By Harold Zeigler, Lancaster ( Pa.) New Era Sports Writer
Reprinted with permission

Zak Drescher continues to make a mark in Lancaster County junior golf history.

Days after he became the youngest player to win the Lancaster Open and the only one to win the Lanco Juniors and Lanco Open in the same year, he added another impressive notch to his resume.

The 18-year-old Hempfield grad won the Crudden Juniors title Monday at Four Seasons, shooting an even-par 70 for a one-shot win.

In capturing the Lanco Juniors and the Crudden, Drescher swept the two local major junior championships.

And he joined Shawn Hall (2001) and Tom Meredith (1997) as the only players to win both in the same year.

Hall and Meredith are also Hempfield grads.

"It feels good to be up there with Shawn,'' Drescher said this morning.

He joins an elite group of golfers who have won the Crudden in its 31-year history. Most notable is current PGA Tour star Jim Furyk, who won back-to-back in 1984 and 1985 at Conestoga Country Club. Furyk shot 76 and 75, respectively, in those two years, beating Rob Campbell in a playoff in 1984.

This is the first Crudden Juniors win for Drescher, but it continues some exceptional play over the past couple of weeks.

He won the Lanco Juniors on July 19, tied for seventh in the Pennsylvania Amateur July 30-Aug. 1, won the Lancaster Open Aug. 2-3, and yesterday won the Crudden Juniors. His average score in those four events is 70.1.

"I saw it coming together a little bit,'' he said. "It just started to click at the State Amateur.

"My ball-striking has been pretty good.''

Robby Gilbert and Ian Byerly finished second to Drescher yesterday, one-shot back after shooting 71.

It was the second straight year in which Gilbert finished second. He lost a playoff to Corey Wenger in last year's Crudden.

Warwick junior Allison Weaver shot a 74 to capture low girl honors. Weaver finished second in the Ladies Lanco last month.

This was Drescher's final juniors event. He has one more tournament scheduled before leaving to begin his freshman year at Campbell University in North Carolina.

Drescher will participate in the Pennsylvania Open Monday through Wednesday at the Lancaster Country Club.

It is unlikely that anybody will come into the State Open on the kind of roll Drescher is on.

So can he win that, too?

"I don't know,'' he said this morning. "That'd be nice. There are a lot of good players and a lot of good junior players out there.

"(But) you always want to have that mentality. Just play your game and see what happens.''

CONTACT US: hzeigler@LNPnews.com