Huntingdon Valley’s Galbreath, McGrath take 32nd Hussey - The Golf Association of Philadelphia

Jul 10, 2017

Huntingdon Valley’s Galbreath, McGrath take 32nd Hussey

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. — Different partner, same result.

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  Daniel Galbreath, who won the Francis X. Hussey Memorial alongside Matthew Acker a year ago, successfully defended his title Monday at Rolling Green Golf Club (par 71, 6,336 yards). He did so with good friend and clubmate Conor McGrath as a teammate. The Huntingdon Valley Country Club members carded a blistering 7-under-par 64 for a two-stroke victory. Tavistock Country Club’s Doug Ergood and Finnian McGarry finished second.

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

  “A few weeks ago, Matt (Acker) was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, and he thought he was still going to be able to play. Then he had an abscess and had to get surgery maybe a week ago,” Galbreath, 18, a recent Lower Moreland High School graduate, said. “Conor was originally supposed to play with Frankie (Gregor). Frankie was playing basketball at Conor’s house. Conor was not there when Frankie broke his foot. On the first tee, we knew we were playing for them today.”

  “We had the same common goal: do it for Matt and do it for Frankie,” McGrath, 17, a soon-to-be senior at The Academy of the New Church, said. “Dan and I play together at the club all of the time. We have a tightly knit group at Huntingdon Valley. We’re all really close.”

  Galbreath and McGrath meshed well to manufacture red Monday.

  “We know each other’s game so well,” Galbreath, who will attend Stetson University in the fall as a finance major, said. “I caddied for Conor in the [BMW Philadelphia] Amateur Qualifier for 36 holes. I know how he hits the ball. I know how he putts. We play together all of the time, so he knows my game, too. We were able to help each other out all day.”

  A 12-footer for par by Galbreath on No. 2 (par 4, 415 yards), and a “saved by the flagstick” chip by McGrath on No. 3 (par 3, 162 yards) provided a much-needed reset at the outset. Galbreath knocked a 60-degree wedge 80 yards to 10 feet for a birdie on No. 5 (par 4, 375 yards). McGrath’s length led to an eagle on the par 5, 514-yard No. 7. He smashed a 6-iron 195 yards to 35 feet left of the hole location. A speedy downhiller rammed into the jar. McGrath, out of the hole after hitting a tree four times, relinquished the red floor to Galbreath on No. 8 (par 4, 404 yards). He pull-hooked a soft 9-iron from 130 yards, but buried an unpredictable 60-footer for birdie.

  “I was stressing, ‘Find the speed. Let’s get out of here with a two-putt,’” McGrath said. “I didn’t want him to get ahead of himself. Then he went and made it.”

  The gettable 12th hole (par 4, 275 yards) yielded another eagle for the Huntingdon Valley, Pa. residents. Galbreath drove the green and drained a 25-footer. The team avenged a bogey on a par 3 (No. 14, 187 yards) with a birdie on a par 3 (No. 16, 127 yards). McGrath stopped a 54-degree wedge at 30 feet. The ensuing conversion placed his team a shot clear of Ergood and McGarry, playing in the group ahead. McGrath erased any doubt when his extrication attempt from the front left bunker on No. 17 (par 5, 486 yards) set up a tap-in birdie.

  With a triumph in his last year of eligibility, Galbreath summarized his Hussey experience with a Hallmark tagline.

  “Back-to-back wins, different partners, great friends,” he said.

Junior-Junior Boys’ Division
Darren Nolan and Henry Fish never played together on the golf course before. They made their team debut a triumphant one.

  Fish, 13, of Malvern, Pa., and Nolan, 13, of Glenside, Pa., claimed the Junior-Junior Boys’ Division title (par 36, 3,333 yards) with a 1-under-par 35.

  Fish, an incoming eighth grader at Malvern Prep, and Nolan, a rising eighth grader at Abington Junior High School, both wanted a clean scorecard but were unable to do so after bogeying No. 2 (par 4, 415 yards). Their collective mindset didn’t change as a result of the early slip-up.

  “You just have to keep playing your game regardless of what your score is,” Fish said. “You have to think about making pars instead of really being aggressive and making silly bogeys.”

  They were able to bounce back in the best-ball format with a birdie on No. 4 (par 4, 355 yards).

  Fish hit his approach shot 30 yards short of the flagstick but used a perfectly-executed pitch with his sand wedge to jar the duo’s first of two birdies. Fish also recorded the other birdie on No. 7 (par 5, 514 yards).

  Nolan, of Talamore Country Club, and Fish, of Chester Valley Golf Club, first met each other on the Philadelphia Junior Tour last year and used good teamwork to claim the title.

  “We were focused on the strategy of the tournament,” Nolan said. “If we would have someone putting for birdie we would try to make it if one of us was in close for a par. This format requires strategy and I think we did a good job today.”

Junior Girls’ Division
Home-club hopeful Kathleen Mark and Llanerch Country Club’s Riley Quartermain carded an 8-over-par 79 to take the event’s Junior Girls’ (par 71, 5,560 yards) title. Mark, a rising freshman at Episcopal Academy, and Quartermain, a soon-to-be freshman at Haverford High School, pointed to a pair of back nine birdies as the day’s highlight. On No. 10 (par 3, 183 yards), Quartermain, 14, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., blasted a 6-iron to 15 feet. Mark, 14, of Media, Pa., lifted a gap wedge 80 yards to 10 feet for a 3 on the par 4, 281-yard 12th hole.

