Patterson Cup: Zach Barbin makes history with ‘Philly Sweep’
Zach Barbin (Chesapeake Golf)
Coming into the summer, Liberty senior Zach Barbin was trying to simply find a win.
He found two.
Barbin bested Gregor Orlando and Jeff Osberg in a four-hole aggregate at the 118th Joseph H. Patterson Cup held by the Golf Association of Philadelphia. After picking up his first GAP major earlier this summer at the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship, Barbin becomes the first player to win both events since 1995.
“To say you are going to win the Philly Amateur and Patterson Cup [in the same year], that’s ridiculous,” Barbin told GAP. “I came in second in stroke-play qualifying for the amateur at Stonewall in 2019 and that was kind of the point I realized I could actually play with these guys. I still can’t believe [I won]. I’m pretty stunned.”
The disbelief was justified. Osberg, who was looking to defend his 2019 title, missed a two-foot par putt on the fourth playoff hole to match Barbin’s aggregate score.
“I’m really not that upset,” the 36-year-old mid-am said. “I feel like I hit a good putt. I don’t know what to say about it. I tapped down all the marks that were there… For that not to go in is devastating.”
Thanks to Hurricane Isaias the Patterson Cup was cut from 36 to 18 holes after Tuesday’s round was washed out. The mad-dash set up the three-way playoff between Barbin, Osberg, and Orlando who all finished at 3-under (67). Both Barbin and Osberg closed their rounds with bogeys, missing an opportunity to claim the title in regulation.
After three playoff holes, Barbin and Osberg separated themselves from Orlando by two shots as the trio made their way to 18. Osberg found the fairway while Barbin bombed one into the first cut on the right side. First, to play out of the two, Osberg pulled a 9-iron left of the pin to 35-feet. Barbin answered with a pitching wedge over a tree from 157 yards. He sat 20-feet right of the hole, pin-high.
Lagging his birdie putt to a knee-knocking four-feet, Barbin was in for par.
“That putt coming back was really hard. I can’t believe I made it,” said Barbin. “It’s tough to win that way. Jeff and Gregor were playing great. You want to beat the person to win, not have the guy make a mistake like that. It was a shame.”
View results for Joseph Patterson Cup
ABOUT THE
Joseph Patterson Cup
Format: Thirty-six hole individual gross stroke
play, two day event with a cut to the low 60
and ties for the second round.
Eligibility: Open to GAP Member Club golfers
with handicaps of 7.0 or lower. Non-exempt players
must prequalify.
View Complete Tournament Information