Spring Ford CC’s Lebow heads Amateur Championship qualifying

  FLOURTOWN, Pa.-Mike Lebow of Spring Ford CC navigated the uncharted waters of the Amateur Championship leaderboard in grand fashion on Monday. The 20-year-old resident of Royersford, Pa., carded a career-tournament best 5-under-par 138 total for the 36 holes of the Amateur Championship Qualifier on Philadelphia Cricket Club’s two layouts – Wissahickon (par 71, 6,836 yards) and Militia Hill (par 72, 7,146 yards) – to earn medalist honors.

  He’ll be the second seed for match play, which begins tomorrow. As the defending champion, Michael Tash of Tavistock CC is seeded No. 1.

  A field of 132 players vied for the 31 match play spots.

  Match play will be conducted on the Militia Hill Course Tuesday and Wednesday, June 15-16, with the 36-hole final set for Saturday, June 19.

  The cut fell at 5-over-par 148.

  In essence, Lebow netted top qualifying honors with a 5-under-par 67 on the Militia Hill Course in the morning. The Emory University junior credited his “pure” driver for the outstanding performance.

  “The past month it’s come together,” said Lebow. “This was a big surprise. There are a lot of good golfers out here. This was my best tournament round ever. And my first bogey free tournament round ever.”

  Lebow, who started on the back nine of Militia Hill, made the turn in 2-under-par before recording a 3-under-par 33 on the front.

  He birdied No. 12 (par 4, 398 yards) and No. 17 (par 5, 463 yards) before going under par on No. 3 (par 5, 544 yards), No. 4, (par 4, 396 yards) and No. 6 (par 5, 576 yards).

  “My longest birdie putt was 20 feet,” said Lebow. “And I made every putt inside six feet.”

  Lebow entered the day a touch skeptical of his talents.

  He fell to John Brennan in the club championship on Sunday.

  “It was my worst two rounds in over a month,” said Lebow. “After yesterday, I was just trying not to embarrass myself.”

  In the afternoon, Lebow had it up to 7-under-par, but lost some steam on the way in and finished at even-par 71.

  Dan Walters of Meadia Heights GC carded a 2-under-par 141 to take the third seed.

  This year’s match play appears particularly strong. In the field is: Michael McDermott of Llanerch CC (the reigning Player of the Year); Chris Lange of Overbrook GC, a three-time Amateur champion; Kyle Davis, the recent winner of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship and Mike Rose, the reigning Senior Player of the Year, to name a few.

  Davis, 18, of Kennett Square G&CC captured the Junior Boys’ Championship last summer. He finished in a four-way tie for third place at 142 and by virtue of tiebreakers, is the No. 5 seed.

  “With how good junior golf in the area is, it’s not that tough to transition from junior golf,” said Davis, a Kennett Square resident. “It’s the same game with the same scores.”