HAVERFORD – Add the name of Josh Ryan to the considerable golf lore at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, the Grande Dame of the Main Line where golf history oozes up out of the ground.
The kid from Norristown painted a golf masterpiece 10 miles from where he grew up with a scintillating 5-under-par 65 Tuesday that gave him medalist honors in qualifying for match play by two shots in the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship.
Ryan had opened with a 3-under 67 Monday at Philadelphia Country Club and his second round at Merion left him with an 8-under 132 total.
But this second round, at the fabled Merion, this was something special.
He had plenty of support, too, with his family out there and a gang of Norristown-Plymouth types from The 1912 Club who came out to cheer on their favorite son. And boy, did he give them something to cheer about.
“It’s awesome,” Ryan told the USGA website about getting a chance to shine in a home game. “There’s a lot of people who’ve never seen me play who were able to (watch me) play this week. So … it was super special. (Some) guys took a bus over here this morning.
“There’s no experience like staying in my own bed, eating my mom’s food. And just excited to be (playing) my style of golf.”
I stopped being surprised by Josh Ryan a long time ago, right about the time when he won the title in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship at the Country Club of York in 2020, a few weeks after capturing the first of his first three straight crowns in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship.
The Sigel Match Play isn’t a junior event, it is a PAGA major championship and Ryan defeated Rick Stimmel, who has been making the match-play bracket in U.S. Senior Amateurs lately. Ryan was 16.
Couldn’t hang around for the post-round press conference, but I got all I wanted to see on the golf course. Those guys and gals who came over from The 1912 Club may never witness a better round of golf live than the one they saw Tuesday. It was really something special.
The 22-year-old Ryan drilled his approach at the opening hole to 10 feet and dropped the birdie putt.
Ryan’s drive at the par-5 second hole found the left rough and he had to gouge it out, advancing it maybe 100 yards. His 7-iron third shot landed past the pin and spun back into the hole for an eagle that electrified the crowd and, I’m quite certain, sent a collective “Whoa” through the compact East Course layout in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.
Ryan’s caddy, Liam McFadden, a member of a pretty golf team at The Haverford School last fall, informed me the shot came from 173 yards away.
Ryan had a pretty look at birdie at the par-3 third, but his 7-foot putt slid by.
Forced to lay up at the par-5 fourth hole after driving it in the rough, Ryan left himself three feet behind the hole with his approach. It was a downhill slider, but Ryan got it to fall. He was 4-under for four holes and suddenly very much in contention for medalist honors.
A drive in the right rough led to a bogey at the par-4 fifth hole, which has looked like the hardest hole on the golf course in the two days of stroke play.
A perfectly executed chunk and run from the right rough after another wayward drive enabled him to save par at the par-4 sixth hole.
Ryan settled for pars until the Bobby Jones hole, the short, par-4 11th, where he rolled in a 10-footer for birdie.
His approach at the par-12 hole, settled on the fringe, but up against the collar and led to a three-putt that dropped him back to 3-under for the round.
There was some chatter in the gallery that Ryan’s group had been put on the clock, kind of curious since it had been held up by the last couple of groups that started off of the 11th tee in the morning wave.
Ryan responded by ripping off three straight birdies that pretty much put away the race for medalist.
Ryan drained a 20-foot birdie putt from the right front of the green at the short, par-3 13th hole. His playing partners, Aidan Tran, a recent Georgia Tech graduate from Fresno, Calif., and Englishman Sam Easterbrook, a senior on the Purdue golf team, dropped their birdie putts right on top of Ryan’s, giving the crowd that gathers around the green in close proximity to the clubhouse quite a show.
Ryan then stuffed his approach at the par-4 14th hole to four feet and made the birdie putt. Clearly feeling it now, he hit it to five feet at the par-4 15th hole and converted that birdie try. He was 6-under for the day, 9-under for two days. It was over.
Ryan grinded out pars on the next two holes. By the 17th tee, his group was waiting for the last group of the afternoon wave to tee off at 11, so they had solved any slow-play issues.
A 64 would have been nice. It is the competitive course record at Merion (the legendary Lee Mackey did it in the opening round of the 1950 U.S. Open and proceeded to shoot 81 in round 2), a total matched in the opening round when Drake Harvey, an incoming freshman at Brigham Young from Henderson, Nev. returned to the course Tuesday morning and made birdies at the ninth and 10th holes to complete a 6-under 64.
But Ryan had met his most important goals. He was in the match-play bracket and he was the qualifying medalist, barring an 18th hole meltdown.
He played it smart, driving it in the right rough as far away from the out-of-bounds stakes on the left side as possible. He laid up to 100 yards and then hit it the back of the green.
Ryan still had a 25-foot par putt to match Harvey’s 64, but he made sure to get the two-putt for his third bogey of an otherwise masterful performance.
Fun fact: Ryan finished in a tie for fourth place in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion as a 17-year-old in 2021. The player with whom he shared fourth place that week, Jimmy Ellis, then a Pittsburgh guy who has relocated to Jacksonville Beach, Fla., was the medalist in qualifying for the U.S. Amateur two years ago with an otherworldly second-round 61 at the Chaska Town Course, the alternative qualifying course for the U.S. Am at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
You could see this coming.
Ryan fell in a playoff with Merion Golf Club’s Drue Nicholas in a playoff for the Philadelphia Open crown last month at Lancaster Country Club, a William Flynn gem. It was the second straight Philly Open title for Nicholas, an Egg Harbor Township, N.J. native who starred at Drexel.
