Ciocca beats the heat and a loaded field to win Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship

   Nicholas Ciocca is going places.

   Unfortunately, one of the places he should be going to, but won’t get the chance to is the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   That’s where the Boys Junior PGA Championship, a national event staged by the PGA of America, was supposed to be played next month were it not for the coronavirus pandemic that forced the event to be canceled.

   In a normal year that’s where Ciocca, who, I’m pretty sure, will begin ninth grade at Devon Prep in August, would be headed after a really strong performance that gave him a victory in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry Township across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.

   The weather was hot Monday and the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA was 36 holes on a testy 6,614-yard, par-71 Bellewood layout. And the field was absolutely loaded with some of the best returning players in District One and District Three and District 11, in the Catholic League, in the Inter-Ac League, in New Jersey and Delaware.

   When the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour returned from its coronavirus-enforced layoff earlier this month, a lot of the region’s best junior players teed it up in the series of qualifiers that filled the field at Bellewood.

   They were just really geared up to compete and with many national events not being played this year, it quickly became apparent that the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA had become an early target, a chance to test their games against top competition.

   The Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship was open to players ages 13-to-18 and there were Junior Golf Scoreboard points available and a chance to improve American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) status with a high finish.

   As always, the Junior Tour broke out its normal 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 age groups. Only one player out of the 13-to-15 age group broke into the top 10 in the overall 13-to-18 scoring and that would be the overall winner, Ciocca.

   I got a chance to watch Ciocca play a round of golf at Stonewall’s Old Course last summer while caddying for his grandparents. I was impressed with his game certainly (he did, after all, have a better caddy than his grandparents did). But maybe more impressive, given that he was only going to be an eighth-grader, was the way he quickly put the inevitable bad break the game of golf delivers behind him and just kept playing.

   Ciocca plays most of his golf at Aronimink Golf Club, not surprising considering the talent that emerges from the Aronimink junior program year after year.

   Ciocca matched par in the morning with a 71 that gave him a share of the lead with Darren Nolan, who helped La Salle finish third in the PIAA Class AAA team chase as a sophomore last fall. And, with that talented field chasing him all afternoon and the heat not backing off a little bit, Ciocca had four birdies in a 3-over 74 for a 3-over 145 total.

   That gave him a one-shot edge in the overall 13-to-18 scoring over the trio of Conestoga senior Morgan Lofland, who finished in a tie for ninth in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, Malvern Prep junior Keller Mulhern and Jack Davis of Newtown Square.

   Ciocca had four birdies in his morning round as well. He went off the 10^th tee in the afternoon, so pretty sure that means he went off the first hole in the morning.

   Ciocca started fast in the morning with birdies at the third and seventh holes with a bogey at the ninth giving him a 1-under 35 on the outgoing nine. Bogeys at the 11^th and 14^th holes dropped him back to 1-over, but Ciocca birdied the last to complete an even-par 71.

   Looks like Ciocca was in the last group off No. 10 in the afternoon and very much in contention for the overall title. And he struggled on Bellewood’s incoming nine with a bogey at the 11^th hole, a double bogey at the 13^th, his only double of the day, and a bogey at the 14^th.

   But Ciocca righted the ship with a birdie at the 15^th hole to get back to 3-over for the round.

Ciocca followed up a birdie at the first hole with a bogey at the second. But he made back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth holes to get it to 2-over before finishing up with a bogey at the ninth.
   The Philadelphia Section PGA did give Ciocca a little bit of a consolation prize for not being able to advance to the Boys Junior PGA Championship, giving him a spot in the field for its Doylestown Open, which tees off July 31. Should be fun for a kid just entering high school to play with the club pros.
   Maybe they should just pair him with somebody out of the Aronimink pro shop who is aware of the kind of talent the precocious youngster possesses.  Otherwise some poor unsuspecting Philly Section pro is going to be asking Ciocca all day, "Wait a minute, you're how old?"

