Isztwan earns semifinal date wtih Barbin in GAP's Junior Boys' Championship at Coatesville

   All four participants in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 105^th Junior Boys’ Championship semifinals Wednesday morning at Coatesville Country Club were match-play qualifiers when the championship was played a year ago at Blue Bell Country Club.

   Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Patrick Isztwan, a junior at Penn Charter, remembers all too well falling to Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Austin Barbin in the opening round a year ago.

   This time around, Barbin stands in the way of a trip to the final for Isztwan and he’s hoping to reverse the outcome from a year ago.

   The other semifinal will feature last year’s runnerup, William Mirams of Shawnee Country Club, and Talamore Country Club’s Patrick Sheehan, who was the medalist in qualifying Monday at the 6,286-yard, par-70 Coatesville layout. The Junior Boys’ Championship is part of the GAP Junior Series, presented by Citadel.

   Isztwan, who captured the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship as a freshman in the fall of 2017, looked like he was going to cruise into Tuesday afternoon’s quarterfinals when he took a 5-up lead with seven holes to play in his opening-round match with talented youngster Win Thomas of Concord Country Club.

   But Thomas proceeded to win four of the next six holes to creep within 1-down with two holes to play. Isztwan halved the final two holes to survive with a 1-up victory. I have no idea where Thomas is going to play his high school golf, but he is going to be a tough player at the scholastic level.

   When Isztwan jumped on quarterfinal opponent Kevin Smith, a Strath Haven senior playing out of The Springhaven Club, by winning five of the first six holes, he knew to keep the pressure on. This time he didn’t let Smith back in the match and reached the semifinals with a 6 and 5 victory.

   Barbin began his day with a 5 and 4 decision over fellow Loch Nairn representative Nikita Romanov before claiming a 3 and 1 decision over Spring Mill Country Club’s Liam Hart, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep.

   “I know it will be a tough match, but I’m fully expecting to make it through to the final,” Isztwan told the GAP website. “I have high expectations. Austin is a solid player. I don’t think (having experience playing against him) changes anything at all. I’m going to try and come out hot like I did (Tuesday). I’m going to try to win the match and beat him down.”

   Against Smith, Isztwan reached the fringe of the 460-yard, par-5 opening hole with a 5-iron and two-putted for birdie to win the hole. His 8-iron into the 160-yard, par-3 second hole was 30 feet from the hole, but he rolled the long birdie putt right in the hole for a 2-up lead. Isztwan never looked back.

   Mirams, who captured the PIAA Class AA title as a senior at Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg last fall, survived a battle with Rolling Green Golf Club’s A.J. Aivazoglou, a recent Haverford School graduate, in 19 holes in the opening round Tuesday morning. That was a rematch of a semifinal match a year ago that Mirams also won on his way to the final.

   Mirams then cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s William Bennink to earn a semifinal showdown with Sheehan. Mirams, who is headed for Delaware, was named the male winner of the prestigious USGA/AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award earlier this month.

   Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East last fall, claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Haverford School senior Charlie Baker in Tuesday morning’s opening round.

Sheehan, who will join Greg Nye’s Penn State program later this summer, then held off a stubborn Nick Martin of Blue Bell, 1-up, to reach the semifinals.

   The plan is to head over to Coatesville Country Club, it’s not far from my Coatesville base, for Wednesday’s final. It should be an interesting match no matter which two players emerge from the semifinals.

   There were a couple of interesting matches in the First Flight quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon, including one that featured the brothers of players who were in action in the Championship Flight.

   Austin Barbin’s brother, Evan Barbin, knocked off William Bennink’s twin brother Connor Bennink, 5 and 3, to advance to a semifinal match with Billy Pabst Jr. of Elmhurst Country Club. The Benninks were key members of a Unionville team that won the PIAA Class AAA team crown in 2017 and was the runnerup to Pittsburgh Central Catholic last fall.

   Pabst reached the semifinals with a 4 and 2 victory over Evan Drummond of Applecross Country Club.

   Another quarterfinal pitted Central League co-champion Morgan Lofland, a junior at Conestoga who plays out of Phoenixville Country Club, against the winner of the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship last fall, recent Malvern Prep graduate Andrew Curran, who plays out of Philadelphia Cricket Club.

   Lofland reached the semifinals as he had a 5-up lead when it appears the match was conceded with five holes to play.

   Lofland’s semifinal opponent will be Tyler Zimmer, who edged Andrew Miller, 2 and 1, in a battle between Philadelphia Country Club representatives.