It had been a week since Penn State junior Patrick Sheehan saw his bid for a Pennsylvania Amateur crown snatched away by a stroke of brilliance from recent Carlisle High graduate John Peters, his 8-iron shot from 193 yards away at Merion Golf Club’s fantastic finishing hole finding the cup for a spectacular eagle 2.
There are tough beats and there are tough beats. Sheehan actually had a chance to send the championship to a playoff, but, perhaps a little stunned by Peters’ eagle, Sheehan missed a really good look at birdie.
But Sheehan isn’t one to dwell on missed opportunities. Wednesday at Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club, the underrated William Flynn design in Fort Washington, Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East in 2018, ripped off a 6-under-par 65 to get a share of the lead following the opening round of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s final major championship of 2021, the 119th Joseph H. Patterson Cup, with Andrew Keeling of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.
The Patterson Cup is presented by Provident Bank.
A shot behind the top two was, guess who, Carlisle Country Club’s Peters, who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke later this month. Peters fired a 5-under 66 to share third place with LuLu Country Club’s Michael O’Brien, the former Saint Joseph’s standout who was the runnerup to Zach Barbin in the 2020 BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Lancaster Country Club, another Flynn gem.
Clearly, three days of high-stakes golf at Merion’s iconic East Course, where Flynn was the first greenkeeper, was perfect preparation for Manufacturers. The next stop on Sheehan’s dance card is Oakmont Country Club, the creation of Henry Fownes in suburban Pittsburgh, for the U.S. Amateur.
Sheehan, who plays out of Talamore Country Club, delivered a strong opening statement when he nearly drove the green at Manufacturers’ dramatic downhill 374-yard, par-4 first hole and two-putted from 25 feet for a birdie.
A pitching wedge at the 392-yard, par-4 second hole stopped eight feet from the hole and Sheehan converted that birdie try. He then drilled an 8-iron on the 175-yard, par-3 fourth hole to five feet and made the putt and was 3-under through four holes.
A bogey at the fifth hole momentarily slowed his roll, but Sheehan reached the 505-yard, par-5 seventh hole in two and a two-putt birdie got him back to 3-under.
Sheehan three-putted for bogey at the 11th hole, but more than made up for that mishap by reaching the 514-yard, par-5 12th hole in two, bombing a 7-iron from 190 yards to nine feet, and draining the putt for an eagle. That got him to 4-under.
Sheehan hit a 52-degree wedge to 15 feet at the 427-yard, par-4 16th hole and dropped in the birdie try and knocked a 60-degree wedge from 107 yards to two feet at the 378-yard, par-4 17th hole and swept that in to complete a pretty sweet 6-under 65.
Sheehan will take a ton of momentum into Thursday’s final round as tries to join the club of GAP major championship winners.
“I really want to get a win in a GAP event, that would be something special,” Sheehan told the GAP website. “One of my goals coming into this year was to get that one win.”
The 29-year-old Keeling, a West Chester resident who plays out of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club, nearly added a GAP major to his resume when he lost in a playoff to Will Davenport in the 2019 Middle-Amateur Championship at Rolling Green Golf Club – yeah, that’s a Flynn, too.
Keeling surged into contention by going 5-under on the final four holes of the outgoing nine at Mannie’s.
Keeling’s pitching wedge from 150 yards away at the 427-yard, par-4 fifth hole stopped two feet from the hole and he made that. A 6-iron at the 190-yard, par-3 sixth hole left him with a tap-in for birdie. He reached the par-5 seventh hole in two and rolled in a 20-footer for eagle. Keeling then reached the 489-yard, par-5 ninth hole in two and two-putted for birdie.
Keeling offset a bogey at the 13th hole with birdies at 14 and 15 to join Sheehan at 6-under.
Drexel’s golf team was well-represented in a group of five players tied for fifth place a shot behind Peters and O’Brien at 4-under 67 as junior Liam Hart, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, and his coach, Ben Feld, the 2017 GAP Middle-Amateur winner who plays out of Green Valley Country Club, both landed on that number.
A couple of entries from Huntingdon Valley Country Club – keeping the William Flynn theme going – Temple senior Conor McGrath, winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur earlier this summer at Cedarbrook Country Club, and Ben Cooley were also in the group at 4-under.
Rounding out the quintet at 4-under was Merion’s Peter Bradbeer, the qualifying medalist in the Philly Am at Cedarbrook. A four-year starter at Bucknell who played a little at Temple in the spring for his fifth year of eligibility, courtesy of the coronavirus pandemic, Bradbeer will take a three-shot lead over Peters into the battle for the Silver Cross Award, GAP’s Stroke Play Championship.
The Silver Cross combines the two rounds of Philly Am qualifying with the two rounds of the Patterson Cup for a 72-hole total.
Rounding out the top 10 after the opening round were two more Huntingdon Valley guys, former Villanova standout Andy Butler and Stephen Cerbara, who just wrapped up his college career with Feld’s Dragons, as they were tied for 10th place after each registered a 3-under 68.
Cerbara, like Hart, won a PIAA Class AAA championship while at Holy Ghost, Cerbara capturing the 2015 state crown as a senior with the Firebirds.
The field was cut to the low 60s and ties with the cut falling at 3-over 74.
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