Kan helps Purdue finish ninth at NCAA tourney

   Aurora Kan, a three-time Daily Times Player of the Year at Chichester, capped a strong freshman season at Purdue with a career-best round on her way to a tie for 51st that helped the Boilermakers finish ninth at the NCAA Tournament, which concluded Friday.
   Kan, the 2010 Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur and PIAA champion, fired a 3-under 69 at the 6,264-yard, par-72 Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Tenn. in the third round that vaulted her all the way to a tie for 17th and, more importantly, moved the Boilermakers into a tie for third in the team standings.
   But Kan was 10 shots worse in Friday’s final round with a 79. She had opened the tournament with rounds of 77 and 74 and ended up at 299, just missing a top-50 finish.
   Purdue was very consistent with rounds of 293, 295, 295 and 299 for a 1182 total that was just 11 shots back of national champion Alabama. The Crimson Tide ended up at 1171, a shot better than Southern Cal and two shots clear of third-place LSU.
   It was the seventh straight top-10 finish for Purdue in its 13th straight NCAA Tournament appearance under coach Devon Brouse.
   “The first three days, I really take my hat off to the women,” Brouse told Purdue’s sports website. “They competed hard, they did a good job and their preparation to get here, I thought was good. They had a strong performance at NCAA Regionals, you have to commend them on that.
   “This team came a long way. A couple players in particular came a long way. We knew we were going to be young and inexperienced and probably not as strong as we’ve been the last couple of years, but to say we got in the final group the last round and had our chance, there aren’t many programs that can say that.”
   Purdue was led, as it has been all season, by its dynamic duo of juniors, Laura Gonzalez-Escallon and Paula Reto.
   Gonzalez-Escallon fired a brilliant opening-round 67 and rode that blazing start through rounds of 76, 74 and 70 to finish in a tie for third place with a 1-under 287.
   Oklahoma’s Chirapat Jao-Javanil, a sophomore from Thailand, claimed the individual crown with a 6-under 282. Alabama’s Brooke Pancake, who will play on the U.S. Curtis Cup team next month, was four shots back in second place at 2-under 286. Pancake, though, holed a four-foot putt on the final hole that Alabama needed to win the team title.
   Reto matched Gonzalez-Escallon’s final-round 2-under 70 and finished in a tie for 15th at 5-over 293. One of the players in that group at 293 was 2007 PIAA champion Rachel Rohanna of Ohio State.
   Rounding out Purdue’s lineup at the NCAA Tournament, junior Kishi Sinaha tied for 77th at 304 and freshman Vicky Scherer, a native of Germany who joined the program in January, carded a 317 and finished 122nd.
   It was an impressive showing for an all-underclass Purdue contingent that should be a team to be reckoned with again during the 2012-2013 season.
   One other notable finisher at the NCAA Tournament was Baylor freshman Stani Schiavone, one of the three players involved in the playoff with Kan at the 2010 PIAA Tournament. The Bangor product posted a 309 total and finished in a tie for 102nd.

McDermotts tie for third at Philly Mid-Am

   Michael McDermott has been a dominant player on the Golf Association of Philadelphia circuit for more than a decade.
   His younger brother Brian, like Michael a scholastic standout at Haverford High and a collegiate standout at Saint Joseph’s, is starting to catch up.
   The GAP’s major tournament campaign got under way last week with the 29th edition of the Middle-Amateur Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club.
   John Brennan, a 33-year-old teacher at Spring-Ford High School and a member at Philadelphia Cricket Club, captured the title as he got a jump on the field with an opening round of 3-under 67 and then cruised to a four-shot victory over Ben Smith of Little Mill C.C.
   Brennan was a caddy at Chester Valley during his college days and that knowledge helped him solve the tricky 6,547-yard, par-70 Chester Valley layout that once hosted a popular Champions Tour (known as the Senior Tour in those days).
   With winds making the second day quite a challenge, Brennan added a second-round 74 for a 1-over 141 total. Smith followed an opening-round 69 with a 76 to finish at 5-over 145.
   Tied for third at 7-over 147 were the brothers McDermott. Michael, a member at Merion G.C., had rounds of 75 and 72 while Brian, a member at Llanerch C.C., had rounds of 74 and 73.
   Among other names of interest competing at Chester Valley, Michael Quinn of Edgmont C.C. finished in a tie for 17th at 153 (74-79), Doug Fedoryshyn, the senior club champion at Concord C.C., was another shot back in a tie for 26th at 154 (79-75), the Overbrook G.C. father-son duo of Chris Lange (77-78) and Chris Lange Jr. (79-76) and fellow Overbrook member Frank McFadden (80-75) were all at 155 and another Overbrook member, former Radnor and Saint Joe’s standout Bob Cunningham (79-77) was at 156, and yet another veteran from the deep stable of talent at Overbrook, Oscar Mestre (79-78), was at 157.

A long day for Radnor girls

   Three members of the Radnor girls team that was a PIAA runnerup last fall and their coach, Andy Achenbach, had a long day at Overbrook G.C. May 21 for the benefit of First Tee of Greater Philadelphia.
Senior Caitlin Sullivan, captain of last fall’s District One and East Region champion Red Raiders, and next fall’s co-captains, juniors Jamie Susanin, a state qualifier as an individual last fall, and Allie Ziegler and Achenbach got in 104 holes between 7:15 a.m. and 6:15 p.m.
   The fundraising effort was modeled on a similar marathon two years ago when Achenbach played with seniors Jin Hwang, runnerup in the 2009 District One boys tourney, and Jackie Calamaro, the 2009 PIAA girls champion, at Walnut Lane G.C.
   The 104 holes this year’s group completed is two more than Calamaro and Hwang managed two years ago.
   Calamaro, coming off her redshirt freshman season at Illinois and Emily Endres, a 2006 state qualifier at Radnor, were among the many well-wishers who came out at the end of the day to encourage the marathoners as they battled fatigue.

Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour

   Jamie Susanin tuned up for the marathon day two days earlier when she carded an 80 to take top honors in the 16-to-18 age group in one of the first Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour stops of the year at Willow Valley G.C.
   In the nine-hole division for boys and girls, John Updike of Wayne finished second with a 41 and Gabriella Kim of Wayne finished in a tie for third with a 43.
   A Junior Tour stop Saturday at Horsham Valley G.C. was cut short by thunderstorms, but not before Springfield junior Kyle Hakun finished third in the 16-to-18 division with a 67, 6-over for 17 holes.
In the 13-to-15 age group. Griffin Colvin of Media and Michael Sydnes of Bryn Mawr were among five players who finished in a tie for 10th with 45s for 10 holes.
   Julia Curley of Wayne led the way in the 13-to-15 age group as she posted a 36 for eight holes.
The 16-to-18 girls division completed nine holes and Abby Sydnes, a junior at Radnor, carded a 53 to take second.