119th #PattersonCup Round One: Manufacturers’

Keeling, Sheehan share Patterson lead, in search of first title

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa.–The Joseph H. Patterson Cup title tree is ripe for the picking for a pair of upstarts searching for a first GAP Major Championship.

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Andrew Keeling of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club and Patrick Sheehan of Talamore Country Club each carded opening-round 6-under 65s Wednesday at Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club (par 71, 6,706 yards) to lead the Association’s stroke-play championship and to be on the precipice of a GAP breakthrough victory. The path is not easy. A large pack of contenders lurks as 19 players, including seven former Major winners, are within five shots of the lead.

Provident Bank is the Patterson Cup’s presenting sponsor.

The cut line landed at 3-over-par 74. The low 60 scores and ties advanced to Round Two. A total of 75 players made the cut.

The second round begins at 7:30 a.m. The leaders start at 11:40 a.m.

Defending champion Zach Barbin of Loch Nairn Golf Club stands at 1 under.

Keeling and Sheehan, both playing the golf course for the first time, surged to the top rung of the leaderboard with some scorecard synergy. Both had six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys.

Keeling stood level par through four holes, with a birdie and a bogey, before catching fire. He played his final five holes on the front side in 5 under. On No. 5 (par 4, 427 yards), the 29-year-old West Chester, Pa. resident lifted a pitching wedge from 150 yards to two feet; watched a 6-iron on No. 6 (par 3, 190 yards) stop a foot from the hole for a 2 and added an eagle on No. 7 (par 5, 505 yards) when he canned a 20-footer.

“It was uphill. I gave it a pretty good rap. It caught the back of the cup, popped up and dropped,” said Keeling of the eagle.

A par on No. 8 (par 3, 119 yards) followed before finishing his initial nine with a tap-in birdie on No. 9 (par 5, 469 yards) after finding the putting green in two.

“Today I wanted to put together the lowest number I could,” said Keeling. “After making the turn, I just figured get [through] the back nine in even or 1 under. I didn’t want to play the back nine as aggressive considering my front nine score.”

Keeling finished with six pars, two birdies and a bogey on his inward nine.

Sheehan started with three birdies in his first four holes and four birdies in his first seven holes. The 20-year-old Doylestown, Pa. resident almost drove the putting surface on No. 1 (par 4, 374 yards), which plays substantially downhill, and two putted from 25 feet for birdie; on No. 2 (par 4, 392 yards) lifted a pitching wedge from 153 yards to eight feet for another 3 and on No. 4 (par 3, 175 yards) knocked an 8-iron to five feet for a third red number. A poor drive on No. 5 (par 4, 427 yards) resulted in bogey, but Sheehan quickly rebounded. On No. 7 (par 5, 505 yards), he landed a 6-iron from 198 yards 20 feet from the cup. His eagle try slid just by the low side but he tapped in for birdie. He made the turn at 3 under.

A three-putt bogey on No. 11 (par 3, 193 yards), his tee shot stopped 20-feet above the hole, and with no chance of stopping the birdie putt, was left with a 10-footer up-the-hill for par that failed to fall. Sheehan regained the momentum again with an eagle on No. 12 (par 5, 514 yards). He crushed a 7-iron from 190 yards to nine feet and converted the right to left breaker. The Penn State University rising junior finished in a flurry with 3s on Nos. 16 (par 4, 427 yards) and 17 (par 4, 378 yards). On No. 16, he knocked a 52-degree wedge from 143 yards to 15 feet and made the putt and then on No. 17 ripped a 60-degree wedge from 107 yards to two feet.

Keeling and Sheehan have come close to joining GAP’s hall of champions. Keeling dropped a playoff for the 2019 Middle-Amateur Championship to Will Davenport at Rolling Green Golf Club. Sheehan is fresh off runner-up honors in the Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championship last week at Merion Golf Club. He also tied for third in the Open Championship at the Country Club of York in mid-July.

“That was a big experience for me. You aren’t used to the cameras coming out. I think I handled it pretty well then so it’s not going to make me blow up or anything,” said Keeling, a mechanical engineer at Southco, Inc. “I can handle that pressure. Being in this position a second time, it’s good to have that experience under your belt.”

Said Sheehan, “I really want to get a win in a GAP event that would be something special. One of my goals coming into this year was to get that one win.”

The second oldest Championship in GAP, the Joseph H. Patterson Cup memorializes a man who fostered the game in its infancy. Joseph Henry Patterson, a Philadelphia Cricket Club member, competed in the first out-of-town match played by a team of Philadelphians. Friends of Patterson donated the Cup, designed by J.E. Caldwell & Co., to the Association in 1900.

Both the public and media are welcome to attend.

Live scoring is available on the GAP website. GAP also will provide Joseph H. Patterson Cup updates via its social media outlets. Follow @GAofPhilly on Twitter and Instagram. Use the #PattersonCup hashtag when posting.

Silver Cross

Peter Bradbeer of Merion Golf Club, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship Stroke-Play Qualifying medalist, remains the Silver Cross leader with 18 holes to go. Bradbeer carded a 4-under 67 and has a three-round total of 204 strokes. He leads John Peters of Carlisle Country Club by three shots.

Bradbeer, the 2017 Patterson Cup Champion, also won the Silver Cross that year.

The Silver Cross is presented to the player with the lowest aggregate score in the qualifying round(s) of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and the Joseph H. Patterson Cup.

Provident Bank
Provident Bank, a community-oriented financial institution offering “Commitment you can count on” since 1839, is the wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS), which reported assets of $12.92 billion as of Dec. 31, 2020. With $9.84 billion in deposits, Provident Bank provides a comprehensive suite of financial products and services through its network of branches throughout northern and central New Jersey, as well as Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and Queens County in New York. The Bank also provides fiduciary and wealth management services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Beacon Trust Company and insurance services through its wholly owned subsidiary, SB One Insurance Agency, Inc. For more information about Provident Bank, visit providentbank.com or join the conversations on Facebook (ProvidentBank) and Twitter (@ProvidentBank).

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.