Conaway saves his best for last to take Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual title by a shot at Llanerch

    HAVERFORD – Arriving at the 18^th tee at Llanerch Country Club trailing by a shot in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship Wednesday, Malvern Prep freshman Davis Conaway knew what he had to do.

   The par-4 18^th at Llanerch is one of those holes. The green is tantalizingly close, especially for a big hitter. It’s a tiny green and well protected by bunkers, but it’s sitting there begging you to try to drive the green. It’s probably not the wisest play, but if you really needed to, you could drive it, right?

   “I was going to lay up,” Conaway said moments after his birdie at the 18^th hole turned a one-shot deficit into a one-shot victory and gave him the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual crown. “But I had 276 (yards) and a little wind behind, perfect for my driver.

   “I was told there were some drivable par-4s on the back nine, including 18. I was told not to try to drive it unless I had to. And I had to. I took the risk and it worked out.”

   The kid just absolutely striped it. The ball was all over the flag for every one of those 276 yards and settled on the back of the green 20 feet from the hole. As good as Conaway’s shot was, though, this thing wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

   All season Germantown Academy junior Ajeet Bagga, Episcopal Academy junior Hunter Stetson and Conaway were the three best players in the Inter-Ac. And they were the three best players on the underrated 6,551-yard, par-71 Llanerch layout Wednesday.

   Llanerch was draped in a dense fog when the players arrived Wednesday morning. There was drizzle that occasionally turned into a steadier rain then back to drizzle, sometimes in the space of the same hole.

   The sun didn’t show up until right after Conaway’s spectacular strike landed on the 18^th green.

   Bagga had locked up the Inter-Ac’s individual points race during the league’s six invitationals that comprise the regular season by taking medalist honors in the last two invitationals last week. He looked like a winner for much of the day.

   Bagga led Conaway by two shots before salvaging a par on the 505-yard, par-5 16^th hole after getting in trouble off the tee. Conaway had reached the green in two at 16 with a shot nearly the equal of his tee shot on 18, chasing a 5-iron from 217 yards away in the left rough onto the putting surface. He two-putted from 30 feet to creep within a shot of Bagga.

   Bagga and Conaway both made a bogey at the 145-yard, par-3 17^th hole after leaving their tee shots short of the elevated green. Bagga went to the 18^th tee at 1-over, Conaway was 2-over.

   Bagga played it smart at 18, taking an iron off the tee and laying back to about 80 yards. He stuck his approach to 12 feet right of the hole.

   Conaway’s eagle try slid five feet below the hole.

   “I was really just trying to cozy it down there, but I couldn’t stop it,” Conaway said.

   Bagga’s birdie try got away from him a little on the low side, leaving him four feet for par, just inside Conaway on the same line.

   Conaway buried his five-footer for birdie and a 1-over 72. Moments later, Bagga pulled his par putt ever-so-slightly to the left for a bogey and a 2-over 73 and it was over.

   Not that Stetson, the defending champion in the Bert Linton and the runnerup to Bagga in the regular-season points race, was ever out of the picture. He drove it right in front of the green at the short par-4 15^th hole and, unlike his playing partners, made a nice up-and-down for birdie. That got him to 2-over and he was tied with Conaway, two shots behind Bagga.

   Stetson, a product of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club, was over the par-5 16^th green in two, but couldn’t get it up and down and settled for par. Stetson was bunkered to the left of the pin at 17, which led to a bogey. That left him two shots behind Bagga walking to the 18^th tee.

   Stetson also went with driver at 18 and lashed it hole high in the rough left of the hole. He lofted a nice chip to 10 feet. A birdie might have gotten him in a playoff, but he was a little too aggressive and watched it run five feet by. Stetson missed his par putt for a 4-over 75 that left him in third place. But he was in it right to the very end.

   After making a bogey at the first hole, Conaway made back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes before a three-putt bogey at the tough par-3 eighth left him at even-par on the outgoing nine.

   “I made putts to make those birdies at five and six, but that was it for the putter,” said Conaway, an East Bradford resident who plays out of Fieldstone Golf Club in Delaware.

   Stetson got it up and down for birdie from just in front of the par-5 ninth hole as he joined Bagga, a shot behind Conaway, at 1-over for the front nine.

   Conaway three-putted for bogey at the par-3 12^th hole to fall back into a tie with Bagga. Then Bagga put a nose in front by making an eight-footer for birdie after a nice approach at the par-4 14^th hole.

   Conaway then fell two behind when he three-putted the short par-4 15^th hole after driving it just 30 yards from the green. That’s where Stetson made birdie to join Conaway two shots behind Bagga at 2-over, setting the stage for the frantic finish.

   It was a wildly entertaining battle among the Inter-Ac’s three best players, all of them underclassmen. Bagga had tuned up for the Bert Linton by winning a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour event Saturday at Spring Hollow Golf Club in Spring City.

   “We’ve been going back and forth,” Conaway said of Bagga. “He got me for Player of the Year, but I won this.”

   Conaway’s Malvern Prep teammate, sophomore Michael Henry, finished a shot behind Stetson in fourth place with a 5-over 76. The Friars nailed down the Inter-Ac team crown with their victory in the final invitational Thursday at The 1912 Club.

   Germantown Academy junior Will Irons, who lost in a playoff to Stetson in the Bert Linton a year ago at Bluestone Country Club, shared fifth place with Malvern Prep sophomore Brody Bell as each signed for a 6-over 77.

   The Haverford School accounted for the next six spots on the final leaderboard as Rory Nesbitt and Sean Curran finished in a tie for seventh place, each posting a 78, J.P. Hoban and Henry Gowan shared ninth place, each landing on 79, Gregor Weissenberger ended up alone in 11^th with an 81 and Nicky Nemo was 12^th with an 82.

   Malvern Prep junior Marshall Kain finished in 13^th place with an 83 and Ajeet Bagga’s younger sister, Germantown Academy sophomore Kiran Bagga, took 14^th with an 84.

   Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Alex Topping, Haverford School’s Will Forman and Germantown Academy freshman Lucas Albert finished in a tie for 15^th place, each carding an 85. Penn Charter senior Jake Dittus was another shot behind that trio in 18^th place with an 86.

   Malvern Prep senior Will Aprahamian played in the final foursome along with his teammate Conaway, Ajeet Bagga and Stetson as Aprahamian finished in fourth place in the regular-season point standings behind Conaway.

   Aprahamian was not at his best Wednesday and finished in a tie for 19^th place with Germantown Academy senior Charley Ota, each recording an 87. But Aprahamian was a consistent force and was the senior leader in the Friars’ run to the team crown in a very competitive Inter-Ac League this fall.

   Penn Charter senior Holden Hummel posted an 88 to finish alone in 21^st place and Malvern Prep junior Shane Powelson, Episcopal Academy junior Jack Earley and Springside Chestnut Hill’s Owen Tilsner rounded out the scoring as they ended up in a tie for 22^nd place, each landing on 90.