120th GAP Open: Round Two

LuLu’s Rusk survives playoff, grabs Open trophy

MALVERN, Pa.–Jon Rusk rebooted his amateur golf career when he was reinstated in 2019. On the precipitous of his greatest golf accomplishment, Rusk took advantage of another second chance. The LuLu Country Club front man survived a three-man, four-hole aggregate playoff to capture the 120^th Open Championship Wednesday at Applebrook Golf Club (par 70, 6,894 yards). At the age of 45, it was his first GAP Major title.

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Rusk defeated Cedarbrook Country Club assistant pro Andrew Cornish and amateur Zak Drescher of Bent Creek Country Club, the reigning Middle-Amateur Champion. Rusk amassed 15 strokes in the playoff; Cornish 17 and Drescher 19. Cornish earned the low professional top prize of $8,000. His largest check as a professional.

“I’ve never won a GAP Major. I haven’t really played in too many but I’ve been thinking about it a lot this last year or so. I failed as a professional and I have a lot of scar tissue from that. [This] helps peel some of that away. It feels good,” said Rusk, of Glenside, Pa. “I have some friends’ names on that trophy. Mr. [William] Hyndman is on there. Mr. [R. Jay] Sigel is on there. To have your name on a trophy with those guys is pretty cool to begin with. I’m proud of that fact.”

Rusk, who spent time on the Buy.com Tour in the mid-to-late 2000s, is the first individual to win the Open representing LuLu. Overall, 14 amateurs have won the Philadelphia Open Championship on 23 occasions.

Cornish, Drescher and Rusk each had a chance to win the Open in regulation with birdie putts on No. 18 (par 4, 483 yards). Rusk had the best and final look, an eight-footer from right of the cup that skimmed the edge.

All three finished the 36 holes at 4-under-par 136. Rusk carded a second-round 70. Cornish and Drescher 68s.

“It was everything I wanted [this tournament] to be. I really battled out there,” said Cornish, 25, Pottstown, Pa. “I felt like yesterday I had my best stuff. I kind of kept grinding it away today.”

The top of the scoreboard seemed to be forever changing as temperatures rose into the 90s once again with six different individuals grabbing at least a share of the top spot. Cornish and Drescher were late adds courtesy of some heroics. On No. 16 (par 5, 602 yards), Drescher sank a 9-iron from 141 yards for an eagle to move to 4 under, where he finished. Cornish made circles on Nos. 14 (par 4, 464 yards) and 16 to enter the fray.

“It looked good the whole way,” said Drescher, 35, of Lancaster, Pa. “I couldn’t see it go in. I just heard my dad shout.”

The regulation theatrics transitioned into the Jon Rusk experience in the playoff.

The extra session started on No. 8 (par 5, 583 yards). Rusk’s second shot stopped almost hole high left of the green in a closely mowed area approximately 10 yards from the cup. As Cornish and Drescher were in the midst of grinding out a par and bogey, respectively, Rusk chipped his third shot in for an eagle. The ball gingerly traveled down the slope before softly dropping to the bottom of the cup. In an instant, Rusk held a two-shot lead.

“I felt pretty good on the first playoff hole. I knew I was in a good spot there,” said Rusk. “I really felt that that was my kind of a shot. You just let the club fall down on it. I told my caddie [Kyle Sprit] that it’s probably going to go in before I hit the shot and it did.”

On No. 9 (par 3, 153 yards), Rusk almost copied his earlier effort. He lofted a 9-iron that landed eight feet below the cup. A few hours earlier, Rusk bogeyed No. 8 in the second round before almost jarring the same 9-iron for an ace. It stopped a foot short. The playoff birdie caught the left side of the cup and dropped. Drescher made par and Cornish saw his par effort spin out.

Rusk five strokes. Cornish nine strokes. Drescher 10 strokes.

The par 5, 540-yard 10th hole was next.

Rusk added some mini-drama with a poor third shot from the greenside bunker, but salvaged par. Cornish gained one stroke with a nifty birdie from the right side of the green. Rusk 10 strokes. Cornish 13 strokes. Drescher 14 strokes.

On No. 18 (par 4, 483 yards), as weather approached, Rusk went fairway and green. He had 45 feet for birdie. The horn blew at 2:52 p.m. Play restarted at 3:48 p.m.

Rusk sent his birdie effort 10 feet past the cup. His par try missed a foot long, but the stress all gone. He tapped in for the win.

Rusk is officially on vacation. He’s heading to the Jersey shore at Wildwood to meet his family. He’s a few days late but his children, 11, 9 and 7 years old, will appreciate the reason why.

“My kids give me a hard time. They see some trophies at my house from the 1900s. I haven’t won anything,” said Rusk. “I’ve won club championships and stuff like that, but I haven’t won anything like this in 20-some years.”

A new conversation starter has entered the Rusk picture. It’s called the Johnny J. McDermott Trophy, presented to the winner of the Philadelphia Open.

NOTES–The purse for the Philadelphia Open is $40,000.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 340 Member Clubs and 110,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.