Ken Matt reached out to me around this time last year to thank me for keeping up with all the local high school kids, including his son Christian, during the summer of 2020.
He was impressed that I dimly recalled he was part of a pretty good team at one of the Central Bucks schools -- I thought it was West, but it turned out it was East -- back when I was covering high school golf at The Mercury in Pottstown. He reminded me that it had been Ken, brother Keith, Lee McEntee and Travis Deibert, the longtime pro at Doylestown Country Club, who had indeed been the core of a very formidable group at C.B. East.
So, when Team Matt accounted for a pair of Golf Association of Philadelphia wins in early August, Ken and Christian taking the rescheduled Father & Son (Younger) Aug. 9 at Bent Creek Country Club in Lititz, Lancaster County, and Christian teaming up with his uncle Keith to capture the title in the 19th playing of The Deeg Sezna at one of my favorite golf courses, Merion Golf Club’s West Course, Aug. 2, I was determined to eventually get back to recap those two events.
They are important events on the GAP calendar, too, because they celebrate family and mentorship, respectively. It was a busy month of August for this golf blogger, but I still wanted to get back to those two events. The Deeg Sezna is played in memory of a young man who lost his life on the sixth day of his new job on the 104th floor in the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001. With the 20th anniversary of that horrific day coming at us, it seemed even more important to get back to The Deeg Sezna, even a month later.
A lot of events that have appeared in the blog in past years went by the wayside in this crazy busy summer of 2021 in golf. But with Labor Day marking the end of summer, these were two events I just had to revisit.
Ken Matt, a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, and Christian Matt, playing out of Cedarbrook Country Club, had originally completed a 2-under-par 69 in the 64th Father & Son (Younger) at Bent Creek July 8th, but an afternoon thunderstorm had forced the event to be rescheduled.
They returned Aug. 9th and turned in a 5-under 66 over the 6,003-yard, par-71 Bent Creek layout in the select-drive, alternate-shot event that gave them a one-shot victory in the Junior Division over the pairs of Bishop Shanahan junior Ben Saggers and his dad Nicholas Saggers of Applecross Country Club and former Devon Prep standout Ryan McCabe and his dad Franny of The Springhaven Club.
Their 5-under total tied the Father & Son record in relation to par set by Greg and Alan Kliewer with their 5-under 65 in the 2015 Father & Son (Middle).
“That’s awesome,” 49-year-old Ken Matt told the GAP website when informed of Team Matt’s record-tying performance. “I missed a birdie putt on No. 18 from 12 feet (to break the record), that’s what I’m thinking about. But that’s golf.”
Team Matt had made a bogey at the seventh hole, but followed that up with a run of 6-under golf over the next four holes.
Christian Matt’s sand wedge from 100 yards away on the 388-yard, par-4 eighth hole finished 15 feet from the hole and dad got the birdie putt to fall to get the Matts back to even-par.
Ken Matt bombed a 3-wood from 250 yards away that nearly reached the green at the 545-yard, par-5 ninth hole in two. Christian Matt proceeded to chip in for eagle as the Matts bettered the birdie they had recorded in the round a month earlier at Bent Creek that was ultimately washed out.
Christian Matt, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at year ago at Wissahickon, drilled a gap wedge from 121 yards away to four feet at the 370-yard, par-4 10th hole and Ken Matt converted the birdie try. Christian Matt’s wedge from 91 yards away at the 342-yard, par-4 11th hole again stopped four feet from the cup and Ken Matt drained the birdie putt.
Taking advantage of another par-5 at Bent Creek, the 470-yard 12th hole, Ken Matt nearly reached the green in two with a hybrid from 210 yards. Christian Matt chipped it to a foot and dad tapped it in to complete the remarkable run that got them to 5-under.
Finishing alone in fourth place, two shots behind Team Saggers and Team McCabe, was the tandem of Alex Gekas and Steven Gekas of Regents’ Glen Country Club as they recorded a 2-under 69.
Darren Nolan, a senior standout at La Salle, and Brendan Nolan of Cedarbrook Country Club were a shot behind Team Gekas in fifth place with a 1-under 70.
Defending Father & Son (Younger) champions Patrick Isztwan, the former Penn Charter star who has moved on to Richmond, and Andy Isztwan finished alone in sixth place as they matched par with a 71.
James Tressler and Matt Tressler of Huntsville Golf Club were two shots behind Team Isztwan in seventh place with a 2-over 73. It was another shot back to Greg O’Connor and Jack O’Connor of Bellewood Country Club in eighth place with a 74.
Zach Moua and Chong Moua of St. Davids Golf Club and Brian Block and Michael Block of Overbrook Golf Club shared ninth place, each tandem registering a 4-over 75.
The Concord Country Club pair of Garnet Valley senior Nick Woods and dad David Woods and the Meadia Heights Golf Club duo of Steve Smith and Morgan Smith ended up in a tie for 11th place, each finishing with a 76.
