Mike Crowley wants to challenge himself when it comes to the game of golf.
That’s why the Hunt Valley, Md. resident got himself a membership at Briarwood Golf Club in York, so he would be eligible to compete in the Golf Association of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Golf Association events.
Because Crowley knows he’s going to run into all kinds of top-notch competition on all kinds of great golf courses.
When Crowley stepped on the first tee for the scheduled 36-hole final of the 123rd BMW Philadelphia Amateur early Saturday morning, the challenge was even greater than he might have imagined.
Crowley had the kind of great golf course he was seeking in the William Flynn gem at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. He had a talented foe in Patrick Isztwan. But in the 20-year-old Isztwan, Crowley was taking on a player who had grown up at Huntingdon Valley, a guy who knew all of the considerable subtleties of the golf course and who would have the membership behind a favorite son.
The 21-year-old Crowley, a senior at Loyola of Maryland, had all of that stacked against him, but never blinked, rolling to a 7 and 6 decision and putting his name alongside some truly great amateur players on the J. Wood Platt Trophy.
And this wasn’t a situation where the moment was too big for Isztwan, a junior at Richmond. Isztwan didn’t lose this championship, Crowley won it. With the usual match-play concessions, Crowley played 7-under golf for the 30 holes of the match.
“To win a big tournament like this feels amazing,” Crowley told the Golf Association of Philadelphia website. “I’ve had a lot of close calls in a lot of events over the last couple of months.
“I’ve worked really hard. It feels like a big stage (out there) with a lot of people (In the crowd) and the cameras around.”
The Philly Am goes back as far as our National Open, being played in Los Angeles this week, does. If Crowley went looking for a prestigious title to add to his amateur resume, he found it at Huntingdon Valley.
Crowley was the runnerup in the Patriot League Championship hosted by Greyhounds at Hillendale Country Club in Phoenix, Md. in late April. His talent was on full display at Huntingdon Valley.
Crowley never trailed in the match. After Crowley won the third hole, Isztwan evened the match by taking the fourth hole, but Crowley rattled off wins at five, seven and eight to take a 3-up lead.
On the 604-yard, par-5 seventh hole, Crowley was right in front in two and dropped a five-foot putt for birdie. At the tough 467-yard, par-4 eighth hole, Crowley stuck his approach to 10 feet and converted the birdie try.
Isztwan cut his deficit to 2-down with a majestic 5-iron that nearly found the hole for double eagle at the 571-yard, par-5 15th hole. But Crowley took a 3-up lead into the lunch break by winning the 486-yard, par-4 finishing hole at Huntingdon Valley with a par.
Isztwan, who won a Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship at Huntingdon Valley as a freshman at Penn Charter in 2017, again cut the deficit to 2-down by winning the 20th hole, but Crowley answered by draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the 233-yard, par-3 third hole, the 21st of the match, to restore his 3-up advantage.
Wins at the next two holes increased Crowley’s lead to 5-up
After Isztwan won the 24th hole to cut his deficit to 4-down, Crowley delivered the dagger at the 604-yard, par-5 seventh hole, the 25th of the match, by lasering a 5-iron from 277 yards away to five feet before settling for birdie and a 5-up lead.
It wasn’t quite the storybook ending that Isztwan envisioned, but the kid had a tremendous week on his home course and, I’m sure, thrilled the Huntingdon Valley membership.
For a guy who wasn’t in the lineup when Richmond teed it up in the Atlantic 10 Championship in April, the run to the final of the Philadelphia Amateur will give Isztwan a needed confidence boost.
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