When Merion Golf Club’s Peter Bradbeer finished in a tie for sixth place in the Men’s Dixie Amateur Championship at Eagle Trace Golf Club’s Golf Course in Coral Springs, Fla. last December, I wondered if he had some kind of long-term agenda.
He had graduated from Bucknell in 2020, the final spring of an outstanding four-year run with the Bison cut short by the coronavirus pandemic
By the time the curtain fell on the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 2021 major championship season Thursday, it was apparent what Bradbeer was preparing for back in December in Florida: A dominant run of amateur golf this summer followed by a shot at the Korn Ferry Tour’s qualifying school to see if he had what it takes to pursue a career in professional golf.
Bradbeer put up a competitive course record on the par-72 version of Manufacturers' Golf & Country Club, the William Flynn design in Fort Washington, with an 8-under-par 64 and pulled away from the field to capture the title in the 119th Joseph H. Patterson Cup by five shots with a 12-under 131 total. The Patterson Cup is presented by Provident Bank.
That 131 total broke the tournament record of 10-under 134 established by Brandon Matthews, who recently earned exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2022. It was Bradbeer’s second Patterson Cup victory as he had claimed his first GAP major championship in 2017 at Wilmington Country Club’s South Course on the eve of his sophomore season at Bucknell.
He also won the Silver Cross Award, symbolic of GAP’s Stroke Play Championship, with that Patterson Cup win in 2017. And it happened again Thursday as he established a new scoring standard for the Silver Cross with his 17-under 268 total. The Silver Cross combines the two rounds of qualifying for match play in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur with the two rounds of the Patterson Cup for a 72-hole total.
Bradbeer’s 268 total significantly lowered the previous record of 275 established by Jeff Osberg in 2015.
“It’s incredible,” the 23-year-old Rosemont resident told the GAP website. “The names on (the Patterson Cup) trophy are unbelievable. So to win it twice, I’m just honored. It just reaffirms to me that I can play this game and I can play it very well.”
Bradbeer had played a little in the spring, using the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA for the loss of the spring portion of the wraparound 2019-’20 season to the pandemic to play a little with Brian Quinn’s Temple team. He began his summer by claiming medalist honors in qualifying for match play in the Philadelphia Amateur at Cedarbrook Country Club and The 1912 Club and has played at a pretty high level ever since.
Maybe no higher level than he what he displayed Thursday. Bradbeer had carded solid 4-under 67 in Wednesday’s opening round that left him two shots behind co-leaders Patrick Sheehan of Talamore Country Club and Andrew Keeling of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club, both of whom had fired a 6-under 65.
But Bradbeer went off in Thursday’s second round with Manufacturers playing to 6,847 yards and a par of 72 with the 18th hole becoming a par-5 by utilizing an upper green complex.
He had seven pars around a birdie at the fifth hole in his first eight holes. But Bradbeer reached the putting surface of the 470-yard, par-5 ninth hole with a 7-iron from 176 yards away and dropped a nine-foot putt for eagle. It was more of the same on the next par-5 at Mannies, the 516-yard 12th hole, as Bradbeer’s baby fade from 215 yards away with a 5-wood settled 15 feet from the hole and he drained the eagle try to suddenly get to 5-under for his round.
He added back-to-back birdies at the 15th and 16th holes before reaching the putting surface in two at Mannies’ 546-yard, par-5 18th and ultimately rolling in a seven-footer for birdie to finish with a flourish.
Sheehan, coming of a tie for second place in last week’s Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, added a 1-under 71 to his opening-round 65 to share second place with LuLu Country Club’s Michael R. Brown Jr. of LuLu Country Cloub at 7-under 136, five shots behind Bradbeer. Sheehan, a junior at Penn State, was the 2018 District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East.
Brown, who had opened with a 69, carded a solid 5-under 67 in Thursday’s final round to share runnerup honors with Sheehan at 7-under.
Keeling fell back from his opening-round 65 as he matched par with a 72 to finish in a tie for fourth place at 6-under 137.
Spring Mill Country Club’s Liam Hart, a junior at Drexel, added a 70 to his opening-round 67, to join Keeling and Carlisle Country Club’s John Peters in the tie for fourth place at 6-under. Hart was the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep.
Peters, who graduated from Carlisle High earlier this year and will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke this month, was coming off a dramatic victory in last week’s Pennsylvania Amateur as he holed out for eagle from 193 yards away on Merion’s finishing hole. After opening with a 66 at Mannies, Peters added a 1-under 71 to join Keeling and Hart at 137.
Another PIAA champion at Holy Ghost, Stephen Cerbara of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, added a 2-under 70 to his opening-round 68 to finish in a tie for seventh place at 5-under 138. Cerbara, who captured a state title in Class AAA as a senior with the Firebirds in 2015, wrapped up his college career at Drexel in the spring.
Cerbara was joined at 5-under by Northampton Country Club’s Zach Juhasz, who has been having a strong summer. Juhasz carded his second straight 69 to land at 138.
Tavistock Country Club’s Dougie Ergood, a senior at North Carolina, added a 4-under 68 to his opening-round 71 to finish alone in ninth place with a 4-under 139 total.
Rounding out the top 10 was former Saint Joseph’s standout Ross Pilliod of LedgeRock Golf Club. Pilliod, who starred scholastically at Berks Catholic, added a 1-under 71 to his opening-round 69 for a 3-under 140 total.
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