BY MIKE MASTOVICH
JOHNSTOWN — Even Kevin Foley admitted that his name probably wasn’t near the top of the list of favorites heading into the 56th Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.
That didn’t matter on Sunday afternoon, as the Penn State golfer slipped on the green jacket and held the crystal first-place trophy on the 18th green.
“This is definitely the biggest thing on my resume,” Foley said. “I had a decent collegiate season, and I got All-American for the second year in a row. I was coming off a pretty good stretch, and I was pleased with the way my game was going. But it was nothing real big. You have (Brian) Harman winning U.S. Juniors and Porter Cups. You have (Rickie) Fowler winning Sunnehannas and qualifying for U.S. Opens.”
Foley led the Amateur from wire-to-wire after opening the tournament with a record-tying round of 61. He finished with three under-par rounds and was even in the other.
Sunday’s 2-under 68 put Foley at 13-under for the tournament. His 267 was only one stroke off the Sunnehanna Amateur record set by Allen Doyle in 1992.
“I’ll take it,” said Foley, who will be a senior at Penn State. “I was pretty happy with the way things went. Overall, I didn’t make too many mistakes.”
Harman shot even par on Sunday and finished at 8-under 272, five strokes behind Foley.
Two-time defending champion Fowler was third at 273 after finishing with a 68 on Sunday.
Fowler is one of four U.S. Open qualifiers who opted to remain in the field at Sunnehanna. Fowler, Cameron Tringale, Drew Weaver and Ben Martin each will play the 109th U.S. Open at Bethpage Black this weekend.
Tringale tied for fourth with Nathan Smith and Corey Nagy at minus-4.
Cody Gribble was seventh at minus-2, and Weaver was eighth at minus-1.
Open qualifier Martin tied for 12th at plus-3.
“I had a pretty good front nine with two birdies,” said Foley, who made birdie on Nos. 3 and 6 on the front. “I didn’t even know where Harman stood at that point. Going into 11 I knew that was a hole that someone could possibly make eagle on. If you don’t make birdie or par that could be a few shots swing there.”
Foley’s second shot on the 519-yard, par-5 landed in front of a large pine tree on a hill about 20 yards above the green on No. 11. He placed the ball within a foot of the hole and made birdie, keeping pace with Harman and Fowler, who also birdied 11.
“From there on, the last seven holes I was just trying to play par golf,” Foley said. “There was no need to play real aggressive.”
Other than his lone bogey on No. 12, the strategy unfolded almost exactly as Foley had intended.
Foley’s consistency made an impression on Fowler, who was attempting to become the first player to win three consecutive Sunnehanna Amateurs.
“He played well after that 61,” Fowler said. “The way he held it together, he was definitely in control of his game. I don’t think he shot over par. That just shows that he had pretty good control of his game this week.”
Harman had birdies on 7, 8 and 11. The Savannah, Ga., golfer bogeyed 1, 9 and 16 to finish even for the day. Fowler made birdie on 1, 8 11 and 18, and he bogeyed 2 and 14.