Junior-Junior Girls’ Division
Huntingdon Valley Country Club Members Molly Gregor, 13, of North Wales, Pa. and Emma McGrath, 12, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. claimed the Junior-Junior Girls’ Division (par 36, 3,333 yards. Gregor, a rising eighth grader at the Ancillae-Assumpta Academy, and McGrath, a rising seventh grader at Bryn Athyn Church School, carded a 6-over-par 42.

  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.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
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 153 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.

Boys
Junior
Name, club Score
Daniel Galbreath/Conor McGrath, Huntingdon Valley Country Club 64
Finnian McGarry/Doug Ergood, Tavistock Country Club 66
Noah Harrington/Matt Graeff, Cedarbrook Country Club/Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club 70
Cole Kemmerer/Jacob Zeng, Waynesborough Country Club/Applecross Country Club 70
Timmy Lorenzo/Stephen Lorenzo, Philadelphia Cricket Club/Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club 70
Shane McCullough/Buddy Hansen, IV, Blue Bell Country Club 71
Greg DeLuca/Chris Benvenuto, Makefield Highlands Golf Club/Philadelphia Junior Tour 71
Ryan Tall/Alex Cook, Spring Ford Country Club/Waynesborough Country Club 71
Jack Habeeb/Daniel Hinton, Country Club of Scranton/Elmhust Country Club 71
Justin Hershey/Trevor Paolone, Applebrook Golf Club/Overbrook Golf Club 71
Wills Montgomery/Ryan Conners, Applecross Country Club/Whitford Country Club 71
Liam Hart/Jack LaRosa, Spring Mill Country Club/Philmont Country Club 72
Matt Marino/Jon Nolan Perry, Waynesborough Country Club 72
Ryan McHugh / Padraic Walsh, Kennett Square Golf & Country Club 72
Brett McGrath/Patrick Isztwan, Huntingdon Valley Country Club 72
D.J. Pinciotti, III/Ryan Borrmann, Huntingdon Valley Country Club/Five Ponds Golf Club 72
Dante DiStefano/Archie Filshill, Commonwealth National Golf Club/Huntingdon Valley Country Club 73
Ryan Kennedy/Jack Cooley, Applecross Country Club/Kennett Square Golf & Country Club 75
Jack Fialko/Jake Maddaloni, Aronimink Golf Club 75
James Gradisek/Andrew Miller, Philadelphia Country Club 76
Christopher Buysse/Maceo Giampietro,Waynesborough Country Club/Applecross Country Club 76
William Pabst, Jr./Jake Millan, GAP Junior Players Club 76
Andrew Fuhrman/Drew Clifford, Spring Ford Country Club 76
Tyler Dalzell/Colin Kear, Huntingdon Valley Country Club/Doylestown Country Club 77
Jackson Tappen/Colin McDonald, Cedarbrook Country Club 78
Giles Elliott/Luke Kelly, Aronimink Golf Club/Merion Golf Club 79
Jake McCarthy/Brian Thompson, Cherry Valley Country Club 80
Daniel Dirita, Jr./Tommy Carroll, The Springhaven Club 80
August Blatney/Josh Felter, Philadelphia Cricket Club 81
Mark Thomas Prasalowicz/Joseph Taggart, Llanerch Country Club/Paxon Hollow Country Club 81
Andrew Damico/Emmett Fox, McCall Golf & Country Club 82
Bobby Nicholson/Matthew Weaver, Country Club of York 83
Michael Schafer/Jack Farkas, Llanerch Country Club/GAP Junior Players Club 89
Jack Schmidt/Scott Pfeiffer, Old York Road Country Club/Whitemarsh Valley Country Club 97
Tyler Roland/Cal Buonocore, Overbrook Golf Club/Llanerch Country Club WD
Junior-Junior
Name, club Score
Darren Nolan/Henry Fish, Talamore Country Club/Chester Valley Golf Club 35
Nathan Guertler/ Chase Cristella, Tavistock Country Club/Laurel Creek Country Club 40
Ryan Garvey/Sydney Yermish, Rolling Green Golf Club 40
Richie Biborosch/Jack Ploszay, Aronimink Golf Club/Chester Valley Golf Club 44
Charlie Hurchalla/Matthew Hurchalla, The Springhaven Club 49
Jonathan Logan/Ryan Jasudowich, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club 56
Girls
Junior
Name, club Score
Kathleen Mark/Riley Quartermain, Rolling Green Golf Club/Llanerch Country Club 79
Lauren Jones/Amanda Jones, Merion Golf Club 80
Grace Simenson/Allison Bradley, RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve/Aronimink Golf Club 81
Elaine Loose/Amanda Heins, Chester Valley Golf Club 96
Catherine Dare/Rose Litt, Riverton Country Club 96
Junior-Junior
Name, club Score
Emma McGrath/Molly Gregor, Huntingdon Valley Country Club 42
 
WD-withdrawal

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