Barbin, D'Ariano finish in a tie at the top in Junior Tour stop at Chesapeake Bay

   Evan Barbin of Elkton, Md. and West Chester Rustin junior Ryan D’Ariano battled the heat and a tough Chesapeake Bay Golf Club layout Thursday in North East, Md. to each card a solid 4-over-par 75 and share the top spot in the 16-to-18 division of a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop.

   Pretty sure Chesapeake Bay is the home base of Team Barbin, which includes Liberty senior Zach Barbin, who captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship earlier this summer at Lancaster Country Club, and Maryland sophomore Austin Barbin, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Player of the Year in 2019.

   The big brothers have set a pretty high bar for Evan Barbin, but, as he proved at the par-71 Chesapeake Bay layout, he’s got some game. Evan Barbin started strong, making three birdies while going out in 1-under 34.

   D’Ariano, who finished seventh in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club last fall, finished strong, posting an even-par 36 on Chesapeake Bay’s incoming nine with a birdie.

   Stephen Starnes of Kennett Square was a shot behind the co-medalists with a solid 5-over 76 that included a birdie in a 1-over 37 on the back nine. Matthew Pulcinella of Chadds Ford took fourth place with a 78 and Radnor High senior Rishi Khanna was fifth with an 81.

   Nicklaus Meisinger of West Chester finished in sixth place with an 83, Grey Conta of Hummelstown was seventh with an 85, Joseph Madden of Oxford was eighth with an 88 and Nick DiPietro of Swedesboro, N.J. rounded out the 16-to-18 field, ending up alone in ninth place with a 93.

   The low round of the day for the boys emerged from the younger 13-to-15 age group as Nathan Guertler of Merchantville, N.J. continued his strong run of recent play, making three birdies in a 1-under 35 on the back nine on his way to a 2-over 73.

   Like Guertler, Strath Haven sophomore Tyler Debusschere has been playing some pretty solid golf lately and he had two birdies in a 2-under 33 on the front nine on his way to a 5-over 76 that earned him runnerup honors, three shots behind Guertler.

   Zachary Antao of Chadds Ford and Noah Wallace of Elkton, Md. shared third place, each signing for a 79. Antao toured the outgoing nine at Chesapeake Bay in 2-over 37 while Wallace birdied the sixth hole in a 3-over 38, also on the front nine.

   Rajan Khanna of Bryn Mawr’s Team Khanna and Samuel Feeney of West Chester finished in a tie for fifth place, each carding an 82. Travis Robertson of Fort Washington took seventh place with an 83 and Shane Powelson of Kennett Square was eighth with an 86.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were two players – Brady Manning of Downingtown and Joseph Fargnoli of Mickelton, N.J. – who finished in a tie for ninth place, each registering an 87.

   Suzie Ahn of Paoli had two pars on her way to a 90 that gave her a victory in the girls 16-to-18 division. Meredith Beyer of Avondale had eight pars as she chased Ahn home with a 92 that gave Beyer runnerup honors.

   Avery O’Neill made a birdie at the par-4 fourth hole while posting a solid 4-over 39 that bested the field of nine-holers. Declan Conner of Swarthmore had three pars on his way to a 43 that gave him runnerup honors in the coed 12-and-under division.

   Meredith Finger of Wilmington, Del. had three pars on her scorecard as she finished a shot behind Conner in third place with a 44.

   It was a successful trip to North East, Md. for Bryn Mawr’s Team Khanna as Ravi Khanna finished in a tie for fourth place with Ian Rotto of Kennett Square and Gus Stoltzfus of Lincoln University, each putting together a 46.

   Miles McGinty of Lititz took seventh place with a 49, Nicholas Fargnoli of Team Fargnoli out of Mickelton, N.J. was eighth with a 50 and Connor Smolenski of West Chester was ninth with a 52.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division was Colin Burke of Wilmington, Del., who finished alone in 10^th place with a 54.

 

 

 

Sandler gets it going with a 72 at Landis Creek to claim a Junior Tour victory

   Zachary Sandler of Gladwyne had a pair of birdies, one on each nine, to capture the 16-to-18 division with a 2-over-par 72 at Landis Creek Golf Club in Limerick in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Wednesday.

   Jake Shmonov of Harrisburg also had a birdie on each side of the par-70 Landis Creek layout on his way to a 4-over 74 as he earned runnerup honors. Pennridge senior Blake Stewart toured the back nine at Landis Creek in 1-over 35 as he finished a shot behind Shmonov in third place with a 75.

   Dylan Gute of Chester Springs was a shot behind Stewart in fourth place with a 76. It was two shots back to a five-way logjam for fifth place at 78 that included Jack Lenox of Chalfont, Drew Davenport of Haverford, Joe Niblick of Royersford, Seth Roth of Hatboro and Jacob Leon of Downingtown.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Trey Campbell of Haverford and Nicholas Rafetto of Pottstown, both of whom signed for a 79 to finish in a tie for 10^th place.

