Episcopal Academy's Stetson makes birdie on first hole of playoff to claim Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual crown at Bluestone

    WHITPAIN TOWNSHIP – Episcopal Academy sophomore Hunter Stetson had not had a birdie all day.

   The wind was swirling and the greens at Bluestone Country Club had recently been aerated and birdies were just hard to come by in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship Wednesday.

   Stetson, though, had made some big par saves and grinded well enough to card a 6-over-par 77 over the 6,201-yard, par-71 Bluestone layout and that got him into a playoff with Germantown Academy sophomore Will Irons, who had seen his birdie putt on the 18^th hole lip out.

   It was back to the tee at the 380-yard, par-4 finishing hole at Bluestone for a playoff between Stetson and Irons. Both reached the putting surface in two, Stetson 25 feet from the hole and Irons inside him, maybe 15 feet from the hole on the same line that Stetson’s putt was. Irons was going to get a read off Stetson’s putt.

   Well, Stetson gave Irons a perfect read as he just buried the downhill, right-to left slider for a birdie that the stunned Irons could not match, giving Stetson the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual crown. And he finally had that birdie that had eluded him all day.

   “I had a 56 (-degree wedge) from 111 yards away, a little uphill, but downwind,” Stetson said of his approach to the 18^th green in the playoff. “I didn’t have a birdie all day, but I birdied the first hole of the playoff. It was tough out there. It was windy and the greens were punched, but they were rolling fast.”

   Fast greens are something Stetson experiences all the time at his home course, Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross gem in Newtown Square. Aronimink's head of instruction John Bierkan is Stetson’s swing coach and the Aronimink junior program regularly produces standout players.

   By the time Stetson reached the tee at the 475-yard, par-5 17^th hole, he had a feeling he was in the hunt at 5-over.

   “I asked my coach (Doug Borgerson) where I stood and he told me he thought I was leading,” Stetson said. “I made a mistake there, going for the green in two. I hit it in the water and made bogey.”

   In what turned out to be his first shot at the 18^th hole, Stetson’s approach left him 30 feet from the hole.

   “I got a little too aggressive with my first putt and had six feet coming back for par,” Stetson said.

   But he got that one to fall that left him with a 6-over 77. Irons, playing in the group behind Stetson, struggled on the outgoing nine at Bluestone, as many in the 24-player field did, making the turn after a 5-over 41. But Irons was steady down the stretch, registering a 1-over 36 on the incoming nine to catch Stetson.

   It had been a tough fall for Stetson and his Episcopal Academy teammates. The Churchmen, a perennial contender in the Inter-Ac, had finished third in the league’s six regular-season invitationals with a 17-13 record. Stetson played in the same group with fellow EA sophomore Jack Yearley and Yearley came on strong on Bluestone’s back nine to finish a shot out of the playoff in third place with a 7-over 78.

   “We had a good day, it was nice to see Jack play well, he made a birdie on 18,” Stetson said.

   Nobody has ever questioned Yearley’s talent. He struggled to a 44 on Bluestone’s front nine, but roared back with a 1-under 34 tour of the incoming nine, the only sub-par nine of the day.

   Stetson got some big par saves early in his round.

   “I hit it in the hazard at the par-5 fourth and came back and made par,” Stetson said. “I made a 30-footer to save par the next hole, at five, after I hit it over the green.”

   A four-putt double bogey at the ninth hole – Stetson doubled the ninth when Episcopal Academy played at Bluestone during the regular season – temporarily halted his momentum and gave Stetson a 3-over 39 on the outgoing nine. But he kept grinding on the back nine with a 3-over 38 that got him into the playoff.

   Irons was a key contributor for Germantown Academy, which finished off its first Inter-Ac title since 1995 with a sweep of the final invitational of the regular season hosted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Monday at The 1912 Club.

   The two best players in the final regular-season individual standings, Malvern Prep senior Keller Mulhern and Irons’ Germantown Academy teammate, sophomore Ajeet Bagga, headed a group of six players tied for fourth place at 8-over 79.

   I picked up the final group that included Mulhern and Ajeet Bagga on the fourth hole and watched them through 12 and they struggled.

   Mulhern, whose 35.8 scoring average was the lowest since the Inter-Ac adopted the six-invitational format a decade ago, battled a wayward driver in a front-nine 43, but he battled back with a 1-over 36 on the incoming nine. Ajeet Bagga was striking the ball fine, but some three-putt greens kept him from gaining any momentum. Ajeet Bagga posted a 4-over 40 on the front nine before going 4-over on the incoming nine as well with a 39.

   Ajeet Bagga’s younger sister Kiran Bagga, a freshman at Germantown Academy, had the best front nine of the day, a 2-over 38, but struggled on the incoming nine with a 41 as she joined her brother in the group tied for fourth place at 79. Bluestone played to 5,269 yards for Kiran Bagga and her older sister Serena, a junior at GA and the eldest of the Bagga siblings.

   Two of Mulhern’s Malvern Prep teammates, fellow senior co-captain Jack Davis and precocious eighth-grader Davis Conaway, joined him in the group tied for fourth place at 8-over. I watched Irons, Davis and Conaway play their last five holes on the way back to the clubhouse and saw some pretty good golf.

   Malvern Prep battled Germantown Academy right down to the final invitational this fall before settling for a second-place finish in the final team standings.

   Rounding out the group tied for fourth place was The Haverford School’s Bowen Deng.

   Germantown Academy senior Luke Marvin, who captured the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual title as a sophomore in 2019 at Gulph Mills Golf Club, shared 10^th place with The Haverford School’s Trey Campbell, each carding an 81.

   Another Germantown Academy senior, Seth Roth, finished in a tie for 12^th place with Malvern Prep freshman Michael Henry, each signing for an 82.

   Germantown Academy’s Serena Bagga shared 14^th place with her teammate Jack Luviano, a senior, and Episcopal Academy’s Eric Morgan as they all landed on 83.

   Luviano finished in third place in the regular-season individual points chase and played in the final group with Mulhern and Ajeet Bagga, the respective first- and second-place performers during the regular season.

   Penn Charter’s Holden Hammel and The Haverford School’s Henry Gowen shared 17^th place, each carding an 86.

   Rounding out the field were The Haverford School’s Alex Nemo in 19^th place with an 87, Penn Charter’s Jake Dittus in 20^th with an 88, Episcopal Academy’s Jack Logan and Malvern Prep’s Dylan O’Connor, who tied for 21^st, each landing on 89, The Haverford School’s Chase Curran in 23^rd with a 94 and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Zach Shapiro in 24^th with a 97.

   It had been a long two years since the last Bert Linton was contested at Gulph Mills, the coronavirus pandemic severely limiting the 2020 Inter-Ac golf season. It was nice to see the best league in Pennsylvania play out its schedule this fall and it was really nice to get out and do some live blogging at a Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual championship again.