Paczewski prevails in a playoff in a wet and wild Patterson Cup at Llanerch

 

   Logan Paczewski was a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during an outstanding scholastic career at Dallas and got his feet wet at the Division I level as a freshman at Rutgers during the 2022-2023 season.

   It’s the kind of experience you need to survive the cauldron of a tense battle with two other players down the stretch in the rain on a difficult golf course like Llanerch Country Club and then, after a two-hour rain delay, prevailing in a four-hole aggregate playoff with those same two rivals to claim the title in the Joseph H. Patterson Cup, the final major championship on the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s schedule in 2023, which concluded Thursday.

   It was never easy for Paczewski, a 19-year-old playing out of Huntsville Golf Club, on the second day of the 121^st edition of this prestigious GAP event played on one of the region’s most underrated courses, the 6,784-yard, par-71 Llanerch layout tucked into a tight space just off West Chester Pike in Delco’s Havertown.

   After grabbing a share of the lead with Austin Barbin, a fifth-year senior at Liberty playing out of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, with a sparkling opening round of 5-under 66, Paczewski struggled mightily on the outgoing nine at Llanerch in the second round.

   Paczewski was 6-over for his round and 1-over for the championship when he stared down a 50-foot putt for eagle on Llanerch’s par-5 ninth hole. And promptly drained it. Suddenly he was back in the picture.

   The rain started coming down in earnest on the back nine at Llanerch with most of the drama centered on the final group, which included Paczewski, Barbin and Matt Mattare, a Saucon Valley Country Club player who competes on both the GAP and Metropolitan Golf Association circuits.

   After the eagle at the ninth hole, Paczewski roared back into contention with birdies at the 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 15^th holes. Paczewski drove it right of the green at the 293-yard, par-4 15^th hole, but chipped it masterfully for a tap-in birdie.

   But Paczewski and the 22-year-old Barbin, the GAP Junior Boys’ champion and GAP Junior Player of the Year in 2019, both fell behind Mattare when they each made bogey at the 537-yard, par-5 16^th hole.

   The 37-year-old Mattare jammed in a 25-foot putt for birdie at the 155-yard, par-3 17^th hole and Paczewski stiffed his tee shot to three feet and matched Mattare’s birdie.

   Still, Mattare headed to Llanerch’s risk-reward 290-yard, par-4 finishing hole leading Paczewski by one and Barbin by two.

   It was Mattare’s tournament to lose. He laid back a little and hit his approach on the green, 30 feet from the hole. Barbin drove it in the left greenside bunker, blasted to 15 feet and dropped a birdie putt he absolutely had to have to finish at 4-under.

   Paczewski’s approach was long, but his short game saved him again as he chipped to 10 feet on the waterlogged green and made the par putt and he, too, was in at 4-under.

   Mattare’s first putt left him with a tricky four-footer for par and the championship, but he couldn’t get it to fall.

   Paczewski had rallied for a 1-over 72 to finish at 4-under 138. Barbin’s clutch birdie at the 18^th hole enabled him to match Paczewski’s 72 and left him at 4-under. Mattare, who had trailed Paczewski and Barbin by two shots after opening with a 3-under 68 in Wednesday’s first round, had played wonderfully, but the bogey at the last left him with a 1-under 70 and a 4-under total.

   That’s when the rain really picked up and the four-hole aggregate playoff was put on hold for two hours.

   On the first hole of the aggregate playoff, Paczewski drilled a gap wedge at the 407-yard, par-4 first hole at Llanerch to 20 feet and drained the birdie try to take a lead he would never relinquish. Paczewski finished with a total of 1-under 14, one shot better than Mattare and two shots clear of Barbin over the first four holes at Llanerch.

   “I don’t have (any) words,” Paczewski told the GAP website after a long, long day at Llanerch. “I’ve dreamed of being a GAP major champion since I’ve started playing in GAP events. It’s great that the dream finally came true.”

