Ryan spends part of his gap year representing GAP on the golf course

    Josh Ryan was one of the best scholastic players in Pennsylvania during the three years he represented Norristown High on the golf course.

   Turned out the high-water mark in that scholastic career came in the fall of 2019 when Ryan, a junior, captured the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course and then contended for a long time before settling for a tie for third place a couple of weeks later in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort.

   He didn’t know it at the time, but that would be the end of his scholastic golf career. Norristown probably over-reacted a little when it would not allow its athletes to compete in any sport with the coronavirus pandemic still raging in the fall of 2020. Ryan was home-schooled by Commonwealth Connections Academy and probably could have just gone his own way and played in the PIAA postseason, but the Ryan family honored the school district’s wishes.

   Those of us who follow golf closely were well aware by the middle of the summer of 2020 that golf could be played safely, but golf got lumped in with contact sports like football and many school districts and leagues just refused to allow any of their athletes to compete. For golfers, it was a bitter pill to swallow.

   The summer proceeding the senior year that never was for Ryan was remarkably successful for him. Ryan cruised to the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship at The 1912 Club, a club he represents these days.

   Then he entered the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship at the Country Club of York. This wasn’t a junior tournament, this was match play against some of the top players of all ages from across the state of Pennsylvania. He wound up claiming a 1-up victory over a veteran western Pennsylvania mid-amateur turned senior amateur in 52-year-old Rick Stimmel, who had been playing fantastic golf all week, in the final to claim the title.

   If Ryan was disappointed by not getting a chance to defend his District One title, not getting a chance to become a four-time state qualifier, not getting one more shot at a PIAA Class AAA crown – and, let’s face it, he had to be – he never let on.

   Somewhere along the line, Ryan committed to Liberty University, which boasts a strong Division I men’s program. Zach Barbin, the 2020 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, is at Liberty and he was joined there this fall by younger brother Austin, winner of the 2019 GAP Junior Boys who started his college career at Maryland before joining his big brother at Liberty.

   The Barbin and Ryan families have bonded over the years in their golf travels, so Liberty makes sense as a destination for Josh Ryan. But he still hasn’t turned 18, so the decision was made to take a gap year and start his college career next summer.

   So, what’s a golfer taking a gap year to do? Well, how about represent GAP? That’s what Josh Ryan did a couple of times last month. I’ll recap some of Ryan’s accomplishments in the summer of 2021, but, suffice it to say, if he was available, it made complete sense for the GAP people to ask him if he was interested in representing the association in a couple of really neat late-season inter-association events.

   Ryan was a member of Team GAP in the 69^th Mason-Dixon Match, which pitted some of GAP’s finest against a team from the Middle Atlantic Golf Association the weekend of Oct. 9 and 10 at the Country Club of Maryland in Towson, Md.

   Team MAGA claimed an 11.5-6.5 decision, but Ryan had a pretty good weekend. He teamed with former Saint Joseph’s standout Ross Pilliod, playing out of LedgeRock Golf Club, to earn the only full point GAP picked up in the Saturday four-ball matches. I got to know Pilliod, who starred scholastically at Berks Catholic, a little when he looped at Stonewall in the summer of 2016. Nice guy and a good player who had a pretty solid 2021 on the local amateur circuit.

   On Day 2, Ryan battled his opponent to a draw to earn a half-point for Team GAP.

   Four days later, Ryan again teamed with Pilliod in the 29^th Challenge Matches between Team GAP and a team of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top club pros at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course. Ryan and Pilliod pulled out a 3 and 1 victory in their four-ball match against Dustin Wallis of Honey Run Golf Club and Bidermann Golf Club’s talented young instructor, Braden Shattuck.

   Ryan and Shattuck battled to a draw in their simultaneous singles match. I covered Shattuck during his scholastic career at Sun Valley in my previous life at the Delaware County Daily Times, culminating with his tie for 14^th place finish as a senior in 2011. Not surprised a little bit that he emerged as one of the top players in the Philadelphia Section this year.

   I’m not going to revisit all the matches that day because there were a ton of interesting battles with GAP pulling out a 10-8 victory. There was a lot of talent teeing up on the Grace Course that day.

