White Manor’s Colbert splashes to medalist honors at 112th Amateur
HUNTINGDON VALLEY, Pa.–Brian Colbert of White Manor Country Club made quite the splash in his first-ever Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur Championship. Battling all day intermittent, and at times steady, rains, the 2012 Villanova University graduate traversed a soggy 36 holes of the 112th Amateur Championship Qualifier at Huntingdon Valley Country Club (par 70, 6,807 yards)/Torresdale-Frankford Country Club (par 70, 6,359 yards) in 2-under-par 138. Brandon Dalinka of The Ridge at Back Brook and Nelson Hargrove of Merion Golf Club tied for second place at 2-over-par 142. Hargrove is the No. 2 seed. Dalinka is seeded third. Defending champion Michael Hyland of Little Mill Country Club finished with a 146 total. He is the No. 12 seed.
The first two rounds of match play are set for tomorrow. The Round of 32 begins at 8 a.m. with the Round of 16 to follow.
The cutline for the 112-player field fell at 152 with seven players competing for the final two spots.
Colbert, a Chicago native, earned a spot in the Amateur Championship based on an exemption as a qualifier for the 2011 U.S. Publinks Championship.
“Not to sound cocky, I’m a no name around here, but not back home,” said Colbert, 22, a business major. He lives in Bryn Mawr, Pa. “I’ve been around Philadelphia golf for four years at Villanova. To do this in my first, and probably last Amateur, is cool. I played steady all day. I made no big mistakes. It was fairways and greens pretty much.”
The odds were stacked against Colbert adding his surname to the regal list of Amateur qualifying medalists on a few fronts. Start with the weather. Add a dash of he’s never seen Torresdale-Frankford before and was playing Huntingdon Valley for the first time in “I can’t tell you when.” And mix in the fact he carried his own bag for 36 holes in the rain.
“The weather was inconvenient,” said Colbert. “I had my rain pants, jacket, glove and umbrella and that’s all I needed. I did wish I had a caddie.
“I just wanted to make match play. That was the goal. Obviously I wanted to shoot the lowest score I could and it just happened to be the best score of the day.”
Colbert, the No. 2 player at Villanova this year, opened the Amateur at Torresdale-Frankford in the morning. He carded four birdies against two bogeys.
On No. 6 (par 4, 420 yards), Colbert smacked a sand wedge 115 yards to 15 feet and drained the birdie putt before exerting his power on a pair of back nine par 5s (Nos. 10, 484 yards and 13, 557 yards). On the first, he hammered a 3-iron into the front left bunker, splashed out to six feet and sunk the birdie try. Colbert's 3-wood on No. 13 caught the front bunker, but a superb sand shot stopped within 15 feet of the jar. Colbert also birdied the 18th hole (par 4, 394 yards), knocking a wedge 125 yards to eight feet below the flagstick.
At Huntingdon Valley, Colbert kept the mojo flowing.
He opened his second round, starting on the back nine, with a birdie on No. 10 (par 4, 399 yards) courtesy of a 7-iron from 155 yards to 10 feet. He added another circle to the scorecard on No. 15 (par 5, 573 yards) with a 60-degree wedge that stopped a foot away. A bogey on No.16 (par 4, 397 yards) curtailed his push slightly, but Colbert responded on No. 4 (par 4, 366 yards) by draining a 30-foot, big left-to-right breaker for a 3. He finished with bogeys on No. 6 (par 4, 435 yards) and No. 9 (par 4, 437 yards). He pulled his driver on No. 6 when the rains intensified and knocked a 6-iron into the greenside bunker on No. 9 and failed to get up-and-down.
“I got a text from my teammate from last year, Brendan Kelly. When I told him it was going to rain today, he said ‘don’t worry about it, you’re a mudder’,” said Colbert.
A thumbnail of Colbert’s résumé is as follows. He qualified for the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Publinks championships; the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay and finished in the Top 10 of the Illinois State Amateur in 2010.
“I think I probably turned some heads,” said Colbert. “I’ll definitely look back and show kids. That’s cool.”
The Amateur Championship Qualifier also serves as the first two rounds of the Silver Cross Award. The Silver Cross is awarded to the player with the lowest aggregate score in the qualifying rounds of the Amateur Championship and the Patterson Cup.
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.
