WESTMONT – It’s not necessarily a surprise that J.F. Aber is in second place in the 125th West Penn Amateur Championship at Sunnehanna Country Club. The young man can golf his ball and finished second in this event at Butler Country Club in 2022.
It might be, considered something of a surprise that Aber is where he is after he bogeyed the 12th, 13th, and 14th holes in the first round and is just three shots behind David Fuhrer.
“I hit it really well in that first round,” he said with a smile. “Those three bogeys? I tried not to think about them.”
It must be said he did that very well. Starting on the 10th tee, Aber ripped off four straight birdies to explode back up the leaderboard and will have a showdown with Fuhrer today.
“I don’t know, those sure felt good,” Aber said with a grin.
He posted rounds of 70 and 65 and the long day was made more special by his caddie, John Aber, the long-time golf professional at Allegheny Country Club and his dad.
“It really helped having my dad on the bag,” Aber said. “He knows how to calm me down when I need it. It was a lot of fun.”
Dad enjoyed the day as well, although 36 holes took a bit of a toll on him. He kept up with his son all the way through the round and smiled a lot, even though the hike up the hill to the 9th green was not particularly easy.
J.F. Aber will play one more amateur event, the Pennsylvania Amateur at Huntingdon Valley, July 29-31.
After that?
“I’m going to be moving to Florida,” he said. “I’m going to live near Jupiter. I’m going to try to play on the Korn Ferry Q School and see how that goes. And I’m also going to compete on DP Tour’s Q School.
Thirty-six players will compete in Tuesday’s final round with tee times beginning at 8 a.m.
For a live leaderboard, please click here. (GGID: 25WPGAAMATEUR)
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.