    Sean Surowiec of West Chester and Hunter Stetson of Newtown Square shared the top spot in the 13-to-15 as each posted a 6-over 76. Surowiec and Stetson each registered a birdie on the incoming nine to nail down a piece of a Junior Tour win.

   Harriton sophomore Cyrus Parvizi put together a solid 2-over 38 front nine on his way to a 77 that enabled him to finish alone in third place. Ethan Martin of North Wales was a shot behind Parvizi in fourth place with a 78.

   Sachin Blake of Berwyn, Josh Baker of West Chester and Jordan Minter of Royersford finished in a tie for fifth place, each getting it in just under 80 with a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were three players – Strath Haven sophomore Tyler Debusschere, Connor Gherghel of Orwigsburg and Ajeet Bagga of Blue Bell – who finished in a tie for eighth place, each carding an 82. Debusschere, who helped the Panthers claim the first Central League title in program history last fall, had claimed a Junior Tour victory earlier this week at Yardley Country Club.

   Chaela Barnett, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at Archbishop Wood last fall, and Conestoga junior Sophia Brubaker, a District One Class AAA qualifier last fall, shared the top spot on the girls 16-to-18 leaderboard, each carding an 82.

   Chaela Barnett birdied the 15^th hole on her way to the clubhouse while Brubaker finished up with a solid 4-over 40 on the incoming nine at Landis Creek.

   Megan Adelman, who lost her freshman season at Baldwin to the coronavirus pandemic this spring, birdied the seventh hole on her way to an 85 that left her alone in third place.

   Sarah Lawrie of Eagleville took fourth place with a 91, Paige Damon of Manchester was fifth with a 94 and Elizabeth O’Donnell of Downingtown was sixth with a 101.

   Serena Bagga of Blue Bell’s Team Bagga rode a solid 5-over 41 on Landis Creek’s outgoing nine to an 84 that gave her a victory in the 13-to-15 division. Serena Bagga played on the boys team at Germantown Academy as a freshman last fall and earned an invitation to the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship at Gulph Mills Golf Club.

   Lola Bennett of Hatboro’s Team Bennett, Silvana Gonzalez of Exton and Clarissa Leung of Villanova finished in a tie for second place, each signing for an 89.

   Cierra Griffith of Pottstown finished alone in fifth place with a 96 and Brynne Mushlin of Berwyn and Sophia DeSantis of Glen Mills rounded out the 13-to-15 field as they shared sixth place, each posting a 100.

   Lawson Leeper of York continued his summer-long roll with a sparkling 1-over 37, highlighted by a birdie at the fourth hole, that gave him a victory in the coed 12-and-under division.

   Davis Conaway of East Bradford, another player who has been very strong among the nine-holers, and Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg finished five shots behind Leeper in a tie for second place, each carding a 6-over 42.

   Jason Mark of Delaware Water Gap took fourth place with a 47, Nathan Lebo of Collegeville was fifth with a 49 and Gus Stoltzfus of Lincoln University was sixth with a 51.

   Rounding out the top 10 were four players who finished in a tie for seventh place at 57, including William Shutford of Wayne, Ian Ratto of Kennett Square, Ryan Kelly of Harleysville and Reagan McGruther of Downingtown.

   Preston Minio of Lansdale rounded out the coed 12-and-under field, finishing alone in 11^th place with a 63.

 

 

 

 

 

Brown's experience shows as he holds on to capture Pennsylvania Amateur crown at Lookaway

   For a long time in the final round of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 107^th Amateur Championship at Lookaway Golf Club Wednesday, second-round leader Michael Brown Jr. of LuLu Country Club couldn’t make a par.

   But when the 27-year-old mid-amateur really needed pars on a course he called home in 2010 and 2011, he got a bunch of them down the stretch to hold on for a one-shot victory. Brown has been in some big spots in winning three Golf Association of Philadelphia major championships, the most recent one a Patterson Cup victory at Gulph Mills Golf Club in 2018, and it showed.

   Brown closed with a 3-under-par 69 over the challenging 6,949-yard, par-72 Lookaway layout, located in Bucks County’s Buckingham Township, for a 54-hole total of 10-under 206, one shot clear of western Pennsylvania veteran Rick Stimmel of Diamond Rock Golf Club and another top Philadelphia area mid-am, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Will Davenport.

   There were no complaints about the lack of pars early in the round as Brown came roaring out of the gate with birdies at the first four holes that got him to 11-under for the tournament.

