Temple's Brandon Matthews wins Phila. Open

After suffering the equivalent of a golf nightmare two days earlier in U.S. Amateur qualifying, Brandon Matthews put the horror behind him Wednesday at Philadelphia Cricket Club and won the Philadelphia Open for the second time in three years.

Matthews, 20, who will be a senior at Temple in September, fired a 4-under-par 66 in the morning at the club's Wissahickon course and followed it up with a 71 in the afternoon for a 137 total and a 2-stroke victory in the 111th playing of the championship conducted by the Golf Association of Philadelphia.

Gulph Mills assistant pro Josh Rackley, who set a competitive course record in the morning with a 65, took second at 139. Because Matthews is an amateur, Rackley took home the first-place check of $7,000 from the $35,000 purse.

Matthews will try to qualify for the Web.com Tour in the fall while still remaining an amateur. He fell short Monday of competing in the U.S. Amateur, where he reached the quarterfinals in 2013.

Although he carded 10 birdies and an eagle, he made four double bogeys during his 36 holes at Cedarbrook and Old York Road and missed the number by 2 shots.

"That was extremely disappointing," said Matthews, of Blue Bell Country Club.

"The stretch of holes I had in the middle - the last nine of the first round, the first nine of the last round - really killed me."

Still, Matthews made a run on his final nine and had makeable birdie putts on his last two holes that would have earned him a playoff.

He missed both but said, "I take a lot of pride in the way I closed."

Matthews, who extended the streak of Open victories by Temple golfers to five years, started Wednesday with a bogey at No. 2 but came on with five birdies after that - three on the back nine - behind great wedge play.

He said he tried to hold on in his afternoon round because the wind had picked up and made club selection difficult.

"It feels great," he said of the victory.

"To come here and do this after Monday was really nice. It was a nice pick-me-up."

The Results

a-Brandon Matthews, Blue Bell . . . 66-71-137

Josh Rackley, Gulph Mills . . . 65-74-139

Billy Stewart, ACE Club . . . 73-67-140

George Forster, Radnor Valley . . . 71-70-141

a-Ben Cooley, Huntingdon Valley . . . 74-68-142

Mark Sheftic, Merion . . . 69-73-142

a-Jalen Griffin, Talamore . . . 74-71-145

a-Glenn Smeraglio, Mercer Oaks . . . 74-71-145

John Pillar, Woodloch Springs . . . 73-72-145

a-Cory Siegfried, Aronimink . . . 72-73-145

a-Alexander Hicks, Wildwood . . . 74-73-147

Hugo Mazzalupi, Phila Cricket . . . 71-76-147

a-Matt Teesdale, Commonwealth . . . 76-72-148

a-Christopher Ault, Burlington . . . 73-75-148

Stu Ingraham, M-Golf . . . 72-76-148

a-Gregor Orlando, Phila Cricket . . . 70-78-148

a-amateur