Patel, Platt tied for the lead heading into final round of Pennsylvania Amateur at Llanerch

    Rij Patel, the former Harvard standout who plays out of the Country Club of York, was going along OK, sitting at even-par with three holes to play in Tuesday’s second round of the 109^th Pennsylvania Amateur Championship, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, at Llanerch Country Club.

   Less than an hour and three birdies later, Patel had surged into a tie for the lead with Oakmont Country Club’s Nathan Platt heading into Wednesday’s final round.

   Patel had matched par in Monday’s opening round with a 70 and remained at even par, offsetting bogeys at the third and 15^th holes with birdies at 10 and 13.

   Then he stuck a 7-iron shot into the par-4 16^th hole to three feet and made the birdie putt and hit it to six feet with a 9-iron at the par-3 17^th and got that birdie try to fall.

   Patel arrived at the driveable par-4 finishing hole and bombed it into the greenside bunker. He splashed it out to seven feet and made it three straight birdies to finish his round by dropping the putt.

   It gave Patel a 3-under 67 and a 3-under 137 total. Platt added a 2-under 68 to his opening-round 69 to join Patel at the top of the leaderboard at 3-under.

   Patel is coming off a tie for second place in last week’s Philadelphia Open at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course. In the fall of 2019, Patel and his then Harvard teammate, Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Brian Isztwan, punched their ticket to the 2020 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, scheduled to be held at the Cricket Club, in a qualifier in Massachusetts.

   That U.S. Amateur Four-Ball was a victim of the coronavirus outbreak in the spring of 2020, but Patel and Isztwan proved they might have been a formidable U.S. Amateur Four-Ball team with strong showings at the Cricket Club last week.

   And it looks like the Wissahickon Course, an A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece, was perfect preparation for Llanerch, site of the 1958 PGA Championship. Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and the Donald Ross gem that is Aronimink Golf Club are not the only Delaware County courses to have hosted one of the game’s four major professional championships.

   Platt stared off the 10^th tee in Tuesday’s second round. He made a bogey on the 10^th hole to begin his round and another to finish his round at the tough par-4 ninth. In between Platt recorded birdies at the 13^th and 15^th holes on the incoming nine and at three and five on the outgoing nine to get his share of the lead after two rounds.

   Austin Barbin, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Player of the Year in 2019, matched par in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 69 and was alone in third place, two shots behind the top two with a 1-under 139 total. Patel, Platt and Barbin were the only three players under par after two rounds at Llanerch.

   Barbin, a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, is a senior at ASUN power Liberty, which qualified for the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in the spring.

   Penn State sophomore Jake Griffin, a Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) individual member, and Nemacolin Golf Club’s Brett Young were another shot behind Barbin in a tie for fourth place, each landing on even-par 140.

   Griffin matched par for the second straight day with a 70 in the second round while Young added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 71.

   Another PAGA individual member, Jeff Osberg, one of three players who have won all four of GAP’s major championships, headed a group of four players tied for sixth place at 1-over 141. Osberg, once a member at Llanerch, matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 70 after opening with a 71.

   Chris Baloga, the head coach at Loyola of Maryland playing out of Briarwood Golf Club, had grabbed the lead following an opening round of 3-under 67, but fell back with a 74 to join Osberg at 1-over.

   St. Clair Country Club’s Neal Shipley, who will play at Ohio State this season after transferring from William & Mary, recorded a 3-over 73 after opening with a 68. Rounding out the foursome at 141 was Wildwood Golf Club’s Amani D'Ambrosio, who added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 72.

   Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Conor McGrath, a fifth-year senior at Temple, and White Manor Country Club’s Tyler Stahle rounded out the top 10 as they were tied for 10^th place, each landing on 2-over 142.

   McGrath, winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship a year ago at Cedarbrook Country Club, added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 72. McGrath will represent the Philadelphia area in next month’s U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. after surviving a GAP-administered qualifier at Rolling Green Golf Club earlier this month.

   Stahle carded a 2-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round after matching par in the opening round with a 70.

   The 36-hole cut fell at 6-over 146 with the survivors teeing it up in Wednesday’s final round.

   With Platt leading the way, Oakmont captured the team crown with a 2-under 278 total. Aiden Oehrle added a 1-under 69 to Platt’s 2-under 68 as Oakmont added a 3-under 137 to its opening round of 1-over 141. Oehrle, a sophomore at Lehigh, was a member of Fox Chapel’s 2019 PIAA Class AAA championship team.

   Oakmont tossed the 78 posted by Penn State senior Jimmy Meyers in the three-score-two format. Meyers had contributed a counting 72 to Oakmont’s opening-round 141.