38th Francis X. Hussey Memorial

Biscotti, Johnson birdie last three to win

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. — Thomas Biscotti and Derek Johnson went the wrong way. Then the right way. Then all the way to victory in the 38^th Francis X. Hussey Memorial at Rolling Green Golf Club (par 71, 6,354 yards) Monday.

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The Mountain Top, Pa. residents departed at 8 a.m. with moms Melissa Biscotti and Kristen Johnson handling navigational duties. However, they accidently set Bowling Green Golf Club in Oak Ridge, N.J. as the destination.

Melissa and Kristen, after bypassing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, realized the GPS error and immediately rerouted to get Tom and Derek to their 10:42 a.m. tee time at Rolling Green.

Zero panic from the backseat.

“We were just looking on our phones, not worried for a second,” Derek, 18, said.  

“We were showing each other TikToks,” Tom, 17, added.

Their performance Monday may go viral. The Biscotti and Johnson team birdied its final three holes to finish at 6-under-par 65 and to win by a stroke over Hartefeld National’s Tre Lesperance and Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Jackson Puskar.

The Francis X. Hussey Memorial is a better-ball of partners event.

“It really puts things into perspective. We knew we had to birdie the last three, and we went out and did it. We put ourselves in a good spot,” Johnson, who will attend Western New England University in the fall, said.

“He just played incredible all day. I knew we were going to get [to 6 under],” Biscotti added.

The Biscotti and Johnson team drifted three shots off the clubhouse lead following a bogey on the par 3, 210-yard 10^th hole. Biscotti missed a seven-footer to save par. Johnson sailed the green with a 5-iron and couldn’t get up-and-down. The error ignited a flame.

“We knew we needed to start hitting good shots and making putts to get back to where we needed to be,” Johnson, a Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club member, said.

“We went with the mentality of, ‘Birdie every hole,’” Biscotti, who won his third junior championship at Fox Hill Country Club over the weekend, added. “I wasn’t helping out on the front nine. I tried to lock in and help on the back.”

And he did. Biscotti drove the gettable par 4, 260-yard 12^th hole and totaled two putts from 30 feet for birdie. His par on the next hole (par 4, 410 yards) kept the team at 3 under. As a thank you of sorts, Johnson birdied the last three holes. On No. 16 (par 3, 121 yards), he stuck a 54-degree wedge to three feet. Both Johnson and Biscotti stood in prosperous positions for red on No. 17 (par 5, 516 yards). Johnson’s 5-iron from 205 yards settled on the green’s back edge. A two-putt from 30 feet produced a 4; Biscotti made a seven-footer for birdie.

The Biscotti and Johnson team arrived at Rolling Green’s closer (par 5, 522 yards) tied for the lead. Both found the fairway. Biscotti’s second shot traced the flagstick, but carried into the backside rough. Johnson caught the left greenside bunker with a 5-iron from 200 yards. The team’s prospects, based on position alone, appeared as unsteady as a polar bear on ice skates.

Biscotti treated his downhill chip for eagle delicately, as expected. His ensuing eight-footer for birdie grazed the right edge. Despite the heat (temperatures soared to the mid-90s) and the heat of the moment, Johnson didn’t break a figurative sweat. His sand shot stopped two feet from the hole.

“That was probably one of the best bunker shots of my life,” Johnson said. “I had a good lie. I knew it was a decent 25-yard bunker shot, so I knew I had to get more club on it and get it to check. It bounced once and stopped. We knew one of us had to get up and down.”

Sans hesitation, Johnson dropped his birdie putt dead center for the win.

“I’m happy for him. I’m happy for us,” Biscotti said. “I’m just looking forward to the rest of the year.”

Friends since their days at Fairview Elementary School, Biscotti and Johnson competed on the Crestwood High School golf team together. They crystalized their team chemistry this past season as partners. Biscotti is a rising senior at Crestwood.  

Although they will now head their separate ways academically, Biscotti and Johnson ultimately traveled the right way Monday.

Maybe next time, Bowling Green.

“I don’t think it would’ve worked out well if we went there,” Johnson said.

Junior-Junior Division
Classmates Christos Bottos and Eric Cunningham carded a 3-under-par 33 to capture the event’s Junior-Junior Division (par 36, 2,592 yards).

“We mostly helped each other out. When I did bad, he did good, and when I did good, he did bad,” Bottos, 12, of Berwyn, Pa., said.

Back-to-back birdies on Nos. 6 (par 3, 124 yards) and 7 (par 5, 405 yards) elevated the incoming seventh graders at Tredyffrin/Eastown Middle School to the winner’s circle. On the former, Bottos, a member of the host club, hit a 6-iron to four feet. A GAP Youth on Course member, Cunningham, 12, of Wayne, Pa., canned a 20-footer for birdie on No. 7.

Bottos’ sister Nicolette teamed with Whitford Country Club’s Corinne McReynolds to take the Junior Girls’ Division (par 71, 6,354 yards). The duo carded a 4-over-par 75. The Springhaven Club’s Jake Lairdieson and DuPont Country Club’s Meredith Finger won the Mixed Division (par 71, 4,941 yards) with a score of 4-under-par 67.

NOTES
Union League Golf Club at Torresdale’s Logan Cassidy aced the par 3, 121-yard 16^th hole with a 54-degree wedge. It marked his first career ace. Cassidy, 15, of Bensalem, Pa., is a rising sophomore at Holy Ghost Preparatory School … Francis X. Hussey, the tournament’s namesake, was a Junior member at Rolling Green. He suffered from congenital heart disease and died in December 1983 while undergoing major heart surgery. He was 13 years old when he died. Francis was a student in the Haverford Township school system, an avid sports fan and an active junior member at Rolling Green. His courage in the face of his illness was a great inspiration to all who knew him.

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 Association’s 300 Member Clubs and 80,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.