The teams of Eric Skjeveland and Nicklas Skjeveland of Commonwealth National Golf Club and Ethan Clouser and Randall Clouser of Merion Golf Club shared top honors in the Junior-Junior Division, each signing for an 83. Bent Creek played to 5,603 yards for the Junior-Junior Division.
The Penn Oaks Golf Club pair of Phil Over Jr. and Matthew Over finished in third place with a 91.
A week earlier it was Christian Matt and his uncle Keith Matt joining forces to post a 2-under 68 at the 5,981-yard, par-70 West Course at Merion to claim the title in The Deeg Sezna, an event that celebrates mentorship.
Davis “Deeg” Sezna Jr. had been a mentor to his younger brothers Teddy and Willy before his untimely death in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Davis Sezna Sr. approached GAP with the idea of a golf tournament that celebrated his son and the mentor role he played with his younger brothers.
The Deeg Sezna was born and it has taken its place as an important date on the GAP calendar each year because, as Keith Matt put it after Team Matt’s victory, it’s “what GAP is all about.”
The teams are comprised of players who have a minimum 10-year age difference and the younger player must be 21-years old or younger. Like the Father & Son (Younger), teams played select drive, alternate shot.
Team Matt started on the 335-yard, par-4 12th hole and Christian Matt bombed it within 50 yards of the green. Keith Matt, who plays out of Talamore Country Club, wedged the approach to 15 feet and his nephew dropped the birdie putt.
Christian Matt drilled a 3-iron to 20 feet at the 221-yard, par-3 15th hole and Keith Matt converted the birdie try. Christian Matt knocked it over the green in two at the 526-yard, par-5 third hole, his uncle flopped it to 15 feet and Christian Matt drained the birdie try.
Keith Matt knocked it stiff at the West’s neat straight downhill 140-yard, par-3 sixth hole, leaving Christian Matt with just a two-footer for birdie that he made. Christian Matt’s length came in handy again as he drove it over the 246-yard, par-4 eighth hole. Keith Matt splashed it out of the back bunker to 12 feet and Christian Matt holed the birdie putt.
Team Matt gave one back at its last hole, the tough 395-yard, par-4 11th hole, with a bogey, its third of the day, but the Matts’ 68 held up for a two-shot victory over the DuPont Country Club pair of Marc Wachter and Danny Dougherty, a senior on the Villanova golf team, and the Huntingdon Valley Country Club tandem of Stephen Wallick and Brett McGrath, both teams matching par with a 70.
“It’s just awesome,” 46-year-old Keith Matt told the GAP website. “The event, it’s really fun. I think this is the second time we’ve played and it was awesome.”
Keith Matt also mentioned what a fun course the West is, a motion I can second. As a Merion looper throughout the 1970s, we got to play the West on Mondays and I still have a clear vision of all those holes the Matts made birdies on. That 3-iron into the long, par-3 15th by Christian? Strong.
Two teams – Steve Belh of Pitman Golf Course and Gage Wolfle of Merchantville Country Club and Brian Skrip of Old York Road Country Club and Tyler Leyden of North Hills Country Club – finished in a tie for fourth place, each team landing on 1-over 71.
Jeff Kavanagh of Sandy Run Country Club and The 1912 Club’s Dylan Gooneratne, who wrapped up an outstanding scholastic career at Plymouth-Whitemarsh last fall, finished alone in sixth place with a 2-over 72.
Two more teams – the Concord pair of Matthew Vandervere and Nick Woods, the Garnet Valley golf team senior, and Scott Lawson of Cedarbrook and Commonwealth National’s Noah Sim, who wrapped up an outstanding career at Hatboro-Horsham last fall – finished in a tie for seventh place, each registering a 3-over 73.
Rounding out the top 10 were two teams tied for ninth place at 4-over 74, including William Givens of The Shore Club and Drue Nicholas of Galloway National Golf Club and the Wilmington Country Club pair of Anthony Ciconte and Jeffrey Ciconte.
The RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve team of Kurt Meyers and Colby Komancheck led the way in the Junior-Junior Boys Division as they joined forces to post a 7-over 77. The Merchantville duo of Brian Herman and Pearson Wolfe was the runnerup with an 82.
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Beth Brennan and Nicole Yun of Spring Ford Country Club and a junior on the Spring-Ford girls golf team, were the lone entry in the Junior Girls Division and carded a 90.
The Whitford Country Club pair of Bruce Cowgill and Mia Pace, a member of the Downingtown East girls team, won the Mixed Division with a solid 5-over 75. That gave them a one-shot edge over runnerup Joshua Sanborn and Grace Sanborn of Northampton Country Club.
Finishing a shot behind Team Sanborn in third place in the Mixed Division with a 77 was the duo of the Cricket Club’s John Brennan, the coach of the Spring-Ford girls golf team and a pretty fair player in his own right, and Megan Kunze, a junior on Brennan’s Spring-Ford team playing out of Spring Ford Country Club.
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