Isztwan will feel right at home at Huntingdon Valley as he takes on Crowley for BMW Philadelphia Amateur title

   Patrick Isztwan is a pretty good golfer no matter where he tees it up. You don’t play golf at a Division I program like Richmond unless you have some game.

   But Patrick Isztwan teeing it up on the course he grew up playing as a youngster, the William Flynn gem that is Huntingdon Valley Country Club, takes him up a notch.

   Isztwan was a freshman at Penn Charter when the Quakers hosted the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship in 2017 and he captured the title.

   And it isn’t just Isztwan. When Huntingdon Valley played host to the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship a year ago, Patrick Isztwan’s older brother Brian captured the title, beating another Huntingdon Valley stalwart, Ben Cooley, in the final.

   Saturday morning, 19-year-old Patrick Isztwan will try to join the 16 other Huntingdon Valley members whose names are inscribed on the J. Wood Platt Trophy when he battles Mike Crowley of Briarwood Golf Club in the scheduled 36-hole final of the 123^rd BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship.

   Getting into the Philadelphia Amateur on his home course was a major golf for Isztwan, who was coming off a disappointing sophomore season at Richmond. Isztwan didn’t make the Richmond lineup for the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Reunion Resort’s Nicklaus Course in Orlando, Fla. at the end of April.

   He was an alternate after a qualifier for the Philly Am, but got into the field. In qualifying for match play, Isztwan was among 10 players involved in a playoff for the final nine spots in the match-play bracket, but after some anxious moments – he holed a 30-footer for bogey on the first hole of the playoff to keep his hopes alive – he was in.

   Since then it’s been obvious why Isztwan wanted to get into the tournament so badly. Simply put, the guy is tough to beat on his home course.

   Building off a stunning upset of qualifying medalist Troy Vannucci of Little Mill Country Club, one of the region’s top mid-amateur players, in the opening round of match play, Isztwan has gotten stronger as the week has gone on.

   Isztwan made eight birdies in his 4 and 2 victory over Llanerch Country Club’s John Lalley in Thursday morning’s semifinals to punch his ticket to the title match. A couple of times, Lalley made birdie just to get a half.

   Isztwan made four straight birdies to close out the front nine and take a commanding 4-up lead.

   Isztwan knocked a gap wedge from 130 yards away to three feet at the 410-yard, par-4 eighth hole and holed the putt for a birdie. Isztwan again pulled the gap wedge when he had 122 yards left into the 460-yard, par-4 ninth hole and he drilled it to six feet and converted the birdie putt.

   But Lalley wasn’t finished. A gap wedge at the 405-yard, par-4 10^th hole left Lalley with a tap-in for birdie. Lalley made a second straight birdie at the 375-yard, par-4 11^th hole, but Isztwan matched it to maintain a 3-up advantage.

   Lalley won the 12^th hole with a par and a bogey at 13 was good enough for another win that drew him within 1-down.

   But Isztwan saved par by dropping a 10-foot putt at the 472-yard, par-4 14^th hole to take that hole and stuck a 60-degree wedge from a fairway bunker from 100 yards away to 12 feet at the 572-yard, par-5 15^th hole and converted the birdie try to restore a 3-up advantage with three holes to go.

   A par by Isztwan at the 399-yard, par-4 16^th hole closed out the match.

   “It was a great match,” Isztwan told the Golf Association of Philadelphia website. “We both played well. I didn’t really realize how well we were playing until some point on the back nine.

   “I was 4-up at the turn and played 10 through 12 even par and was 2-down on those holes. I had a large lead, but it never really felt like it was over.”

   The 21-year-old Crowley is a Hunt Valley, Md. resident who maintains a membership at Briarwood in York that gains him entry into GAP events. A junior at Loyola of Maryland, Crowley capped a solid spring with a runnerup finish in the Patriot League Championship, hosted by the Greyhounds at Hillendale Country Club.

   The 22-year-old Smith, playing out of the Country Club of Harrisburg, was coming off a solid spring of college golf himself at Mount St. Mary’s as he finished in a tie for 11^th place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at Disney’s Palm Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. in April. Smith was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at West Perry in 2018

   Crowley pulled out a hard-fought 1-up decision over Smith to earn his spot opposite Isztwan in Saturday’s final.

   Crowley found himself 2-down to Smith through nine holes, but turned the match around with three straight wins at the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes.

   When Crowley stuck a 54-degree wedge to three feet at the 16^th hole and converted the birdie try, he had Smith 2-down with two holes to play. A two-putt par from 40 feet at Huntingdon Valley’s tough finishing hole gave Crowley the victory.

   It sets up an interesting battle between the two college kids. Crowley might have a little bit of a talent edge, but Isztwan will certainly be in his comfort zone in front of friends and family on a course that feels like home to him.