Sheehan will take three-shot lead into final round of Pennsylvania Amateur after a 67 at Merion

    Patrick Sheehan could always hit it a long way.

   Of course, brute force only gets you so far at a course like Merion Golf Club’s East Course, the Hugh Wilson classic in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township that has played host to five U.S. Opens. You don’t so much play the 6,650-yard, par-70 East Course as you try to dissect it.

   I don’t think Australian David Graham got near the credit he deserved for the final-round 67 he shot to win the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion. The guy basically hit every fairway and every green in regulation. He pitched a perfect game in baseball parlance.

   It is the formula for success on the East Course that Sheehan used to post a 3-under-par 67 of his own Tuesday in the second round of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 108^th Amateur Championship. It was the best round of the day and, combined with his opening-round 70, gave the Penn State junior a 3-under 137 total and a three-shot lead heading into Wednesday’s final round.

   “I hit it really well today,” Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East in 2018, told the PAGA website. “I missed two greens all day, maybe. I think I’ll keep the same approach (Wednesday). If I could just keep putting well and getting a few more things to drop, I’ll be in a good spot.”

   Almost every hole on the East Course is a double bogey waiting to happen. There is out of bounds all over the place, OB right on the second hole, trouble right at six that may or may not be OB, OB right at seven and eight, OB over the green at 10, 11 and 12, OB left on 14, 15 and 18.

   But Sheehan, playing in the first group off the 11^th tee Tuesday morning, kept his ball in play all day and reaped the rewards.

   He birdied the short par-3 13^th hole and the par-4 15^th hole to get it to 2-under. His lone bogey of the day at the East Course’s classic finishing hole dropped him back to 1-under. But he made birdies at the third and sixth holes to get it to 3-under.

   Penn State men’s golf coach Greg Nye had back-to-back Pennsylvania Amateur champions on his roster when Cole Miller won the title in 2016 at Moselem Springs Golf Club and J.D. Hughes captured the crown in 2017 at White Manor Country Club. Sheehan has a chance to put a Nittany Lion back in the winner’s circle.

   Sheehan has been playing well all summer and last week was the medalist in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Sunnybrook Golf Club for next month’s U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club, the Henry Fownes classic in suburban Pittsburgh that has played host to the U.S. Open nine times. I would argue that Sheehan’s roll began in the spring when he surged to a runnerup finish in the Rutherford Intercollegiate, hosted by Penn State on its Blue Course.

   There is no shortage of talent among the chasers, though.

   Jimmy Ellis, the reigning Pennsylvania Open champion from South Hills Country Club, and recent Carlisle graduate John Peters, who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke next month, are tied for second place, three shots behind Sheehan at even-par 140.

   Ellis, a Peters Township product, knows all about even-par. He matched par three straight days at Oakmont, one of the toughest tests in golf, to win the Pennsylvania Open last summer with an even-par total.

   Ellis also started off the 11^th tee and found some trouble at the 15^th hole, making a double bogey. He made a birdie at the par-5 second hole before slipping back to 4-over with bogeys at the third, fifth and sixth holes. Ellis kept grinding, though, making a birdie at the seventh hole and then finishing with a flourish, an eagle 2 at the short par-4 10^th. It added up to a 1-over 71, which he added to an opening-round 69.

   Peters, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Carlisle, was just a shot out of the lead after he opened with a 3-under 67. Peters, playing out of Carlisle Country Club, grinded out a 3-over 73 to land at even-par 140 after two rounds.

   Peters also started on the 11^th hole and quickly got in a hole with a double bogey at the 12^th. After a bogey at the 14^th hole, Peters righted the ship a little with a birdie at the par-4 16^th hole, the first of the final three holes that go back and forth over an old quarry. Bogeys at the second and third holes dropped Peters back to 4-over for the round before he got a birdie at the par-4 eighth hole to get it back to even-par for the tournament.

   Heading a group of three players tied for fourth place at 1-over 141 was Jeff Osberg, a PAGA individual member and owner of seven GAP major championships. Osberg’s been a little quiet this year, but his victory in GAP’s Middle-Amateur Championship last fall at LedgeRock Golf Club made him just the second player to complete the GAP grand slam of major championships.

   And Osberg knows Merion. His 1-up loss to Michael McDermott in the 36-hole final of the 2016 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship on the East Course is the stuff of GAP legend. Osberg added a solid 1-under 69 Tuesday to his opening-round 72.

   Northampton Country Club’s Zachary Juhasz, who nearly won the GALV Lehigh Valley Open against the Philadelphia Section PGA pros last week on his home course, added a 1-over 71 to his opening-round 70.

   Rounding out the trio at 141 was The 1912 Club’s Josh Ryan, who repeated as GAP’s Junior Boys’ champion earlier this summer at Overbrook Golf Club. The 2019 District One Class AAA champion representing Norristown High, Ryan will join the program at Division I power Liberty next month.

   Ryan never seems to be intimidated by playing against his elders. He won PAGA’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship last summer at the Country Club of York and finished in a tie for third at the Philadelphia Open – Sheehan was in that group tied for third as well – again at the Country Club of York earlier this month. Ryan got himself in contention at Merion Tuesday with a 1-under 69 after opening with a 72.

   Heading a strong Merion contingent was Cole Willcox, a reinstated amateur who made the field for the 2005 U.S. Amateur at the East Course in the summer before his senior year at Malvern Prep. Willcox registered a solid 2-under 68 to head a group of four players tied for seventh place at 2-over 142.

   Willcox was joined at that figure by three contenders from western Pennsylvania, first-round leader Tanner Johnson of Nemacolin Country Club, Neal Shipley of St. Clair Country Club and Mark Goetz of Hannastown Country Club.

   Johnson, another Peters Township product who will play a fifth year at Ohio University, had grabbed the lead with a sparkling 4-under 66 in Monday’s opening round, but dropped back with a 76 Tuesday.

   Shipley, a redshirt sophomore at James Madison and a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team, posted a solid 2-under 68 in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 74.

   Goetz, a Kiski School product, came up just short of an individual berth in the NCAA Championship in his senior season at West Virginia this spring with a runnerup finish in the Noblesville Regional. Goetz matched Shipley’s splits as he added a 2-under 68 Tuesday to an opening-round 74.

   Defending champion Michael R. Brown Jr., playing out of LuLu Country Club, was tied for 11^th place with another Merion entry, Peter Bradbeer, each sitting at 3-over 143 heading into Wednesday’s final round.

   After opening with a 69, Brown, recent winner of state amateur crowns in New Jersey and Delaware, backed off a little with a 74 Tuesday. Brown is also headed to Oakmont after earning medalist honors in another GAP-administered qualifier last month at the Colonial Golf & Tennis Club in Harrisburg.

   Bradbeer was a four-year standout at Bucknell and played a little at Temple this spring for the fifth year granted by the NCAA because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bradbeer, a member of one of the first families of Merion, had the same splits as Brown, adding a 4-over 74 Tuesday to his opening-round 69.

   The field was cut to the low 40 and ties and I have to give a shout-out to Downingtown West sophomore Nick Gross, who was playing out of Applecross Country Club. Pretty sure Gross, winner of the District One Class AAA Championship last fall as a freshman, is still only 14, but will turn 15 later this summer.

   The kid grinded out a second straight 4-over 74 to join nine other players tied for 31^st place who made the cut on the number at 8-over 148.