Osberg Leads Open at Cricket
FLOURTOWN, Pa. - On a day where temperatures reached the mid-90s at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course, the overcast skies for most of the morning wave proved to be an advantage. Jeff Osberg shot a 65 (-5) to set the pace and leads the 105th Pennsylvania Amateur, presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, by three shots over Carey Bina.
“Not that we wanted to put any added pressure on ourselves, but the feeling was that the greens were just rolling at the perfect pace, and teeing off early in the morning, they were just in perfect condition,” said Osberg, a PAGA Individual Member.
With 0.4 inches of rain overnight, the soft conditions opened up scoring opportunities, and golfers playing early before the heat took over were able to capitalize, with nine of the top 10 rounds played in the early wave.
“We were a little fortunate that the rain came in last night,” said Osberg, of Bryn Mawr, Pa.. “All of us knew starting out that today was probably the day to try to score well because as this place gets firmer, it always plays more difficult.”
Osberg started quickly with a birdie on No. 1 after a nice approach to three feet. He followed that with birdies on No. 3 and No. 4, both on long putts. He added another set of back-to-back red numbers with birdies on No. 9 and No. 10. On the 9th, a very good approach left Osberg about 4 feet for birdie, which he converted. After making the turn to the back nine, he rolled in a birdie from 15 feet short of the pin to move to 5-under par. He eventually got it to 6-under with another birdie on the par-4 17th before finishing the round with his lone bogey of the day.
“I played really well. I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. The putter was working at times and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Osberg said.
Trailing Osberg is a group of six players, all professionals, led by Carey Bina of King of Prussia, Pa., who shot a 3-under par 67. In the group at 2-under par 68 is a trio of players who were making their professional debut in the event - Michael O’Brien, Connor Schmidt and Kyle Vance. All three recently completed their college careers and are beginning what they hope will be long professional tenures.
“It’s a cool event and a cool host,” said Schmidt, a Venetia, Pa. resident who played at Drexel University. “ “It was a good day out there. It was softer than the other few times that I’ve played it. It was gettable but the pins were tough.”
Schmidt had hoped to play in the United States Amateur Championship at Oakmont Country Club this week, but after failing to qualify, he made his way to Flourtown, where he got off to a good start with birdies on No. 1 and No. 3 on his way to the 2-under par finish.
Vance, a recent graduate of Kansas State University, is not only new to the professional ranks but to the Cricket Club’s hallowed grounds.
“I had never played here before, so I was going in blind,” said Vance, of Audubon, Pa. “My caddie is from here and it’s his fourth year here, so I was putting my trust in him.”
Whatever advice he got, it worked. Vance had three birdies against just one bogey in his round.
O'Brien was the only one of the three to play in the afternoon with the steady heat after the sun came out around noon, and he made five birdies on the day in a solid opening round in the professional ranks.
Also tied at 2-under are professionals Matt Gurska of Hermitage, Pa. and Beau Titsworth of Mars, Pa.
A lightning delay did cause a delay of just over an hour late in the afternoon before golfers returned to the course for the final groups to finish.
Round 2 begins Wednesday morning at 7:30 a.m. At the conclusion of that round, the field will be cut to the low 40 players and ties.
The Pennsylvania Golf Association would like to thank the staff and membership of the Philadelphia Cricket Club for the hospitality shown during the championship. Thanks as well to DICK’S Sporting Goods for sponsorship of the event.