North Penn grad has lead in Amateur
North Penn grad has lead in Montco Amateur
If the first day of the Montgomery Amateur Championship was an indicator, the finish on Sunday should be a good one.
Raven’s Claw Golf Course in Pottstown more than earned its reputation as a difficult course but it wasn’t able to slow down some of the county’s top amateur golfers. Ron Robinson, who just graduated from North Penn in June, finished atop the leaderboard after Saturday’s round.
But he only takes a oneshot lead into Sunday’s second round at LuLu Country Club in Oreland, with a trio of players tied for second.
“I played pretty good for the first 17 holes, on 18 I hit a bad tee shot and it cost me a few shots but overall it was a good day and I kept myself in contention,” Robinson said. “I knew there were a lot of birdie opportunities if I hit the fairway, which was my goal coming in. I did that for the most
part and I got a lot of birdie looks and was able to convert most of them.”
Robinson, who plays out of Commonwealth National, shot a round-low 70 but was frustrated by his finish on the 18th hole. Otherwise, he had a strong outing thanks to a quick turnaround on the second hole. After bogeying the first hole, he rebounded for a birdie on two and it got his confidence back up.
The first hole proved a challenge for a number of players on Saturday, but Robinson was able to quickly turn things around on the second hole that got him on a roll through the 17th hole. Robinson, who is playing at Monmouth, won the Junior Amateur Championship on Friday with a 66 at Plymouth Country Club and kept that momentum rolling into Saturday.
“I’ve had a lot of confidence the last couple of weeks with my play and yesterday, I’d consider it one of the best rounds I’ve ever played,” Robinson said. “It’d be nicer to have a bigger lead (going into Sunday) but I don’t mind it. As long as I play well, I’ll have a good chance to win.”
With three good players in Dan Furman, Rodney Anders and Buddy Hansen one shot behind him going into Sunday, Robinson know it will be a battle to the finish.
“You don’t want to give away easy shots and be over par,” Robinson said.
Hansen, a rising senior at La Salle College High School, finished two shots behind Robinson with a 68 on Friday in a tie with David Kim for second place. All three scores broke the previous record for a round low.
On Saturday, Hansen noted his irons as a big part of his low round. He was able to hit a lot of shots off the fairway and set up plenty of short putts. Like Robinson, Hansen felt a lot of momentum from his round on Friday.
“I felt pretty good, I got off to a pretty good start and birdied the first hole,” Hansen said. “With this course, it’s looking at the pin locations and knowing where the pins are. If they’re on a ridge, you can’t be sure and you could be done.”
Furman, last year’s runner-up, again finds himself
right in the thick of things going into Sunday’s final round. His success on Saturday came differently than most of the other leaders. While Robinson and Hansen went to their drivers early and often, Furman, who plays out of Commonwealth National, estimated he hit about two driver shots off the tee.
“You kind of play against yourself because there’s no leaderboard yet,” Furman said. “The two times I hit drivers, I snap-hooked them so I was trying to avoid it. With my driving two-iron, I hit that pretty far and with this course, it just needs control straight off the tee instead of distance.”
Furman added that LuLu is similar to Raven’s Claw in terms of dimensions and play, so being able to control the ball and find fairways and greens would be crucial in the final round.
Defending men’s champion Dawson Anders had an up-and-down round, shooting a 77.
On the women’s side, Isabella DiLisio of Hatfield provided the shot of the day. A rising junior at Notre Dame, where she competes on the Fighting Irish’s women’s golf team, DiLisio posted a 73 to take a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final.
“It was a little messy here and there but overall, it ended up being ok,” DiLisio said. “I was hitting some bad shots on the front and I had just had to go back to trying to swing smooth and hit some solid shots and just put myself in good positions.”
The Mount Saint Joseph Academy graduate, also had the highlight shot of the day off the tee on the 18th hole. DiLisio, the defending champion, crushed a driver shot out of the tee box that just missed being a hole-in-one as it skimmed the edge of the cup and stopped a few inches shy for a tap-in eagle.
DiLisio said she had a rough start to the day on the front nine and also bogeyed the 10th hole but was able to reverse her fortunes starting with a birdie on the 11th hole. That, plus the eagle on 18, has DiLisio on the right track heading into the championship round.
A past women’s junior and overall junior champion, DiLisio looks forward to this event each summer. It also gave her a chance to have her dad, Sam, serve as her caddy.
“I always have so much fun coming out here and my dad gets to caddy for me, which he doesn’t get to do all that often, so we’re just out here having fun with it,” DiLisio said. “I just try to have a good time.”