Ryan gets share of lead with Keba following opening round of Philadelphia Open at Lancaster

 

   The big stage has never intimidated Josh Ryan.

   When the Norristown native nearly captured the title in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship last week, falling to David Mecca in 20 holes in the final on Mecca’s home course, the Country Club of Scranton, I couldn’t help but think back six years.

   That’s when Ryan, a couple of weeks removed from winning the first of his three straight Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship crowns, beat western Pennsylvania veteran Rick Stimmel to capture the title in the Sigel Match Play at age 16 at the Country Club of York.

   That’s why it wasn’t a huge surprise to open up the leaderboard for GAP’s 122^nd Open Championship at the William Flynn gem that is Lancaster Country Club and find Ryan, playing out of The 1912 Club, sharing the lead following Monday’s opening round after he carded a sparkling 2-under-par 68.

   Couldn’t help remembering the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, site of this summer’s U.S. Amateur, in 2021 when Ryan, still only 17, finishing in a tie for fourth place, just two shots behind the winner, Carlisle’s John Peters, who holed out from 193 yards on Merion’s iconic 18^th hole for eagle to win the thing.

   Ryan nearly finished his college career at Liberty in the spring by making a trip to the NCAA Championship at the Omni LaCosta Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. as the Conference USA champion Flames, seeded 11^th in the Corvallis Regional, lost in a playoff to San Diego for the fifth and final team berth to nationals.

   Ryan finished in a tie for 49^th place with a 3-over 216 total at Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, Ore.

   For my money, there is no bigger stage in this region than the Philadelphia Open. The best Philadelphia Section PGA pros are there, the best college kids, the best recent college grads, the best mid-amateurs, even some high school kids get in there.

   And the 6,827-yad, par-70 Lancaster layout, hosting the Philly Open for the first time, is certainly a worthy canvas. The U.S. Women’s Open has been contested twice at the Manheim Township facility, most recently in 2024 when Yuka Saso captured the title for the second time in her career.

   A yeoman effort by Josh Saunders, the director golf course and grounds at Lancaster, was needed to get the Meadowcreek nine, the front nine in Lancaster’s normal championship course configuration, ready to play after some wild weather over the Fourth of July weekend.

   But LCC was ready and so was Ryan as he earned a share of the lead with John Keba, a USGA/GAP entry who is a senior on the Drexel golf team, each getting it to the clubhouse in perfect summer weather in 2-under.

   After making a birdie at the first hole, Ryan recorded his lone bogey of the day at the fourth. Ryan made a birdie at the sixth hole to get back into red figures and drained a 45-footer to save par at seven. He then rattled off eight more pars in a row before making another birdie at 16. Pars at the final two holes left him at 2-under.

   Ryan is hoping to get another shot at Merion if he can qualify for the U.S. Amateur, but he plans to turn pro soon after that.

   Keba, a scholastic standout at Allentown Central Catholic, also started off the first tee and was up and down on the outgoing nine. After making a bogey at the second hole, Keba made birdies at four and six, bogeyed seven and added a birdie at eight to get back to 1-under for the round.

   After opening the back nine with a birdie at the 10^th hole, Keba settled down and rattled off eight straight pars to join Ryan at 2-under.

   Lurking a shot behind Ryan and Keba was the defending champion, Drue Nicholas, Keba’s former teammate at Drexel who posted a solid 1-under 69.

   Nicholas’ victory in the Philly Open a year ago at Biderman Golf Course came on the heels of his win in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Aronimink Golf Club and made him the first player to pull off the Philly Am-Philly Open double since the late, great Jay Sigel did it in 1987.

   Nicholas was representing Galloway National Golf Club last summer, but he’s joined the deep stable of talent at Merion this year.

   Heading the list of six players tied for fourth place at even-par 70 was the co-low professional following Monday’s opening round, Zac Oakley, an instructor at Biderman.

   Oakley would no doubt love to add his name to the John J. McDermott Trophy alongside that of his dad, Pete Oakley, a back-to-back Philadelphia Open champion in 1989 and 1990.

   Aronimink’s Hunter Stetson, a junior on the North Carolina State golf team, is also in the group tied for fourth place at even-par.

   It was Stetson, a scholastic standout in the Inter-Ac League at Episcopal Academy, who denied Nicholas a chance to win a third GAP major championship in a single season when Stetson defeated Nicholas in a playoff in the Patterson Cup last summer at Waynesborough Country Club.

   Also at even-par was another of the Philly Section’s top players, Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort.

   Rounding out the sixsome tied for fourth place following Monday’s opening round were three amateurs: Corey Wenger, a stalwart on the Lancaster County amateur scene, Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, who wrapped up his junior career last summer with a victory in the Christman Cup, and Philadelphia Cricket Club veteran Mark Miller, who reached the second round of match play in the Philly Am last month at Sunnybrook Golf Club.

   A couple of recent winners on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit and two of the Section’s rising young talents, Anthony Sebastianelli, who is working out of the pro shop at Whitford Country Club, and Llanerch Country Club’s Andrew Cornish headed a group of four players tied for 10^th place at 1-over 71.

   Sebastianelli captured the title in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Laurel Creek Country Club last month. Cornish was the winner in the Conestoga Classic at Conestoga Country Club in Lancaster County in May.

   Cornish was involved in a four-man aggregate playoff for the Philadelphia Open title two years ago at Applebrook Golf Club with Jon Rusk, the general manager at LuLu Country Club emerging with the victory. Cornish, however, did earn the top prize of $8,000 as the low pro.

   One of the Philly Section’s top senior players, Dave Quinn of Laurel Creek, was also in the group tied at 1-over as he tries to reprise his Philly Open victory from 20 years ago.

   Rounding out the foursome tied at 1-over was John Lalley, a veteran mid-am at Llanerch.

   The cut to the low 60 players and ties fell at 6-over as swirling winds and those tricky Flynn green complexes made things tough on the best players in the Philadelphia region.