The Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Pocono Series
started Monday while many of the top players were playing in the Junior Tour
Championship at Commonwealth National Golf Club.
Still, for the players who stuck it out for three rounds on
some typically scenic and challenging courses that dot the Poconos, it was a
great experience to play three days in a row with all the momentum changes that
came with it.
The boys 16-to-18 division was a particularly interesting
battle with Brett Wagner of Cresco, while not winning any of the individual
days, capturing the series title by a shot over Connor Babyak of Tafton and by
three shots over Alex Pillar of Hawley, who I’m guessing is the son of John
Pillar, the director of golf at The Country Club at Woodloch Springs.
Pillar had a fantastic finishing round as the series wrapped
up Wednesday at Elmhurst Country Club in Moscow. He birdied the first two holes
and the ninth for a dazzling front nine of 33 on his way to a 2-over 74 over
the 6,467-yard, par-72 Elmhurst layout to take top honors in the 16-to-18
division for the day.
A scorecard playoff decided second and third as Wagner, Jack
Habeeb of Scranton and Nate Trout of Greentown each carded a 3-over 75.
Habeeb’s even-par back nine gave him runnerup honors and Trout had a 1-over 37
on the back and was awarded third.
But Wagner’s consistency over three days was rewarded with
the series victory. He shared second with Pillar behind Babyak with a 74 in
Monday’s opening round at the Country Club of Scranton in Clarks Summit. He
finished fourth Tuesday with a 78 at Valley Country Club in Sugarloaf. His 75
Wednesday at Elmhurst gave him a 227 total.
Babyak played some great golf, but his final-round 81 at
Elmhurst left him a shot behind Wagner at 228. And Pillar, who struggled a
little at Valley with an 82, finished third in the series at 230.
Following the trio at 75 at Elmhurst, Deion Shepherd of
Dayton, N.J. finished fifth with a 76, Alex VanScoy of Newark, Del. was sixth
with a 79, Babyak took seventh with his 81 and Frencesco Pazzaglia of Archbald
was eighth with an 86.
Bobby Lugiano of Shavertown finished ninth with an 89 and
Lucas Flederbach of Honesdale rounded out the top 10 with a 90.
In the 13-to-15 division, Martin Cryan of Forty Foot, fueled
by an opening-day win at The Country Club of Scranton, took series honors.
Cryan birdied the par-4 seventh on his way to a 4-over 76 that gave him the
victory over a Country Club of Scranton layout that measured 6,494 yards and
played to a par of 72.
He finished third with an 87 at Valley in the middle round
and he took fourth at Elmhurst with an 81. That gave him a 244 total that was
17 shots better than Benjamin Galko of Roaring Brook.
Galko finished third behind Cryan at The Country Club of
Scranton with an 85 and won the day at Valley with an 84. He finished fifth at
Elmhurst with a 92 to give him a 261 total.
William Pabst of Roaring Brook Township entered the scene
for the third day at Elmhurst and had the day’s best score, a sparkling 1-under
71 to take top honors for the day in the 13-to-15 division. His round included
four birdies and a bogeyless back nine.
Logan Paczewski of Dallas, who was fourth in the 13-to-15
division and tied for ninth in the overall scoring in the Junior Tour Championship,
was the runnerup to Pabst with a 74. Stephen Cain of Yardley finished third
with a 78.
Cryan was fourth with his 81, Galko took fifth with his 92,
Jimmy Hook of Stewartstown was sixth with a 95 and William Durkin of Archbald
was seventh with a 102.
Isabella McCloskey of Princeton Junction, N.J. was the only
girl in the 16-to-18 division to tee it up all three days and claimed the
series victory.
McCloskey struggled at a tough Country Club of Scranton layout
while finishing second with a 103, but won the day at Valley with a solid 88
that included a birdie on her first hole. She finished up by taking fifth at
Elmhurst with a 98 for a 289 total.
Grace Hickey of Downingtown, coming off a tie for second in
the 16-to-18 division and a tie for sixth in overall scoring in the Junior Tour
Championship, won the day at Elmhurst in a scorecard playoff after finishing
tied with Morgan Sohosky of Bloomsburg. Hickey’s 27 shots on the final six
holes was one better than Sohosky’s 28 to give her the edge on the second
tiebreaker.
