For the third straight year, Jimmy Gillam qualified for the state finals on the links, but this year, Gillam already has some hardware in his possession before the finals. His 1-under-par 71 at Scotch Valley Tuesday afternoon, was good enough to win the District VI individual championship.
Along with the title, Gillam earned a trip to Heritage Hills in York, PA for the state finals, a competition that Gillam feels he can win if he plays well. Joining him are second place finisher Tyler Williams of Forest Hills, Dan Lovette of Bishop McCort, and Hollidaysburg\’s Jake Biltz. The top four finishers in each district advance to state final competition.
Among the golfers who didn\’t make the cut was Sean Brannan, who had beaten Gillam in sectionals and captured first place in the Mountain Athletic Conference Championship held last Wednesday at Scotch Valley.
The Sean Brannan whose 1-over-par 73 edged Gillam, Biltz and Hollidaysburg\’s Anthony DeGol by three strokes less than a week ago at the same course, was no where to be found Tuesday. Brannan, who bogeyed only one hole on the front nine while shooting even last week, had four on the front Tuesday and added five more on the back nine to finish with an 8-over-par 80.
Altoona\’s Chris Perry played much better Tuesday than he did at the MAC Championship, but came up one stroke short of making the cut with a 6-over-par 78. Through seven holes, Perry led the entire tournament at 2-under-par, but his downfall came on the par-4 16th hole when he found himself under a tree and triple bogeyed. Perry recovered with a long birdie putt to finish off his round, but finished one shot behind Biltz for the final spot. As the fifth place finisher, Perry will serve as an alternate if one of the four qualified golfers were to be unable to perform in the state finals.
Gillam began his round Tuesday much like he had his round at Scotch Valley less than a week ago, at even par through five holes, but this time he led his group by doing so. Brannan bogeyed three of the first four holes while struggling to come anywhere close to the fairway on his drives, and Lovette stood at 2-over-par after five holes while dealing with 70 foot putts on nearly every hole.
On the toughest rated hole at Scotch Valley, the par-4 sixth hole, Gillam nearly eagled from 115 yards out and tapped in a putt of a couple inches for birdie, but dropped back a shot on the next hole when his approach hit a tree.
On the ninth hole, leading by four over Brannan, Gillam watched Brannan sink a birdie that threatened to get Brannan back into the hunt for the championship, and immediately matched him with a 10 foot birdie putt of his own.
Gillam made it two birdies in a row and gave himself a five stroke lead over Brannan and Lovette with a birdie on the par-4 10th hole.
Brannan, Lovette and Gillam all missed the green on the par-3 12th hole, and Gillam was the only one to save par, giving himself a six stroke lead over the other two members in his top group.
At this point, Gillam changed his strategy.
\”When I got that comfortable lead I was more conservative, but maybe I should have just kept being aggressive,\” Gillam said after the tournament.
The reason Gillam felt he should have continued his aggressiveness was that unbeknownst to him, Forest Hill\’s Tyler Williams was quietly putting together a solid round, playing in the seventh group out. After the 12th hole, when Gillam believed he was leading by six strokes at 2-under-par, he was in fact only three strokes ahead of Williams.
Gillam played it safe on the par-4 13th hole and three-putted for bogey. Meanwhile, Lovette drained a 50 foot birdie putt to cut Gillam\’s lead over him to four strokes. Unfortunately for Williams, this may have sparked Gillam back to being aggressive.
Gillam birdied the par-5 14th hole and followed that with a 12 foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th hole to drop to 3-under-par and regain his six stroke lead over Lovette.
Feeling comfortable with his lead again, Gillam slipped back to 2-under-par with a three-putt on the par-4 16th green, but Williams lost any chance to gain ground when he ended his round with a bogey to finish with a 2-over-par 74.
Gillam pared the par-3 17th hole, and needed only a triple bogey on the par-4 18th to win his first district championship. He bogeyed to finish at 1-under-par.
Lovette finished his day with a bogey as well, but finished third place with a 4-over-par 76. Biltz captured the final spot with a 5-over-par 77.
Ben Kamnikar of Westmont, finished in sixth place with a 7-over-par 79 and is the second alternate.
Bellwood-Antis\’ Tom Trexler finished with an 88 to finish in a tie for 24th place. Trexler capped off his impressive freshman year by shooting one stroke lower than Gillam did in his first District VI competition as a freshman.
Hollidaysburg came the closest it has come to defeat all season, but held off Westmont 240-244 to capture the team District VI title. State College finished third with a combined score of 250.
