Barbin ends his junior career in style with 11-shot victory in AJGA's Imperial Headwear Junior Classic

   It was the final tournament of Austin Barbin’s career as a junior golfer and the Elkton, Md. resident made sure he went out with a bang.

   Barbin, who will begin his college career at Maryland in a couple of weeks, has had a summer to remember. Heck, the six-hole stretch during which he went 6-under par that I witnessed when Barbin turned a close match with Patrick Sheehan into a 5 and 4 rout in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship final at Coatesville Country Club was pretty memorable all by itself.

   But there has been so much more, including trips to the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Boys Junior PGA Championship – Barbin was the medalist in both qualifiers for two of the biggest national junior events in the country each summer – state junior titles in Delaware and Maryland and a trip to this week’s U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.

   Barbin tuned up for that trip to Pinehurst by teeing it up in the Imperial Headwear Junior Classic, a new event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) calendar that was being played at DuPont Country Club’s DuPont Course.

   If you used to like to head down to DuPont to catch the LPGA’s best players competing in the LPGA Championship, you’re familiar with the DuPont layout, although it’s been renovated since the event left Wilmington, Del. after an 18-year run following the 2004 LPGA Championship.

   The Imperial Headwear effectively replaces the AJGA Philadelphia Junior, which had a short run at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, as the local stop on the AJGA schedule. As a result, both the boys and girls fields were filled with many of the region’s top local junior players, some about to depart the junior ranks and some just starting to make names for themselves.

   But none of the guys gathered at DuPont was a match for Barbin. He punctuated his junior career in last Thursday’s final round with a stunning eight-birdie, no-bogey 8-under 63 over the 7,001-yard, par-71 DuPont Course layout that gave him a 54-hole total of 12-under 201, a whopping 11 shots clear of a talented field.

   Barbin had opened with a 3-under 68 and added a 1-under 70 in the second round. Looks like his 4-under 138 total through two rounds gave him a two-shot lead over David Stanford of Vienna, Va. and Matthew Monastero of Leesburg, Va.

   But that was before Barbin put the hammer down with that final-round 63, giving him his first AJGA victory in his final AJGA start.

   “It’s my last junior event and I shot a 63 in the final round, it feels great,” Barbin told the AJGA website. “Winning an AJGA event has always been a dream of mine.”

   Barbin, who graduated from Red Lion Christian Academy in Bear, Del. in the spring, was three shots out of the bulky 27-man playoff for the final three spots in match play in the U.S. Amateur with rounds of 2-over 72 at Pinehurst No. 4 and 6-over 76 at Pinehurst No. 4.

   Jason Duff of Elkton, Fla. closed with a solid 1-under 70 to take runnerup honors behind Barbin at 1-under 212. He had opened with a 70 and added a 1-over 72 in the second round. Duff was the only other player to finish under par for three rounds at DuPont.

   Stanford and Monastero each closed with a 2-over 73 and shared third place at even-par 213.

   Penn Charter junior Patrick Isztwan earned himself exempt status for AJGA events in 2020 by finishing in a tie for fifth with Daniel Tanaka of Wilmette, Ill. at DuPont, each landing on 1-over 214.

   Isztwan, who lost to Barbin in the semifinals of the GAP Junior Boys at Coatesville, only trailed Barbin by three shots after posting rounds of 1-under 70 and even-par 71 while playing in the same group with Barbin the first two days. Isztwan closed with a 2-over 73.

   Sheehan, who captured the District One Class AAA title as a senior at Central Bucks East last fall and who will start his college career at Penn State in the next couple of weeks, and Joshua Ryan, who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his first two years representing  Norristown High, were two of the players who finished in a tie for seventh at 2-over 215.

   After struggling in the opening round with a 77, Sheehan fired a 3-under 68 in the second round before closing with a 1-under 70. Joshua Ryan had two solid rounds of 71 and 70 in the first two rounds before finishing up with a 3-over 74.

   David Colleran, a two-time Central League co-champion at Radnor who will join the Drexel program in the next couple of weeks, finished alone in 13^th place at 4-over 217. Colleran was solid in the first two rounds, going 72-71 before struggling a little in the final round with a 78.

   Joshua Ryan’s older brother Caleb Ryan, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier representing Norristown High, finished in a tie for 14^th at 5-over 218. The final round might have been Caleb Ryan’s final round as a junior player and he finished strong with an even-par 71.

   The only player anywhere near Barbin’s zip code in the final round was Nikita Romanov, a recent Mount Pleasant graduate who will be joining the La Salle program. Romanov had struggled to an 81 in the second round, but fired a sparkling 4-under 67 in the final round to end up in a tie for 16^th place at 6-over 219.

   John Updike, a Malvern Prep graduate who won the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship for a second time this summer, finished in a tie for 19^th place at 7-over 220. Updike opened with a solid 2-under 69, but struggled in the final round, closing with a 77.

