf Club,
matched par at the 5,138-yard, par-68 Bala layout, one of the just two private
clubs inside the city limits of Philadelphia, with a 68 for the low score of
the day.
There is no overall winner, but Weir’s round was four shots
better than the next-best score of the day and gave him the top spot in the
21-to-28 age group.
And you didn’t have to tell Weir how bad the weather has
been this summer as he was helping out with the preparations for the BMW
Championship at Aronimink, although the drenching rainfall that postponed the final
round a day did give Weir an opportunity to catch the dramatic finish a week
before the Caddie Tournament.
“The Thursday before the championship, I went out with the
other caddies and we put out the stakes,” Weir told the GAP website. “I was out
there again for the Pro-Am and then again for the Monday finish. It was an
awesome week. This year has become the year of the rain, so it was a little
wet, but I think the course held up as best as it could.”
Weir didn’t even play golf before he started looping at
Aronimink as a 14-year-old. His game has made great strides in the five short
years he has been playing it.
A pulled drive led to a bogey at the par-4 fifth hole at
Bala, but Weir got that shot back when his 7-iron shot at the 150-yard, par-3
ninth hole finished seven feet from the hole and he dropped the birdie putt.
Weir had some birdie looks on the back nine, but couldn’t get one to fall, but
he settled for nine straight pars that got him in the house at even-par.
The chief beneficiaries of the BMW Championship are the
Evans Scholars Foundation and the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust in the
Chicago and Philadelphia areas, respectively. Weir is a J. Wood Platt Scholar
as he is taking courses at Delaware County Community College and hopes to continue
his undergraduate work at West Chester University.
The runnerup to Weir in the 21-to-28 age group was Overbrook
Golf Club’s Jamie Donahue, who carded a 10-over 78. Pat Kinch of Applebrook
Golf Club and Ross Tucker of St. Davids Golf Club shared third place, each carding
a 79.
Matthew Brunner of Philmont Country Club finished fifth with
an 81, Alexander Vicente of Philadelphia Country Club was sixth with an 82 and
Brian Boyle of Rolling Green Golf Club was seventh with an 84.
The Union League Golf Club of Torresdale, the other private
club beside Bala within the city limits of Philadelphia, accounted for the next
spots in the age group with Austin Donhour placing eighth with an 85 and Matt
Bonner finishing ninth with an 87.
The 17-and-under age group looks like it was a family feud
as Llanerch Country Club’s Michael Larkin took the top spot with an 81, three
shots better than fellow Llanerch looper Thomas Larkin, who carded an 84.
Jordan Cook of Waynesborough Country Club topped the
18-to-20 age group with a 7-over 75. Mark Amadio of French Creek Golf Club was
the runnerup with a 77.
Dan Murphy of St. Davids was third with an 87, Michael
Austin of Tavistock Country Club was fourth with an 89 and John Dougherty of
The Springhaven Club was fifth with a 92.
The second-best score of the day came from Philadelphia
Country Club’s Chris Swartz, whose 4-over 72 earned him the top spot in the
29-to-54 age group. Eric Dahl of Manufacturers Golf & Country Club and
Jason Wilt of Applebrook shared second place, each posting a 76.
Brian Egan of Saucon Valley Country Club finished fourth
with an 80 and David Malone Jr. of Green Valley Country Club and Mike Petruccelli
of the Union League at Torresdale were another shot behind Egan in a tie for
fifth at 81.
Benjamin Henry of Green Valley and Michael Saglimbeni of
Manufacturers finished in a tie for seventh, each carding an 84, Rob Kingston
of Saucon Valley was ninth with an 86 and a couple of Gulph Mills Golf Club
loopers, Mark Kaplan and Matt Sztubinski, rounded out the top 10 as they
finished tied for 10th with 89s.
Stanley Saunders of Huntingdon Valley Country Club fired an
8-over 76 to capture the age group closest to the heart of this 63-year-old looper, the 55-and-older
division. Bill Kindt of Saucon Valley was the runnerup with an 85 and Richard
Pierson of Manufacturers was another shot behind Kindt in third with an 86.
Mark Patterson of the Union League Torresdale and Bob
Quigley of The ACE Club shared fourth, each carding an 89. Ed Mcgowan of
Rolling Green finished sixth with a 90 and Andy Hubal of The Ridge at Back Brook
was seventh with a 92.
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