Emma Nemitz of Madison Township finished fourth with a 97
followed by McCloskey in fifth with a 98.
Amanda Schuebel, the oldest of the Schuebel crew of King of
Prussia, was the only 13-to-15 girl to tee it up all three days of the series.
She shot 110 at The Country Club of Scranton, 116 at Valley and 117 at Elmhurst
for a 343 total. The scores might not be great, but give her credit for playing
all three days. You can practice all you want, but you have to get out there
and play if you want to get better.
There was never a doubt as to the identity of the top player
in the series among the nine-holers as Michael Maslanka of Taylor won at all
three stops to take the overall title. Gwendolyn Powell of Madison Township was
the runnerup.
Maslanka birdied the par-4 second hole at The Country Club
of Scranton to take top honors there with a 3-over 38 for his first career
Junior Tour victory. He birdied two of the three par-3s he played to win the
day at Valley with a 4-over 39.
He wrapped up the series by besting the field at Elmhurst
with a 42 that gave him a 119 total for the three days.
Powell was the runnerup to Maslanka at The Country Club of
Scranton with a 46, finished fourth at Valley with a 50 and took third at
Elmhurst with a 47 for a 143 total.
Benjamin Sohosky of the Bloomsburg Sohoskys was the runnerup
behind Maslanka at Elmhurst with a 45 followed by Powell in third at 47.
Lorenzo Domiano of Clarks Summit finished fourth with a 60.
A couple of the Schuebel girls, Audrey and Alyssa, finished fifth and seventh
with respective scores of 64 and 75 around Anastasia Galko, likely Benjamin’s
little sister, in sixth with a 75.
In the 16-to-18 division at The Country Club of Scranton,
VanScoy finished fourth behind Babyak, Pillar and Wagner with a 78. Collin
Ennis of Pleasant Mount was fifth with a 79, M.J. Stivals of Dunmore was sixth
with a 81 and Flederbach was seventh with an 82.
Dylan Williams of Drexel Hill finished eighth with an 83,
Trout was ninth with an 84 and Jordan Pick of Sugarloaf rounded out the top 10
with an 86.
Pabst was the runnerup to Cryan in the 13-to-15 division at
The Country Club of Scranton with a 78. Galko finished third with his 85.
Jake Millan of Springbrook finished fourth with an 87 and
William Durkin of Archbald was fifth with a 122.
Nemitz took top honors in the girls 16-to-18 division at The
Country of Scranton with a 100, three shots clear of McCloskey in second with a
103.
Audrey Schuebel and Domiano finished tied for third among
the nine-holers at The Country Club of Scranton behind Maslanka and Powell as
each posted a 50.
Anastasia Galko finished fifth with a 55 and Alyssa Schuebel
was sixth with a 66.
Shane Angle of Mountain Top claimed top honors in the
16-to-18 division with a 2-over 72 over the 6,218-yard, par-71 Valley layout.
Angle had three birdies and was 1-under on the back nine in recording his first
career Junior Tour victory.
Babyak was the runnerup with a 76, Grant Gronka of
Bloomsburg was third with a 77 and Wagner was fourth with a 78.
Shepherd of Dayton, N.J. and Mason Gattuso of Shavertown
shared fifth place, each carding an 81 with Pillar taking seventh with his 82.
Luke Fayocavitz of Clarks Summit finished eighth with an 83,
Nathan Potts of Wilmington, Del. was ninth with an 84, VanScoy was 10th with an
85 and Pick was 11th with an 88.
The runnerup to Galko’s 84 in the 13-to-15 division was
James Ulsh of Carlisle with an 85. Following Cryan in third was Yardley’s Cain
with a 90 and Max Ferracci of Gladwyne in fifth with a 124.
The girls 16-to-18 division at Valley was closely contested
as McCloskey’s 88 gave her a one-shot victory over Morgan Sohosky and Elise
Glauser of Newark, Del., who shared second, each carding an 89.
Benjamin Sohosky shared second with John Keba of Emmaus
behind Maslanka among the nine-holers at Valley, each carding a 41.
Powell was fourth with a 50, Domiano was fifth with a 51,
Audrey Schuebel was sixth with a 63, Anastasia Galko was seventh with a 73 and
Alyssa Schuebel was eighth with an 87.
No comments:
Post a Comment