Cricket’s Brennan cards 3-under 67 in Rd. 1 of Middle-Amateur

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 MALVERN, Pa.–Buzzwords like redemption and validation have been the theme of the two previous Middle-Amateur Championships. Should this year’s 18-hole leader John Brennan of Philadelphia Cricket Club survive tomorrow’s final round, either descriptor, and probably both, would aptly apply to the 33-year-old resident of Audubon, Pa.

  Brennan, still in search of his first individual Golf Association of Philadelphia victory, has finished in the Top 9 in four of the past six Mid.-Ams. On Thursday, he enters the second round of the 29th Middle-Amateur Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club (par 70, 6,582 yards) fresh off an impressive 3-under-par 67 and in unfamiliar territory with a two-stroke advantage.

  “It would mean the world to me to win it,” said Brennan, a social studies teacher at Spring-Ford High School. “The tough part is probably going to be sleeping on the lead. I’m sure I’ll be getting a lot of text messages tonight from people wishing me luck. It doesn’t matter what it is, whether it is your club championship or playing in the GAP Mid.-Am., sleeping on a lead is tough. But I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

  Ben Smith of Little Mill Country Club, 25, from Philadelphia, Pa., stands alone in second place at 1 under. Michael Brown, 39, of Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association from Cheltenham, Pa., the 2009, Mid.-Am. winner, sits in third place at 1 over. Defending champion Glenn Smeraglio of Mercer Oaks Golf Course missed the cut with an 86.

  The cut-line for the Mid.-Am. fell at 80. A total of 71 players advanced to tomorrow’s second round which starts at 7:30 a.m. Brennan, Smith and Brown begin their final 18 holes at 11:40 a.m.

  Brennan emerged from a jumbled pack when he caught fire on the back nine after posting an even-par 35 on his outward side. He birdied four of his first seven inward holes to rocket up the leaderboard.

  On No. 10 (par 3, 184 yards), he lofted a 6-iron to 15 feet and made the putt before fueling that fire a few shots later when he rolled it in from the front fringe on No. 11 (par 4, 379 yards).

  “The birdie on No. 11 is a funny story,” said Brennan. “Matt [Mattare] hit his second shot out of bounds and Steve [Seiden] pulled his second shot to the left side. So I have a lot of good thoughts going through my head as you can imagine and I leave my second shot short. I used my putter from about three steps off the front and it rolled in. It was probably a good 65 feet.”

  Brennan continued with his torrid birdie pace on No. 14 (par 5, 495 yards) when he got up-and-down from just short of the green and on No. 16 (par 4, 404 yards) when he knocked a pitching wedge from 133 yards to 12 feet.

  Brennan ended the round on a sore note, though, when his 9-iron from 167 yards in the right rough on No. 18 (par 4, 436 yards) rolled over the green and he failed to save par.

  “I caddied here when I was going through college (Lebanon Valley College), so I felt comfortable on the course,” said Brennan. “I felt comfortable I knew the lines and I had a good idea on the greens.”

  Smith, a member of Little Mill CC’s last two GAP Team Matches Championship team, sneaked up into the final pairing with a strong finish as well. He birdied four of his final 10 holes to go from nomad to contender.

  On No. 9 (par 4, 380 yards), he knocked a 92-yard, 54-degree wedge to three feet for birdie. He followed that up on No. 11 (par 4, 379 yards) with a 60-degree wedge from 96 yards to eight feet. On the par 5, 14th, he made a smart up-and-down from five yards short of the green for four before knocking his 60-degree wedge on No. 17 (par 4 385 yards), again from 96 yards, to six feet.

  “My expectations were pretty high [coming in here]. I’ve been playing pretty good golf lately,” said Smith. “Being paired with [past Mid.-Am. Champions] Chris Lange and Chip Lutz was inspiration for me.”

  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 145 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.