Whitford’s Conners claims 15th Christman Cup at St. Davids

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WAYNE, Pa. — Kevin Conners, Jr. knew a tournament victory existed deep down. His rising game just needed to meet a friendly venue to bring it out.

  The Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Christman Cup, presented by Global Golf Post, served as the event, St. Davids Golf Club (par 70, 6,387 yards) the venue for a Conners breakout Thursday. He carded a 1 under 139 to capture the tournament’s 15th edition by two strokes. A late charge allowed Burlington Country Club’s Blaine Lafferty to secure runner-up status.

  “It feels great. I’ve been pretty close the last couple of years,” Conners, 17, of Downingtown, Pa. “It was good to know where I was going into the second round and to play well when the pressure was on. It’s a pretty good field, so I knew if I just played my game, I had a shot. It’s definitely nice to get one.”

  Tough scoring conditions and challenging green complexes made a subpar score seem out of reach for the 77-player field early on. Round One presented a field scoring average of 79.7. Conners, a Whitford Country Club member, shared the clubhouse lead with six others at 2 over.

  “I played much better than that, so I knew if I just played the same and rolled in a few more putts, I’d be fine,” he said.

  Another reason for Conners’ optimism? The Donald Ross design suited his style

  “Right now, I’m just striking my irons really well, and you need to be on the proper side of the green here,” Conners, a Golf Association of Philadelphia Magazine Player to Watch in 2014, said. “I was hitting most of targets into the greens. I play really well on tight courses where you need to hit it straight.”

  Conners separated from a jumbled pack in the afternoon session. On No. 2 (par 4, 431 yards), he pumped a 5-iron 185 yards to 10 feet for a 3. He stopped a pitching wedge at six feet for a birdie on No. 6 (par 3, 144 yards). Conners powered a 3-iron 215 yards to 30 feet lipped a left-to-right breaker for eagle on the par 5, 490-yard No. 8. A 3 under outward tour put Conners four clear of all chasers.

  “I actually wasn’t thinking about my score too much,” he said. “I knew to win tournaments, you can’t really wait for the field to come back to you; you have to keep your foot on the pedal.”

  Conners, an incoming senior at Bishop Shanahan High School, pressed that pedal to the floor. He stuffed a 5-iron to three feet for a birdie on No. 10 (par 3, 166 yards). On the downhill par 5, 541-yard 11th hole, a dialed-in and determined Conners launched a 4-iron from 220 yards to 25 feet below a front hole location and cozied the eagle try into kick-in range.

  However, Conners wasn’t the only one hurdling hopefuls on the leaderboard. Lafferty, who started on No. 10 (par 3, 166 yards), bolted up to 1 over thru 27 holes thanks to birdies inside 10 feet on Nos. 17 (par 3, 153 yards) and 18 (par 4, 378 yards). He smacked a sand wedge 100 yards to five feet for a 3 on No. 3. At the point, Lafferty, who will attend the University of Delaware in the fall, stood at 1 over.

  Meanwhile, a “bad swing” resulted in a bogey for Conners on No. 12 (par 4, 450 yards) and changed his lead to three. It dropped to two after Conners’ watched his pitching wedge peel off the false front on No. 14 (par 3, 116 yards). On the other side of the golf course, Lafferty gave a shot back on No. 7 (par 4, 460 yards), but recovered with a dazzling eagle on No. 8, where he holed out from the front bunker.

  “I had a clean lie and just tried to land it halfway between the hole and the cup,” Lafferty, 18, of Marlton, N.J., said. “It just rolled up to the lip and dropped right in. I figured I’d probably need a birdie on the last hole.”

  Lafferty came close to one. Although he pushed a 4-iron right on No. 9 (par 3, 220 yards), Lafferty, a semifinalist in the Junior Boys’ Championship two weeks ago, then saw his next shot deflect off the flagstick and stop six feet from the hole. He missed the ensuing par putt. Conners exhaled.

  The victory marked his second on the GAP circuit. Conners won the Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship in 2010.

  The Christman Cup is named in honor of J. Fred Christman, a longtime Director of Competitions for the Golf Association of Philadelphia who retired in January 2000. It is a 36-hole stroke play event.

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 150 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.