Curran, Nemo set up a rematch of last year's final in the quarterfinals of GAP Junior Boys at Chester Valley

 

   The Merion Golf Club pair of Sean Curran and Nicky Nemo, recent graduates of The Haverford School, will reprise their meeting in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship title match a year ago, but this time in the quarterfinals.

   The 112^th GAP Junior Boys’ Championship got behind schedule as a result of Monday’s stormy weather that hit Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County pretty squarely.

   There was still some golf to be played to complete stroke-play qualifying for match play Tuesday morning, although Curran, who defeated his Merion clubmate and Haverford School teammate Nemo in the final at Merion’s West Course a year ago, was exempted into the top seed in match play as the defending champion.

   There was a playoff among seven players who carded 4-over-par 74s for the final five spots.

   The plan was to play two rounds of matches Tuesday and get it down to four semifinalists. But the two suspensions and the resumption of play Tuesday only allowed for the round of 16 matches to be played.

   I’m guessing GAP will try to get in two rounds of matches Wednesday with the two finalists battling it out to put their name on the Peg Burnett Trophy Thursday.

   With the match-play bracket finally set Tuesday, there was no more intriguing round-of-16 matchup than the one between Inter-Ac League rivals Nemo and Aronimink Golf Club’s Liam Crowley, who captured the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship and helped Episcopal Academy capture the Inter-Ac team crown as a junior with the Churchmen last fall.

   The Haverford School-EA rivalry is as intense as any in the Philadelphia region and the Fords have been the dominant power in golf in recent years. But Episcopal Academy claimed Inter-Ac supremacy last fall in an incredibly tight three-way battle among the Churchmen, the Fords and Malvern Prep.

   Nemo and Crowley traded wins on the outgoing nine at Chester Valley, once the home of the Bell Atlantic Classic on what was then called the PGA Senior Tour, and the pair were all even heading for the back nine.

   Nemo, however, grabbed a 2-up lead with consecutive wins at the 10^th and 11^th holes on what looks like were concessions by Crowley.

   Crowley cut the deficit to 1-down by taking the 13^th hole, but Nemo restored his 2-up advantage with a win at 14.

   Crowley kept battling, again cutting his deficit to 1-down with a win at the 16^th hole. But Nemo grinded out halves at the final two holes to pull out a 1-up victory.

   Curran, who is headed for the Ivy League and the program at Penn this summer, never quite recaptured the magic of his junior season when he swept to titles in the Bert Linton and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship and led Haverford School to the Inter-Ac team crown, as a senior last fall.

   Not that he was bad. He had just set a pretty high bar for himself.

   Curran rolled to a 5 and 3 victory over Keller Tannehill of Galloway National Golf Club to set up his rematch with Nemo in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   A couple of Central League standouts, McCall Golf Club’s Seiji Sako, who made a third straight appearance in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Lower Merion last fall, and Radnor’s Brad McDermott, who made a second appearance in the Class AAA state tournament as a senior at Radnor last fall, were survivors of the 7-for-5 playoff with a steady rain coming down in the morning and won their round-of-16 matches in the afternoon to reach the quarterfinals.

   Sako, who earned a spot in the match-play bracket in last week’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Sunnybrook Golf Club, cruised to a 6 and 4 decision over Blue Bell Country Club’s Ty Sheftic, a senior on the Wissahickon golf team.

   Sako earned a mention in GAP’s Day One notebook on the Philly Am last week after he survived a less stressful 10-for-9 playoff to nail down a spot in the match-play bracket. He plans to try to walk on at Penn State. As he has proven these last two weeks, the kid can play.

   Sako’s quarterfinal opponent will be Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, who knocked off another McCall entry, Quinn Gallagher, who will be a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School this fall, with a hard-fought 1-up decision.

   It was an impressive 4 and 3 victory in the round of 16 for McDermott over RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve’s Colby Komancheck, who will be a senior at Malvern Prep this fall and has been one of the Inter-Ac’s top players for the last three falls.

   Komancheck, who captured the individual crown in the PAISAA Championship at Radley Run Country Club to cap his junior season with the Friars, still had three holes left to complete stroke-play qualifying with rain coming down early Tuesday morning.

   Komancheck made three pars to complete a 1-over 71 that gave him a share of medalist honors in qualifying with The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt, a recent Strath Haven graduate.

   McDermott, the son of three-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship winner Michael McDermott, will join the program at Bucknell later this summer.

   McDermott’s quarterfinal opponent will be Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Liam Littleton, a senior on the golf team of Catholic League power La Salle who claimed a 4 and 3 decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s Harry Neilly, yet another Haverford School guy who will be a senior with the Fords this fall.

   Kleinschmidt, a District One Class AAA qualifier in each of his last two seasons at Strath Haven, rolled into the quarterfinals with an 8 and 6 victory over Nathan Goblirsch, a GAP Youth on Course entry from Hammonton, N.J.

   Kleinschmidt’s quarterfinal opponent will be Galloway National Golf Club’s Paul Reilly, who had to go to the 19^th hole to get past Fox Hill Country Club’s Liam Gill, a sophomore on the golf team at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre.

   GAP also crowned a Junior team champion at the end of stroke-play qualifying and Overbrook Golf Club edged Merion by a shot with a 21-over 231 total.

   Overbrook was led by Lannon Boyd, who qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Radnor last fall.

   Boyd, who will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer, just missed out on a spot in the Championship Flight with a 5-over 75. Boyd is still alive in the First Flight, however, after earning a 1-up victory in the round of 16 over Philmont Country Club’s Benjamin Robbins, a senior on the La Salle golf team.

   Boyd’s quarterfinal opponent will be Wilmington Country Club’s Connor Smolenski, another member of Episcopal Academy’s Inter-Ac championship team as a junior last fall, in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals. Smolenski pulled out a 1-up decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s Jesse Shurman in his round-of-16 match.

   Backing up Boyd in Overbrook’s winning team effort were Freddy Hartmann, also a junior on Episcopal’s Inter-Ac championship team last fall, and Cole Berry, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at West Chester Rustin last fall, both of whom tallied a 78.