Ventresca, Hage match par in Junior Tour stop at Linfield National to share first place

   Mario Ventresca III of Blue Bell and Unionville senior Will Hage each matched par with a 71 to share the top spot in the 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop at Linfield National Golf Club Saturday.

   Ventresca had three birdies, two on the front nine and one on the back nine, to offset three bogeys for his 71 over the 5,479-yard, par-71 Linfield National layout. Hage lit up the back nine at Linfield National to the tune of five birdies in a spectacular 4-under 32 tour of the incoming nine.

   Souderton junior Stephen Butler, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier a year ago as a sophomore, was three shots behind Ventresca and Hage in third place with a 74. Noah Kim of Royersford took fourth place with a 78 and Nathan Pierce was fifth with a 79.

   Jake Shmonov of Harrisburg finished in sixth place with an 81, Michael Romano of Norristown was seventh with an 82 and Nathan Jones of Wayne was eighth with a 91.

   Nick Mahoney of Lewisburg had four birdies, three of them on a sizzling front nine of 2-under 33, on his way to a 5-over 76 that gave him the victory in the 13-to-15 division. Kenneth Kreitz of Harleysville was the runnerup with an 83.

   Kristof Kopecky of Garnet Valley took third place with an 85, Connor Toussaint of Lansdale was fourth with an 87 and Jake Micewski of Broomall was fifth with an 88.

   William Gronlund of Lewisburg and Hunter Stetson of Newtown Square shared sixth place, each carding an 89. Robert McNelly of Collegeville finished in eighth place with a 91, Jonathan Seifarth of Schwenksville was ninth with a 97 and Josh Baker of West Chester rounded out the top 10 as he finished alone in 10^th place with a 98.

   The best score in the girls divisions belonged to Jillian Burks of Paoli, who birdied the second hole on her way to a 99 that gave her top honors in the 13-to-15 division.

   Not sure where Burks goes to school, but her classmates will be able to see her on TV next April 5 when she competes for the Girls 10-11 division title in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club, an event that kicks off Masters week. Plenty of time to plan an early Sunday morning watch party somewhere.

   Meredith Beyer of Avondale was the runnerup to Burks in the 13-to-15 division with a 102.

Mary Emma Guldi of West Chester was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division and claimed the win with a 112.

   Hank Kancher of Philadelphia had birdies on the two par-3s on Linfield National’s front nine, the third and seventh holes, as he carded a 4-over 39 to best the field of nine-holers.

   Matthew Sanderson of Newtown was a shot behind Kancher in second place with a 5-over 40. Nicholas Gatti of West Chester took third place with a 56.