OLEAN — The next face standing in the way of Corey Haas’ title defense at the 88th Annual SWNY-NWPA Men’s Amateur Golf Tournament is a familiar one: Brandon Haas, Corey’s brother.
Both Haas brothers won their second-round match play matches on Friday morning. Corey, the defending champion, defeated Vinny Liguori 5-and-4. Brandon, meanwhile, knocked off the tournament’s only other remaining previous champion, edging out Josh Anderson, 2-and-1.
“I mean, there’s been hundreds of thousands of rounds but it’s a little different,” Corey Haas said of facing Brandon, three years his senior.
The initial tournament schedule planned for the championship flight to play 36 holes Friday, but the weather had other plans. With rain picking up in the early afternoon, after most morning matches finished, organizers initially suspended play, but ultimately postponed the afternoon matches.
Anderson and Brandon Haas played a highly competitive match, with Haas rallying to tie at the turn after Anderson took the first two holes. But after trading wins on No. 10 and 11, the two pushed the next four holes until the older Haas brother birdied both 16 and 17 to seal the win.
“A lot of that was my putting that kept me in it,” Brandon Haas said. “Josh is a very solid player.”
Corey, meanwhile, credited “consistency off the tee.”
“I actually got pretty lucky on a few holes,” he said. “I mean, I had a couple of balls, one ricochet on five, back kind of towards the fairway, it wasn’t quite in the fairway but gave me a clear shot. I didn’t end up winning that whole but could have very well been a lot more trouble. And then a few holes on the back nine, kind of similar shots where just not really poorly struck shots, just hitting it well, just not quite straight down the middle and ended up being in some pretty easy spots to maneuver back out of the green for a second shot.
“Really the last two days I’ve been hitting my approach shots extremely well and again today, I probably shot three or four under on Vinny this morning. So I played very, very good, steady golf.”
— Of the final eight players, three are from the home course: the two Haas brothers and Kamdyn McClain. McClain defeated Nick Lyons, 6-and-4, on Friday.
“Nick’s a Bartlett guy, so he knows the course real well and that’s you know something kind of to his advantage and I am too, so that was nice,” McClain said. “We were able to play pretty quickly because we were going out as a twosome, we were the first first group out. But I thought I hit the ball pretty solid today. I didn’t really make too many birdies or anything out there but I think I just kind of played solid, didn’t make too many big mistakes out there.”
Saturday morning, the Olean High School grad will face Donte Bertoni (En-Joie Golf Club, Endicott), an incoming freshman for the St. Bonaventure golf team.
McClain, a finance student at George Washington, estimated he’s played the Men’s Am in his hometown “six or seven” times but this is his furthest run to date, making the quarterfinals.
He sees some advantage in playing his home course, one he grew up on.
“I mean, just knowing where to miss shots really is kind of the biggest advantage, I think,” McClain said of the home-course advantage. “Knowing if you’re gonna miss, what chip you should give yourself or if you’re gonna hit a tee shot, where you’d rather miss to get a better angle onto the greens. And then also on the greens too, I mean, obviously you probably hear guys that are up here that don’t play very much, they always complain about the greens, how fast they are, how much break is in putts and stuff like that. Knowing the greens is probably the No. 1 thing.”
The other two pairings for Saturday morning include four more college golfers, making the Haas brothers the eldest players still in contention.
Michael Davis (Pennhills), an Allegany native on the Maryland-Eastern Shore team, will face Darien Swanson (Pinehurst), who plays for Mercyhurst. Shibo Wang (Oak Hill), a member of the University of Rochester team, will face Peter Byrne (Nechanic Valley), a senior last year at SBU.
— When Haas faces Haas, it’ll put each in an unusual position. In team settings, usually they play together.
“We’ll definitely be having some fun. That’s a given,” Corey Haas said. “Maybe poke at him a little bit, like a brotherly love way. But no, I think it’ll be pretty normal. Usually when we get together in the competitive, real ultra competitive stance at least, it really brings out the best of us. I mean, we’re partners for the Higgins Memorial Tournament at Bartlett every September and we’ve won that the last three years together. So really when we get going and we’re in the same group, it’s usually meaning low scores. So I would have to make that prediction. That’s going to be the case tomorrow.”
Brandon credited his younger brother as “good at scrambling,” whereas he tries to play down the middle. But while they have contrasting styles, Brandon wants to focus on his play rather than what his brother might do.
“Corey and I have obviously played a lot of golf with each other,” he said. “But never quite in the setting that it will be tomorrow. There was one other time at Bartlett that we ended up playing a match that had some meaning behind it. And that was quite a battle too, we went 18 holes and he got me on the last hole. So going into tomorrow, I’m just gonna treat it like any other time we’ve played each other and go out there and ultimately it’s not me me against him, it’s me against the course, so I’m just gonna play my game and do what I’ve been doing all week and hopefully come out on top.”
