Headed over to Huntingdon Valley Country Club in October of 2017 to cover the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship.
The best player in the Inter-Ac that fall had been Penn Charter senior Brian Isztwan, a Huntingdon Valley member. I had caddied for Brian Isztwan in the Christman Cup, one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships for junior players, that summer at Stonewall’s North Course and he had finished in a tie for fifth place with his playing partner, Matt Davis, another senior standout in the Inter-Ac that fall at Malvern Prep.
I went with Brian Isztwan and his younger brother Patrick, who was about to start his freshman season at Penn Charter that fall, in a practice round for the Christman Cup. I remember being impressed with what a good short game Patrick Isztwan had, that he was, at times, a magician with a wedge in his hands.
It wasn’t the senior standouts in the Inter-Ac who won the day in the Bert Linton that year at Huntingdon Valley. No, it was Patrick Isztwan, the freshman playing on his home course who captured the Inter-Ac’s individual crown.
He didn’t have a single birdie on his card. He made five bogeys and 13 pars in a 5-over 75 to beat a very talented field by being patient and taking only what a very tough golf course was giving him that day.
That day came to mind Tuesday as the results of the opening round of match play in the 123rd BMW Philadelphia Amateur at the William Flynn gem that is Huntingdon Valley started coming in.
There was Patrick Isztwan, coming off what had to be a little bit of a disappointing sophomore season at Richmond, taking on the qualifying medalist, Troy Vannucci of Little Mill Country Club.
Vannucci is a wonderful player. He claimed his first Golf Association of Philadelphia major championship last spring when he won the Middle-Amateur Championship. He reached the quarterfinals of last year’s Philly Am at Philadelphia Country Club before falling to the eventual winner, Michael R. Brown Jr. of LuLu Country Club.
Vannucci completed a sparkling 5-under 65 at Huntingdon Valley earlier Tuesday after opening with a 2-under 70 Monday at Lookaway Golf Club to take qualifying medalist honors by two shots with a 7-under 135 total.
Patrick Isztwan had opened with a 4-over 74 on his home course in Monday’s opening round before grinding out a 1-over 73 at Lookaway for a 5-over 147 total that left him in a group of 10 players in a playoff for the final nine spots in the match-play bracket, a group that included Brown, the defending champion.
Patrick Isztwan’s reward for surviving that playoff, of course, was a match against the top-seeded Vannucci. And Vannucci jumped out to a 2-up lead with wins on the second and sixth holes. Hey, nice job Patrick, really good work getting into match play in a Philly Am on your home course.
But Patrick Isztwan flipped the script by winning seven of the next nine holes to hand Vannucci a stunning 4 and 3 setback.
Wins on the seventh, eighth and ninth holes turned Patrick Isztwan’s 2-down deficit into a 1-up advantage. Vannucci squared the match by taking the 10th hole, but then Patrick Isztwan pulled away with wins at 11, 12, 14 and 15.
Big brother Brian, a recent Harvard graduate, had missed the cut for match play by two shots. Brian Isztwan would have been a tough out if he had made match play, having won the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship at Huntingdon Valley last summer. I’m sure he was rooting hard for his little brother, might even have been on the bag.
Patrick Isztwan will get The Ridge at Back Brook’s Brandon Dalinka in the round of 16 Wednesday morning after Dalinka, who starred scholastically at Council Rock North before playing college golf at North Carolina, outlasted La Salle standout Nikita Romanov, a product of Delaware’s Mount Pleasant High, in 19 holes.
Have to give a shoutout to Alex Seelig, who is coming off his senior season at Robert Morris and has been doing some looping at Stonewall this spring.
After struggling a little in the opening round with an 8-over 78 at Huntingdon Valley, Seelig, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during an outstanding scholastic career at Exeter, battled back with a solid 3-under 69 at Lookaway as he, like Patrick Isztwan, landed in the 10-for-nine playoff.
Seelig, playing out of Reading Country Club, survived the playoff and his reward was a match with second-seeded Jeff Osberg, who owns seven GAP major championships, including a victory in the Philly Am in 2014 at White Manor Country Club.
Osberg, playing out of Pine Valley Golf Club, matched par in the opening round of qualifying with a 72 at Lookaway and then matched Vannucci’s sparkling 5-under 65 at Huntingdon Valley, where Osberg had once been a member for a few years, to finish two shots behind Vannucci with a 5-under 137 total.
Seelig put up a fight before falling, 3 and 2, to Osberg, who has lost in the Philly Am final twice since his victory 2014, falling to his pal Michael McDermott in the epic heavyweight title fight in 2016 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and again in 2019 at Stonewall to Jeremy Wall of the Manasquan River Golf Club.
Osberg’s opponent in the round of 16 will be the Country Club of Harrisburg’s Ben Smith, a senior on the Mount St. Mary golf team. Smith, whose college career started at Penn State, claimed a 3 and 2 verdict over Cole Willcox, a USGA/GAP entry in another first-round match.
The best match of the day was a Big Ten matchup between Penn State junior Morgan Lofland and Rutgers sophomore Logan Paczewski, who moved on to the second round by outlasting Lofland in 23 holes.
Both were scholastic standouts of recent vintage as Lofland, playing out of Phoenixville Country Club, was a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga and Paczewski, playing out of Huntsville Golf Club, made the state tournament four times during a tremendous high school career at Dallas.
Paczewski lost to Brown, the eventual champion, in the semifinals of the Philly Am a year ago at Philadelphia Country Club.
Paczewski’s second-round opponent Wednesday morning will be Cedarbrook Country Club’s Christian Matt, who is coming off a solid freshman season at Saint Joseph’s.
In a battle of recent District One standouts, Matt, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Wissahickon, edged Connor Bennink, who helped Unionville win back-top-back District One Class AAA team crowns in 2017 and 2018, 2 and 1.
Bennink, playing out of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, used the extra year of eligibility given to players who lost the spring of 2020 to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic at Coastal Carolina for the 2022-2023 season after a standout career at Division II Gannon.
There was a meeting of the last two Philly Am champions in the opening round of match play as Brown rolled to a 5 and 3 victory over 2021 champion Connor McGrath, playing on his home course at Huntingdon Valley. McGrath recently wrapped up a standout career at Temple.
The 50-year-old Brown’s second-round opponent will be Xiong Da, a native of China who recently wrapped up his sophomore season at Delaware. Da pulled out a 2-up victory over one of the top senior players in GAP, Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre.
The winners of Wednesday morning’s second-round matches will meet in the quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon.
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