NOTES–There was a seven-for-two playoff at Huntingdon Valley for the final match play positions. Brian Gillespie, 37, from Wayne, Pa. and St. Davids Golf Club birdied the first hole, No. 10, with a 6-iron from 172 yards that stopped a foot from the cup to take the 31st seed. Dan Charen, 23 of Langhorne, Pa. and Makefield Highlands Golf Club, parred No. 10 to outlast the other five competitors. He is seeded No. 32.
Name,
club
Scores
Brian
Colbert, White Manor Country Club
68T-70H–138
Nelson
Hargrove, Merion Golf Club
70H-72T–142
Brandon
Dalinka, The Ridge at Back Brook
72H-70T–142
Christopher
Ault, Yardley Country Club
71H-73T–144
Stephen
Dressel, St. Davids Golf Club
73H-71T–144
Ben
Feld, Blue Bell Country Club
70H-74T–144
Chip
Lutz, LedgeRock Golf Club
72H-72T–144
Sean
Fahey, Overbrook Golf Club
68H-76T–144
Michael
Hyland, Little Mill Country Club
75H-71T–146
Jeff
Osberg, Llanerch Country Club
72H-74T–146
Glenn
Smeraglio, Mercer Oaks Golf Course
73H-73T–146
Robert
Galbreath, Jr., Philmont Country Club
76T-70H–146
P.
Chet Walsh, Philadelphia Country Club
74H-73T–147
Greg
Jarmas, Philadelphia Publinks GA
76T-71H–147
Brandon
Matthews, Fox Hill Country Club
74T-73H–147
James
Kania, Jr., Overbrook Golf Club
76T-71H–147
Christopher
Fuga, Phoenixville Country Club
74H-74T–148
Robert
Cunningham, Overbrook Golf Club
71T-77H–148
JD
Dornes, Meadia Heights Golf Club
73H-76T–149
David
Liotta, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club
75T-74H–149
Travis
Gahman, Philadelphia Publinks GA
73T-76H–149
Grant
Skyllas, Moselem Springs Golf Club
76H-74T–150
Benjamin
Smith, Little Mill Country Club
76H-74T–150
Thomas
Hyland, Little Mill Country Club
71H-79T–150
Michael
Johnson, Talamore Country Club
76T-74H–150
Mike
Meisenzahl, Little Mill Country Club
75T-75H–150
Zach
Allinson, Lehigh Country Club
74T-77H–151
Vince
Boyle, Torresdale-Frankford Country Club
74T-77H–151
Dan
Bernard, Aronimink Golf Club
72T-79H–151
Raymond
Thompson, Overbrook Golf Club
77T-74H–151
*Brian
Gillespie, St. Davids Golf Club
78H-74T–152
*Daniel
Charen, Makefield Highlands Golf Club
77T-75H–152
Failed
to qualify
*Robert
Bechtold, Loch Nairn Golf Club
76H-76T–152
*Blayze
DiPasquale, Makefield Highlands Golf Club
74H-78T–152
*Alexander
Hicks, Wildwood Golf & Country Club
77T-75H–152
*Stephen
Seiden, Llanerch Country Club
73H-79T–152
*Michael
Kania, Overbrook Golf Club
76T-76H–152
John
Brennan, Philadelphia Cricket Club
72H-81T–153
Jimmy
Wolfe, Bellewood Golf Club
76H-77T–153
Mike
Owsik, Philadelphia Publinks GA
79H-74T–153
Michael
Carr, Plymouth Country Club
75T-78H–153
Joseph
Fabrizio, Jr., Aronimink Golf Club
75T-78H–153
James
Bea, Spring Mill Country Club
77T-76H–153
Matthew
Teesdale, Commonwealth National Golf Club
77H-76T–153
Daniel
Pinciotti, Jr., Huntingdon Valley Country Club
77H-77T–154
Sean
Seese, Huntingdon Valley Country Club
74H-80T–154
Sean
Coyle, Llanerch Country Club
77T-77H–154
Joseph
Russo, Running Deer Golf Club
74T-80H–154
Dave
Fardon, Philadelphia Publinks GA
76H-79T–155
Benjamin
Cooley, Huntingdon Valley Country Club
79H-76T–155
Simon
Hagger, Fieldstone Golf Club
81T-74H–155
Eric
Slawter, St. Davids Golf Club
84T-71H–155
Thomas
Bartolacci, Jr., Saucon Valley Country Club
79T-76H–155
Marc
