John Brennan takes top seed for Philadelphia Amateur

Of the 143  guys who teed it up in Tuesday's steamy two-round qualifier at the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, 13 are members of the host club, Flourtown's Philadelphia Cricket. John Brennan was among the baker's dozen who figured to have at least some kind of edge. And he played like it.

In the morning, he shot a 4-under-par 66 on the original Wissahickon course, now ranked fifth in Pennsylvania after its recent renovation. That was three lower than the second-best score on those 18 holes, even though he carded two bogeys and closed with a double. He followed with an even 72 on the Militia Hill layout, which gave him a 138 for the day, medalist honors by three strokes and top seed in the 32-man match-play field.

"I just got in a groove," said the 38-year-old Brennan, the club champion in 2014 and '15. "How can you not feel comfortable on your home course? I knew I was prepared coming in. We all had good vibes about it. I've never shot 66 on Wissahickon. Maybe 1-under or something like that. To do it on a day like this, I'm really proud of myself. There was a lot of adrenaline."

Brennan, who teaches at Spring-Ford High School, has moved on to match play only once because he can't commit to possibly taking so much time off from work. He would have made it multiple times, since he has to compete in this part of the event for Player of the Year points. But this time was different. He already had been given a permission slip from the proper authorities.

"Everyone's on board with what's going on," he emphasized.

And what if he makes it to Saturday's 36-hole final?

"I don't know if they'd have enough cocktails (in the clubhouse)," he said, smiling.

Four more from Cricket also made it, but one of them, Steve Oh, can't make it back for match play.

Nathan Sutherland of LedgeRock, making his debut, was second, at 141; Drexel senior Aaron Fricke finished third with a 142. He's hoping to continue the recent success by the Dragons. Coach Ben Feld took the season's first major, the Philadelphia Mid-Am late last month. And Chris Crawford, who just graduated and helped out as an assistant this past season, is playing in his second straight U.S. Open this week at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.

"It was the first time I'd ever played here," said Fricke, who's made it to the second round of match play twice. "I saw one when I caddied (for Lancaster assistant pro Matt Goudie) at the PGA Professional Championship last fall. So I'm definitely pretty thrilled. Actually, I hadn't been hitting it very well. I guess I found something out there today  …

"Everyone (at Drexel) is setting the bar pretty high. I'm trying to catch up. I'm lucky the good players aren't here this week."

A six-way playoff at 150 for the final three spots went three holes. Cricket's Sean Semenetz was eliminated on the first, the par-4 18th. Lu Lu's Jack Melville was the last to get in, which means he draws Brennan.

The first- and second-round matches are Wednesday, with quarterfinals and semis on Thursday.

Defending champ Michael McDermott, 2015 winner Cole Berman (from Cricket) and 2014 winner Jeff Osberg, who lost in last year's final, each comfortably advanced paired in the same group.