   Mattare was trying to add a third career jewel in GAP’s quartet of major championships to his impressive resume. After winning the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship in 2016, Mattare captured the Philadelphia Open during a 2017 campaign that resulted in William Hyndman III Player of the Year honors.

   Three of GAP’s most talented players, Jeff Osberg of Pine Valley Golf Club, Troy Vannucci of Little Mill Country Club and Josh Ryan of The 1912 Club finished a shot out of the playoff, each ending up at 3-under 139.

   Osberg, one of just three players to accomplish GAP’s career grand slam (GAP Middle-Amateur, BMW Philadelphia Amateur, Philadelphia Open, Patterson Cup) and a three-time Patterson Cup winner, made a bogey at the 18^th hole as he added a 1-under 70 to his opening-round 69.

   Vannucci, who had opened with a 1-over 72, matched the low round of the day with a 4-under 67 to finish at 3-under.

   Vannucci didn’t leave Llanerch empty-handed, however. His 3-under 139 total in the Patterson Cup combined with his qualifying medalist total in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship of 7-under 135 at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Lookaway Golf Club in June earned him the Silver Cross Award, GAP’s Stroke-Play Championship, with a 10-under 274 total.

   That was two shots better than Osberg, who has won the Silver Cross Award five times.

   Ryan matched Vannucci’s splits, matching the best round of the day in Thursday’s final round with a 4-under 67. It’s been a bit of a quiet summer for Ryan, who was coming off a solid freshman season as Barbin’s teammate at Liberty.

   Ryan won the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship for the third year in a row last summer and was GAP’s Junior Player of the Year in 2020 and 2022.

   As I finish up this post, Ryan is preparing to tee it up in the Pennsylvania Open Championship at the Country Club of York, the Donald Ross design where Ryan pulled off a stunning victory in one of the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) major championships, the R. Jay Sigel Match Play, in the summer of 2020 when he still had a year of high school left. Just sayin’, the kid likes that golf course.

   The defending Patterson Cup champion, Drexel senior Drue Nicholas, playing out of Galloway National Golf Club, and the reigning BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, Loyola of Maryland senior Mike Crowley, playing out of Briarwood Golf Club, finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 2-under 142.

   Nicholas matched par in the second round with a 71 after opening with a 2-under 69 while Crowley put together a pair of 1-under 70s.

   Former Saint Joseph’s standout, Richard Riva, playing out of LuLu Country Club, and Zak Drescher of Bent Creek Country Club rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for ninth place at 1-under 141.

   After opening with a  73, Riva finished strong with a 3-under 68 at a Llanerch layout that he was familiar with from his days with the Hawks, who often practice there. Drescher matched par in the second round with a 71 after opening with a 1-under 70.

   A couple of former BMW Philadelphia Amateur runnersup, Merion Golf Club’s Nelson Hargrove, who lost to Osberg in the 2014 final, and LedgeRock Golf Club’s Grant Skyllas, who fell to Gregor Orlando in the 2017 title match, headed a group of five players tied for 11^th place at even-par 142.

   Hargrove, who starred scholastically at The Haverford School and collegiately at Brown, was among the contenders following an opening round of 3-under 68 before cooling off in the second round with a 74. Skyllas added a 1-under 70 in the second round to his opening round of 1-over 72.

   Rounding out the group at even-par were Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Ben Cooley, Glenmaura National Golf Club’s John Barone and LuLu’s Kevin Lydon.

   Cooley finished up with a solid 2-under 69 after opening with a 2-over 73. Barone, the former Temple standout who finished in a tie for second place in the GAP Middle-Amateur Championship at Old York Road Country Club in May, matched Skyllas’ splits, adding a 1-under 70 in the second round to his opening round of 1-over 72.

   Lydon starred scholastically at Central Bucks West and is coming off a solid freshman season at La Salle. He carded a 1-over 72 in the second round after opening with a 1-under 70.