PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — Jeff Osberg is closing in on J. Wood Platt’s Silver Cross Award record.
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The Pine Valley Golf Club member earned his fifth honor Saturday at The 1912 Club (par 70, 6,704 yards). Osberg defeated Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Zach Barbin in an 18-hole stroke-play playoff.
Both players finished tied at 2-over-par 72. In sudden-death, Osberg made par on No. 1 (par 4, 490 yards), the first playoff hole; Barbin made bogey.
This is the fifth playoff in Silver Cross history (1967, 1973, 1976, 1990).
“It’s a neat thing that we do, encompassing two different parts of the year, two different tournaments. It’s a good representation of who has been playing well all year,” Osberg, 36, Bryn Mawr, Pa., said. “I saw that J. Wood Platt had seven and said, ‘Wow. The only way I’m going to get to seven is I better win tomorrow to get to five.’ I didn’t know that. It definitely remotivated me.”
On No. 1, Osberg hammered a drive to the center of the fairway. Barbin’s drive, however, drifted into the left rough. An unfriendly lie left the rising Liberty University senior with one option.
“The last two drives I had hit went a little to the right, so this one I wanted to try and feel like I cleared through it,” Barbin, 21, of Elkton, Md., said. “It’s just kind of a shame that I had to punch out. It’s a tougher way to lose. But Jeff played great all day. I gave myself a decent chance. It just didn’t work out that way.”
After playing onto the fairway, Barbin lifted a wedge to 20 feet below the flagstick. He missed the ensuing par try. Osberg, meanwhile, watched his 35-footer for birdie stop a revolution shy. A tap-in thereafter secured the Silver Cross Award.
Osberg made the turn with a one-stroke lead over Barbin. He extended it to four through 12 holes. The pendulum began to swing following a Barbin birdie on No. 13 (par 4, 294 yards), where he drove the green with a 3-wood and narrowly missed a 15-footer for eagle. He gained four strokes on the next two holes to take a one-shot advantage.
On No. 15 (par 4, 342 yards), Osberg carded a triple bogey after sending his 3-wood out of bounds and three putting from 40 feet. He tied Barbin by carding a par on No. 17 (par 4, 477 yards). Both players recorded pressure pars on No. 18 (par 4, 470 yards) to force overtime.
Barbin was looking to become the first player since James Kania, Sr. (1995) to capture the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, Joseph H. Patterson Cup and Silver Cross Award in the same year. Osberg’s other Silver Cross wins came in 2010, 2015-16 and 2019.
The Silver Cross Award is presented to the individual with the lowest aggregate score in the qualifying rounds of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and the two rounds of the Joseph H. Patterson Cup. It was reduced to 36 holes this year. COVID-19 procedures caused Amateur Qualifying to move from 36 to 18 holes. Hurricane Isaias washed out the first round of the Patterson Cup.
It is the first time in its 114-year history that the Silver Cross Award consists of 36 holes. There were five years in which the Silver Cross was not presented: 1917-18 (World War I) and 1943-45 (World War II).
Both Barbin and Osberg carded even-par 70s at Lancaster Country Club, site of this year’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship. They matched 3-under-par 67s in the Patterson Cup at The 1912 Club, which Barbin won in a four-hole aggregate playoff over Osberg and Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Gregor Orlando.
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 288 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.
