BLUE BELL, Pa. – It was a “twofer” Tuesday for Jamie Slonis of Tavistock CC at Cedarbrook CC and Green Valley CC.
Not only did Slonis, of Tavistock CC, capture medallist honors in qualifying for match play in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Amateur Championship with a 2-under-par 141, he also led the field in qualifying for the Philadelphia Open, to be held July 20 at Aronimink GC.
Slonis fired an even-par 71 (38-33) at Green Valley (par 71, 6,757 yards) in the morning, and followed up with a 2-under 70 at Cedarbrook (par 72, 6,959 yards) in the afternoon.
He was participating in dual qualifying both for 32 match play spots in the Amateur Championship underway this week at Cedarbrook CC and for one of 11 spots open to amateur qualifiers for next month’s Philadelphia Open,
In the Open qualifying competition among 59 players, Slonis was three shots better than John Sawin of Philadelphia Country Club, who led after the morning round with a 3-under-par 69 (35-34) at Cedarbrook, but shot a 4-over-par 75 (36-39) in the afternoon at Green Valley. There were 15 amateur spots available for the Open – 11 from Tuesday’s qualifying rounds, three for exempt players, and one for the winner of this week’s Amateur Championship.
The three exempt players are Chris Lange of Overbrook GC, winner of the 2004 Open Championship at Philadelphia CC; Mike Tash of Tavistock CC, winner of the 2004 Patterson Cup, and Michael McDermott of Merion GC. Lange is one of only 11 amateurs to win the Open, and the first to do it since 1997.
Other qualifiers for the Open Championship were: John Sawin of Philadelphia CC; Chris Gallagher of Penn Oaks CC; Clint Deibert of Doylestown CC; Tug Maude of Merion GC; Kyle Davis of Inniscrone GC; Glenn Smeraglio of Yardley CC; Gui Costin of Merion GC; Brian Gillespie of St. Davids GC; Michael Rose of Talamore at Oak Terrace CC and David Liotta of Whitemarsh Valley CC.
