Aronimink's Bierkan loses in playoff at Delaware Valley Open

   John Bierkan, Aronimink Golf Club’s head of instruction, got himself in a playoff for the Delaware Valley Open title Monday with a 3-under 68 at Laurel Creek Country Club, but came up short on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit.

   Bierkan off to a fast start with birdies on three of his first six holes and eventually caught early leaders Dave Quinn, the veteran from Links Golf Club who had won this event in 2011 and 2012, and Don Allan of Burlington Country Club.

   Allan bogeyed the first hole of the playoff to drop out, but Bierkan and Quinn were just getting started. Three holes later, the fourth of the playoff, Bierkan finally blinked as his approach shot found the water and led to a bogey. Quinn won the hole and the DVO title with a par.

   Among some other top finishers, Overbrook Golf Club’s Eric Kennedy got a share of fifth with a 1-under 70, John Allen of GolfTEC Main Line matched par with a 71 and finished in a tie for 11^th, Billy Stewart of the ACE Club was in a big group in a tie for 14^th at 72, Rolling Green Golf Club’s Mike Little was in a large group tied for 19^th at 73, Aronimink Golf Club’s Nick Knight and Patrick Clark and Radnor Valley Country Club’s Tony Perla were in a big group tied for 26^th with 74s, Radnor Valley’s George Forster and Concord Country Club’s Mike Moses each had a 75 and were tied for 36^th, and Merion Golf Club head of instruction Mark Sheftic, M Golf Range teaching pro Stu Ingraham and Ed Dougherty, a winner on both the PGA and Champions tours, were among a large group of players tied for 49^th at 5-over 76.

Covello, Hill finish atop local U.S. Open qualifier

   A Delco native on a trip home and a relatively new player on the Delco scene landed atop the leaderboard at a local U.S. Open qualfier and earned themselves a trip to golf’s longest day June 2, sectional qualifying for our national championship.

   Medalist honors went to Dan Covello, a Havertown native and Episcopal Academy product who fired a 2-under 69 over the 6,818-yard, par-71 Laurel Creek Club in Mt. Laurel, N.J.

The former Llanerch Country Club member lives in Ponte Vedre Beach, Fla. and is trying to play his way back on the web.com Tour.

   “I’ve been doing all of the Monday qualifiers for the web.com Tour, trying to get my job back,” Covello told the Golf  Association of Philadelphia website. “I’ll take anything I can get myself into.”

Covello played Laurel Creek very professionally, hitting 15 greens in regulation and taking advantage of the par-5s. He will tee it up at Woodmont Country Club in suburban Washington, D.C. in his fourth try at sectional qualifying.

   Covello will be joined at Woodmont by Mark Hill, who joined Rolling Green Golf Club a year ago after playing college baseball at George Mason and trying the Independent League route. Hill might want to give this golf thing a little more of his attention after firing a 1-under 70 to finish a shot back of Covello and easily earn one of just six coveted tickets to sectional qualifying that were available to a talented field.

   “I wanted to do something competitive again since I don’t play baseball anymore,” said the 26-year-old Hill, who works in a law office and resides in Media. “I figured it’d be fun to do something like (U.S. Open qualifying). I played in the GAP Team Matches in the past month. It was fun, I figured might as well go out and let it rip.”

   Michael Tobiason Jr. of Wilmington, Del. was one of four players who matched par at 71 as the quartet grabbed the last four berths to sectionals. Tobiason made it through sectional qualifying in 2011 and teed it up in the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. Also in the group at 71 was Justin Martinson, who won the 2010 Philadelphia Amateur title by beating Overbrook Golf Club’s Michael Kania in the final.

   As always, there were some frustrating near misses, most notably by Merion Golf Club’s Michael McDermott, who carded a 1-over 72. McDermott really wanted to give it his best shot a year ago when the 2013 Open was staged at his home course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township. He failed, but his game was so sharp, he won the first two majors on the GAP circuit, the Mid-Amateur championship for the fourth time and his second Philadelphia Amateur title.

