Curran cruises to six-shot victory in Bert Linton Invitational with 67 at Whitemarsh Valley

 

   Sean Curran, a junior at The Haverford School, was the best player in the Inter-Ac League this season.

   He proved that by winning the league’s regular-season points race over the six invitationals that comprise the Inter-Ac’s regular season. Curran, who plays out of Merion Golf Club, also led the Fords to their second straight Inter-Ac crown.

   The Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual title is a different sort of test. It’s a one-day 18-hole stroke play event. The top 18 players off the regular-season points list are automatic qualifiers with each coach getting a coach’s pick into the field.

   In recent years, the regular-season points leader – the Inter-Ac has begun handing out its champion golfer of the year award to that player – has not been able to back it up with a Bert Linton victory. There are expectations and there is the not-small matter of a field comprised of the top players from arguably Pennsylvania’s most competitive scholastic league.

   The course is usually top-notch and that was certainly the case this year as the Bert Linton convened at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, site of a regular stop on the PGA Tour -- seriously, a PGA Tour stop every summer in Philadelphia, what a concept – from 1963 until 1980.

   None of it mattered to Curran on a summer-like Tuesday as he lit up Whitemarsh Valley to the tune of a 5-under 67 to add the Bert Linton title to his champion golfer of the year award.

   Whitemarsh Valley is another of the classic layouts that dot the Philadelphia area and was designed by George Thomas, a member of the group of Philadelphia golf course architects who created golf courses here and elsewhere.

   Thomas, a Philadelphia native, headed west and, in tandem with William Bell, designed some of the most iconic layouts in Los Angeles, including Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club and Bel-Air Country Club.

   Curran’s 67 was just a shot off the record for the Bert Linton, established in 2018 by Malvern Prep’s Andrew Curran, not related to Sean, who fired a sizzling 6-under 66 at Sunnybrook Golf Club, just a few miles away from Whitemarsh Valley and also in Whitemarsh Township.

   Curran had a solid summer, highlighted by the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Christman Cup at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. Curran lost in a playoff for the Christman Cup title, which is a one-day 36-hole test that is one of GAP’s major championships for juniors.

   Malvern Prep head coach Gary Duda reported that the greens were slick at Whitemarsh Valley for the Bert Linton and nobody negotiated the fast surfaces better than Curran did.

   I couldn’t make it to the Bert Linton for the first time in a while as I had a looping commitment at Stonewall Tuesday. I was with a group of golf course superintendents who had played Whitemarsh Valley Monday and they confirmed that the greens there were running fast.

   Two of Duda’s Friars, junior Davis Conaway and sophomore Colby Komancheck, finished just behind Curran on the Bert Linton leaderboard as Conaway earned runnerup honors with a 1-over 73, six shots behind Curran, and Komancheck was another two shots behind his teammate Conaway in a tie for third place with Curran’s Haverford School teammate Harrison Brown at 3-over 75.

Davis Conaway, left, and Colby Komancheck

  Conaway, who plays out of Fieldstone Golf Club, saves some of his best stuff for the Bert Linton. He captured the title as a freshman two years ago at Llanerch Country Club and finished in a tie for third place a year ago at Aronimink Golf Club.

   Komancheck plays out of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, where his parents, Jamie and Kelly Komancheck, head the team in the pro shop. Komancheck finished in fifth place in the Bert Linton a year ago at Aronimink.

   Brown captured the title in the last of GAP’s major championships for juniors in the summer, the Jock Mackenzie Memorial at Sandy Run Country Club, and was the winner of the junior club championship at Philadelphia Country Club.

   Senior Michael Henry gave Malvern Prep three players in the top five in the Bert Linton as he finished alone in fifth place with a 4-over 76. Henry was the runnerup in the Bert Linton a year ago at Aronimink.

   One of Malvern Prep’s senior co-captains, Brody Bell, was part of a group of four players tied for sixth place at 5-over 77.

   Bell was joined at 5-over by a pair of Episcopal Academy players in junior co-captain Jimmy Warmkessel and sophomore Liam Crowley and Penn Charter’s Jasper Dittus.

   Senior Mac Traynor, another Malvern Prep co-captain, and a pair of Episcopal Academy sophomores, Freddy Hartmann and Carson Jakuc, rounded out the top 10 in the Bert Linton as they each posted a 6-over 78 to finish in a tie for 10^th place.

   Hartmann was the runnerup to Curran in the regular-season individual points race.

   Malvern Prep junior Thomas Ploszay, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s Alex Topping, Germantown Academy’s Kiran Bagga and Penn Charter’s Casey Felter finished in a tie for 13^th place, each signing for an 80.c

   Radley Run Country Club outside West Chester will host the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship Monday. Since I was unable to get to the Bert Linton, I’m hoping to head down to Radley Run and catch up with some of the Inter-Ac people for a live blog.