Schweppe, Wolfe top Open Qualifier at Bellewood

  POTTSTOWN, Pa. — Anthony Schweppe, a certified golf coach at GolfTEC in Willow Grove, and Jimmy Wolfe, an amateur who calls Bellewood Golf Club home, carded respective 3-under-par 68s to share medalist honors in a Golf Association of Philadelphia Open Championship Qualifier at Bellewood (par 71, 6,453 yards) Monday. The two led a field of 135 players striving to grab one of nine qualifying spots available for the Championship proper, set for July 23 at the revered Pine Valley Golf Club.

  At the end of the day, the cut line stopped at 72.

  “It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to participate in the (Golf Association of) Philadelphia Open since I’ve moved to the (United) States,” Schweppe, who originally hails from Ireland, said. “Growing up as a kid, I always wanted the opportunity to play Pine Valley. Hopefully we won’t embarrass ourselves when we get out there.”

  Schweppe, of Harrisburg, Pa., endured a love-hate relationship with Bellewood’s par 5s. Starting on the back nine, he smashed a 4-iron to 20 feet on No. 18 (par 5, 548 yards) and executed the eagle effort. After a sizeable drive on No. 7 (par 5, 548 yards), the long-hitting Schweppe stuck a 6-iron 216 yards to a foot and tapped in for a 3. He carded a bogey on No. 10 (par 5, 582 yards) after dumping his 3-wood into the right greenside bunker. Schweppe also bogeyed the par 5, 505-yard No. 2 following a 3-iron approach that drifted into the hazard.

  Schweppe, 37, fired back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 (par 4, 373 yards) and 14 (par 3, 187 yards). On the first, he flew the green with a 9-iron from 138 yards, but converted a delicate chip shot for a red figure. Schweppe nearly aced the 14th hole with an 8-iron tee shot that settled a mere foot from the jar.

  Wolfe didn’t wear sheep’s clothing Monday, though his performance may suggest otherwise. It was a pleasant score for Wolfe, but a dangerous one for the rest of the field. The five-year Bellewood member used knowledge and comfort to his advantage.

   “There are a lot of holes out here where if you don’t know where to hit it or where to miss it, it will eat you up,” Wolfe, 20, of Pottstown, Pa., said. “I think it takes good iron-play [to score well here]. You can spray it off the tee more than you think. Obviously, if you get it in the fescue, it’s a problem, but if you hit good irons to the right part of the green, you can make some birdies. The greens have hills and slopes in them, but if you’re in the right spots, they’re pretty flat.”

  Wolfe heeded his own advice early and often. He reeled off six routine pars with “little stress” to start. On the par 5, 548-yard No. 7, he drilled a downwind 8-iron 216 yards to 30 feet below the flagstick and two-putted for birdie.

   “Course knowledge definitely helped there,” Wolfe, an incoming junior at Georgetown University, said. “You can’t go long on that green, and short is fine.”

  Wolfe added a second birdie on the par 4, 426 yard 11th hole, knocking a wedge 130 yards to 10 feet. A silver bullet grazed Wolfe on No. 12 (par 3, 171 yards). He left a 7-iron 30 feet below the hole location, but only advanced his birdie putt 15 feet and couldn’t cover the remaining distance for par. A comfortable and composed Wolfe healed that wound with a birdie on No. 13 (par 4, 373 yards), a hole that had “given me fits lately.” He hit a wedge 105 yards to two feet. Wolfe conquered the difficult par 4, 385-yard 15th hole with a fantastic red figure. Standing 90 yards from the flagstick, Wolfe whacked a wedge 50 yards into the right rough. His golf ball cruised down the slope and settled two feet left of the jar.

   “I was really worried about it because I knew that to the right of the green, you have a huge slope,” Wolfe said of the approach. “I knew I had to land that in the rough and pretty high just to get it to trickle on. It was mostly luck that it just ended up that close. It was more of just land it where I thought it would work out.”

  Wolfe stayed in rhythm on the next hole (par 4, 401 yards), executing his “two best swings of the day” in a driver that found the fairway and a 9-iron that soared 130 yards upwind. The approach landed on the green but spun down the slope, some 50 feet away from the cup. Wolfe then three-putted for bogey.

  A solid birdie on the par 5, 548-yard 18th hole allowed Wolfe to roar up the leaderboard. He drilled a wedge 70 yards to 15 feet for a left-to-right breaking, fist-pumping 4.

   “I really wanted that birdie, but I wanted no stress coming back,” Wolfe said. “There are a lot of good players out here. I’d rather post a number and see what happens. It was a little bonus that it went in.”

  Wolfe’s finish Monday is a sharp contrast to the Amateur Championship Qualifier, where he missed a spot in match play thanks to a double bogey on his final hole.

   “I exercised some demons today,” Wolfe said. “I really wanted to finish well. This is probably the best I’ve putted, and I still had two three-putts today.”

  Wolfe is looking forward to traversing Pine Valley and hopes Monday’s effort is a sign of good things to come.

   “This is really the first year I’ve been playing where I feel like I can contend,” he said. “Last year I was playing well, but I wasn’t quite ready to win. Now, I think I realize if I shoot a good score, then I can have a good chance to contend. This is my best round [in a GAP event], so it feels good.”

  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 145 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.