CHES-MONT GOLF NOTEBOOK: Rustin not surprised to be on Unionville’s heels

EAST WHITELAND >> Perhaps the biggest surprise in the boys’ team competition at the 2019 Ches-Mont Golf Championship wasn’t that powerhouse Unionville continued its winning ways. It was that West Chester Rustin placed second, ahead of National Division champion Downingtown East, as well as West Chester Henderson and West Chester East.
Or was it?
“It did not surprise me,” said Knights’ head coach Joe Paris. “Earlier this season we tied Unionville at our place (Penn Oaks GC) and had to go to the sixth score.
“I knew (Eric) Miller and (Matt) Feeney were going to do well. Those two and Ryan Dariano are our big three. All we really needed was a couple other kids to play to their potential, and Connor Martin was fantastic.”
Dariano and Miller tied for third place individually on Tuesday with identical 3-over-par 75s, and Feeney was sixth with a 76. But the key was Martin’s 81, which put him tied for 18th overall.
“I knew it was going to come down to us and Unionville,” Paris said. “They are very, very strong. They have some kids that can play at the next level.”
Rustin’s team score of 390 was 11 back from the Indians, but 11 ahead of Downingtown East. And the Knights’ Feeney and Miller exhibited some toughness by overcoming some early adversity.
“(Feeney) started off with a double-bogey on No. 2,” Paris said. “Then he just climbed back. That shows his perseverance.”

SURVIVING A LONG, GRUELING DAY
It was a grueling day of golf, especially for West Chester Henderson’s Dylan Kochis and Unionville’s Jake Cooley, who played a total of 21 holes on Tuesday that included three playoff holes. But it was test of endurance for everybody else as the average round took about five and a half hours.
“Our group was lucky because we were in almost 30 minutes before anybody else,” said Unionville’s Roy Anderson. “It was a long round with some waiting, but it wasn’t as bad as it was for some others.”
There were 90 boys and 30 girls competing at Applecross Country Club. It made for a crowded 30 foursomes, who went off on a shotgun start at 9 a.m. with multiple groups on each hole.
“It takes a lot of patience and poise to wait out so much time between holes,” said Henderson head coach Joel Cummings.
“When they first said playoff, I was like, ‘oh no,’” said Kochis, who shot a 73 and then went on to win it with a spectacularly long birdie putt on the third playoff hole. “It was a long day, but I was in it for the long haul.”

NOTES: The Unionville and Downingtown East girls’ golf teams, which sport identical 9-1 Ches-Mont League records, will be facing off in a match Oct. 3 at Turtle Creek Golf Course at 2:30 p.m. to determine the Ches-Mont regular-season champion … Downingtown East sophomore Ava O’Sullivan, who is a member at Applecross, finished third with an 83. “My favorite hole on this course is No. 18 — I really like it that the course ends with a par 5,” said O’Sullivan, who shot a 39 on the front and a 44 on the back Tuesday … Several bunkers on the front nine at Applecross were being worked, including bunkers at Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 7, and were treated as ground under repair, with free relief. Of the top Chester County girls competitors interviewed, none of them indicated that this made the course easier or more difficult.