Lees, Kan are Junior Tour winners at Hidden Creek

   Agnes Irwin freshman Kaitlyn Lees continues to play some solid golf on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour.

   With the weather suddenly breaking into a gloriously warm April day Saturday, Lees fired a 6-over 77 over the 5,426-yard, par-71 Hidden  Creek Golf Club layout in Egg Harbor Township,  N.J. to win top honors in the 16-to-18 division.

   Lees is still eligible to play in the 13-to-15 age group, but her game is clearly ready for the jump up in class. It was her second Junior Tour victory in as many tries this season. Lees also fired an impressive 3-over 38 at her home course at Philadelphia Country Club in the Owls’ loss to perennial Inter-Ac League power Notre Dame in a scholastic match Wednesday.

   Lees did a better job on the golf course than we at the Daily Times did in spelling her first name in the roundup in Thursday’s Daily Times. We’ll work on that.

Lees beat a pretty good player in Radnor sophomore Gabby Kim in taking division honors at Hidden Creek. Kim carded a solid 85 in claiming runnerup honors. Kim’s younger sister June, a seventh-grader, finished fifth in the division with a 98. Gabby Kim made it to Day 2 of the District One Class AAA Tournament last fall, but fell short of advancing to the East Regioinal.

   Another good young player on the Delco girls scene, Chichester sophomore Caprian Kan, earned her second Junior Tour win of the young season with an 84 that gave her a one-shot margin over Casey Oppenheimer of Conshohocken in the 13-to-15 age group.

   Upper Darby junior Mike Wolf topped the Delco contingent in the boys 16-to-18 division with an 82 that left him in a tie for eighth. Radnor sophomore Jacob Liberman was another two shots back of Wolf in 10^th place with an 84 and Radnor senior Jack Owens finished in a tie for 14^th with an 85.

   Division honors went to William Mitchell of Moorestown, N.J., who carded a 4-over 75 with the boys playing Hidden Creek at 6,268 yards.

   Another Jersey guy, Andrew Gallagher of Mount Laurel, topped the 13-to-15 field with a 5-over 76. Jeffery Bozzi of Newtown Square finished in a tie for fifth with an 82. Andrew Curran of Media got a share of 18^th with a 92, Jackson Fields of Glen Mills was 20^th with a 95, Joe Hayden of Havertown was 22^nd with a 97, Hayden Smith of Havertown was 23^rd with a 98, Owen Harvey of Havertown  was 24^th with a 103 and Corey Kan of Boothwyn was 25^th with a 110. All of those young players starting with Fields down to Kan are Class of 2020, which means they are seventh-graders or thereabouts.

   Among the nine-holers, Joshua Ryan of Norristown won a match of scorecards to claim first place after finishing tied with Win Thomas of Coatesville at 40. Ryan Harvey of Havertown finished fourth with a 55 and John Paul Hayden of Havertown finished in a tie for sixth with a 60.

   I mentioned Agnes Irwin’s loss to Notre Dame in an Inter-Ac League match last week. The Irish, who have won six straight Inter-Ac titles and carried a 40-match league unbeaten streak into this season, established a program record with their 205 total in the match against Agnes Irwin.

   The scary part is that Mary Jane Wetzel’s squad was led by a pair of sophomores, Meghan Fahey and Bridget Pyott, with 40s. And no matter what nine they’re using at Philly Country Club, it’s not an easy layout. Which means somebody in the Inter-Ac is going to have to play awfully well to stop the Irish’s impressive league winning streak.