Willcox grabs a one-shot lead in Pennsylvania Open with a 67 at Waynesborough

   After three years of giving professional golf a try, Cole Willcox is in the process of having his amateur status reinstated, which leaves him in a bit of a competitive limbo.

   He is not yet an amateur again, so he can’t play in amateur events, but the Pennsylvania Open, that’s another matter. The 31-year-old Willcox, a one-time Malvern Prep standout who played collegiately at Virginia, fired a 4-under-par 67 Monday at Waynesborough Country Club in Easttown Township that gave him a one-shot lead after the opening round of the 103^rd Pennsylvania Open, presented by LECOM.

   As I mentioned when he contended in last year’s Pennsylvania Open at Lancaster Country Club, I’ll always remember the kid who couldn’t figure out why everybody was so surprised that he had qualified for the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club the summer before his senior year at Malvern Prep. Bottom line: Willcox has always had plenty of game.

   Willcox started slowly at Waynesborough and a bogey at the sixth hole dropped him back to even-par. But he quickly got back into red figures when he got it up and down for birdie from a front bunker after nearly reaching the par-5 seventh hole in two.

   He really got it going on the back nine, starting on the par-4 10^th hole as his approach from 112 yards stopped two feet from the hole and he made the putt. He hit it 20 feet away with a 9-iron at the 11^th hole and then drained the downhill, left-to-right breaker for another birdie.

   Willcox nearly holed his approach at the 13^th hole with a sand wedge for a kick-in birdie and got it to 5-under at the par-5 15^th hole when his pitching wedge from 150 yards away finished two feet from the cup. A bogey at the 16^th hole dropped him back to 4-under, still a shot clear of the field.

   “This is the only tournament I can play in,” Willcox told the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) website. “Maybe there’s less pressure now because I’m not playing for my job.”

   Jack Katarincic, a senior at Miami of Ohio from Pittsburgh, birdied three of the last five holes to finish with a 2-under 69 that left him alone in second place.

   Nobody made a bigger move than the one authored by Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Brian Isztwan, a former Penn Charter standout who is a sophomore at Harvard.

   Isztwan started on the back nine at Waynesborough and was an uninspired 3-over on the incoming nine. But Isztwan, the top player in the Inter-Ac League his final two seasons at Penn Charter, is a grinder and he got it going on the front nine at Waynesborough, firing a 5-under 30 for a 2-under 69 that left him in a group of five players tied for third place.

   ‘That’s definitely my best nine ever,” Isztwan told the PAGA website.

   Isztwan made birdies at the second and third holes before briefly stumbling with a bogey at the fourth. But he hit his approach to the sixth hole to three feet and made the putt, stiffed a shot to the seventh to a foot for a kick-in birdie, dropped a 15-footer for birdie at the eighth hole and made it four straight birdies to finish his round by holing a six-footer for birdie at the ninth hole.

   Isztwan was joined by four professionals at 2-under, including Craig Hornberger, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Manheim Township, Brian Bergstol, the talented assistant pro at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, Kevin Shields, an instructor at The Club at Nevillewood, and Jordan Eck of Williamsport.

   Four more pros are tied for eighth at 1-under 70, led by Chris Crawford, who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep and collegiately at Drexel. Crawford made it through local and sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open two years in a row, earning a spot in the field in 2016 at Oakmont Country Club and in 2017 at Erin Hills, while still an amateur.

   Crawford won the Patterson Cup, a Golf Association of Philadelphia major championship, in 2015 at another classic Chester County layout at Chester Valley Golf Club.

   Tom Nettles, the runnerup to Hornberger in the 2012 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Peters Township, is also in the group at 1-under. Nettles and Hornberger both went to Campbell, but Nettles finished his college career at Ohio University.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for eighth at 1-under were Jason Martin, the head pro at Sunnehanna Country Club near Johnstown, and Isaiah Logue, who played collegiately at Liberty University.

   The Pennsylvania Open resumes with the second round Tuesday at Waynesborough after which the field will be cut before Wednesday’s final round.