   Two key returnees for The Haverford School as it goes for a third straight Inter-Ac League championship this fall, junior Jake Maddaloni and senior Charlie Baker, played well at DuPont.

   Maddaloni matched par in the opening round with a 71 before rounds of 77 and 74 left him in the group tied for 23^rd at 9-over 222. Baker was solid in the first two rounds, signing for as 72 and a 70 before struggling to an 81 in the final round to end up in the group tied for 29^th at 10-over 223.

   Austin Barbin’s younger brother, Evan Barbin, and Liam Hart, a recent Holy Ghost Prep graduate who claimed the title in the 2017 PIAA Class AAA Championship, were among the group tied for 32^nd at 224. Evan Barbin finished up with a 76 after posting a pair of 74s in the first two rounds. Hart carded a pair of 75s in the final two rounds after opening with a 74.

   St. Joseph Prep senior Joseph Morganti and Spring Grove junior Karl Frisk, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, both finished strong to end up in a tie for 36^th at 225. Morganti closed with a 2-over 73 while Frisk carded a 1-over 72 in the final round.

   Strath Haven senior Kevin Smith and Unionville junior Roy Anderson were among the group tied for 43^rd at 228. Smith had a solid 2-over 73 in the second round before finishing up with a 78. Anderson opened with a 2-over 73 before adding rounds of 78 and 77 in the second and third rounds, respectively.

   There was a similar scenario in the Girls Division as Becca DiNunzio of Norfolk, Va., playing in her final junior event before heading to Virginia Tech, claimed her first AJGA victory with a 4-under 209 total.

   DiNunzio took control of the tournament from the start, firing a 4-under 67 over a DuPont layout that measured 5,865 yards for the girls. She matched par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 71s to get it to 209.

   Tower Hill junior Rylie Heflin also matched par in the final round with a 71 to finish alone in second place at 2-under 211. After opening with a 1-over 72, Heflin moved within two shots of DiNunzio through two rounds with a solid 3-under 68.

   Heflin’s Tower Hill teammate, senior Jennifer Cleary, was a shot behind Heflin in third place at 1-under 212. Cleary, who plans to join the Virginia program in the summer of 2020, bounced back from an opening-round 75 with a 4-under 67 before closing with a 1-under 70.

   Rolling Green Golf Club’s Sydney Yermish of Wynnewood was another shot behind Cleary in fourth place at even-par 213. Yermish reached the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday before the Masters and finished fifth in the Girls 12-13 division.

   After opening with a 2-over 73, Yermish took it under par in the final two rounds with a pair of 1-under 70s. Julie Shin of Brambleton, Va. was three shots behind Yermish in fifth place at 3-over 216 after finishing strong with a 3-under 68.

   Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J., the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Graham Company Player of the Year in the 13-to-15 division in the 2017-’18 season, and Emmaus junior Michelle Cox, who finished 13^th in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, both landed in the group tied for eighth place at 220.

   After opening with a 1-under 70, Tolentino added rounds of 73 and 77. Cox, the runnerup in this summer’s Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course, finished up with a pair of 74s after opening with a 72.

   William Penn senior Christina Carroll, the Junior Tour’s Graham Company Player of the Year in the 16-to-18 division in the 2017-’18 season, ended up in a tie for 11^th place at 8-over 221. Carroll matched par in the opening round with a 71 before adding rounds of 74 and 76.

   Another Delaware standout, Padua Academy senior Haley Quickel, finished alone in 23^rd place at 231, adding a final-round 79 to the pair of 76s she posted in the first two rounds.

   Maddie Smithco, a junior at Pittsburgh’s North Catholic who won the PIAA Class AA Championship last fall, was a shot behind Quickel in 24^th place at 232. Smithco closed with a 78.

   Episcopal Academy junior Lauren Jones, a U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship qualifier this summer, was another shot behind Smithco in 25^th place at 233 after finishing up with a 77. Jones led the Churchwomen to their second straight unbeaten run through the Inter-Ac League in the spring.

   West Chester East sophomore Victoria Kim, who captured the District One Class AAA title last fall, was a shot behind Jones in 26^th place at 234. After opening with a 75, Kim struggled a little at DuPont with respective rounds of 77 and 82 in the final two rounds.

   Central Bucks East senior Sarah Scarpill, a Class AAA East Regional qualifier last fall, had her best round of the tournament, a 5-over 76, in the final round to finish alone in 27^th place at 237.

   Junior Clare Gimpel and senior Olivia Wirsching, teammates on Mount St. Joseph’s District One Class AAA championship team last fall, finished in 34^th and 35^th place, respectively.

   Gimpel carded a solid 78 in the second round before struggling in a final-round 86 to end up with a 246 total. Wirsching’s best round was her opening round, an 82, before posting rounds of 85 and 84 for a 251 total.

   Strath Haven sophomore Grace Smith finished 36^th with a 264 total after a final round of 90. Smith earned her way into the tournament by surviving a qualifier earlier in the week.