For years growing up, Corey chased his brother on the course. Now he’s a defending Men’s Am champion, full of confidence.
“Really depending on the day it could be me, could be him,” Corey Haas admitted. “Just depends on who plays better, but back then it was definitely he was a lot better, I was still younger, not hitting it as far but it’s completely different games now because he hits it 275 off the tee and I’m well over 300 and I’ll out-drive him every hole, but he plays it well. He hits it straight down the middle every hole and hits the ball in the green so (we play) completely different games and a lot of people always ask ‘Well, what’s Brandon’s game compared to yours?’ And I just say ‘complete opposite.’”
Maybe opposites will produce a compelling contest in match play. Bragging rights, and tournament contention, are on the line.
SWNY-NWPA MEN’S AM
Friday’s Results
Championship Flight
K. McClain 6-and-4 over D. Bertoni
D. Swanson, 1-up over T. Unverdorben
M. Davis 5-and-4 over A. Rohrs
S. Wang 1-up over E. Steffen
P. Byrne 4-and-3 over S. Brady
C. Haas 5-and-4 over V. Liguori
B. Haas 2-and-1 over J. Anderson
Championship Consolation Flight
M. Bucko 3-and-2 over S. Cornelius
J. Wright 6-and-5 over E. Nenno
N. Swanson 3-and-2 over A. Frank
C. Reiley 1-up over D. Lefebre
S. Campbell 4-and-2 over J. Elder
M. Faulkner 4-and-3 over B. Santana
Kade Logue 2-up over Kal Logue
M. Aiello 7-and-5 over K. Henzel
First Flight
T. Scott 5-and-4 over M. Beaver
J. Padlo 2-and-1 over B. Fitness
A. Stoddard 4-and-2 over A. Murray
R. Lechner 6-and-4 over E. McHone
Second Flight
T. Hall Jr. 3-and-2 over M. Schmidt
N. Cecchini 4-and-2 over G. Nelson
C. Fitzpatrick 1-up (19 holes) over O. Wright
M. Fuller 7-and-6 over T. Clancy
Third Flight
J. Chapman 2-and-1 over T. Jones
J. Livak 4-and-3 over O. Malik
R. Dwaileebe 2-and-1 over T. Salvaggio
S. Hnat 3-and-2 over S. Moran
Fourth Flight
J. Reynolds 4-and-2 over J. Morrison
T. Padlo 4-and-3 over M. Baire
F. Higgins Jr. 5-and-3 over B. Colligan
P. Bzdak 6-and-4 over J. Orcutt
Fifth Flight
J. Obenrader 2-and-1 over S. Folts
J. Day 4-and-3 over T. Kane
C. Bartman 4-and-3 over C. Reikofsky
L. McArdle 5-and-4 over C. Butler
Sixth Flight
J. Worth 5-and-4 over K. Logue
K. Johnsen 5-and-4 over P. Jimerson
R. Jakubczyk concession over K. Hanson
J. Carls 6-and-5 over J. Giardini
60-over Consolation Flight
RJ Pauly 9-and-7 over M. Travis
J. Morton 1-up over M. Phillips
D. Sherwin concession over M. Hendrix
D. McPeek 6-and-4 over T. Lewis
SATURDAY’S PAIRINGS
Championship Consolation Flight Quarterfinals
8:00 a.m.: M. Aiello vs. Kad. Logue
8:10: S. Campbell vs. M. Faulkner
8:20: N. Swanson vs. C. Reiley
8:30: M. Bucko vs. J. Wright
Championship Flight Quarterfinals
8:40: S. Wang vs. P. Byrne
8:50: C. Haas vs. B. Haas
9:00: K. McClain vs. D. Bertoni
9:10: D. Swanson vs. M. Davis
Senior Flight
9:20: T. Hall Sr. vs. J. Henzel Jr.
9:30: M. Brady vs. J. Brady
First Flight
9:45: T. Scott vs. B. Forness
9:53: R. Lechner vs. A. Stoddard
Second Flight
10:01: T. Hall Jr. vs. N. Cecchini
10:09: M. Fuller vs. C. Fitzpatrick
45-59 Consolation Flight
10:17: K. Johnsen vs. J. Worth
10:25: R. Jakubczyk vs. J. Carls
Third Flight
10:33: J. Livak vs. J. Chapman
10:41: R. Dwaileebe vs. S. Hnat
Fourth Flight
10:49: J. Reynolds vs. T. Padlo
10:57: F. Higgins vs. P. Bzdak
60-over Consolation Flight
11:10: RJ Pauly vs. J. Morton
11:18: D. Sherwin vs. D. McPeek
Fifth Flight
11:26: J. Obenrader vs. J. Day
11:34: L. McArdle vs. C. Bartman
Sixth Flight
11:42: J. Ezzolo vs. T. Butler
11:50: D. McHone vs. K. Boudin
