Michael McDermott leads Philadelphia Amateur field at Cricket Club
The three-time champ tops the list of 143 players for Tuesday's start of competition.
Three-time champion Michael McDermott heads a field of 143 players for Tuesday's start of competition in the 117th BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Flourtown.
The championship, one of four majors on the Golf Association of Philadelphia schedule, begins with 36 holes of qualifying at Cricket's two courses - Wissahickon and Militia Hill. The low 32 players at the end of the day advance to Wednesday's first round of match play on the Wissahickon course.
McDermott, 42, of Bryn Mawr, became the eighth player in GAP history to win the Amateur for the third time last year when he defeated Jeff Osberg, 1-up, in the 36-hole final on his home course at Merion Golf Club.
"Jeff's obviously my good buddy and a competitor I admire very much who scares the heck out of me," McDermott, a five-time GAP player of the year, said in an association release. "Last year worked out for me but the truth be told, it was a great day for Jeff and me. I almost would have the same feelings had it gone the other way."
Osberg, of Huntingdon Valley, won the Amateur in 2014. He contended for the championship of GAP's first 2017 major, the Middle-Amateur, but wound up in a tie for second place at Overbrook Golf Club.
McDermott and Osberg will play in the same three-man group for both rounds of Tuesday's qualifying with 2015 Amateur champion Cole Berman, a Cricket Club member who will be a senior at Georgetown in the fall.
Match play will consist of the first and second rounds on Wednesday, the quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday and a 36-hole championship match on Saturday.
Four other former champions are in the field, including two Cricket Club members - Conrad Von Borsig (2009) and Philip Bartholomew (2007) - plus St. Davids' Brian Gillespie (2001) and Overbrook's Ray Thompson (1972).
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