Anders soars with an eagle in rain-shortened Junior Tour stop at Blue Ridge

   The Philadelphia Section PGA pros from courses in the western end of the section have formed their own chapter, sort of a section subdivision, and wanted to hold a special Junior Tour event that would be a little less of a drive for the youngsters in their area.

   The result was Sunday’s Philadelphia Section PGA Chapter Junior Championship held at the Blue Ridge Country Club in Harrisburg. Unfortunately, the cold front that rolled through Sunday was moving from west to east and hit the Harrisburg area earlier in the day.

   Still, everybody got at least a little golf in before heavy rain left the 6,365-yard, par-72 Blue Ridge course unplayable.

   Dawson Anders of Telford had a 1-over 57 through 14 holes and took top honors in the 16-to-18 division in a match of cards with Luke Hoffnagle of Hanover and Timothy Chaykosky Jr. of Ambler, both of whom also came in with 57s. Anders’ eagle on the par-5 seventh hole proved to be decisive.

   Kohltin Bartlow of Montgomery and Andrew Forjan of York finished in a tie for fourth, each carding a 2-over 58. Ward McHenry of Spring City and Jonathan Giambalvo of York shared sixth place with 3-over 59s. Corbin Babyak of Tafton and Jason Kushinski of Mechanicsburg finished in a tie for eighth at 4-over 60.

   Rounding out the top 10 were three players tied for 10^th at 5-over 61, including Tre Fleck of Lewistown, Paul Fedele of Easton and Thomas Bird of Lititz.

   The 13-to-15 division got in nine holes with Morgan Lofland of Paoli topping the field with a 1-under 35. Lofland finished two shots clear of runnerup Connor Edie of Lititz, who posted a 1-over 37.

    Three players – Nikita Romanov of Wilmington, Del., Logan Paczewski of Dallas and Ryan D’Ariano of West Chester -- finished tied for third at 3-over 39.

   Andrew Curran, a member at Overbrook Golf Club and a sophomore at Malvern Prep, headed a group of four players tied for sixth at 4-over 40. Curran was joined at figure by Alex Pillar of Hawley, Stephen Lorenzo of Lower Gwynedd and Garrett Engle of Harrisburg.

   Rounding out the top 10 were two players from Kennett Square, Richard Kline III and Christopher Skean, who were tied for 10^th at 5-over 41.

   Both girls divisions completed seven holes with Casey Oppenheimer of Conshohocken topping the 16-to-18 division with a 2-over 30. Alexandra Lowder of Wrightsville was the runnerup with a 35, Grace Stillman of Lancaster finished third with a 36 and Kiera McGrath of Denver was fourth with a 38.

   Anna McCormick of Harrisburg captured the 13-to-15 division title with a 7-over 35. Caitlyn Hagerty of Glen Mills finished second with a 47.

   The nine-holers were only able to get in five holes with Win Thomas of Coatesville capturing the title with a 2-over 22. Joshua Ryan of Norristown, who has been dominating the division this spring, finished second with a 4-over 24.

   Nicholas Gross of Downingtown finished third with a 26, Maxwell Wager of State College and Benjamin Saggers of West Chester shared fourth place at 26, Tyler Fortney of Fairfield took sixth with a 27 and Michael Maslanka of Taylor finished seventh with a 28.