Malvern Prep's Curran fires record 66 at Sunnybrook to win Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship

   I’m going to go ahead and guess that Malvern Prep senior Andrew Curran took his duties as the Friars’ captain pretty seriously this fall.

   But with his final regular season behind him and taking his final shot in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship, maybe Curran, relieved of worrying about the rest of the team for the first time since August, focused a little on himself.

   How else can you explain a nothing-short-of-brilliant 6-under-par 66, a Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship record, at Sunnybrook Golf Club in Whitemarsh Township Tuesday that gave Curran the league’s individual title by a whopping seven shots?

   I hated not being there, but with the Bert Linton and the final round of the PIAA Championship on the same day, I made my annual trek to York County and saw some pretty good golf out of PIAA Class AAA champion Palmer Jackson, a senior at Franklin Regional.

   It sounded like the rounds were pretty similar. Jackson had six birdies in his first 10 holes, but made a couple of bogeys down the stretch. No disrespect to the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, but Sunnybrook is a little tougher challenge.

   I had a chance as a fledgling sports writer 40 years ago to cover my first USGA championship, the 1978 U.S. Women’s Amateur, won by Canadian Cathy Sherk, at Sunnybrook. It’s a tough track.

   But it wasn’t for Curran Tuesday. He ripped off six birdies and there was nary a bogey on his card.

   He had finished 14^th on the Inter-Ac’s regular-season points list. Not bad in the most competitive scholastic golf conference in Pennsylvania. I’m sure he was disappointed that the Friars couldn’t get past Haverford School in any of the six regular-season invitationals as they finished 21-9 and shared second place with Episcopal Academy.

   But Curran put it all behind him and played a spectacular round of golf. And it’s not like everybody was going low. Haverford School senior Peter Garno, who helped lead the Fords to their second straight Inter-Ac crown, was the runnerup with a 1-over 73.

   Charlie Baker, another key member in both of Haverford School’s Inter-Ac title runs the last two falls, was a shot behind his teammate Garno in third with a 2-over 74. Baker was the runnerup to Penn Charter’s Patrick Isztwan in the last year’s Bert Linton at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

   Episcopal Academy junior Jacob Zeng capped an outstanding season that saw him finish atop the Inter-Ac’s regular-season points race by taking third with a 3-over 75.

   Malvern Prep’s senior standout John Updike shared fifth place with Haverford School’s Sam Walker, each carding a 4-over 76.

   Isztwan, a freshman when he won the Bert Linton on his home course at Huntingdon Valley a year ago, carded a 77 in defense of his title and shared seventh place with Justin Dougherty of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, who matched Isztwan’s 77.

   A couple of Episcopal Academy seniors, Michael Zeng, one of the Churchmen’s co-captains, and J.R. Rauscher, finished in a tie for ninth, each posting a 78.

   Haverford School senior David Hurly shared 11^th place with Germantown Academy’s Nick Schnur as each signed for a 79.

   Malvern Prep senior Matt Civitella took 13^th with an 80, Haverford School senior A.J. Aivazoglou, the runnerup to Episcopal Academy’s Jacob Zeng in the regular-season points standings, was 14^th with an 81 and Penn Charter’s Dylan Topaz was 15^th with an 82.

   Mac Costin, another key member of Haverford School’s last two title teams, shared 16^th place with Springside Chestnut Hill’s Andrew Lauerman at 83. A couple of Episcopal players accounted for the next two spots on the leaderboard as senior James LeRoux was 18^th with an 84 and sophomore Shane Lawler was 19^th with an 84.

   Episcopal Acdemy’s other senior co-captain, Robbie Copit, finished in a tie for 20^th with Malvern Prep senior Kevin Hagan, each posting an 86. Malvern Prep junior Ryan Kennedy was 22^nd with an 88 and Haverford School’s Zak Summy was 23^rd with a 91.