Sterbinsky's course-record 63 at Cedarbrook earns him medalist honors in U.S. Amateur qualifier

   Kyle Sterbinsky, about to embark on his redshirt senior season at Wake Forest, was the qualifying medalist in a 2016 U.S. Amateur qualifier administered by the Golf Association of Philadelphia at White Manor Country Club and Aronimink Golf Club.

   That was following a fairly successful freshman season at Wake Forest. But Sterbinsky, who played scholastically at The Peddie School, has had trouble cracking the starting lineup for the Demon Deacons since then, taking a redshirt and sitting out a year along the way. Kind of gives you an idea how competitive it can get when you’re playing – or trying to – at a big-time Division I college program.

   Well, guess what, Sterbinsky hasn’t forgotten how to play. He proved that point pretty emphatically with a scintillating course-record 9-under-par 63 at Cedarbrook Country Club in Blue Bell in the afternoon round of a GAP-administered qualifier Monday that earned him a ticket to the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C., about 100 miles from Wake Forest’s Winston-Salem campus.

   The U.S. Amateur tees off Aug. 12 with qualifying on the Donald Ross classic No. 2 Course and the newly refurbished No. 4 Course at Pinehurst.

   Sterbinsky, a Yardley resident playing out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, had opened with a so-so 1-over 73 in the morning over the 6,939-yard, par-72 Cedarbrook layout, fairly typical of some recent uninspired play.

   “Everything was kind of in a funk,” Sterbinsky, who was the youngest qualifying medalist in the long history of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur in 2013, told the GAP website. “The common theme over the past year has been struggling off the tee, just being really bad.

   “In the morning it was a little bit better and I just kind of scraped it around.  In the afternoon, I found something off the tee. That allowed me to hit fairways and that was the difference. I haven’t had that freedom in a while.”

   Sterbinsky started on the back nine in the afternoon and ripped off four straight birdies from the 11^th to the 14^th holes.

   Sterbinsky knocked a wedge to two feet at the 385-yard, par-4 11^th and tapped that in and then reached the green in two at the 515-yard, par-5 12^th and two-putted for birdie there.

   A 7-iron at the 190-yard, par-3 13^th hole stopped 12 feet from the hole and Sterbinsky dropped that birdie try. He made it four straight birdies with a majestic 6-iron from 200 yards away at the 445-yard, par-4 14^th hole to five feet.

   His approach at the 401-yard, par-4 18^th hole left him with a tap-in for birdie to complete a 5-under 31 tour of Cedarbrook’s inward nine.

   Sterbinsky got it to 7-under when he fired an 8-iron at the 522-yard, par-5 second hole to a foot for eagle. He backed that up with an approach to four feet at the 411-yard, par-4 third hole that resulted in another birdie.

   Sterbinsky’s wedge from 97 yards away at the par-4 eighth hole finished three feet from the cup and he made the putt. An up-and-down par save from a greenside bunker at the ninth hole completed the course-record 63 at Cedarbrook.

   The old record was a 7-under 65 authored by former Temple standout and current Korn Perry Tour player Brandon Matthews, a round that earned him a victory in the 2013 Patterson Cup.

   Temple junior Dawson Anders surged to an afternoon 4-under 68 after opening with a 2-under 70 to grab the other ticket to Pinehurst with a 6-under 138 total.

   The 20-year-old Anders, who plays out of Indian Valley Country Club, also started on the back nine in the afternoon at Cedarbrook.

   On the outgoing nine, his final nine of a long day, Anders birdied both par-5s, the second and sixth holes, and knocked his 58-degree wedge to three feet at the par-4 eighth hole for what proved to be the difference.

   Anders, winner of the 2017 GAP Junior Boys’ Championship, was not in the lineup when Temple teed it up in The American Championship at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Fla. this spring, but he’s been playing some pretty good golf this summer. And he’ll finish the summer by teeing it up in the U.S. Amateur for the first time.

   Anders finished a shot ahead of Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matthew Mattare, a top performer on both the GAP and Met Association circuits. Mattare added a 1-under 71 to his opening-round 68 for a 5-under 149 total that made him the first alternate.

   The second alternate was Huntingdon Valley’s Vince Kwon, who made a memorable run to the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship semifinals with fellow Marlton, N.J. resident Troy Vannucci at the Bandon Dunes Resort’s Old MacDonald Course this spring. Kwon also opened with a 68, but could only match par in the afternoon with a 72 for a 140 total that left him in fourth place, a shot behind Mattare.

   Pretty nice effort by Saint Joseph’s sophomore J.T. Spina, who joined Eric Brubaker of Delmar, Md. in a tie for fifth at 2-under 142. Spina, who qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his last two seasons at Pope John Paul II, fired a 3-under 69 in the afternoon after opening with a 73.

   Heading a foursome tied for seventh at 1-under 143 were Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando, the 2017 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, and Sean Seese, who helped Huntingdon Valley claim the title in this spring’s BMW GAP Team Matches.

   Orlando matched par in the afternoon with a 72 after opening with a 71 while Seese added an afternoon 73 to his opening-round 70.

   Rounding out that foursome at 1-under were Kevin O’Brien of Philadelphia, who added an even-par 72 to his opening-round 71, and Daniel Charen of Langhorne, who posted a 1-under 71 in the afternoon after opening with a 72.

   A week earlier in a GAP-administered U.S. Amateur qualifier at West Shore Country Club in Camp Hill, Central York senior Carson Bacha, the Class AAA East Regional winner last fall, and Ryan Smith, a West Coast invader from Carlsbad, Calif. earned the two tickets to Pinehurst that were up for grabs.

   Bacha, who will join the Auburn program in the summer of 2020, added a 3-under 69 over the 6,737-yard, par-72 West Shore layout to his opening-round 70 for a 5-under 139 total. Bacha plays out of the Out Door Country Club.

   Smith, a senior at Classical Academy High School, had the lead after his 4-under 68 in the morning before adding a 1-under 71 that enabled him to match Bacha’s 139 total as they shared medalist honors. Bacha and Smith had to return to the course July 9 to complete their second rounds after rain forced multiple delays July 8.