Sep 24, 2024 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

CANONSBURG – The 6,637-yard course at Southpointe Golf Club, with its tight fairways, hilly terrain, numerous blind spots and lightning-fast greens, has a history of being challenging for professionals.

When the area’s best Class 3A high school golfers gathered here Tuesday morning for the first round of the WPIAL Championships, the wind started gusting about an hour after the 8 a.m. start, making tee and approach shots problematic and drying the greens. The conditions were not conducive to low scores.

Nobody broke par.

“On this course, on some holes, a par is like a birdie,” Peters Township senior Colton Lusk explained.

Lusk had enough birdies and pars to complete a round of 2-over 74 and will enter next week’s final round in second place. Lusk is one shot behind leader Carson Kittsley of Fox Chapel.

Lusk is one of 10 local golfers to advance to the final round Tuesday at Oakmont Country Club. Joining Lusk will be his PT teammates Griffin Hansberry and Ryan Watterson, the South Fayette trio of Sam Bishop, Randy Fisher and Brady Newman, Belle Vernon’s Seth Tomalski, Jack Edwards and Jordan Mocello, and Canon-McMillan’s Henry Manciu.

The top 36 finishers – 44 in all – advanced.

Lusk said he had an advantage over many others because he had played eight rounds at Southpointe.

“I played a tournament here this summer, and in the same tournament last year. Both were four rounds, so I knew where to take advantage of some things and where to simply take par.”

Lusk had only two birdies to go with two bogeys and double-bogey 6 on No. 10.

“You have to hit the fairways here,” Lusk said. “If you miss, then you’re penalized, big time. The pins were tricky today with some tough slopes.”

Kittsley had six pars in his round.

Lusk is tied for second place with William Hilton of Pine-Richland, Ravi Desai of North Allegheny and Michael Quallich of section rival Baldwin. Quallich was leading the round until taking a triple-bogey on No. 18. Quallich hit his drive across a cart path and into high grass. He also overshot the green with his approach shot.

Bishop, a junior, was in the second foursome to finish and is tied for 10th place after shooting 78.

“I thought I’d need 82 or 83 to advance,” Bishop said. “I played here over the summer and like the course. … I had a slow start but had a birdie on No. 7 after hitting it within two feet.

“I can’t be mad. I made it to Oakmont, but I feel like I left some shots out there.”

Tomalski, after hanging around in the top 11 much of the day, finished tied for 16th with a 7-over 79 in what was an uneventful day, which explained his success. Tomalski didn’t have a birdie, but he also avoided the big numbers that went on so many other scorecards. Tomalski, a senior, had nothing worse than a bogey.

“I had to make birdies, but I found that you can’t hit drivers here very often,” Tomalski said. “I hit irons off the tees.”

Tomalski thinks Oakmont might be an advantage for him next week. Last year, he advanced to the Class 2A Championships that were held at Oakmont. Belle Vernon moved up to Class 3A this year.

“I probably know a few misses, and I made a couple of birdies there,” Tomalski said. “It’s a hard course and they make the greens fast.”

The cut for making it to Oakmont was 11-over 83 and included Newman, Mocello, Hansberry and Watterson. That Watterson advanced can be attributed to one hole – the 496-yard par-5 No. 8. Watterson had an eagle-3.

Watterson appeared to be safely above the cut line after 16 holes but finished 4-over on the final two.

Manciu advanced with a round of 81. Edwards and Fisher each shot 82.

Edwards also was in a group that finished early and had to wait out the incoming results for more than an hour. He survived a rocky start – 5-over after four holes – but had a five-hole stretch in the middle of the round during which he was 2-under.

“I was definitely concerned about myself,” Edwards said of his slow start. “I said that if I trusted myself, then I could finish where I needed to. This course is not easy. The pin placements and how fast the greens are made it difficult. The greens got firmer as we went along.

“I felt I had to shoot 82 or 83 to advance. I definitely maxed that out.”