#USFourBall Qualifying: Elkview

Three teams share top spot at 6 under

CARBONDALE, Pa. — They posted. They waited. They finally made it.

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Three teams shared medalist honors during U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Qualifying administered by GAP at a pleasant Elkview Country Club (par 70, 6,791 yards) Monday. Jesse Hazam and David Herbst, former Mechanicsburg High School golf teammates, and a quartette of Glen Oak Country Club members — Luke Fayocavitz and Kyle Williams, Jamie Egan and David Mecca — carded respective 6-under-par 64s to advance.   

The 9^th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball will take place May 25-29 at Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon). It will mark the first appearance for the medalist trio.

For Hazam and Herbst, their performance Monday extinguished the looming agony of 2020. The two seemed destined to qualify that year at Applebrook Golf Club.

“Last time we choked. We were 6 under thru 11 holes and finished at 2 under,” Hazam, 28, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said. “This time we held it together.”

As firm as necessary. Herbst brought the team to 5 under by firing back-to-back birdies on Nos. 9 (par 3, 138 yards) and 10 (par 4, 416 yards). He hit a 9-iron to 15 feet right of the flagstick on the former, a wedge 139 yards to 15 feet on the latter. Eliminating any potential danger on the alluring par 5, 502-yard 17^th hole, both Herbst and Hazam played their second shots short of the green. Herbst, a Hershey Country Club member, knocked a chip to 15 feet and watched the putt catch the hole for birdie. Hazam nearly eliminated hours’ worth of angst on Elkview’s closer (par 4, 400 yards). His 20-footer for birdie following a wedge from 122 yards halted in the heart.

Playing in the day’s first group, Hazam and Herbst played the waiting game. They passed the time by unwinding on Jonathan Katchmore’s couch. Katchmore is a fellow Hershey member who owns a home in nearby Crystal Lake, Pa. Hazam and Herbst stayed there last evening to avoid an even earlier wakeup call.

Now they may — or may not — choose to sleep in their own beds and commute to Philadelphia Cricket. But a hotel — better yet house visit — may be in order based on history.    

“This is awesome. Surreal,” a smiling Herbst, 27, of Hummelstown, Pa., said. “This makes up for last week.” Herbst bogeyed three of his final four holes to miss the cut in U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifying at Carlisle Country Club.

Although they played together on Mechanicsburg’s team, Hazam and Herbst didn’t truly forge a friendship until their college days ended: Hazam at Monmouth University, Herbst at Lebanon Valley College. They both cut their golf teeth at West Shore Country Club. Golf is what reunited the acquaintances and solidified a friendship post adolescence.

“I don’t think we’d be friends if it wasn’t for golf,” Hazam said.

As for their co-medalists, did they draw straws to decide Glen Oak pairings? Allocation by club championship results? Numbers in a hat?

“It’s kind of funny how today worked out,” Egan, 29, of Clarks Summit, Pa., said. “We played [in U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Qualifying] last year. We didn’t get through. We’re local, so a little homefield advantage helped today. I’ve played in the Member-Guest here. Dave and I played well together.”

“We made some putts early. We got to the back nine and knew it was going to be a grind,” Mecca, 30, of Clarks Summit, Pa., added.

Mecca and Egan appeared in jeopardy following a bogey on No. 16 (par 3, 225 yards). But Egan responded in a championship manner on the next hole.

“We were 4 under and I thought we needed to get to 6 under,” Mecca, the reigning GAP Middle-Amateur Champion, said.

From the right rough, Egan powered a 4-iron 220 yards that rolled off the hill and coasted to six feet. His downhill slider for eagle broke a cup before finding the bottom of it for good.

Playing five groups ahead, their co-medalists and fellow Glen Oak members entered the clubhouse at 6 under thanks to a trio of back-nine birdies. Fayocavitz drained a 25-footer from the front fringe on No. 10. Attacking a tucked hole location on No. 11 (par 4, 405 yards), Williams fed a wedge from 96 yards into the slope. It crawled down the ridge and settled 12 feet from the flagstick. Williams made good on the birdie putt. He also delivered red on No. 12 (par 3, 205 yards), where he drilled a 7-iron to 15 feet.

“It’s really special to get two teams [in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball]. It’s crazy,” Williams, 31, of Clarks Summit, Pa., said.

By the way, Glen Oak is the defending GAP/AGA Men’s Coal Scuttle Champion.

No surprise.

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 organization’s 340 Member Clubs and 100,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.