Barbin continues his roll at Springhaven as he wins Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship

   Austin Barbin is making his final summer of junior golf a memorable one indeed.

   Barbin, a recent graduate of Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Del., earned a trip to the 44^th Boys Junior PGA Championship, which tees off July 30 at Keney Park Golf Course in Hartford, Conn., with a pair of even-par 70s on a sun-splashed Monday at The Springhaven Club in Wallingford that earned him the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   Barbin will play in the two biggest national junior events this summer as he was the qualifying medalist in a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier administered the Golf Association of Philadelphia at Berkshire Country Club a couple of weeks ago. The U.S. Junior Amateur tees off July 15 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

   Joining Barbin at Keney Park will be recent Westtown School graduate Jaden Weisman, who matched Barbin’s afternoon 70 after opening with a 72 for a 2-over 142 total that earned him runnerup honors and the Junior Tour’s wild-card ticket to the Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   It was an elite group of the region’s junior golfers that gathered at the 6,518-yard, par-70 William Flynn design at Springhaven. Each of them had earned the right to tee it up Monday in a series of qualifiers during the month of June.

   Barbin’s performance Monday in the biggest event on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour schedule continued a remarkable string of successes in recent weeks for the Maryland-bound Elkton, Md. resident.

   He earned a ticket into match play in last month’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur on the strength of a remarkable career-best competitive round of 5-under 65 at Stonewall’s North Course. The following week, a withering burst of 6-under-par golf in six holes gave him a 5 and 4 victory over Patrick Sheehan, a Penn State recruit who won the District One Class AAA title as a senior at Central Bucks East last fall, in GAP’s 105^th Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   It was two days after his victory at Coatesville that Barbin topped the field in the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at Berkshire.

   Barbin actually got off a slow start in his opening round Monday. After making a bogey at the third hole, he wrapped a pair double bogeys at the seventh and ninth holes around a birdie at the eighth. Barbin made the turn at 4-over.

   But Barbin bided his time and the birdies started to come on Springhaven’s incoming nine. He made a birdie at the 12^th hole and then ripped off three straight birdies at the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th holes to get it back to even-par for the round with a sparkling back-nine 31.

   It was a little less adventurous in the afternoon as Barbin made a birdie at the seventh hole, bogeyed the ninth, birdied the 12^th and finished up with a bogey at the 18^th. The result was the same, another even-par 70 that left him two shots clear of a talented field.

   All of the players, ages 13 to 18, were eligible for the big prize, one of the two tickets to Keney Park, but the Junior Tour had its traditional 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions. Barbin topped the 16-to-18 field and was the overall winner. The top-10 finishers among the older guys all had better scores than the winner of the 13-to-15 division, Connor Strine of Lancaster, who added an afternoon 72 to his opening-round 76 for an 8-over 148 total.

   Like Barbin, Weisman started slowly, struggling to a 5-over 40 on Springhaven’s front nine in the morning. But four back-nine birdies enabled him to card a 3-under 32 coming home that kept him in the mix with a 2-over 72.

   Weisman had three birdies to offset three bogeys in the afternoon for an even-par 70 that left him two shots behind Barbin at 2-over 142.

   Logan Paczewski, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Dallas last fall, had the best round of the afternoon, a sparkling 1-under 69, but came up just short of a trip to Keney Park. He had opened with a 4-over 74 and ended up with a 3-over 143 total.

   Paczewski was coming off a solid showing in the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship last week at Hershey Country Club’s East Course, where he finished in a tie for third.

   Nikita Romanov, a recent Mount Pleasant graduate who will play at La Salle, shared fourth place with Maxwell Rubin of Marlton, N.J. at 4-over 144. Romanov, who finished eighth last week at Hershey, opened with a solid even-par 70 before posting a 4-over 74 in the afternoon. Rubin opened with a 71 before carding a 3-over 73 in the afternoon.

   John Peters of Carlisle opened with a 1-under 69 and was among the leaders after the first round before signing for a 76 in the afternoon that left him alone in sixth place at 5-over 145.

   Charlie Baker, who has helped The Haverford School claim the last two Inter-Ac League titles, and William Mirams, who claimed the PIAA Class AA title as a senior at Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg last fall, shared seventh place at 6-over 146.

   Baker, who has another year left on Lancaster Avenue, opened with a 2-over 72 before adding a 74 in the afternoon.

   Mirams, the male recipient of the 2019 USGA/AJGA Presidents’ Leadership Award who is headed for Delaware, carded a pair of 73s. Mirams reached the semifinals of the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville before falling to Sheehan.

   Strath Haven senior Kevin Smith, playing on his home course at Springhaven, shared ninth place with West Chester Rustin sophomore Ryan D’Ariano at 7-over 147. Smith added a 75 to a solid opening-round 72 while D’Ariano opened with a 74 before finishing up with a 73.

   Plymouth-Whitemarsh junior Dylan Gooneratne really got it going in the morning with a four-birdie, two-bogey 68 that was the best round of the day. He backed off with an 80 in the afternoon and shared 11^th place in the 16-to-18 division with an 8-over 148 total.

   Gooneratne was joined at that figure by Devon Prep junior Ryan McCabe, who finished in a tie for second behind Mirams in the PIAA Class AA Championship last fall. McCabe also got off to a strong start with a 1-over 71 in the morning before falling back with a 77 in the afternoon.

   Second place in the 13-to-15 division behind Lancaster’s Strine went to Unionville’s Win Thomas, who added a 76 to his opening-round 74 for a 150 total.

   A couple of Newtown Square guys, Jack Davis and Eli Shah, accounted for the next two spots in the division. Davis took third with a 153 as he opened with a solid 73 before adding an 80 in the afternoon and Shah was fourth at 158 as he struggled to an 83 in the afternoon after opening with a 75.

   Michael Lynch III of Dunmore finished fifth as he shaved seven shots off an opening-round 83 with a 76 in the afternoon for a 159 total.

   Jack Ross of Medford Lakes, N.J. and Nicholas Ciocca of Berwyn shared sixth place as each landed on 161. Ross added an 80 to his opening-round 81 and Ciocca carded a 79 in the afternoon after opening with an 82.

   Connor Gherghel of Orwigsburg added an 85 to his opening-round 80 to finish in eighth place at 165. Scott Hughes of Ambler was another five shots behind Gherghel in ninth place at 170 as he opened with an 83 before posting an 87 in the afternoon.

   Rounding out the top 10 among the younger guys was Eric Morgan of Newtown Square, who added an 86 to his opening-round 85 to finish alone in 10^th place at 171.