As the summer temperatures and the Road to Pinehurst heated up, Philly Metro members gathered at the heathland marvel that is Wyncote Golf Club looking to gain those precious Player of the Year points. In Division 1, Brandon Christopher took a solo stroll through the fescue, taking home enough points to put him firmly in the mix for a spot at Pinehurst.
It was a seven player photo finish in Division 2 as three strokes covered the lot of them. Mark Monkhouse came out of the gates firing with a front nine 37 on his way to posting the day’s best score(80-37-43) and taking first place. Rocky Dare tried to make it two in a row with a valiant back nine run of 39 but came up one stroke short in a tie for second with Bradley Burr who posted a solid 38 on the back to apply some additional pressure.(81-43-38).
While Essential Quality was putting away the field in the Belmont Stakes, our own roan colt Tom Brennan(82-40-42) was putting on a show reminiscent of Secretariat 50 years ago as he “moved like a tremendous machine” through the Division 3 field with a 5 stroke victory to capture his first Amateur Players Tour win. I’d tell you more about division 3 but we are all covered with dust.
It has been a bit of a two man grudge match in Division 4 all season between Dave Neder and John Eastlack, who himself was coming into the event on a two win streak, but Mike Byrne and Larry Barber were having none of that. Byrne announced his arrival into the mix with an opening nine 40 and was able to hold off Barber by one stroke to take the win. Things got a little tighter in Division 4 as both Barber(3rd) and Byrne(6th) made serious climbs in the player of the year race.
The day was capped off when visiting player Steve Kwon from Charlotte won his first Amateur Players Tour tournament with a solid (95-47-48) round that was six strokes better than his season’s best.