Sewickley, Pa. / Allegheny Country Club?C.G. Mercatoris (Brookville, Pa. / Brookville), who will be a junior on the Robert Morris University men's golf team in the fall, tied for fourth place at the 109th Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championship held at Allegheny Country Club June 29-30. Mercatoris' college teammates, Joe Kabana (East Stroudsburg, Pa. / Notre Dame) and Brock Pompeani (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell), finished 16th and tied for 23rd, respectively.
Nathan Smith, who hails from the same hometown as Mercatoris, won the event for the third straight year. A participant in the 2004 Masters after winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, Smith put together a three-round total of 207, three-strokes under par at the 6,522-yard par-70 layout.
Mercatoris finished in a four-way tie for fourth place at two-over par, five strokes back from Smith. The All-Northeast Conference selection used a consistent approach in the tournament, leading the field in pars with 40 and scoring par or better on 85.2 percent of the holes. He tallied even-par totals in the first and third rounds while shooting two-over par 72 in the second round.
Kabana, who qualified for the event by winning the 2009 Holiday Inn Pittsburgh Airport Colonial Classic, was 16th overall filling out his scorecard with rounds of 73-71-73 for a 217 (+7) total. He managed to card six birdies and 35 pars in three rounds of play.
Incoming freshman Pompeani recovered from an opening round 78, posting scores of 70 and 73 in the final two rounds to finish tied for 23rd with a 221 (+11). He had the second-most birdies in the tournament, 11, carding six of those during an up-and-down second round. The rookie also had six bogeys during those 18 holes.
