Glenmaura’s Matthews keeps rolling, tops U.S. Amateur Qualifier

  VILLANOVA, Pa. —A marvelous week grew in grandeur for Brandon Matthews Monday. Five days after capturing the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 109th Open Championship, he qualified for his first U.S. Amateur Championship. The Dupont, Pa. resident carded a 4-under-par 136 to earn medalist honors in a qualifier at Overbrook Golf Club (par 70, 6,568 yards) and Radnor Valley Country Club (par 70, 6,544 yards).

   “It feels great. All I wanted to do was make it today,” Matthews, 18, said. “I wanted to not only get there, but I want to make it to match play. I’m going to make my own destiny from there. When I got to the last two holes at Radnor Valley [site of Matthews’ final round], I said, ‘I can make an 8 here and still be OK. That’s a comfortable feeling.”

  Joining Matthews as qualifiers for the Championship proper are fellow collegians Christopher Crawford of Spring Mill Country Club, Brandon Dalinka of The Ridge at Back Brook and Overbrook’s own Sean Fahey, who heads to Dartmouth College in the fall. Crawford is an incoming sophomore at Drexel Univeristy, Dalinka a junior at the University of North Carolina. Llanerch Country Club’s Stephen Seiden, a 31-year-old from Drexel Hill, Pa., also advanced. The U.S. Amateur will take place Aug. 12-18 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

  Matthews totaled 11 birdies on the day, finding fairways frequently and firing at flagsticks with little remorse. He emerged as the event’s 18-hole leader by carding a 3-under-par 67 at Overbrook. Matthews opened his bid with a birdie on No. 1 (par 4, 380 yards), hitting a knockdown pitching wedge 127 yards to eight feet. He carded consecutive 3s on Nos. 13 (par 4, 384 yards) and 14 (par 4, 305 yards) to secure 18-hole leader status. Matthews sent a wedge onto the back collar and rolled in a 25-footer on the first, and left a 70-yard wedge at three feet on the latter. He felt far from weary entering the event’s final round.

   “I always have gas in the tank. Sometimes you go through burnout, and I didn’t have that today,” Matthews, an incoming sophomore at Temple University, said.

  Matthews separated himself from the pack at Radnor Valley. He again started with a birdie, powering a 3-iron into the front bunker and splashing out a foot on No. 10 (par 5, 520 yards). He lost a stroke on the par 4, 424-yard 12th hole by depositing a 54-degree wedge into the front bunker. Label 13 and 14 as his lucky numbers, though; Matthews inked red on both at Radnor Valley as well. He hit a 58-degree wedge to five inches on No. 13 (par 4, 320 yards) and to six feet on No. 14 (par 4, 435 yards). The battletested, battle-approved Matthews cited a pair of par saves down the stretch as critical junctures. After watching his 3-iron crash into a tree and potentially out-of-bounds on No. 17 (par 4, 416 yards), he re-teed, only to execute an identical shot. Fortunately for Matthews, he found his first golf ball, punched onto the fairway and slammed a wedge 118 yards to two feet. He sunk a clutch 12-footer for 4 on No. 18 (par 4, 432 yards).

   “Those were really good,” Matthews, the reigning GAP Patterson Cup Champion, said. “At the end of a day like this, you’re starting to get tired. Your swing’s starting to get long. Having that little cushion for the final nine holes in a big event like this is something that’s very big because you might be getting a little tired and go back into old habits. Coming down the end of 36-hole tournaments, I really rely on my short game, and it was there.”

  Matthews’ summer to remember tour will now stop in Massachusetts.

   “To almost make the U.S. Open and to make the U.S. Amateur and hopefully do well in it means a lot,” Matthews said. “My coach (Brian Quinn) has helped me so much over the past year and a half. I’m so thankful to have him. I’ve been very blessed this season.”

  Fahey, 18, of Villanova, Pa., set a competitive course record at Radnor Valley to rocket up the leaderboard Monday. He carded a 5-under-par 65, which featured five consecutive birdies.

   “I wanted to try and focus on hitting the ball a little more solid, and I knew I’d shoot a couple under par if I did that because I was putting really well [at Overbrook],” Fahey said. “I had no idea about the course record. I was just trying to play the last round well. I hit two 4-irons into the last hole. It’s cool to have a course record somewhere.”

  George “Buddy” Marucci, Jr. nearly qualified for his 24th U.S. Amateur Championship. He fell to Dalinka in a sudden-death session after catching the right greenside bunker on Overbrook’s No. 10 (par 3, 178 yards), the first playoff hole, with a 5-iron. Marucci played in the 1981 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club.

   “I wanted to try and get back,” “Marucci, 61, of Villanova, Pa., said. “Frankly, if you told me I was going to be in a playoff for one spot, I probably would have taken it.”

  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 143 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.