Named 2015 GAP Williamson Cup team member, places in top 25% at a national championships
Editor’s note: This article is follow-up to the original Times story featuring Kennett High’s golfer Evan Brown. To read the original article, and learn more about Evan and his accomplishments, please click on the following link: http://chescotimes.com/?p=10934
By Kim Chiomento, News Editor, The Times
KENNETT – Late summer certainly has spelled continued success for Kennett High Junior and Hartefeld National member, Evan Brown. Brown, 16, was given top honors by The Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) by being selected as one of just four junior golfers to represent GAP at the prestigious Williamson Cup competition. This year GAP hosted the event at the historic Saucon Valley Golf Club in Bethlehem, PA. Brown also qualified for the USGA U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, held in late July, at Bluffton, SC’s Colleton River Plantation Golf Course.
Evan Brown awaits his next round of play.
2015 Marks the 52nd year for the Williamson Cup. Ten junior teams compete and represent thousands of golf clubs from the northeast, south and Canada; it is considered one of the top junior golf events in the nation. Brown shared the honor of representing GAP with three other junior golfers: Jack Melville of Lu Lu Country Club; Max Siegfried of Aronimink Golf Club and Kyle Vance of the GAP Junior Players Club. The GAP team came in third place out of the ten teams participating in the event.
The cup was established in 1964 by A. Fred Williamson, in memory of his father who was a founding member of Winged Foot Golf Club, and also a long serving member of the USGA Executive Committee.
The Williamson Cup is held in a different location each year and maintains a long standing reputation for insisting upon the highest standards of etiquette, responsible social behavior, and camaraderie among participating teams. Teams participating in the event are hosted by member families to help create a welcoming environment and foster these ideals both on and off the course.
Brown’s accomplishments also continued on the national circuit. With more than 3,200 junior male golfers from all over the country and the world, and only 156 juniors who qualify for the USGA Junior Amateur Championships annually; simply qualifying is considered quite an achievement. After two days of stroke play, Evan placed 38th and was able to move on to the field of 64 juniors participating in the next event of match play. With six holes left to play, Evan lost to a junior, Eugene Hong, 15, who ultimately moved on to the semifinals.
Philip Barbaree, 17, of Shreveport, LA, eventually went on to win the championships. Barbaree treated golf fans to an exciting finish, rallying to a major comeback tying the record for the largest comeback in USGA Junior Amateur Championship history.
Brown will work to qualify again and attend next year’s USGA Junior Amateur Championships. It will be his last chance to participate due to age restrictions requiring participants to be 17 years old or younger by July 25. Playing well in the Junior Amateur and several other AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) and GAP events this year improved Brown’s national ranking to #715 for the combined 2016 and 2017 graduates and #123 for the 2017 graduates nationally (Golf Week Junior Rankings).
Regarding the summer of 2015 Brown says, “It’s been awesome, playing in all of these national golf events has been an honor and something that I look forward to doing again next year for sure.”
