Drexel captures team crown in City 6 Championship at Sunnybrook; Temple's Morganti the individual champion

 

   Drexel, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s are playing in the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate at Kilmaric Golf Club in Powell’s Point, N.C. as I put this post together, but I have to write back on last week’s City 6 Championship, which is a big event on the calendar when you’re doing a blog that emphasizes the golf scene in the Philadelphia area.

   Drexel, behind a solid 5-under-par 67 from Oscar Maxfield, a graduate student from Salt Lake City, Utah, earned its third straight team title and fourth straight victory in the City 6 Championship with a 7-under 281 total at Sunnybrook Golf Club, a bit of an underrated course in Whitemarsh Township in the midst of all the great layouts that populate the Philadelphia area.

   I haven’t gotten to do as much college golf as I’d like to this fall, but I did manage to put together posts on the Dragons’ two wins last month in the Temple Invitational at The 1912 Club and in the J.T. Poston Invitational at the Country Club of Sapphire Valley in Sapphire, N.C.

   The City 6 was a one-day shootout on a perfect fall day last Wednesday at Sunnybrook. Not a big deal in the larger landscape of college golf, but, as I’ve argued before in this blog, absolutely worth doing as, if nothing else, a celebration of the region’s Division I colleges, the rosters of which are often populated by local players.

   Not to mention the presence of so many great golf courses in the Philadelphia area. I covered a U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1978 at Sunnybrook and it very much belongs among the great golf courses in this area. And kudos to the membership at Sunnybrook for giving up their golf course for the day.

   Maxfield’s sparkling round over the 6,986-yard, par-72 Sunnybrook layout, which included seven birdies, got him into a playoff with Temple junior Joey Morganti, a Havertown resident who had a solid scholastic career at St. Joseph’s Prep, and Villanova’s Peter Weaver, a senior from Frontenac, Mo.

   Morganti, a product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club, prevailed in the playoff to claim the individual title. Can’t seem to locate a lot of details on the playoff, other than it lasted four holes before Morganti captured the crown.

   Morganti’s performance helped Temple, playing out of the American Athletic Conference, earn runnerup honors in the team chase with a solid 4-under 284 total.

   Morganti recorded birdies on the third, fourth, sixth and ninth holes on the outgoing nine at Sunnybrook and got it to 6-under with an eagle at the par-5 14^th before a bogey at the last, the only blemish on his scorecard, dropped him back to 5-under for the round.

   It was the end of a busy stretch for the Owls, who were playing in their fourth tournament in the first three weeks of October.

   Temple completed a seventh-place finish in the Phoenix Invitational at Alamance Country Club in Burlington, N.C. just two days before the City 6 Championship. The Owls also took a trip out west and finished in a tie for eighth place in the Bill Cullum Invitational at The Saticoy Club in Somis, Calif. and took sixth in the Ironwood Collegiate Classic at the Ironwood Golf & Country Club in Greenville, S.C. to open their busy month of October.

   Villanova, playing out of the Big East, took third place in the City 6 with a 1-over 289 that left the Wildcats five shots behind Temple.

   Villanova was led by Weaver, who made birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes, the sixth and seventh birdies on his card, to earn a spot in the playoff with Morganti and Maxfield.

   Earlier this fall, Weaver helped the Wildcats claim the team title in the Matthews Auto Collegiate Invitational at The Links at Hiawatha Landing in Apalachian, N.Y.

   La Salle, an Atlantic 10 entry, finished 10 shots behind Villanova in fourth place with an 11-over 299 total. Saint Joseph’s, another Atlantic 10 representative, finished three shots behind the Explorers in fifth place with a 14-over 302 total.

   Penn, which plays out of the Ivy League, did not tee it up in the City 6 Championship as has been its custom in recent years. Not sure how much a role athletics plays in the big picture at Penn, but a one-day event in Montgomery County would seem like an easy fit on the schedule. But schedules aren’t always the easiest thing to piece together.

   Backing up Maxfield for Drexel, which plays out of the Coastal Athletic Association, was Griffin Mitchell, a senior from New Albany, Ohio who finished in a tie for fourth place with Temple’s Ethan Whitney, a junior from Westminster, Mass., each landing on 2-under 70, three shots behind the three players who finished tied atop the leaderboard.

   Senior Drue Nicholas, a product of St. Augustine Prep from Egg Harbor Township, N.J., finished alone in sixth place for the Dragons with a 1-under 71. Nicholas captured the title in the Patterson Cup, one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, in the summer of 2022 at St. Davids Golf Club.

