Haverford School's Weissenberger claims two-shot victory in Inter-Ac's Bert Linton Invitational at Aronimink

 

   NEWTOWN SQUARE – Gregor Weissenberger, a junior at The Haverford School, was looking forward to teeing it up in the Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship, on his home course at Aronimink Golf Club.

   The 6,521-yard, par-70 Aronimink layout, a spectacular piece of golf course design by the master himself, Donald Ross, was just pristine on a sun-splashed October Tuesday. And Weissenberger’s game matched the moment and the testy Ross green complexes at Aronimink as he carded a 2-over-par 72 to capture the title in the Bert Linton by two shots over Malvern Prep junior Michael Henry, who earned runnerup honors with an adventurous 4-over 74.

   Weissenberger beat two former Bert Linton winners in Episcopal Academy senior Hunter Stetson, like Weissenberger an Aronimink member, and Malvern Prep sophomore Davis Conaway.

   Stetson, who captured the title two years at Bluestone Country Club, and Conaway, the winner a year ago a few miles down West Chester Pike from Aronimink at Llanerch Country Club, finished in a tie for third place as each posted a 5-over 75. Stetson was officially awarded third place on a back-nine total tiebreaker.

   “I was looking forward to this,” Weissenberger said after his satisfying tour of Aronimink, which will play host to many of the world’s top professional players for the PGA Championship in 2026. “I’m pretty comfortable on the greens here. I had no three-putts.”

   There’s a pretty good chance Weissenberger was the only player in the elite 24-man field who could say that. If you were on the wrong side of the hole on the slick Aronimink putting surfaces on this day, it was a challenge.

   “The pins were in some tough spots,” Weissenberger said.

   The field consisted of the top 18 players from the points list compiled during the six invitationals that comprise the Inter-Ac League’s regular season and six wild-card selections, one each for each Inter-Ac coach.

   Stetson, who will join the program at the Atlantic Coast Conference’s North Carolina State at the end of next summer, was the runaway winner of that regular-season points race. He picked up his Inter-Ac Champion Golfer of the Year trophy in the awards ceremony following Tuesday’s play.

   Weissenberger finished ninth on the points list, but he was a key contributor to Haverford School’s first Inter-Ac team title since 2019.

   ”I broke 40 in every invitational with a low of 1-over 37 at Bluestone,” said Weissenberger, part of an eight-man contingent of Fords in the field.

   And the same consistency Weissenberger showed all season was evident again in the Bert Linton Tuesday as he became Haverford School’s first individual Inter-Ac champion since Davis Rosato captured the title in 2016, the last time it was held at Aronimink.

   Weissenberger made a birdie at the 353-yard, par-4 sixth when he stuck his approach from 90 yards away to a foot.

   Then he did what any good player would do at Aronimink: Attack the par-5s.

   Weissenberger got it up and down for birdie on the 515-yard ninth hole after his second shot found the bunker left of the green. He bombed his second shot on to the green at the 516-yard 16^th hole and just missed a 15-foot putt for eagle, settling for a two-putt birdie.

   That got Weissenberger to even-par for his round, but he followed it up with his biggest mistake of the day, a double bogey at the 172-yard, par-3 17^th hole. The lead group of Stetson, Conaway and Henry was two groups behind Weissenberger, but he was hearing that he might be in the lead.

   “I was hearing I was in the lead by two or three shots and I think I got a little nervous,” Weissenberger said. “I hit my tee shot in the water.”

   Turned out 2-over was more than good enough. Weissenberger gave some credit for the victory to his swing coach, Brian Quinn, the head coach at Temple.

   “He’s really helped me with my confidence,” Weissenberger said. “He helps me a lot swing-wise, but he’s really made me feel like I can be a good player.”

   I followed the final group throughout the round and was treated to a pretty good show. I had covered the AT&T National at Aronimink in 2010 and 2011 and the second of Mike McDermott’s three BMW Philadelphia Amateur victories there in 2013 during my days at the Delaware County Daily Times. Aronimink was even better than I remembered it.

