OLEAN — Bartlett Country Club was supposedly playing “easier” for Wednesday’s medal qualifying round of the 84th Annual Southwestern New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Men’s Amateur Golf Tournament.

But the scores surely didn’t reflect that.

Oh, Marcus Aiello, the 28-year-old Siemens cost analyst, claimed the medal with a two-under-par 68. But in a field of 118, of which 38 players had handicaps of three-or-lower, 10 did not make the 32-man Championship Flight.

The final two spots were decided by a seven-man playoff of those who shot 78.

St. Bonaventure’s Dan Gianniny claimed one spot with a birdie and Knut Johnsen, after five extra holes, got the other in a group that included John Henzel Jr., Charles Fitzpatrick, Zach Bonfante, David Benedict and Dylan Gethicker.

Five of the seven former champions in the field made the Championship Flight headed by Andy Frank (2008), who shot a second-best 1-over-par 69. Nine-time champion Chris Blocher (1997, ‘99, 2007, 10-13, 17, 19) had a 72, Tom Crist (1994) and Josh Anderson (2001) each shot 74 and Eric McHone (2003) 77.

Today’s highlight match is Aiello’s opener as, being the top seed, he faces 32nd seed Gianniny, who survived that playoff just to make the Championship Flight.

Another interesting matchup pairs No. 4 seed Michael Davis, the Junior Medalist (71), against McHone.

AIELLO, who returned to the area in December of 2018 after several years in Painted Post, lost the 36-hole Championship Flight final of that year, 1-up to St. Bonaventure’s Zach Chaddock, who became the only player to win two Men’s Amateur titles before age 21.

Of his qualifying round, he admitted, “I played well … a couple of mistakes when I went long on 12 and 14 but other than that I played pretty steady all day and birdied No. 2, 8, 9 and 18.”

Of predictions the course would yield a raft of low scores, Aiello pointed out, “I wouldn’t say that the course ever plays easy, but it was definitely easier than in past years … it was soft, it rained last night and it rained again this morning.”

Of course, he’s been on a roll the past seven days.

“Last Thursday I shot 65 and last Saturday a 66 so it was trending in the right direction,” Aiello said, “and I feel like I kept it going today.”

He credited his 2018 Men’s Amateur performance, despite the heartbreaking loss in the finals, with providing some mental strength.

“That’s what helps,” Aiello admitted. “I probably went 6-7 years of losing matches, then I turned around and started winning some matches. Of course, you get confidence in going further.”

As for playing during the Covid-19 pandemic, he concluded, “You’ve just got to be careful. My thing is just being respectful of people … it’s all we need to do. We play enough and still do the same (right) thing … they keep the carts (at Bartlett) sanitized, they’re doing a great job up here which is nice … they take care of us.”

MEN’S AMATEUR NOTES: Two eagles were produced by the 118-man field, both by unattached golfers: Joe Mitchell, on No. 1, finishing with a 76 and Chris Travis, on No. 4, who shot 92 … Penn-York Leaguer Davis of Allegany-Limestone won the Junior Medalist title with a solid 1-over-par 71 over his home course. It was the lowest junior medalist-winning score since Bona freshman-to-be, Gianniny, shot an even-par 70 in 2017 … Another Allegany-Limestone student, Sean Campbell, won the $500 John R. Henzel Memorial Scholarship that goes to a graduated senior Big 30 golfer. He will attend Pitt-Bradford … Seven members of the St. Bonaventure golf team were in the field and all of them made the 32-man Championship Flight. Jack Geise shot 71, Chris Chapman 74, Andrew LeMay 75, Andrew LaCongo, Erik Stauderman and Jude Cummings all had 76 and Gianniny 78. Geise, Chapman and Gianniny are seniors, LeMay and Stauderman juniors, LaCongo is a sophomore and Cummings a freshman … The highest handicap to make the Championship Flight was Bartlett’s Joel Rosencrance, a 10-handicapper, who shot a 7-over-par 77 … The two former champions who missed the Championship Flight were Dan Reiley (1995) and Jim Brady (1977, ‘84) who shot 79 and 84, respectively.