#GAPOpen Qualifier: Bluestone

Key strokes: Merion’s Bradbeer tops Open Qualifier

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BLUE BELL, Pa. — Peter Bradbeer is a self-taught pianist. The Merion Golf Club member, inspired by a music class at Bucknell University, started tickling the ivories three years ago.

Bradbeer, using golf clubs as an instrument Tuesday, played beautiful music at Bluestone Country Club (par 71, 6,479 yards). He carded a 3-under-par 68 to earn medalist honors in a GAP Open Championship Qualifier and one of 40 qualifying positions and ties available for the Championship proper.

The cut line stopped at 76 by day’s end. The 115^th Open Championship will take place July 17-18 at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

“There are definitely [piano players] who are a lot better than me,” Bradbeer, 21, of Rosemont, Pa., said. “I’ve become decently good at it. For my 21^st birthday [in March], I got a keyboard. I can plunk through a song if I need to. I’m no maestro, that’s for sure.”

A maestro at Bluestone, that’s for sure.

Bradbeer, now a rising senior at Bucknell, registered 16 greens in regulation and zero bogeys en route to the top of the qualifying charts. Ball-striking proved to be the keystroke.  

“I’ve been absolutely atrocious hitting the ball the past couple of months. I worked with my coach (Brian Quinn). I was bringing it outside at the start of my swing, so we worked on trying to bring the club in and up,” Bradbeer, the 2017 Joseph H. Patterson Cup Champion, said. “Today, it all came together. I was feeling that motion the whole day, and I was just striping it the whole day. I hit it so well out there.”

Bradbeer’s ball-striking graced centerstage immediately. Following a symphonic drive on No. 1 (par 5, 525 yards), he hit a 5-iron 205 yards to 15 feet below the hole location. Bradbeer’s eagle putt lipped on the low side. He tapped in for birdie. Par ditties filled the air until Bradbeer’s next red single on No. 9 (par 4, 435 yards). He tried to cut the dogleg left with a 3-wood, but pushed it into the right fairway bunker. Bradbeer then blasted a pitching wedge from 134 yards to four feet for birdie.

More par ditties on Bluestone’s back nine. The par 3, 149-yard 16^th hole almost became Bradbeer’s breakout hit. His smooth 9-iron wheeled around the jar’s edge and stopped at three feet. Bradbeer missed the birdie putt. He made good on the next hole (par 5, 481 yards), however. Bradbeer’s 3-wood off the tee settled on the downslope in the right rough. His 7-iron from 197 yards didn’t hold the green, leaving the 6’3” swinger with a delicate downhill chip. Bradbeer ran it 10 feet past the flagstick, but made the comebacker for birdie.

Speaking of comebacks, 2019 is showing the makings of one for Bradbeer thus far. He reached the Round of 16 in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Stonewall, falling to eventual runner-up Jeff Osberg of Pine Valley Golf Club, 2&1.

Such an accomplishment alleviated — albeit slightly — the aches of an emotionally difficult 2018 campaign. Bradbeer, as a 2017 Major winner, didn’t scratch the surface of self-expectations. He missed out on match play in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and failed make the Day Two cut in both the Open Championship and Patterson Cup.  

“The weight was too much for me. I put a lot of pressure on myself,” Bradbeer, who works part-time for both Uber and CID Entertainment, said. “Last year was tough. It was frustrating not even being able to come close [to winning a GAP Major]. It hurt. But l learned a lot about myself as a person and my game.

“This year, I just feel like I’m out there to play golf. I know what I’m capable of.”

A lot, if Tuesday is any indication.

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 274 Full Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.