Ryan punched his ticket to the U.S. Amateur with a solid 2-under 69 in Final Qualifying at nearby Llanerch Country Club.
There couldn’t possibly be better preparation for a U.S. Amateur at Merion than three rounds in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Oakmont Country Club, the Henry Fownes design in suburban Pittsburgh that just might be the toughest test in America.
Ryan passed that test with flying colors, capturing a Pennsylvania Amateur crown by three shots.
Ryan awaits a first-round opponent in match play.
Several players still have to finish their second round and that will be followed by what looks like a bulky playoff, something along the lines of 17 guys vying for the last 11 spots in the match-play bracket.
Ryan capped his college career at Liberty by helping the Flames capture the Conference USA title. Liberty lost in a playoff to San Diego in the NCAA Corvallis Regional for the final ticket to the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Ryan will be joined in the match-play bracket by his Liberty teammate Michael Lugiano, who starred scholastically at Lake Lehman and was the runnerup in the Pennsylvania Amateur a year ago at Huntsville Golf Club, his home course.
Lugiano did represent Liberty in the NCAA Championship at La Costa by capturing the individual title in the Corvallis Regional.
Lugiano added a solid 1-under 69 at Philadelphia Country Club Tuesday to his opening round of 1-over 71 at Merion that left him in the group tied for 16th place at even-par 140.
Ryan’s closest pursuer was Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. and No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Watts will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Tennessee in a few weeks.
Watts announced his presence as a force to be reckoned with in amateur golf last summer when he defeated a field of top collegians in the Sunnehanna Amateur, an Elite Amateur Series event played at Sunnehanna Country Club, an A.W. Tillinghast gem in Johnstown.
Watts ripped off a 5-under 65 of his own Tuesday at Philly Country after opening with a solid 1-under 69 at Merion Monday for a 6-under 134 total that left him two shots behind Ryan.
Henry added a 2-over 72 at Philly Country to his sizzling 6-under 64 in the opening round at Merion to finish in a tie for third place with Germany’s Finn Koelle, a senior at Washington, each landing on 4-under 136.
Koelle had opened with a sparkling 5-under 65 Monday at Merion and added a 1-over 71 in his second round Tuesday at Philly Country.
It was a frustrating day for Nicholas and Nick Gross, the former Downingtown West standout who is a junior at Alabama, as both landed on 3-over 143, one shot out of the playoff for the final spots in the match-play bracket.
Nicholas added a 2-over 72 at Philly Country to his opening round of 1-over 71 in his opening round at his new home course at Merion.
Watched Gross’ entire round Monday, a frustrating 3-over 73 that included six birdies.
A bogey at the 10th hole at Philly Country dropped Gross, who will turn 20 a little later this month, to 4-over for the two days of stroke play. He made a birdie at the 17th hole to creep into contention for a spot in the match-play bracket, but came up just short with an even-par 70 that left him at 3-over.
Easterbrook, Ryan’s playing partner, made a couple of costly late bogeys that left him in that group tied for 71st place at 2-over 143.
Aidan Emmerich of Swampscott, Mass. who wrapped up his college career at Temple in the spring, and Logan Paczewski, a scholastic standout at Dallas who will take his last year of college eligibility with La Salle as a graduate student, finished in the group tied for 143rd place at 6-over 146.
Emmerich opened with a 3-over 73 at Merion and added a 3-over 73 at Philly Country in Tuesday’s second round. Paczewski opened with a 3-over 73 at Philly Country and added another 3-over 73 at Merion in Tuesday’s second round.
Eli Spaulding, the Loyola of Maryland junior who captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur crown at Sunnybrook Golf Club in June, added a 4-over 74 at Merion to his opening round of 1-over 71 at Philly Country for a 5-over 145 total.
A couple of Inter-Ac League standouts of recent vintage, Patrick Isztwan, who starred at Penn Charter, and Hunter Stetson, who starred at Episcopal Academy, failed to make the match-play bracket.
Isztwan, the 2017 winner of the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac individual championship as a freshman on his home course at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, bounced back from an opening-round 78 at Philly Country by matching par with a 70 at Merion with a 70 Tuesday for an 8-over 148 total.
Stetson, the 2021 Bert Linton winner as a sophomore at Bluestone Country Club who is a junior at North Carolina State, added a 7-over 77 in Tuesday’s second round at Merion to his opening round of 6-over 76 at Philly Country for a 13-over 153 total. Stetson plays out of Aronimink Golf Club.
Charlie Barrickman, who led Unionville to the PIAA Class AAA team crown last fall, had opened with a solid 1-over 71 at Merion Monday, but struggled to a 79 Tuesday at Philly Country for a 150 total.
Barrickman will join the program at Bucknell later this month. Something tells me we haven’t heard the last from GAP’s Junior Player of the Year a year ago.
Chuck Tragresser, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Franklin Township in 2020, struggled to an 81 at Merion in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 5-over 75 at Philly Country for a 156 total.
Philadelphian Hank Krain-Kancher never got it going this week, adding an 83 at Merion Tuesday to his opening-round 85 Monday at Philly Country for a 168 total.
Krain-Kancher used to show up on Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour leaderboards once upon a time, but I had lost track of him. He got a chance to tee it up at a home U.S. Amateur this week, so the guy can obviously play a little.
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