Mandel, Philadelphia Cricket Club
72H-84T–156
Troy
Vannucci, Burlington Country Club
76H-80T–156
Tucker
Koch, RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve
79H-77T–156
Robert
Good, Merion Golf Club
76T-80H–156
Robert
Savarese, Jr., Philadelphia Cricket Club
78T-78H–156
Patrick
Phillips, Philadelphia Publinks GA
79H-78T–157
Gary
Daniels, Saucon Valley Country Club
77H-80T–157
Joe
Viechnicki, Saucon Valley Country Club
80T-77H–157
Stephen
Hudacek, III, Glenmaura National Golf Club
75T-82H–157
Tim
Westfall, RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve
78T-79H–157
Byron
Whitman, Berkshire Country Club
80T-77H–157
Michael
Gregor, Huntingdon Valley Country Club
82T-75H–157
Ryan
McCarty, Little Mill Country Club
75H-83T–158
Rand
Mendez, Fieldstone Golf Club
79H-79T–158
Sean
Torpey, Commonwealth National Golf Club
81T-77H–158
Patrick
Knott, Merion Golf Club
80T-78H–158
Ryan
Carroll, Chester Valley Golf Club
83T-75H–158
David
Shields, Philadelphia Publinks GA
79H-80T–159
Michael
Brown, Philadelphia Publinks GA
80H-79T–159
Rodney
James, Golden Oaks Golf Club
79T-80H–159
Jeffrey
Huntzinger, Five Ponds Golf Club
77T-82H–159
Patrick
Ross, Glenmaura National Golf Club
82H-78T–160
Billy
McCrossan, White Manor Country Club
80T-80H–160
Scott
McNeil, Philadelphia Publinks GA
76T-84H–160
Kevin
Kramarski, Riverton Country Club
76T-84H–160
Gary
Schoeman, Stonewall
82T-78H–160
Steve
Lubin, Five Ponds Golf Club
79H-82T–161
Scott
McLaughlin, Commonwealth National Golf Club
80H-81T–161
Oliver
White, Manufacturers Golf & Country Club
77H-85T–162
Matthew
Finger, Woodcrest Country Club
82T-80H–162
Paul
Kovalcheck, Kennett Square Golf & Country Club
79T-83H–162
Ryan
Felpel, Honeybrook Golf Club
82T-80H–162
Kyle
Martin, Commonwealth National Golf Club
76T-86H–162
Sam
Pancoast, Radley Run Country Club
82H-81T–163
Matthew
Crescenzo, Philmont Country Club
78H-85T–163
Ryan
Siegler, Mercer Oaks Golf Course
80T-83H–163
Matthew
Walsh, Overbrook Golf Club
82T-81H–163
Tim
Anderson, Philadelphia Publinks GA
81H-83T–164
Stewart
Rickenbach, Commonwealth National Golf Club
84H-80T–164
Jake
Murphy, Mercer Oaks Golf Course
83T-81H–164
William
Jeremiah, Bidermann Golf Club
79T-85H–164
Robert
Beck, Lehigh Country Club
81T-83H–164
Kevin
Davis, Talamore Country Club
86T-79H–165
William
Breskman, Rolling Green Golf Club
86H-80T–166
James
Braunsberg, Blue Bell Country Club
77H-89T–166
Reilly
Erhardt, Yardley Country Club
85H-82T–167
Scott
Storck, Philadelphia Cricket Club
82H-85T–167
John
Fasy, Wilmington Country Club
78T-89H–167
Dwight
Diorio, Rolling Green Golf Club
88H-80T–168
Daniel
Minger, Brookside Country Club
86T-82H–168
Joseph
Jasinski, Northampton Country Club
85T-84H–169
Matt
Maurer, Bent Creek Country Club
86H-84T–170
Richard
Marabella, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club
91H-88T–179
Matthew
Kreuter, Philadelphia Cricket Club
91H-WDT–WD
Geoffrey
Cooper, Links Golf Club
85H-WDT–WD
Jamie
Slonis, Tavistock Country Club
81H-WDT–WD
G.
Patrick Dougherty, Philadelphia Cricket Club
85H-WDT–WD
Bryan
Ott, Silver Creek Country Club
84H-WDT–WD
Greg
O'Connor, Huntingdon Valley Country Club
84H-WDT–WD
Denotes:
H-Huntingdon Valley Country Club; T-Torresdale-Frankford Country Club