   Looks like it was a six-score-four format for the City 6 Championship, so Drexel head coach Ben Feld could take his pick for his final counter from the pair of 73s posted by graduate student Liam Hart, winner of the PIAA Class AAA Championship in 2017 as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, and by Caleb Taylor, a sophomore from Woodbine, Md.

   Hart and Taylor each earned a top-10 finish as their 73s left them in a four-way tie for ninth place.

   Senior Andrew Wallace, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at Harriton in 2018, competed as an individual for Drexel at Sunnybrook and the left-hander finished in 35^th place with an 81.

   Villanova’s Ryan Pamer, a sophomore from Hudson, Ohio, and Temple’s Graham Chase, a senior from Charlotte, N.C., finished in a tie for seventh place, each matching par with a 72 to finish a shot behind Drexel’s Nicholas.

   Joining Drexel’s Hart and Taylor in the foursome that finished in a tie for ninth place at 1-over 73 were Saint Joseph’s junior Tommy Larkin, a scholastic standout at Cardinal O’Hara, and La Salle senior Nikita Romanov, a graduate student who starred scholastically at Mount Pleasant in Delaware.

   Rounding out the counters for Temple were Michael Walsh, a junior from Shelburne, Vt. who finished in a tie for 15^th place with a 3-over 75 and Aidan Emmerich, a sophomore from Swampscott, Mass. who finished in the group tied for 20^th place with a 4-over 76.

   Emmerich, a transfer from Michigan State, led the way for Temple in both the Phoenix Invitational, at which he finished in a tie for fourth place, and at the Bill Cullum in California, where he finished eighth.

   Rounding out the Temple lineup was freshman Matt Vital, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Liberty High in Bethlehem, as he finished in the group tied for 24^th place with a 5-over 77.

   Senior Andrew Curran teed it up as an individual for Temple and finished in a tie for 13^th place with a 2-over 74. Not a huge surprise that Curran would play well at Sunnybrook. It was there where Curran capped his scholastic career at Malvern Prep by firing a sizzling 6-under 66 to win the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship as a senior in 2018.

   Sophomore Brett McGrath, a product of AIM Academy, also competed as an individual for Temple and finished in 36^th place with an 82.

   Backing up Weaver and Pamer for Villanova was Jonathan Elkins, a senior from South Deerfield, Mass. who joined Temple’s Curran in a tie for 13^th place with a 2-over 74.

   Vimal Alokam, a junior from Ypsilanti, Mich., and P.J. O’Rourke, a graduate student from Paramus, N.J. who transferred to the Main Line from Fordham, finished in the group tied for 20^th place for the Wildcats, each tallying a 4-over 76.

    Rounding out the lineup for Villanova was Jackson Lehner, a junior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. who registered a 5-over 77 to finish in the group tied for 24^th place.

   Peter Barros, a freshman from Bethesda, Md., competed as an individual for Villanova and matched Lehner’s 77 to join the group in the tie for 24^th place.

   Nathan Marion, a freshman from San Antonio, Texas, also competed as an individual for the Wildcats and recorded an 80 to finish among the group tied for 31^st place.

   Backing up Romanov for La Salle were sophomore Kevin Lydon, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as senior at Central Bucks West in 2021, and Gavin Dosch, a freshman from Draper, Utah, each of whom carded a 3-over 75 to finish in the group tied for 15^th place.

   Junior Alex Gekas, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Central York in 2019, was the final counter for the Explorers as he finished in the group tied for 20^th place with a 4-over 76.

   Ben Battye, a sophomore from Torrance, Calif., finished in a tie for 24^th place for La Salle with a 77 and graduate student Karsen Rush, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Chambersburg in 2017, rounded out the lineup for the Explorers as he finished in a tie for 29^th with a 79.

   Backing up Larkin for St. Joe’s were a couple of sophomores, Christian Matt, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Wissahickon, and Matt Zerfass, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Emmaus, as each recorded a 3-over 75 to finish in the group tied for 15^th place.

   Ryan Gorman, a senior from Greenville, S.C., was the final counter for the Hawks as he joined La Salle’s Rush in the tie for 29^th place with a 79.

   Freshman Noah Moelter, who finished in a tie for sixth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Central Bucks South last fall, competed as an individual for St. Joe’s and finished alone in 28^th place with a 6-over 78.

   Three more Hawks finished in the group tied for 31^st place, each posting an 80, including senior Kevin Smith, a member of Strath Haven’s Central League and District One Class AAA championship team as a senior in 2019, sophomore Keller Mulhern, the Inter-Ac League’s regular-season points leader as a senior at Malvern Prep in 2021, and freshman Tyler Leyden, who finished in a tie for 10^th place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Catholic League power La Salle a year ago.