McGrath gets by Lofland to reach final, will face Irons for BMW Philadelphia Amateur title at Cedarbrook

    The coronavirus pandemic was still creating havoc last fall and many college conferences, the American Athletic Conference among them, would not allow their teams to compete.

   As a result, when teams could get back on the course, coaches like Temple head coach Brian Quinn tried to create as many competitive opportunities as they could.

   It turned out to be a pretty good spring for junior Conor McGrath, a product of the junior program at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. During one stretch in April, McGrath was the co-medalist in the Temple Spring Invite, a one-day four-team event that Quinn threw together at The 1912 Club, and finished in a tie for second place in the Wildcat Spring Invitational, hosted by Villanova at Radnor Valley Country Club.

   Clearly, McGrath was comfortable on the classic old courses that populate the Philadelphia area.

   McGrath closed out his junior season by finishing 34^th in the American Athletic Conference Championship at Brooksville, Fla. The spring college campaign had been a furious rush to the finish line and McGrath seemed to thrive with some of the extra golf Quinn added to the schedule.

   It has all come together for the 21-year-old McGrath on another of those old-school Philadelphia-area layouts as he won two matches Wednesday at Cedarbrook Country Club to earn a spot in the final of the 121^st BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship.

   McGrath’s opponent in the scheduled 36-hole final will be 19-year-old Jack Irons, who lives in Naples, Fla. in the winter and Medford Lakes, N.J. in the summer and plays out of Little Mill Country Club.

   In Wednesday afternoon’s semifinals, McGrath won three straight holes in the middle of the round and claimed a 3 and 2 victory over recent Conestoga graduate Morgan Lofland, who plays out of Phoenixville Country Club and will join Greg Nye’s Penn State program at the end of the summer.

   Irons, meanwhile, stopped the repeat bid by Zach Barbin of the golfing Barbins of Elkton, Md. Barbin, playing out of Loch Nairn Golf Club, had captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur title a year ago at Lancaster Country Club, but Irons got ahead if him and doggedly held on for a 3 and 2 decision as well.

   McGrath had reached the semifinals Wednesday morning with a 5 and 3 victory over former Saint Joseph’s standout Ross Pilliod, who was playing out of LedgeRock Golf Club, in a quarterfinal match. Lofland had pulled out a victory over St. Joe’s senior J.T. Spina, who starred scholastically at Pope John Paul II and plays out of Philadelphia Cricket Club where his father John is the head of instruction, in 19 holes.

   McGrath rattled off wins at the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes to turn a 1-down deficit into a 2-up advantage. Lofland, a two-time Central League co-champion at Conestoga, cut McGrath’s lead to 1-down by taking the 12^th hole, but McGrath used wins at the 13^th and 15^th holes to expand his lead to 3-up before closing out the match at 16.

   McGrath will have a chance to add another chapter in Huntingdon Valley’s history of success in this event if he can put his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy with a victory in Saturday’s final. There have been 15 Huntingdon Valley players who have won 24 Philly Am titles in the long and storied history of an event that was first played in 1897.

   Jeff Osberg was the last of the club’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur champions as he was playing out of Huntingdon Valley when he won the title in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s premier event in 2014 at White Manor Country Club.

   “Huntingdon Valley means the world to me,” McGrath told the GAP website. “Everyone at the club is supportive of me. The history behind Huntingdon Valley is incredible. It’s cool to give myself a shot to be part of that.”

   Irons won the second, fourth and sixth holes against Barbin to grab an early 2-up advantage in their semifinal match and Barbin was never able to get even in the match.

   Barbin was coming off a solid junior season as he helped Liberty advance to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. He had sprained an ankle dancing at a wedding last weekend and three straight days of double rounds might have taken its toll.

   But give Barbin credit. He was 2-down with four holes to play in his morning quarterfinal match with LuLu Country Club’s Michael R. Brown Jr., the reigning Pennsylvania Amateur champion. But Barbin won the 15^th and 16^th holes to send the match to extra holes and birdied the 19^th hole to pull out the victory.

   Irons also had a tough customer in his morning quarterfinal with fellow Little Mill Country Club member Troy Vannucci, but the kid was solid in a 2 and 1 victory that sent him to his semifinal date with Barbin.

   It takes talent and toughness to survive three straight days of double rounds and reach the final of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur. That was McGrath and Irons these last three days.