Austin Barbin of Elkton, Md. continued his late-spring run
of really solid play by capturing medalist honors in a Golf Association of
Philadelphia-administered qualifier Friday at Berkshire Country Club near
Reading for this summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
Barbin, a recent graduate of Red Lion Christian Academy in
Bear, Del., was just two days removed from a scintillating 5 and 4 victory over
Patrick Sheehan, the Central Bucks East senior who won the District One Class
AAA title last fall, in the final of GAP’s 105th Junior Boys’
Championship at Coatesville Country Club.
Barbin had dislocated his left shoulder while stretching in
the overnight hours before his match with Sheehan and benefited from getting an
extra day’s rest when the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier was postponed a day as
the Reading area was deluged by four-and-a-half inches of rain Thursday.
Barbin, a Maryland recruit, played a remarkably patient
round of golf in firing a 3-under-par 67 over the 6,391-yard, par-70 Berkshire
layout to finish three shots clear of the field.
Richie Kline, a recent Unionville graduate, and Jolo Timothy
Magcalayo of the Philippines each matched par with a 70 to grab the final two
tickets to next month’s U.S. Junior Amateur, which tees off July 15 at the
Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
The first alternate is Shaun Fedor, a PIAA Class AAA
qualifier as a senior at Manheim Township last fall who carded a 1-over 71. The
second alternate is Darren Nolan of Glenside, who posted a 2-over 72 and bested
six other players who matched that total. Not sure where Nolan will play his
scholastic golf, but he is one of a group of talented players who completed
eighth grade this spring and are headed for high school.
Barbin, meanwhile, is putting an exclamation point on his
career as a junior golfer by earning his second trip to the U.S. Junior
Amateur. He failed to qualify for match play two years at The Honors Course in
Ooltewah, Tenn.
“It feels good, honestly,” Barbin told the GAP website. “I
have a really good swing thought going that I’ve just been feeding off for the
last month or so. I’ve also been working hard on my lag putting. Today it was
fantastic. The putter felt really good in my hands.”
Barbin fashioned the best competitive round of his career a
couple of weeks ago when he fired a brilliant 5-under 65 on the North Course at
Stonewall in the second round of qualifying in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur
that enabled him to earn a berth in match play.
I got to watch Barbin in action Wednesday at Coatesville when
he was locked in a tense battle with Sheehan in the GAP Junior Boys’ final.
They had halved the first seven holes when Barbin went off, going 6-under for
the next six holes to seize control of the match and claim the title.
Starting on the back nine at Berkshire, Barbin rattled off
12 straight pars. He finally got a birdie when he reached the putting surface
at the 506-yard, par-5 fourth hole with a pitching wedge from 154 yards away
and two-putted.
He fired a 5-iron into the 210-yard, par-3 sixth hole to 20
feet and dropped the birdie try and then lofted a 58-degree wedge from 80 yards
away to six feet at the seventh hole to make it back-to-back birdies.
Kline has been a key component on a spectacular two-year run
for the Unionville program as the Indians captured the PIAA Class AAA team
crown two seasons ago and were the runnersup to a strong Pittsburgh Central
Catholic team in a spirited title defense last fall.
Kline also started on the back nine at Berkshire and
proceeded to blitz the incoming nine to the tune of five birdies against a lone
bogey for a 4-under 31. He opened his round with three straight birdies. Kline
struggled on the front nine with five bogeys against a lone birdie, but his
even-par 70 got the job done.
“I’m just really happy,” Kline, who is headed for Indiana
University of Pennsylvania, told the GAP website. “I’ve been struggling with
consistency. Today it felt a lot better.”
The 16-year-old Magcalayo, who used our region as his
launching pad to a solid summer of junior golf a year ago, had an up-and-down
round that included six birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey in booking a
return trip to the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Magcalayo reached the second round of match play in last
summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club’s Upper Course in
Springfield, N.J. before falling to Ben Wong, who was playing in the event for
the fifth time, in 19 holes. Wong was part of an SMU team that was the party
crasher in earning the eighth and final spot in match play in the NCAA
Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. last month.
Sheehan, who will join Greg Nye’s Penn State program later
this summer, was one of the six other players who landed on 2-over 72 along
with Nolan, the second alternate.
John Updike, a four-year standout at Malvern Prep, Strath
Haven senior Kevin Smith, Kline’s Unionville teammate, Connor Bennink, William
Pabst Jr. of Roaring Brook Township and Jack Irons of Naples, Fla. rounded out
the group tied for fifth at 72.
Rolling Green Golf Club’s A.J. Aivazoglou, a member of The
Haverford School’s back-to-back Inter-Ac League championship teams the last two
falls, headed a group of four players tied for 12th at 3-over 73.
He was joined at that figure by Tyler Kipp, a Class AAA East
Regional qualifier as a junior at Muhlenberg last fall, Darren Choi of Canada,
and Alexander Gu of Darien, Conn.
Jake Maddaloni, a key contributor to The Haverford School’s
Inter-Ac crown as a sophomore last fall, headed a trio tied for 16th
at 4-over 74.
Win Thomas was also in that trio at 74. Thomas, like
Glenside’s Nolan, is another in that talented group of Class of ’23 golfers who
are about to embark on their scholastic careers. Rounding out the trio at 74
was Jack Mangene, a PIAA Class AA qualifier as a senior at Boalsburg’s Saint
Joseph’s Catholic Academy last fall.
There was another GAP-administered U.S. Junior Amateur
qualifier Monday at Carlisle Country Club and Palmer Jackson, Franklin
Regional’s first PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior last fall, assured himself
of a return trip to one of junior golf’s premier events with a 2-under 69.
That gave Jackson a share of medalist honors along with
Nolan Piazza of Canada.
Jackson, who will join the Notre Dame program later this
summer, earned a berth in match play in last summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur at
Baltusrol. He was ousted in the first round in a hard-fought 2 and 1 decision to
Jacob Bridgeman of Inman, S.C. who was a solid performer as a freshman for a
Clemson team that fell to SMU in a playoff for that final spot in match play in
the NCAA Championship.
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