   Lofland, who has earned a share of the last two Central League individual crowns and was an impressive winner of the Class AAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club last fall, was right there all day.

   Lofland had a nice win under his belt in a two-day Junior Tour Precision Pro Golf Open event at Hickory Valley Golf Club a couple of weeks ago. He trailed Ciocca and Nolan by a shot after opening with a 1-over 72 Monday and closed with a 3-over 74 in the afternoon for a  4-over 146 total.

   That gave Lofland a share of the top spot in the 16-to-18 division with Mulhern, who finished in a tie for fifth in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual championship at Gulph Mills Golf Club last fall, and Davis. After opening with a 74, Mulhern’s 1-over 72 was the best round of the afternoon. Davis, like Ciocca, a product of the junior  program at Aronimink, was solid all day, registering a pair of 2-over 73s.

   It was a pretty strong trio that shared fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and finished tied for fifth overall at 6-over 148, including Haverford School senior Tyler Zimmer, Devon Prep senior Ryan McCabe and West Chester Rustin junior Ryan D’Ariano.

   Zimmer, who finished second in the Inter-Ac’s regular-season individual rankings while leading the Fords to their third straight league title, signed for a pair of 74s. Zimmer was also the runnerup in the Bert Linton at Gulph Mills last fall.

   McCabe, who has finished tied for third and tied for second in Class AA at the last two state championships, added a solid 73 to his opening-round 75. If Ciocca is about to join the Devon Prep varsity, McCabe and Ciocca would make a pretty formidable 1-2 punch in the lineup.

   D’Ariano,  who finished seventh in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club last fall, got himself in the hunt with an opening-round 73 before adding a 75 in the afternoon.

   James Ulsh of Carlisle finished alone in seventh place among the older guys and eighth overall at 7-over 149 after adding a 74 to his opening-round 75.

   After sharing the opening-round lead with his 71, Nolan struggled a little in the afternoon with a 79 to finish alone in eighth place in the 16-to-18 division and ninth overall at 150.

   Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior Dylan Gooneratne and D’Ariano’s West Chester Rustin teammate, junior Eric Miller, landed in a tie for ninth place in the older division and tied for 10^th overall, a shot behind Nolan at 151.

   Gooneratne, who finished in a tie for second place in last fall’s district championship at the Turtle, bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a solid 2-over 73 in the afternoon. Miller shaved three shots off his opening-round 77 with a 3-over 74 in the afternoon.

   Henry Stone, a sophomore at Tower Hill in Delaware, was the runnerup to Ciocca in the 13-to-15 division at 10-over 152, seven shots behind Ciocca. Stone added an afternoon 75 to his opening-round 77.

   Matthew Homer earned low-Homer honors over twin brother Jeffrey as Matthew Homer shared third place among the younger guys with Adrian Jordan of Lawrenceville, N.J., each landing on 154. Matthew Homer struggled to an 80 in Monday morning’s opening round before rebounding with a 3-over 74 in the afternoon. Jordan added a 78 to his opening-round 76.

   Jeffrey Homer was a shot behind his twin brother in fifth place in the 13-to-15 division at 155 after adding a 76 to his opening-round 79. The Homers are from Wilmington, Del. and are sophomores at Tatnall.

   Matt Vital, the winner of the Boys 12-13 division in the 2019 Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club, shared sixth place in the 13-to-15 division with Michael Maslanka of Taylor.

   Vital, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Bethlehem Liberty last fall, was in contention after opening with a 73, but struggled to an 83 in the afternoon. Maslanka put together a pair of 78s.

   Kevin Zheng of Warren, N.J. was alone in eighth place among the younger guys at 158 after adding an 80 to his opening-round 78. Logan Wanger of Quarryville was a shot behind Zheng in ninth place at 159 as he posted a 78 in the afternoon after opening with an 81.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Evan Eichenlaub of Bethlehem, who added an 80 to his opening-round 81 for a 161 total.