Raising the Barr: Blue Bell’s own tops 104th Junior Boys’ Qualifier

June 19, 2018

BLUE BELL, Pa. — On the 17th hole, Anthony Barr plopped onto the ground and smiled at the sky for a moment. The golf gods gave once again, and shock — the good kind, that is — overtook the Blue Bell Country Club member.

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Fortunate bounces, plus a sizzling putter, offered Barr plenty to smile about Tuesday. He carded a 4-under-par 67 to earn medalist honors in the 104th Junior Boys’ Championship Qualifier on his home course (par 71, 6,269 yards). The cut line stopped at 73.

  Barr, as a result of his performance, is the tournament’s No. 1 seed. He will face Spring Ford Country Club’s Ryan Tall, fresh off a semifinal appearance in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, when the Round of 16 begins tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. The quarterfinals will follow.

  “On the front nine, it felt like I couldn’t miss a putt. On the back nine, I got a lot of lucky breaks,” Barr, 18, of Harleysville, Pa., said. “It was a good day. I’ll take it for sure. Knowing I’m at my home course, it gave me a lot of confidence. I just wanted to see how low I could go. I knew I felt comfortable on the greens and had the reads.”

  All the reads … and the feels Tuesday. It started on No. 3 (par 3, 153 yards) when Barr buried an uphill 20-footer following a smooth 8-iron. Barr, playing in the morning, then assembled a trio of birdies to charge up the leaderboard. On No. 5 (par 4, 359 yards), he hit a 58-degree wedge 65 yards to four feet. Barr stopped an 8-iron at three feet on the par 3, 164-yard No. 6. After sending a 6-iron into the front left bunker on the next hole (par 5, 508 yards), he splashed out to six feet and cleaned up the ensuing birdie putt. The putter provided peace on mind in the form of pars otherwise.

  As for the fortuitous bounces and golf god gifts, look no further than the par 5, 516-yard No. 9, in addition to the aforementioned No. 17 (par 5, 484 yards). On the former, Barr swiftly swung a driver and consequently saw it drifting out-of-bounds right. He teed up a provisional, only to learn he didn’t need it. Barr’s drive careened off the cart path and remained in play. He walked away unscathed.

  “I got very lucky. I’ve hit that tee shot before in member play while never actually trying to do it. I blocked it right and got scared, but it worked out,” Barr said.

  As a member, Barr is keenly aware of Blue Bell’s demands: tee precision and strategic ball placement. With out-of-bounds right and hazard left, the 17th is no exception. Barr’s 3-wood breached the white stakes there. He played his third shot into the left rough and then hit a heavy pitching wedge from 170 yards. It hitched a ride on the downslope and settled eight feet from a front right hole location. Barr, who will attend McDaniel College in the fall, drained the par putt, sunk to his knees and laughed.

  “I just hit some bad shots, and I just got lucky on the outcomes,” he said.

  Sharing in the jovial spirts were playing partners Patrick Isztwan of Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Patrick Sheehan of Talamore Country Club. The two heaped praise and expressed their disbelief — in a good way — throughout the day.

  “It calms you down. You’re not really thinking about a lot of stuff because you’re talking the whole time,” Barr, the 2015 men’s champion at Blue Bell, said.

  Barr’s personal best at Blue Bell is a 65. He turned in his best Golf Association of Philadelphia finish Tuesday.

  “It feels really good to be able to put myself in a position I was hoping to be in. There’s a lot of work to be done tomorrow still,” Barr said.

  Woodcrest Country Club’s Noah Schwartz carded a 3-under-par 68 to finish a shot back. The incoming Cornell University freshman and recent Penn Charter graduate registered 16 greens in regulation and rarely faced a birdie opportunity outside of 20 feet.

  “I was just steady. My caddie [and friend Joel Hark] was a big help. I don’t think I would’ve come close to 68 without him,” Schwartz, 18, of Cherry Hill, N.J., said.

  The Junior Boys’ Championship is the premier Major in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 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 advancing 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.”

Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) 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 260 Full Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across Eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. 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.