Brexler, Moyer team up to finish strong and capture title in Francis X. Hussey at Rolling Green

 

   Andy Brexler, a senior on the Central Bucks West golf team, willed his 20-foot birdie putt at Rolling Green Golf Club’s 501-yard, par-5 18^th hole into the bottom of the cup Monday to lift him and John Moyer, a senior on the Central Bucks South golf team, to victory in the 40th Francis X. Hussey Memorial, a Golf Association of Philadelphia better-ball tournament for junior players.

   The two 17-year-olds had played in the Hussey a year ago and left feeling like they had left a lot on the golf course in carding a 3-under-par 68.

   They were back with a purpose this year and Brexler’s birdie putt completed a 7-under 64 tour of the 6,860-yard, par-71 William Flynn gem in the heart of Springfield, Delaware County that gave them a one-shot victory over Ryan McNett, a USGA/GAP entry and Kingston Davis of Kings Creek Country Club.

   Brexler, a Doylestown resident, plays out of Commonwealth National Golf Club in Horsham and Moyer, a Warrington resident, was representing Greate Bay Country Club at the Jersey Shore. Both were District One Class AAA qualifiers as juniors a year ago with Brexler advancing out of districts to the state tournament at Penn State.

   Francis X. Hussey, in whose memory the tournament is played, was an active junior golfer at Rolling Green and a student in the Haverford Township school district who suffered from congenital heart disease and died at age 13 while undergoing major heart surgery in December of 1983.

   It has become a very popular event among the region’s junior players with nearly 70 teams comprising the Junior Boys’ division this year.

   Brexler got his team off to a good start at Rolling Green’s 432-yard, par-4 first hole when he stuck an 8-iron from 165 yards to six feet and rolled in his birdie try.

   Moyer made a birdie at the fourth hole and then went back-to-back at the tough 248-yard, par-3 10^th and the 356-yard, par-4 11^th.

   Moyer hit a 6-iron to 10 feet at the 10^th hole and drained the birdie putt and dropped an eight-footer for birdie at 11.

   Brexler started the team’s closing kick when his 50-footer for birdie at the 146-yard, par-3 16^th hole fell to get Brexler and Moyer to 5-under for the round.

   It was Moyer doing the honors at the 510-yard, par-5 17^th hole as he holed a 20-footer for birdie.

   It was left to Brexler to finish the job by dropping his 20-foot birdie putt at the last.

   “We definitely made a lot of putts,” Moyer told the GAP website. “I felt like we didn’t hit the ball extraordinarily well. Our short games were working really well and being able to convert a lot of putts helped us feel confident when we had some pressure.”

   McNett and Davis finished a shot behind Brexler and Moyer in second place with a sparkling 6-under 65.

   Three teams finished two shots behind McNett and Davis in a tie for third place at 4-under 67, including Calvin Pace of Whitford Country Club and Ian Larsen of Honeybrook Golf Club and a senior on the Downingtown West golf team, Cedarbrook Country Club’s John Gavaghan and Tristan Smith, who were seniors on a La Salle team that finished in fifth place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall, and the Haverford High duo of Kieran Gillespie, a GAP Youth on Course entry, and Charlie Robinson, a USGA/GAP entry and a District One Class AAA qualifier last fall.

   The Radnor High duo of Sebastian Leone, playing out of Radnor Valley Country Club, and Gavin Reger, a Waynesborough Country Club entry, headed a group of four teams tied for sixth place at 3-under 68.

   Leone and Reger were freshmen on a Radnor team that finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AAA team standings last fall, a shot behind state champion Unionville.

   The duo of White Manor Country Club’s Logan Turner and Overbrook Golf Club’s Lannon Boyd were also among the four teams tied at 3-under.

   Turner finished in a tie for 15^th place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a freshman at Devon Prep last fall. Boyd, who will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer, was the co-medalist in the Central League Championship last fall for the second time in his career with the Raptors and was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior.

   RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve’s Colby Komancheck teamed with The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt to join the group at 3-under.

   Komancheck, whose parents Jamie and Kelly are the husband-wife team of PGA professionals in charge of the pro shop at RiverCrest, capped his junior season at Malvern Prep last fall by capturing the individual title in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship at Radley Run Country Club.

   Kleinschmidt, a recent graduate of Strath Haven who will join the program at PSAC power Millersville later this summer, reached the final of the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club earlier this summer before falling to Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane.

   Rounding out the group of four duos tied at 3-under was the Jersey Shore pair of Keller Tannehill of Atlantic City Country Club and Paul Reilly, who plays out of Galloway National Golf Club.

   Christos Bottos of host Rolling Green partnered with Eric Cunningham of St. Davids Golf Club as they headed a trio of players tied for 10^th place at 2-under 69.

   Logan Cassidy of the Union League Golf Club Torresdale, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep last fall, and his fellow Firebird Jake Smaron, playing out of the John F. Byrne Golf Club, were also in the group at 2-under.

   Rounding out the trio tied at 2-under was the tandem of Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Jake Yerkes and Philmont Country Club’s Ben Robbins, teammates on Catholic League power La Salle.

   The Brookside Country Club pair of Rayna Maguire and Anastasia Schell was the only entry in the Junior Girls’ division and recorded a 116.

   The team of Helmut Dang of White Manor Country Club, a fixture on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour boys 13-to-15 division leaderboards this year, and Jack Gilbert of Gulph Mills Golf Club captured the title in the Junior-Junior Boys’ division on the second hole of a playoff.

   Dang and Gilbert, the son of Gulph Mills head pro Tom Gilbert, had finished in a tie atop the leaderboard with the Waynesborough Country Club pair of Jackson Ehrlich and Jack Kolmer, each touring the outgoing nine at Rolling Green in 1-over 37.

   The duo of Llanerch Country Club’s Ryan Comly and Overbrook’s Bobby Stefanski shared third place with the North Hills pair of Samuel Karas and Jackson Jones, each ending up with a 2-over 38.

   Three teams finished in a tie for fifth place at 5-over 41, including the Overbrook duo of Nolan English and Ryan Stefanski, the Whitemarsh Valley Country Club pair of Finnegan Kelly and Finn Funston and the Aronimink Golf Club tandem of Luke McDermott and Brendan McDermott.