Isztwan edges Cooley in R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship final on their home course at Huntingdon Valley

    It’s been five years since I caddied for Brian Isztwan in the Christman Cup at Stonewall’s North Course.

   Despite the fact that it was the hottest day of the year and despite the fact that we had to return the following day after the second round was suspended with thunderstorms in the area and a tornado watch, we had a fun day.

   Isztwan was headed into his senior season at Penn Charter and he would, for the second straight year, finish atop the Inter-Ac League’s individual points standings during the six regular-season invitationals. Isztwan’s playing partner that day was Matt Davis, who was headed into his senior season at Malvern Prep.

   Davis’ caddy was his former Malvern Prep teammate, Marty McGuckin, who had won the Christman Cup a year earlier in his final year of junior eligibility and would reach the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur a year later at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. When our day-plus finally ended, Isztwan and Davis, who is playing collegiately at Villanova, had finished in a tie for fifth place.

   Of course, I’ve continued to follow Isztwan’s amateur career. So, it was great to call up the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) website this week and see Isztwan being presented with the trophy for winning the R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship on his home course at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

   I’ve also caddied for the man presenting that trophy, Paul Romano, the PAGA president, at Stonewall in The Bull, the club’s Partner-Guest tournament. He’s a good guy and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the amateur golf scene.

   Home-course advantage proved to be a big factor in the Sigel Match Play as Isztwan faced Huntingdon Valley clubmate Ben Cooley, a guy Isztwan considers a golf mentor, in Wednesday’s final. Isztwan had to rally to pull out the title with a par on the 20^th hole.

   Isztwan capped a solid freshman season at Harvard in the spring of 2019 by finishing in a tie for 26^th place in the Ivy League Championship at Hidden Creek Golf Club at the Jersey Shore. In the fall, Isztwan and Harvard teammate Rij Patel earned medalist honors in a U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship at qualifier.

   They would tee it up in the 2020 edition of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, scheduled to be held at Philadelphia Cricket Club. Isztwan was going to get to play in a USGA championship less than 10 miles from home.

   That championship was never played as the sudden emergence of a novel coronavirus scrapped the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.

   The spring of Isztwan’s sophomore season at Harvard was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. The Ivy League, in its infinite wisdom, wouldn’t let its athletes compete for the entire 2020-2021 school year as well.

   Pretty sure Isztwan took a gap year in there among all the craziness, but some sense of normalcy returned this year. Isztwan finished in a tie for 20^th place in the Ivy League Championship in the spring at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y.

   He played decently in qualifying for match play in the Philadelphia Amateur, missing the cut for the match-play bracket by three shots at Philadelphia Country Club and the Union League Liberty Hill Course last month.

   When Isztwan got past PAGA Individual Member Lukas Clark, 3 and 2, in Wednesday morning’s semifinals, he was going to be playing for the Sigel Match Play crown. Clark, who starred scholastically at Council Rock South, played at Penn State and took the extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA to make up for the spring of 2020 lost to the pandemic at Toledo last season.

   Cooley, meanwhile, reached the title match by prevailing in 20 holes over John Peters, the former Carlisle standout who is a sophomore at Duke and who, quite memorably, won the Pennsylvania Amateur last summer by holing out from 193 yards away for an eagle on the iconic 18^th hole at Merion Golf Club’s East Course.

   Isztwan and Cooley engaged in a back-and-forth battle in the final. After Cooley won the seventh and eighth holes to take a 2-up lead, Isztwan answered by winning the ninth, 10^th and 11^th holes to take a 1-up advantage.

   Cooley came right back with wins at the 12^th and 13^th holes to regain a 1-up edge. Isztwan then came up with a critical birdie at the 16^th hole that evened the match and, ultimately, sent it to extra holes. His par on the 20^th hole gave Isztwan the title.

   It was a special win in a lot of ways for Isztwan. It came at the wonderful William Flynn design at Huntingdon Valley that he has grown up on. It came against a guy in Cooley who Isztwan respects. And it came in an event named for one of the finest amateur players the American game has ever produced in Sigel, owner of two U.S. Amateur victories, another in The Amateur Championship across the pond and three U.S. Mid-Amateur crowns.

   “It means a lot,” Isztwan told the PAGA website concerning the tournament’s namesake. “Mr. Sigel was out here in the first round, he watched me play some of that round and that was amazing to be able to do that in front of him.”

   Isztwan set the tone for the week in that first round of qualifying for match play Monday as he unleashed a spectacular 5-under 65 on his home course. Isztwan ripped off three straight birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth holes, then added birdies at 11 and 15. There was nary a bogey on the scorecard.

   Isztwan stumbled a little in the afternoon with a 3-over 73, which allowed Oakmont Country Club’s Rocco Salvitti, a Pittsburgh Central Catholic senior who has finished in the top 10 in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his first three seasons, to catch him for co-medalist honors.

   Salvitti matched par in the afternoon with a 70 after opening with a 2-under 68 as he shared medalist honors with Isztwan at 2-under 138.

   Isztwan’s closest pursuer following the opening round of qualifying was Temple senior Buddy Hansen, a product of the La Salle dynasty in the Catholic League. Hansen, who plays out of Blue Bell Country Club, opened with a sparkling 4-under 66. He cooled off a little in the afternoon with a 4-over 74 to finish in third place in qualifying with an even-par 140 total.

   After opening with a 4 and 3 decision over Paul Ajak III of Connoquenessing Country Club Tuesday morning, Isztwan found himself 1-down with two holes to play in Tuesday afternoon’s quarterfinals after Merion’s Jim Hamilton won the 16^th hole.

   But Isztwan turned things around with wins at the 17^th and 18^th holes to earn a 1-up victory and reach the semifinals.

   Clark had to go 20 holes to edge Jim Sullivan of LuLu Country Club to earn his date in the semifinals with Isztwan.

   Cooley knocked off Salvitti, 1-up, in the quarterfinals while Peters advanced to his semifinal meeting with Cooley with a 4 and 3 victory over Brett Young of Nemacolin Country Club.

   Young reached the quarterfinals with a 4 and 3 opening-round victory over Cornell sophomore Jackson Debusschere, who helped Strath Haven win the first Central League and District One Class AAA titles in the program’s history in 2019. Nice job earning a spot in the match-play bracket by Debusschere, who plays out of The Springhaven Club.

   The PAGA also handed out a team trophy at the end of Monday’s qualifying rounds and Huntingdon Valley’s domination was complete as its first team, behind Isztwan’s co-medalist performance, edged Huntingdon Valley’s second team, behind Cooley, by a shot in the three-score-two format.

   Andy Butler, who starred scholastically at Manheim Township and collegiately at Villanova, backed up Isztwan’s opening-round 65 with a 76 as Huntingdon Valley’s first team opened with a 1-over 141 total.

   Isztwan’s 3-over 73 in the afternoon, combined with another counting 76 from Butler, gave Huntingdon Valley a 9-over 149 for a 10-over 290 total. Sean Seese was the third member of Huntingdon Valley’s winning first team.

   Jake Fazio matched par in the opening round with a 70, which, combined with Cooley’s 73, gave Huntingdon Valley’s second tam an opening round of 3-over 143. Cooley’s afternoon 71, combined with a 77 from Fazio, gave Huntingdon Valley’s second team an 8-over 148 total that left it a shot behind its intra-club rival with an 11-over 291 total.

   Daniel Galbreath was the third member of Huntingdon Valley’s second-team lineup.