Spring-Ford’s Ben Pochet arrived at the Heritage Hills
Resort and Conference Center in Springettsbury Township, York County for the
2016 PIAA Class AAA Championship after sweeping to the individual titles in the
District One and East Regional Championships.
He promptly went out and shot rounds of 81 and 77 over the 6,700-yard,
par-71 Heritage Hills layout and finished tied for 17th. Pochet was
joined at that figure by Methacton senior Kyle Vance, probably the top District
One player in the last decade and a guy who never got it going at Heritage
Hills.
Pochet wouldn’t come right out and say Heritage Hills wasn’t
his favorite golf course after finishing second in the East Regional with a
1-under 71 at Golden Oaks Golf Club, a shot behind Warwick’s Brock Fassnacht.
No, Pochet, winner of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s
Christman Cup at Stonewall‘s North Course and a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier
last summer, takes the attitude that Heritage Hills is where the state
championship will be determined and if he wants to be a state champion, that’s
where it has to happen.
“I’m playing well, I think my swing’s in a good place right
now,” said Pochet, who will join the Drexel program next summer. “It’s my
senior year. I just have to go up there and execute. There will be a lot of
good players up there.”
Pochet will begin his bid for a PIAA championship Monday as
the event gets under way with Round 1 at Heritage Hills with the unseasonably
warm weather expected to last at least one more day. Round 2 is scheduled for
Tuesday, although the weather forecast is a little shaky.
Norristown junior Caleb Ryan will also be making a return
visit to Heritage Hills after finishing tied for 23rd in Class AAA a
year ago. Ryan had won a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour event at Heritage
Hills just over a week before the state championship. He was back at Heritage
Hills last weekend for the same Junior Tour event and finished third with a
4-over 75.
Experience tells Ryan he’ll be looking at a different golf
course Monday than the one he played in the Junior Tour event.
“The greens were a little slow and a little bumpy for the
Junior Tour tournament,” Ryan said after earning a ticket to Heritage Hills
with a 1-over 73 in chilly, windy conditions at Golden Oaks that left him in a
tie for third with Pioneer Athletic Conference rival J.T. Spina of Pope John
Paul II. “I’m glad I went up there and got a look at it again. But the greens
will be faster and smoother for states.”
Caleb’s younger brother Joshua earned a trip to Heritage
Hills as a freshman with a solid 77 at Golden Oaks last Monday. He too teed it
up at Heritage Hills for the Junior Tour event and actually earned low-Ryan
honors for the day as his 2-over 73 that gave him third place in the 13-to-15
division was two shots better than Caleb’s 75.
“I made four birdies at Heritage Hills, I just have to clean
up the bad holes,” Joshua Ryan said. “I’m sure the greens will be faster.”
One of the top contenders for the PIAA Class AAA title among
the girls will be Conestoga junior Samantha Yao. She struggled in the windy
conditions at Golden Oaks last week, but still nearly repeated as the East
Regional champion.
Yao, a student of White Manor Country Club teaching pro John
Dunigan, lost in a playoff to Kendel Abrams of Susquehannock after each carded
an 8-over 80 at Golden Oaks.
A year ago, Yao matched the even-par 72 carded by Peters
Township senior Mia Kness in the opening round. She fell behind Kness by as
many as five shots in an up-and-down front nine in Round 2 that included two
double bogeys, but three birdies.
But Yao, working some short-game magic, stormed back to get
within one of Kness before falling short by two shots as Kness, who had an
outstanding fall as a freshman on the Seton Hall women’s golf team, claimed the
PIAA title.
I’ve been taking the ride to York County for Round 2 of the
PIAA Championship every year since it was first played at Heritage Hills in
2002. It was the year when Radnor junior Adam Cohan became Delaware County’s
first state golf champion in a playoff with Robert Rohanna of Waynesburg.
Well, almost every year. In 2005, the PIAA called off Round
2 due to rain and the championship was shortened to 18 holes. I’m not sure if
the PIAA would make the same ruling in the same situation, but the players
should be aware that this could be a one-round shootout if the threat of rain
for Tuesday holds up.
If they’re playing Tuesday, the blog will be live. Either
way, you know I’ll be paying attention to the scores on the PIAA website.
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