Connor Bennink and Lydia Swan are EDGA and EDWGA Stroke Play leaders
Erie District Golf Association protocol has it that the reigning titlist of its Stroke Play Championship return the tournament's trophy to officials before the start of the ensuing year's event.
Connor Bennink complied with that etiquette when he arrived at Lawrence Park Golf Club for Friday's first round of this weekend's 54-hole competition.
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Given how the former Gannon University golfer has played since, he's likely to have it handed back to him sometime Sunday afternoon.
Bennink, who has transferred to South Carolina's Coastal Carolina University for his senior season, followed his opening-round 67 with Saturday's 7-under par 65. His overall total of 12-under 132 is five fewer than Alex Weir (7-under 137) and eight than Mike Wolfe (4-under 140).
Should Bennink maintain his lead, he'd be the tournament's first back-to-back victor since EDGA Hall of Famer Ellery Tarbell in 2005-06.
“Yeah, a five-shot lead is a five-shot lead,” Bennink said. “But I was talking with my dad (David Bennink) and we always talk about the same thing. I try not to focus on what anyone else is doing. I've never been a leader board watcher. I know the standard I'm supposed to hold myself to and I just execute off that.
“I'm going to do the same thing (Sunday) and, hopefully, just keep playing my game.”
Bennink also is on the cusp of something unprecedented in the tournament's 102-year history, according to the EDGA's website.
No golfer has ever won the Stroke Play Play with a 54-hole score at 10-under or lower. Austin Romeo (2009) and Patrick Kelly (2018) share the record at 9-under.
Not bad for someone who's played a limited number of competitive rounds since his last appearance for Gannon.
Bennink, a Philadelphia native, completed a summer internship with the accounting firm of Baker Tilly International on July 31. He teed off at Lawrence Park Friday with less than two weeks of extended practice.
“I felt like something was turning (this weekend), but not turning like I was going to shoot 67 and 65,” Bennink said. “It feels great to come off the golf course pleased with how you played. That's such a rare thing.”
Weir in familiar spot
Bennink, Weir and Wolfe will be the last trio who tee off (10:40 a.m.) for Sunday's final round.
If the duo of Bennink and Weir sounds familiar, it should. They were tied at 2-over after three rounds of the 2021 tournament at North East's Lake View Country Club.
Bennink prevailed with a par-5 for the first hole of their playoff to Weir's bogey.
Weir, who also finished second in June's EDGA Match Play Championship, said he has no choice but to play go-for-broke golf Sunday to overcome Bennink's five-stroke advantage
“You've got to go out and make birdies because you know he's going to be (thinking) the same thing,” Weir said. “I've got to give myself (looks) at 10-footers for birdie all day, and them make them.”
Other notables
The top 24 golfers, with ties, qualified for the final round. The cut was 7-over.
Matt Barto and Tyler Cozad go into it tied for fourth at 3-under 141. Barto won June's EDGA Match Play Championship, which means he'd record a calendar sweep of its majors with a mammoth comeback.
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Cozad was the Stroke Play's medalist in 2017 and 2019. Ted Grassi III (2020), Drew Deimel (2010) and Ron Coleman (2003, 2007 and 2012) are other former champs in Sunday's field.
EDWGA Stroke Play
Saturday doubled as the first round of the EDWGA Stroke Play Championship at Lake Shore Country Club.
Lydia Swan, who has twice won the 10-year tournament outright and shared last year's title with younger sister Anna Swan, shot an opening-round 67. The new North East graduate, who is days away from starting her college golf career at Oral Roberts University, was five better than the 72 for Gannon star Sarah White.
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“It was probably one of the crazier 67s that I've shot,” Lydia Swan said. “The course was really playable, but I was just everywhere. The right trees and the left trees. But I scrambled really well (Saturday). That helped me out, but I hope I'm in the middle of the fairway more (Sunday).”
Tara Thomas was third at 73. Although the Villa Maria graduate was a three-time PIAA gold medalist in tennis, she's about to begin her sophomore season with the women's golf team at Bucknell.
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Steph Urban was next in the standings with her 74. She won the original Stroke Play in 2013, repeated a year later and then added a third title in 2019.
Sunday's tee times at Lake Shore are scheduled to start at 11:32 a.m.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Connor Bennink and Lydia Swan are EDGA and EDWGA Stroke Play leaders
