Ryden heats up at The Bucks Club for Junior Tour victory

   Alec Ryden of Moorestown, N.J. had five birdies on his way to victory in the 16-to-18 division with a 4-over 74 in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Sunday at The Bucks Club.

Clement Shao of Warren, N.J. was just a shot back in second with a 75 over the 6,210-yard, par-70 Bucks Club layout.

   Patrick Sheehan of Doylestown took third with a 76, Thomas Butler of Telford was fourth with a 77, Andreas Aivazoglou, a sophomore at The Haverford School, was fifth with a 78 and Alex VanScoy of Newark, Del. was sixth with a 79.

   Malvern Prep sophomore Andrew Curran of Media shared seventh place with Neel Vidmans of West Chester, Brandon Cassidy of Doylestown and Jaden Weisman of Malvern, each player carding an 80.

   John Wang of Wilmington, Del. took top honors in the 13-to-15 division in a scorecard playoff with Ryan D’Ariano of West Chester after both posted a 78. Wang’s back-nine 38 proved to be decisive.

Nicholas Hano of Warrington finished third with an 80, Dylan Gooneratne of Plymouth Meeting was fourth with an 81, Matthew Lafond of Blue Bell was fifth with an 84, Matthew Fleming of Richboro was sixth with an 85 and Mario Ventresca III of Blue Bell was seventh with an 86.

   Darren Nolan of Glenside placed eighth with a 90, Luke Kelly of Wayne was ninth with a 91 and Sean Kearney of Hatfield rounded out the top 10, taking 10^th with a 96.

   April Xu of Southampton won the girls’ 16-to-18 division with a 92, coming on strong on the back nine with a 43. Mackenzie Cassidy of Hatboro was the runnerup with a 120.

   Elizabeth Beek of Blue Bell carded an impressive 80 that featured a birdie on the third hole to claim the 13-to-15 division. Beek is listed in the results as being Class of 2023, which, by my calculation, would make her a sixth-grader. Shooting 80 on a 5,377-yard course. So … whoa.

   Maya Torpey of Malvern was the runnerup with a 90. Eden Richmond of Princeton, N.J. finished third with a 91, Sarah Scarpill of Warrington was fourth with a 92 and Caitlyn Hagerty of Glen Mills was fifth with a 97.

   There was a scorecard playoff for the top spot among the nine-holers with Kristof Kopecky of Garnet Valley besting Benjamin Saggers of West Chester after both carded a 6-over 42. Kopecky took 14 shots on the last three holes to earn the victory.

   Zachary Sandler of Gladwyne took third with a 44, Nicholas Gross of Downingtown was fourth with a 45, Henry Stone of Kennett Square was fifth with a 46 and Amit Limaye of Short Hills, N.J. was sixth with a 47.

   Collin McDonald of Lower Gwynedd and Aaron Skii of West Chester shared eight place, each carding a 51, and Jack Romeo of Ambler and Sydney Yermish of Wynnewood rounded out the top 10, tying for 10^th at 52.