Published: August 19, 2008 12:25 am            

Hilltop's win in Anderson opens scholastic season

The local high school golf season kicked off at North Fork Golf and Tennis Club on Monday with 14 squads competing for team and individual titles in the 16th Annual George Anderson Memorial golf tournament.

Westmont Hilltop continued its dominance of the event, winning its fifth consecutive team title with a 235 total in the low 3-of-4 stroke play format.

Westmont’s squad consisted of Mac Wolfe (74), Patrick Lennon (85), Phil Keilman (76), and Andy Herbert (87).

The win is Westmont’s 10th title in the history of the tournament.

“We were pretty strong coming in to it,” Westmont coach Joe Shorto said. “It was hard determining which four would play today because we really have six pretty good players. They played very smart (Monday) and made very few mistakes.”

Westmont was paced by junior Mac Wolfe, who offset four bogeys with birdies at Nos. 5 and 10 to post a 2-over 74 and take home individual medalist honors. Wolfe credited solid putting in his win.

“I made some long putts,” Wolfe said. “I hit the ball well, hit a lot of fairways and greens, and got putts to drop when I needed to.”

Bishop McCort sophomore Kurtis Straw overcame a heartbreaking quadruple-bogey at the par-4 No. 12 to shoot 3-over 75 and claim runner-up honors.

Straw was hitting on all cylinders, but watched in disbelief as his approach shot to the uphill No. 12 hit the green and rocketed out-of-bounds. Following a drop, Straw sent another shot on target and again had it bound over the green and out of play.

Westmont’s Phil Keilman was steady, shooting 2-over on each nine to finish third at 76.

Somerset High School junior Derek Knopsnyder was fourth with 78 and McCort’s Anthony Cascino rounded out the top five with a 79.

Cascino had the best finish of the day.

Beginning his round at No. 16 in the shotgun start, the junior birdied the par-4 13th hole and eagled the par-5 15th to vault up the leader board.

Along with Cascino and Straw, McCort’s Luke Purazo shot 84, and Angela Litvin posted 87 to earn Bishop McCort a second-place finish at 238.

Somerset finished third at 245 with scores of Knopsnyder (78), Alex Miller (81), Joe Foltz (86), and Michael Cascio (90).

Hollidaysburg was fourth at 255.

The Anderson tournament was created by local golf professionals Bob Strawn, Joe Shorto, and John Goettlicher to honor the memory of George Anderson, a Canadian transplant to Johnstown, who served for 40 years as the golf professional at the Johnstown Elks/North Fork Golf and Tennis Club.

        

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