   A couple of Malvern Prep standouts, present and past, were in the next wave. Michael Davis, who will graduate next month after four years as one of the Inter-Ac League’s best players, had a 2-over 73 and Billy Stewart, a dominant player at Malvern a decade or so ago, was another shot back at 74. Stewart is back in the area after spending several years on the professional mini-tours in Florida.

   Among some other finishers of note were Radnor junior Paul Yun (79); Ryan Walker (79) of St. Davids; former Haverford School standout Nelson Hargrove (79), who is coming off a runnerup finish at the Ivy League Tournament to cap his senior at Brown; reigning Daily Times Player of the Year Cole Berman (81) and his Haverford School teammate Jake Van Arkel (81); Chris Hoyle (82) of Drexel Hill; and former Haverford School, Virginia and Villanova standout Cory Siegfried (83), who reached sectional qualifying last year before falling short of making the field for the return of the Open to the historic East Course at Merion.

Overbrook finally on top again in GAP Team Match

   Overbrook Golf Club’s stirring victory in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Team Match playoffs Saturday is covered in detail in Marty Emeno’s excellent story on the GAP website.

   I have to admit I was surprised that Overbrook hadn’t won the top class of the GAP team competition since 1988. Overbrook just has that many good players.

   But Emeno’s story made the point that a core of the old guard – team captain Oscar Mestre, Chris Lange, Frank McFadden and brothers Andy and Ray Thompson were on that championship team 26 years ago – were joined by a group of young guns to bring the title back to Sproul Road. And the youngsters wanted it badly for the Overbrook vets.

   Players like the Kania brothers, James Jr. and Michael, Sean Fahey, Chris Lange’s son, Chris Lange Jr., and McFadden’s son Brad are better golfers for having grown up trying to compete against the “old guys.”

   Fahey, coming off a solid freshman season at Dartmouth, needed trains and automobiles to make the trek from Hanover, N.H. to tee it up for Overbrook. He was part of a formidable trio that represented Overbrook at Aronimink Golf Club that included Michael Kania, a two-time Haverford School All-Delco a year removed from an outstanding career at Villanova, and Greg Jarmas, a PIAA runnerup as a senior at Lower Merion in 2009 who just wrapped up an outstanding career at Princeton with a tie for ninth place at the Ivy League Tournament.

   There were two weather delays at Aronimink, so Fahey’s par on the final hole earned him two points in his match with Little Mill Golf Club’s Matt Gaffney and put Overbrook over the top. Overbrook totaled 69 points, defending champion Philadelphia Cricket Club was second with 64 points, Little Mill was third with 60 and Aronimink was fourth with 23.

   Ironically, it was an Inter-Ac League rival of Fahey’s, reigning Daily Times Player of the Year Cole Berman, a Georgetown commit, who sealed the win for the Cricket Club a year ago in a similar scenario when weather delays made his match at Little Mill the one that decided the outcome.

   James Kania Jr., whose father was a key member of Overbrook’s 1988 champions, was in the Overbrook contingent at the Cricket Club and swept all nine of the possible points he could. Like younger brother Michael, James, the 2005-06 Daily Times Player of the Year, was a two-time Inter-Ac League champion at Haverford School.

Kan's season ends at NCAA Central Regional

   The college golf season for Aurora Kan, who won the 2010 PIAA championship as a senior at Chichester, came to an end a little short of the ultimate goal this weekend.

   Kan and the rest of her Purdue teammates reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago and she finished in a tie for 15^th to help the Boilermakers take third in the team standings.

   This weekend Kan, a junior, carried the Purdue banner alone at the NCAA Central Regional Tournament as the Boilermakers did not earn a team invite to any of the three regional tournaments.

Kan put together rounds of 75, 79 and 78 at the Karsten Creek Golf Club on the campus of Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. for a 16-over 232 total that left her in a tie for 60^th.

   The only two individual berths to the NCAA Tournament went to Kent State’s Wad Phaewchimplee, who captured individual honors at the Central Regional with a sparkling 7-under 209 total, and UNLV’s Dana Finkelstein, who shared second place with Alabama’s Emma Talley at 2-under 214.

