Delaware 1 came home from the 7th PGA Junior
League Championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. Monday with a tie and four losses, a
lifetime of memories and – and I’m guessing here – a heightened appreciation of
the youngsters’ favorite game and a determination to get even better at it.
The team is actually based out of Hartefeld National Golf Club
in New Garden Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania – your humble blogger
covered Jay Sigel’s victory in the PGA Tour Champions 1998 Bell Atlantic Classic
there for the Delaware County Daily Times,
including his breathtaking front-nine 27 in the second round. But as I
mentioned in a previous post, you can almost see the First State from the
higher elevations of Hartefeld National.
If nothing else, some of the top 13-and-under boys, most of
whom have honed their games on the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Junior Tour,
spent the weekend in the desert Southwest, where I’m sure it was quite a bit
warmer than the early winter we’re experiencing back home. Hopefully, most of
their parents were smart enough to go along for the ride.
Delaware 1 was captained by Dave Seeman, the PGA
professional who runs the junior program at Hartefeld National, and coached by
Shawn Gross.
Delaware 1 captured the Philadelphia Section championship at
Cedarbrook Country Club, details of which were dutifully reported in a blog
post in August. That earned it a trip to the regional championship at LedgeRock
Golf Club in Mohnton, Berks County. At LedgeRock in mid-September, Delaware 1
captured the Region 2 title with a 9-3 victory in the final over the Met PGA
Section champion Suffolk County 2 All-Stars.
That made Delaware 1 one of 12 teams (up from last year’s eight)
from around the country that headed for Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale for the
PGA Junior League Championship, presented by National Car Rental. The three-day
event teed off Saturday.
PGA Junior League is a youth golf program that has really
taken off. The main reason is that it makes the game fun for its 13-and-under
participants. Delaware 1 was all boys, but the program is coed. The teams break
off into three-player groups who play a scramble format for nine holes with a
point, or flag, awarded for each three-hole segment. The Rules of Golf are
amended a little, so penalties are taken as lazy laterals rather than stroke
and distance, that sort of thing.
The idea is to keep it moving. And it seems like the kids
are digging it. This year 51,000 boys and girls participated, up from 42,000 in
2017. There were nearly 4,000 teams this year, up from 3,400 a year ago.
If you follow the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour – and
this blog certainly does – you’re familiar with the names that comprised the
Delaware 1 roster.
The Hartefeld National group includes Win Thomas, who has to
be one of the best eighth-grade players in the region, Nicholas Gross – son of
Shawn, perhaps? – who was dominating the 12-and-under nine-holers on the Junior
Tour for a long stretch last summer, Adrian Jordan, Matthew Normand and Henry
Stone.
Rock Manor Golf Course was represented on the team by
Michael Maslanka and Zac Antao. Jack Homer plays out of Wilmington Country Club
and Jax Puskar represented Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.
Delaware 1 played in the Wanamaker Division and managed to
get a half-point in its match with the Arkansas champion out of Hot Springs in
two days of competition within its division.
Blaine, Minn. swept to a 4-0-0 mark and 31.5 points to win
the Wanamaker Division and earn a showdown for the title with San Diego,
Calif., the Ryder Division winner with a perfect 4-0-0 record and 33.5 points.
While Delaware did not have any girls on its team, one of
the top players for Team Minnesota was Kathryn VanArragon, a 13-year-old who
became the first seventh-grader to capture the Minnesota Class AAA High School
Championship in June. The reports from Grayhawk indicated the young lady putted
the eyes out of it.
Eventual third-place finisher, Montgomery, Texas was the
runnerup in the Wanamaker Division at 3-1-0 with 20 points, defending champion Duluth,
Ga. was third at 2-1-1 with 29.5 points, Lemont, Ill. was fourth at 1-2-1 with
22.5 points, Delaware 1 -- technically listed as being out of Wilmington, but I
think I already covered the team’s geographic roots -- was fifth at 0-3-1 with
17.5 points and Hot Springs, Ark. was sixth at 0-3-1 with 13 points.
Columbia Station, Ohio was the runnerup to San Diego, Calif.
in the Ryder Division at 2-1-1 with 28 points, Shreveport, La. was third at
2-1-1 with 25.5 points, Dulles, Va. was fourth at 1-1-2 with 24 points,
Bellingham, Wash. was fifth at 1-3-0 with 19.5 points and Harwinton, Conn. was
sixth at 0-4-0 with 13.5 points.
Team California captain John Mason and coach Jackie
DeWald-Mason had guided its 2015 entry to the PGA Junior League crown at Disney’s
Palm Course in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The team is based at Encinitas Ranch Golf
Course
And Team California took another championship trophy home to
San Diego with a 7.5-4.5 victory over Blaine, Minn. in Monday’s title match.
Zander Grant, a 13-year-old from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., sealed the
deal when he holed a five-and-a-half-foot putt on the ninth hole. It capped a
perfect 6-0-0 three days for the kids from Cali.
Delaware 1 got a consolation-round match against Montgomery,
Texas Monday and Team Texas prevailed to claim a berth in the third-place
match. Its opponent was Shreveport, La., which battled its way through the
consolation bracket to earn a shot at third.
The kids from Montgomery, Texas took third with an 8.5-3.5
victory over Shreveport, La.
But let’s face it, there were no losers over three days in
Scottsdale. Just a bunch of kids competing and having fun at a game most of
them will still be playing 50 years from now.
PGA Junior League is just a starting point and it sounds
like nine kids from the Philadelphia area are off to a pretty good start in
their golfing adventures.
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