Whitemarsh Valley's Oppenheimer repeats as winner of WGAP Junior Girls' Championship

   Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Casey Oppenheimer repeated as the winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Girls’ Championship last week, defeating Merion Golf Club’s Lauren Jones in the final Friday at West Chester Golf & Country Club.

   Oppenheimer was the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s 16-to-18 division Player of the Year in 2016. She hasn’t been as active on the Junior Tour circuit, but she played some very good golf last week at West Chester.

   She might have been exempt into match play as the defending champion, but Oppenheimer played the qualifying round and her 2-over 74 was five shots clear of the field. Applecross Country Club’s Grace Hickey, who succeeded Oppenheimer as the Junior Tour’s 16-to-18 Player of the Year in 2017, was the runnerup in qualifying with a 79.

   A couple of Oppenheimer’s Whitemarsh Valley clubmates, Olivia Wirsching and Clare Gimpel, finished tied for third in qualifying, each carding an 81. Wirsching and Gimpel were teammates on the Mount St. Joseph team that captured the District One Class AAA team title last fall.

   Oppenheimer’s toughest battle on her way to the Junior Girls’ championship came in the opening round of match play when Whitford Country Club’s Ava O’Sullivan extended her to 19 holes before falling.

   Oppenheimer defeated Applecross’ Liddie McCook, 3 and 2, in the semifinals. McCook was the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a junior at Downingtown East last fall.

   Oppenheimer then cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Merion’s Jones in the final. Jones is coming off a solid freshman season at Episcopal Academy as she led the Churchwomen to their first Inter-Ac League team title and finished third in the league’s individual championship at Gulph Mills Golf Club.

   Jones reached the final with a 5 and 3 victory over Hickey in the semifinals.

   Another product of the Whitemarsh Valley junior program, Morgan Frampton, claimed first-flight honors with a 1-up victory over Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Molly Gregor in the final.