   UCLA dominated the team chase with rounds of 299, 289 and 287 for an 875 total that left the Bruins 17 shots clear of runnerup Alabama (295-297-300—892). The other teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament May 20 to 23 at the Tulsa Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. were Mississippi St., California, Big Ten champion Ohio St., Kansas, Arizona and Florida, which defeated Central Regional host Oklahoma St. in a playoff for the final team berth.

   UCLA’s crosstown rival USC will defend its national title in Tulsa after claiming a one-shot victory over host Washington in the West Regional Tournament this weekend in tough weather conditions at the Tumble Creek Club at Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash.

Radnor's Kim steady at Buena Vista

   Radnor freshman Gabby Kim remains a consistent force on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour.

   Saturday the Junior Tour visited Buena Vista Country Club in New Jersey and Kim posted a steady 6-over 78 over the 5,438-yard (for girls), par-72 layout to easily capture top honors in the 13-to-15 age group. Kim had one birdie on the par-4 14^th hole. Christine Shao of Green Brook, N.J. was the runnerup with an 82.

   Stephen Sul of Old Bridge, N.J. had the best score of the day among the boys, his 77 giving him top honors in the 13-to-15 age group.

   Also in that division, Jack McKnight (92) of Villanova finished in a tie for 12^th, Daniel Bullock (98) of Wayne finished 24^th and William Condran (101) of Radnor finished 25^th.

   Benjamin Hoeschel of Hockessin, Del. had the second-best score among the boys, his 78 earning him the top spot in the 16-to-18 division.

   Kelsey Patterson of Allentown topped the 16-to-18 division among the girls with an 87. Bonner-Prendie senior Anna Haley, a Class AAA East Regional qualifier last fall, finished sixth with a 105 and Radnor sophomore Caitlin Bullock finished eighth with a 114.

   Luke Farquhard of Haddon Heights, N.J. topped the nine-holers with a 41. Joseph Morganti of Havertown was the runnerup with a 44. June Kim (46) of Wayne finished in a tie for fourth, Dolan Cox (48) of Newtown Square finished in a tie for eighth, Jackson Fields (50) of Glen Mills and Andrew Miller (50) of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for 10^th and Alec Stern (51) of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for 12^th.

Lutz wins Warner Cup

   Chip Lutz is fast becoming a legendary senior amateur golfer -- nationally, internationally, you name it.

   The 59-year-old Reading-area legend recently represented the United States in the Concession Cup, a Walker Cup-style event that features mid-amateurs, senior amateurs and super-senior amateurs from the United States against Great Britain and Ireland.

    But that doesn’t keep the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s four-time reigning Senior Player of the Year from teeing it up in the Francis B. Warner Cup Thursday at Talamore Country Club.

   Lutz fired a 1-under 70 over the 6,626-yard, par-71 layout to take the Warner Cup by three shots over Overbrook Golf Club’s Chris Lange, Byron Whiteman of Golden Oaks Golf Club and Ed Chylinski of Chester Valley Golf Club, all of whom came in at 2-over 73.

   Overbrook’s Ray Thompson, who lost to Lutz in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Amateur last fall, was another shot back of that trio in a tie for fifth with a 74. Lange and Thompson were tuning up for Saturday’s GAP Team Match playoff, which Overbrook won (more on that in a blog post later this week as some of the details emerge, but how about this trio representing Team Overbrook at Aronimink Golf Club: Michael Kania, Greg Jarmas and Sean Fahey).

   Jon Lavin of Rolling Green Golf Club posted a 4-over 75 to finish in a tie for 10^th.

Rich Thon of The Springhaven Club also had a strong showing with a 78.

   In the Super-Senior division, William Lawler of Fox Hill Country Club emerged from a four-way playoff to take the title. Lawler, Carl Everett of Merion Golf Club, Don Donatoni of White Manor Country Club, Jay Howson Jr. of St. Davids Golf Club and Jon Mayberry of the Moorestown Field Club all came in at 76, but par on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff game Lawler the title.

   Among some of the other top Super-Senior finishers were Gregory Gaul of Merion with a 79 and Rick Bunn of McCall Golf & Country Club with an 80.