Peters Township's Connor Schmidt defends West Penn Amateur title
Connor Schmidt didn’t need any dramatic collapses from an opponent to defend his West Penn Amateur title.
He shot a 5-under-par 30 on the front nine at Allegheny Country Club during the final round, finishing the second round with a 2-under 68 and a 6-under 134.
He owned a two-shot win over Greensburg’s Kevin Fajt, who finished with a 4-under 136. Peters Township’s Alec Stopperich was third at 3-under 137.
Schmidt, a senior at Drexel and Peters Township grad, won the 2019 title when Greensburg’s Mark Goetz had a tough finish.
He birdied Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the 120th annual event. Schmidt shot a 4-under 66 during the first round on Monday.
The tournament was originally scheduled for July 6-7 but postponed because of the coronavirus.
Brett Young and Jimmy Ellis tied for fourth at 2-under and Darin Kowalski, the 2020 Pittsburgh Open champion, was sixth.
Goetz, Franklin Regional grad Palmer Jackson and Fox Chapel’s Gregory Meyer could not compete because of school obligations.
Louis Olsakovsky of Upper St. Clair was seventh at even par. Chris Tanabe, Paul Ajak and Jake Sollon tied for eighth at 1-over.
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.