   Henry, the runnerup to Stetson in the regular-season points race, got in trouble off the tee at the short sixth hole, which resulted in a triple bogey. When another errant drive at the 393-yard, par-4 11^th hole resulted in a lost ball and a double bogey, Henry was 6-over for his round.

   But a remarkable up-and-down for par from 90 yards away after yet another errant drive at the 380-yard, par-4 12^th hole seemed to get Henry going and he hit it to three feet at the 354-yard, par-4 13^th hole and converted the birdie try and then knocked it to 10 feet at the 190-yard, par-3 14^th and made the birdie putt to surge back into contention.

   Like Weissenberger, Stetson, playing on his home course, got the Aronimink par-5s, jamming in a 22-foot birdie putt at the ninth and nearly reaching the front of the green at 16 in two and just missing his try for eagle.

   But Stetson was betrayed by a balky putter all day. He had four-putts at the sixth hole and again at 10 for double bogeys and had a good look at birdie at 11, but couldn’t get the six-footer to fall.

   Stetson’s Bert Linton record over the last three years is pretty impressive, though, with a win and a pair of third-place finishes.

   Stetson entered the fall off a strong summer season, highlighted by a run to the round of 16 in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek Course in Charleston, S.C.

   Conaway was really solid for a long time, but started tugging some shots late in the round, leaving himself short-sided at the par-3 14^th and again at par-5 16^th and at the par-3 17^th, all of which led to bogeys.

   Conaway’s only birdie of the day came at the 433-yard, par-4 15^th hole where an impossible downhill slider from 45 feet was good all the way, but it wasn’t enough. Conaway is only a sophomore, but he was competing in the Bert Linton for a third time.

   Another Malvern Prep youngster, freshman Colby Komancheck, made an impressive Bert Linton debut as he finished a shot behind Stetson and Conaway in fifth place with a 6-over 76.

   Germantown Academy senior Ajeet Bagga, the winner of the regular-season points race a year ago and a runnerup to Conaway in the Bert Linton at Llanerch, shared sixth place with Haverford School sophomore Sean Curran, each posting a 78.

   Malvern Prep junior Brody Bell, who matched par on the outgoing nine at Aronimink with a 35, and Haverford School senior Alex Nemo finished in a tie for eighth place, each recording a 79.

   Penn Charter’s Jasper Dittus rounded out the top 10 as he finished alone in 10^th place with an 80.

   Germantown Academy’s Will Irons, who lost in a playoff to Stetson in the Bert Linton two years ago at Bluestone, and Malvern Prep junior Eamon Cochran finished in a tie for 11^th place, each landing on 81.

   Haverford School junior Harrison Brown was alone in 13^th place with an 82 and Brown’s fellow Ford, J.P. Hoban, a junior, shared 14^th place with Episcopal Academy senior Jack Yearley and Penn Charter’s Jack Sheward, each tallying an 83.

   Haverford School sophomore Nicky Nemo and Episcopal Academy freshman Liam Crowley finished in a tie for 17^th place, each ending up with an 84. Episcopal Academy senior Jack Crowley and the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy pair of Owen Tilsner and Alex Topping were tied for 19^th place, each registering an 85.

   Haverford School’s John Rouse finished in 22^nd place with an 86, fellow Ford Liam McFadden was 23^rd with an 87 and Episcopal Academy senior Jack Logan rounded out the field as he ended up in 24^th with a 97.

   Many of the same top Inter-Ac standouts will tee it up in in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship at Radley Run Country Club outside of West Chester Monday.

   Stetson will defend the individual title he won a year ago in the PAISAA Championship at Brookside Country Club and Germantown Academy and Haverford School shared the team title last fall.

   The Inter-Ac will stage its inaugural Match Play Championship two days later, Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Waynesborough Country Club.