GREEBSBURG — Sometimes ho-hum golf is the best kind of golf.

Mars graduate and Indiana (Pa.) University sophomore Josh Bartley didn’t do anything spectacular on the Hannastown Golf Club course Thursday afternoon, but he did enough to shoot a 2-under 68 to finish tied for second at the Allegheny Health Network 99th Open Championship West Qualifier.

“I played boring golf today,” Bartley said, laughing. “I hit fairways and greens and made putts.”

Bartley had five birdies, 10 pars and just three bogeys in the round.

Spencer Mellon of Oakmont won the event at 4-under.

Grove City native Ryan Prokay finished tied for fifth with and even-par 70.

“The course was in great shape,” Bartley said. “I went in expecting a mud bath, but it was really well maintained. The greens were great. There were a couple of wet spots, but you got a free drop. It was a great course.”

The top 11 golfers made the cut and qualified for the Open Championship, which will take place Aug. 10-12 at Rolling Green Golf Club in Eighty Four.

For Bartley, it was a culmination of a golfing reinvention.

At Mars, Bartley was a big hitter off the tee, which helped him to a 12th-place finish at the PIAA Golf Championships as a senior.

But Bartley no longer sends the ball screaming great distances off the tee. He’s had to adapt.

“I used to think I wasn’t a great putter, but now it’s my strength,” Bartley said. “I used to be a big hitter off the tee, but I don’t do that anymore. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why I don’t hit it as far. There are guys hitting it 30 to 40 yards by me. I’ve had to become more of a finesse golfer.

He spent the season at IUP as the fifth golfer trying to perfect his transformation.

He had his moments, including a ninth-place finish at the Dye Intercollegiate Tournament.

Bartley, though, also had his growing pains.

“I think college golf helped me with my nerves,” Bartley said. “Every college tournament feels like the biggest tournament ever. Being in that situation constantly has helped me.”

It’s not that Bartley is a stranger to big tournaments or big situations.

Last summer, he won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Youth Championship in a one-hole playoff.

He has two more tournaments before the Open Championship this month.

“I try to take every round like a normal round,” Bartley said.

Bartley is a business major at IUP and his job this summer is golf.

He wants his full-time job after college to be golf as well.

“I wanted to go to school for professional golf maintenance to either teach golf or run a golf course, but (IUP golf coach Fred Joseph) reached out to me and wanted me to play for him and I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.”

Bartley said when his playing days are over — and he hopes that isn’t for many years — he could easily go back to school to get his teaching card or his professional golf maintenance degree.

“I already will have the business background,” Bartley said. “It would be pretty easy to do that.”

For now, Bartley is focused on playing the best golf he can for as long as he can.

“I can’t see myself doing anything else,” he said.