Junior Boys’ Qualifier

Talamore’s Sheehan tops Junior Boys’ Qualifier

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COATESVILLE, Pa. — Patrick Sheehan thought he entered the 105^th Junior Boys’ Championship, part of the GAP Junior Series presented by Citadel. A no-brainer, with it being his last year of eligibility for the event.

Then the alarm sounded.

“My friend (Jack Herbine) showed me the tee sheet. I looked at it and didn’t see my name on there, so I was kind of in a panic,” Sheehan, 18, of Doylestown, Pa., said. “This is one of my favorite tournaments to play in. I was disappointed when I found out I wasn’t on the tee sheet.”

A call to the GAP office resolved the registration mix-up. Sheehan slid into the 1 p.m. tee time Monday and slid out of Coatesville Country Club (par 71, 6,210 yards) with a 1-under-par 70 and medalist honors. He earned the No. 1 seed as a result.

Sheehan will face Gulph Mills Golf Club’s Charlie Baker, the last survivor of a 5-for-2 playoff, when match play begins at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. The two, coincidentally, squared off in the Round of 16 a year ago at Blue Bell Country Club; Sheehan prevailed, 4&3.

Coatesville, a true topographical test, yielded a field scoring average of 81.5. Sheehan, who saw the venue for the first time Monday, defied the odds by posting the lone subpar score.

“My distance definitely helped. A lot of holes here are drive-able. All of the par 5s are reachable,” Sheehan, a Talamore Country Club member, said. “It helped driving it to 12 feet on No. 11 (par 4, 301 yards) and making eagle.”

That eagle followed a two-putt birdie on the previous hole (par 5, 540 yards). Sheehan also capitalized on No. 15 (par 5, 533 yards), nearly reaching the putting surface in two strokes with a 6-iron from 204 yards. Sheehan converted an eight-footer for birdie.

Coatesville’s par 3s prevented a clean Sheehan scorecard. Wind direction deceived Sheehan on No. 2 (155 yards) tee. He selected 8-iron, only to watch it bounce over the green. Sheehan missed a six-footer to save par. He “stabbed an 8-iron into the ground” on No. 12 (195 yards), which created a downhill lie in the right greenside bunker. Sheehan couldn’t complete the sand save. On the next hole (185 yards), he attempted to draw a 9-iron toward a center hole location, but it never responded. Sheehan, a recent Central Bucks High School East graduate, missed a 12-footer for par.

Sheehan, identified as a “Player on the Rise” in the Spring 2019 edition of GAP Magazine, earned the No. 8 seed in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Stonewall last week. He fell to Manasquan River Golf Club’s Jack Wall, 4&2, in the Round of 16.

“I played well at Stonewall. It was just kind of a disappointing finish,” Sheehan, who will attend Penn State University in the fall, said. “I didn’t putt too well, but my ball-striking, for the most part, was on point. It was the same today.”

Like Sheehan, Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Austin Barbin is fresh off a match play appearance in the 119^th BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship. He earned the No. 2 seed Monday with an even-par 70.

“I played a practice round here and kept a scorecard filled with notes and what clubs to hit,” Barbin, 18, of Elkton, Md., said. “I was very disciplined off the tee. I think I only hit five drivers.”

Barbin, a recent Red Lion Christian Academy graduate, will attend the University of Maryland in the fall. He reached the semifinals in last year’s Junior Boys’ Championship.

Blue Bell Country Club, represented by Matthew Lafond, Nick Martin and Dylan Lasecki, retained the Junior Team Championship with a score of 222. The Junior Team Championship runs concurrently with the Junior Boys’ Championship Qualifier. Three of four scores count toward the team total.

The Junior Boys’ Championship is the premier Major in the GAP Junior Division. It is open to GAP Member Club golfers aged 14-18 who have not started their college education and who hold a handicap index of 14.4 or lower. Sixteen players qualify for match play; an additional 16 advance into the event’s First Flight.

The Junior Boys’ Champion is awarded the Peg Burnett Trophy, named in honor of the Association’s Executive Secretary from 1951-76. Ms. Burnett was an ardent Junior golf supporter who emphasized sportsmanship and respect for the game. “I was very strict about checking the rule book. I didn’t make the rules, but since they are there, you have to abide by them.”

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.

Citadel
Citadel is a credit union that has provided banking, investments, and insurance services to the Greater Philadelphia community for more than 80 years. At over $3 billion in assets, Citadel is one of the area’s largest locally owned, not-for-profit financial institutions, proudly serving residents of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. Citadel has been ranked number one among all credit unions in Pennsylvania for providing value to customers by Callahan & Associates, and was named one of the best performing credit unions in the nation by SNL Financial. To explore products and services, visit www.CitadelBanking.com.