Feld earns trip to U.S. Amateur by claiming medalist honors in qualifier at Rolling Green

    Ben Feld will occasionally pop up in my DMs after I post something about his Drexel golf team or one of his players, Jeff Cunningham’s run to the final of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship last month being a recent example.

   Feld will be complimentary of my efforts to showcase the local golf scene. Well, last week it was Feld taking a star turn as he earned a trip to the U.S. Amateur with a 5-under-par 135 total for two trips over the classic William Flynn design at Rolling Green Golf Club.

   It’s not like Feld isn’t always in there battling on the Golf Association of Philadelphia circuit. He has a GAP major championship on his resume with his victory in the 2017 Middle-Amateur Championship at Overbrook Golf Club.

   But one thing the 31-year-old Drexel head golf coach had never done was tee it up in a USGA championship. Feld, however, checked that box with a strong showing at Rolling Green, including a sizzling 6-under 64 in the afternoon round that gave him a two-shot edge on Connor McGrath, a fifth-year player at Temple who claimed the Philadelphia Amateur crown a year ago at Cedarbrook Country Club.

   Feld will be representing Drexel, Green Valley Country Club and the Philadelphia area when the U.S. Amateur tees off Aug. 15 at Ridgewood Country Club, an A.W. Tillinghast classic in Paramus, N.J.

   “Honestly, it was starting to become a little bit of a thing,” Feld told the GAP website concerning the lack of a USGA championship on his golfing record. “I started thinking, ‘Am I ever going to make one of these?’

   “I’ve been knocking on the door. I’ve been on the grounds for 12 or so (USGA championships). So, this one today … it feels a little extra special.”

   In the past, the GAP-administered U.S. Amateur qualifiers had larger fields playing on two courses. It looks like this year there a couple more qualifiers with smaller fields playing two rounds on one course.

   The third and final ticket to Ridgewood out of the qualifier at Rolling Green went to Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matt Mattare, who has teed it up in six U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, but will be playing in his first U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood.

   The 36-year-old Mattare, who pulled off a difficult double in 2018 when he won both the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Amateur Championship and the Philadelphia Open, added a 3-under 67 in the afternoon to his opening-round 71 for a 2-under 138 total.

   Feld opened with a 1-over 71 that included a birdie at the 160-yard, par-3 sixth hole and an eagle at the 501-yard, par-5 seventh hole. He also had a birdie at the 383-yard, par-4 15^th hole to offset five bogeys.

   But Feld got the putter going on Rolling Green’s slick putting surfaces in the afternoon, starting from the 432-yard, par-4 opening hole when he dropped in a 20-foot birdie try.

   Feld stuck it to five feet at both the 400-yard, par-4 fourth hole and the 425-yard, par-4 fifth hole and saw both birdie putts fall. He found a greenside bunker, which led to a bogey at the par-3 sixth hole, but Feld didn’t let that stop his momentum.

   He couldn’t quite get a 12-footer for eagle fall, but it was still a two-putt birdie on the par-5 seventh hole. Feld stuck a pitching wedge to a foot to close out the outgoing nine with a birdie at the long, tough 616-yard, par-5 ninth for another birdie.

   Feld’s putter stayed warm as he made tough par-saving putts at the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes. Then he got it to 5-under for the round by draining a 10-foot birdie try at the 15^th hole.

   Feld finished with a flourish at the 485-yard, par-4 18^th hole, which played as a par-5 for the best women amateur players in the world in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Sending it into the trees on the right side of the hole, Feld got a favorable kick into the rough. His 7-iron shot from 175 yards away finished five feet from the cup and he converted the birdie chance to punch his ticket to Ridgewood.

   McGrath, a product of the junior program at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, got off to a fast start when he recorded a 3-under 67 in the morning round.

   McGrath did most of his damage in a four-hole stretch from the fifth through the eighth holes during which he went 5-under, making back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, an eagle at seven and another birdie at eight.

   McGrath made eagle again at the seventh hole in the afternoon round as he matched par with a 70 to earn his second straight trip to the U.S. Amateur. McGrath was in the field last summer at Pittsburgh’s iconic Oakmont Country Club.

   David Mecca of Scranton was the first alternate as he matched par in both rounds with a pair of 70s for a 140 total that left him two shots behind Mattare. Mecca reached the second round of match play in last month’s Philadelphia Amateur at Philadelphia Country Club.

   McGrath’s Temple teammate, sophomore Joey Morganti, was the second alternate as he added a 72 in the afternoon to a solid opening round of 2-under 68 for an even-par 140 total.

   Morganti was a scholastic standout at St. Joseph’s Prep and is a product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club.

   Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md. came on strong with a 2-under 68 in the afternoon after opening with a 73 that left him three shots short of the final qualifying berth with a 1-over 141 total. Barbin, winner of GAP Junior Boys’ Championship in 2019 at Coatesville Country Club, played in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. as a junior at Liberty in the spring.

   One of Feld’s Drexel standouts, Angelo Giantsopoulos of Canada, was a shot behind Barbin at 2-over 142 as he carded a pair of 1-over 71s. Giantsopoulos was a co-medalist in leading the Dragons to the City 6 team crown last fall at Llanerch.

   Llanerch’s John Lalley had set the pace in the morning round with a sparkling 5-under 65, but backed off in the afternoon with a 77 that left him tied with Giantsopoulos at 142.

   A couple of out-of-towners, Riccardo Fantinelli of Italy and Bo Richards of Raleigh, N.C., rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each ending up at 3-over 143.

   Fantinelli was among the leaders following a 3-under 67 in the morning before cooling off with a 76 in the afternoon. Richards matched par in the morning with a 70 before adding a 73 in the afternoon.