   Brown proceeded to give three of those shots back with three straight bogeys at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes. He made his fifth birdie of the front nine at the eighth hole before his first par of the day at the ninth hole left him at 9-under for the tournament.

   Brown made his sixth birdie of the round at the 10^th hole to get it to 10-under. And that’s where he stayed, making eight straight pars in a gritty finish to hold on for the victory over a field filled with many of the state’s best amateur golfers, young, old and everything in between.

   “It almost seems like it was written ahead of time,” Brown, who called it the biggest win of his career, told the PAGA website. “Coming back here, seeing my friends out there following me. I just can’t believe this happened.”

   While Brown’s closest pursuers never got much going, Stimmel, Davenport and Calen Sanderson, a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, made the biggest moves of the day.

   It wasn’t quite the brilliant 8-under 64 that the 52-year-old Stimmel unleashed a couple of weeks ago at the Country Club of York that gave him medalist honors in qualifying for the R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship, but he did put together a hard-charging 5-under 67 Wednesday at Lookaway that got him in the clubhouse at 9-under 207.

   Stimmel was only 1-under for his round when he made birdie at the 12^th hole followed by an eagle at the par-5 13^th, the second eagle on his scorecard, and a birdie at the 17^th.

   The 27-year-old Davenport, GAP’s 2019 Middle-Amateur champion who earned a spot in the match-play bracket in last year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at the Colorado Golf Club, trailed Brown by two shots entering the final round.

   He made birdies at the first and third holes and then made an eagle at the par-4 10^th hole to get it to 9-under for the tournament. The only blemish in his round was a bogey at the 16^th hole, but he got that shot back with a birdie at the 17^th.

   But Brown wouldn’t budge off 10-under and Davenport’s final round of 4-under 68 left him in a tie for second with Stimmel at 207.

   It was a pretty nice week for Sanderson, who never flinched while running with many of the big dogs in amateur golf in Pennsylvania.

   Sanderson, who finished in a tie for second place in last fall’s District One Class AAA Championship and then jumped off the PIAA postseason trail to compete in a national junior event, actually put a nose in front of Brown and the rest of the field when he made five birdies in the first 10 holes.

   He backed off a little down the stretch, but his second straight 3-under 69 enabled him to finish alone in fourth place at 8-under 208.

   Sanderson finished a shot ahead of the best mid-amateur in the Philadelphia area, GAP’s reigning William Hyndman III Player of the Year Jeff Osberg, who plays out of Pine Valley Golf Club, but carried the PAGA individual banner at Lookaway.

   Osberg was always there all week, but could never make a big move. His final round of 3-under 69 left him alone in fifth place at 7-under 209.

   GAP’s 2019 Junior Player of the Year, Austin Barbin, playing out of Loch Nairn Golf Club, was a shot behind Osberg in sixth place at 6-under 210 after closing with a 1-under 71. Barbin, of the golfing Barbin family out of Elkton, Md., worked his way into the starting lineup at Maryland before his promising freshman season was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

   A couple of City Six standouts in the pandemic-shortened 2019-2020 college season, Temple junior Connor McGrath, who plays out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, and recent Saint Joseph’s graduate Michael O’Brien, playing out of Makefield Highlands Golf Club, shared seventh place, each landing on 5-under 211.

   McGrath, who surged into contention on the strength of a Lookaway course record of 8-under 64 in Tuesday’s second round, closed with a 2-under 70.

   O’Brien, who lost in the final of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship last month at Lancaster Country Club, matched par in the final round with a 72. O’Brien accepted the NCAA’s offer of an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic and will conclude his college career at Florida Gulf Coast.

   Penn State sophomore Jimmy Meyers, playing out of Oakmont Country Club, had creeped within a shot of Brown through two rounds behind a sparkling 6-under 66 in the second round. But Meyers, the runnerup in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in 2018 as a senior at Pittsburgh Central Catholic, fell back with a 2-over 74 in the final round to finish alone in ninth place at 4-under 212.

   Kansas State senior Kyle Vance, playing out of Blue Bell Country Club, snuck into the top 10 with a final-round 70 that left him alone in 10^th place at 3-under 213. Vance was a two-time District One Class AAA champion during a brilliant scholastic career at Methacton.

   Merion Golf Club’s Tug Maude, whose second act as an amateur golfer keeps getting better, Gregory Meyer, a sophomore at High Point University who plays out of Hannastown Golf Club, and junior standout Jack Irons finished in a tie for 11^th place at 2-under 214.

   Maude, who gave professional golf a try before staying away from competitive golf for a decade or so to concentrate on work and family, closed with a 1-over 72.

   Meyer, a scholastic standout at Fox Chapel, moved up the leaderboard with a final round of 3-under 69. Irons, playing out of Makefield Highlands, capped a steady showing at Lookaway by matching par in the final round with a 72.