   But the old-guy foursome really caught my eye with Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb teaming with Bucknell Golf Club’s Brian Kelly for a 1-up decision over Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre, GAP’s Senior Player of the Year in 2021, and Carlisle Country Club’s Jeff Frazier, who won the Brewer Cup for the second year in a row last summer. I’ve looped for Frazier twice in Stonewall’s Fall Scramble and the left-hander is a terrific player.

   McNabb outdueled Mestre, 2 and 1, in their simultaneous singles match while Kelly and Frazier battled to a draw.

   Turned out to be the perfect preparation for McNabb and Kelly for the Senior PGA Professional Championship the following week at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. McNabb closed with a sparkling 7-under 65 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course to surge into a tie for 14^th place and earn a spot in next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions. Kelly survived two cuts and played all four rounds in the Senior Club Pro.

   In a funny postscript to Ryan’s little gap-year tour representing GAP, I popped out of the caddyshack at Stonewall two days after the Challenge Matches for a Saturday morning loop and ran into Josh Ryan’s mom, Michelle, alongside the first tee.

   She told me Josh was going to tee it up at Stonewall that day with Holy Ghost Prep senior Calen Sanderson, who would be defending his PIAA Class AAA Championship a few days later at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, and Calen’s dad Colin, a member at Stonewall and, as I’ve seen in person a couple of times, a very strong player in his own right. The guy kills the ball.

   Turned out Calen Sanderson was a no-show that day, having been invited to play at Pine Valley Golf Club. It’s one of the few invitations that trumps a chance to play the Old Course at Stonewall.

   The only place that tees cross at the Old Course are the 11^th and 18^th tees. I was finishing up on 18 when I ran into Josh, his mom and Colin Sanderson getting ready to tee off on 11, nearly 600 yards from the tips.

   “How are doing, Josh?” I asked. “Good,” he understated. “You under par?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied. “How many?” I shot back. “Five,” he said. “We’re having a good day,” Michelle Ryan said. I guess so.

   When I ran into Michelle Ryan at Heritage Hills a few days later, I found out that Josh had holed out for eagle on the Old Course’s short, par-4 12^th hole to get it to 8-under for the round. Eight-under through 12 holes from the tips at Stonewall. That is really strong. Ryan backed off a little down the stretch and that was the Saturday when a pretty significant line of storms hit the golf course. He played his last two holes in rain and wind. But he still finished with a 5-under 65.

   Pine Valley turned out to be pretty good preparation for Calen Sanderson three days later as he had a birdie-birdie finish at Heritage Hills to finish a shot out of a playoff in a strong defense of his title. Calen Sanderson will join the Notre Dame program next summer.

   Josh Ryan was invited to represent GAP a couple of times in October because he really had a wonderful 2021. He repeated as the GAP Junior Boys champion at Overbrook Golf Club, beating Penn State freshman Morgan Lofland, who would beat out Ryan to be GAP’s Junior Player of the Year in 2021, in the final.

   Then In July, Ryan proved once again that he is never seems to be the least bit intimidated when playing against his elders.

   Returning to the scene of his R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship win, Ryan finished in a tie for third place in the Philadelphia Open at the Country Club of York. For my money, the gathering of top GAP amateurs and Philadelphia Section PGA pros makes the Philadelphia Open field the toughest in this region each year.

   A couple of weeks later he finished in a tie for fourth place in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, a couple of shots behind John Peters, whose epic hole-out for eagle on the 18^th hole to win the tournament will be talked about for years to come. It was just a fantastic field at Merion for the Pennsylvania Amateur as any player in the state worth his salt took a shot to try to qualify for the championship at one of America’s most historic and cherished golf courses.

   The day after the PIAA Championship at Heritage Hills, Josh Ryan was at The Player’s Dinner, GAP’s celebration of the 2021 season, at Coatesville Country Club. The program on the GAP website for the event included the sites for GAP’s major championships in 2022, the Middle-Amateur at Concord Country Club, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Philadelphia Country Club, the Philadelphia Open at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course, an A.W. Tillinghast classic, and the Patterson Cup at St. Davids Golf Club, an underrated Donald Ross desgn.

   Maybe I’ll run into Josh Ryan at Philly or the Cricket Club if I can sneak over to one of those great courses during the Philly Am or the Philly Open. Regardless, it looks like 2022 will be a great year of GAP golf.