Tyler Kipp, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Muhlenberg last fall, got it going at White Manor Country Club in Willistown Township as he claimed top honors with a scintillating 3-under-par 68 Monday in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour Championship, sponsored by BagBoy.
The Junior Tour Championship was the final event in the wraparound 2019-2020 season. The season lost some events when golf courses were shut down in the first 10 weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, but when play resumed in early June, the Junior Tour offered competitive opportunities to junior players close to home during a period when travel to some regional or national events was still limited.
Kipp had six birdies on his scorecard and was crowned the champion of the overall 13-to-18 age group while also topping the older 16-to-18 age group. The top 10 in the overall scoring all came from the older group as a very competitive group of 16-to-18 players showed up at White Manor ready to play.
Evan Barbin of the golfing Barbins of Elkton, Md. and Colton Yenser of Douglassville each matched par with a 71 on the tough par-71 White Manor layout with Barbin earning runnerup honors in a scorecard playoff. Barbin and Yenser each had two birdies, one on each nine, on their cards.
Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior Dylan Gooneratne, who finished in a tie for second place in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club last fall, was a shot behind Barbin and Yenser in fourth place with a 1-over 72. West Chester Rustin junior Ryan D’Ariano, who took seventh in the district tournament last fall, was a shot behind Gooneratne in fifth place with a 2-over 73.
Devon Prep senior Ryan McCabe, a top-three finisher in the PIAA Class AA Championship each of the last two falls, headed a group of three players tied for sixth place, each signing for a 3-over 74.
McCabe was joined at 74 by Pennridge senior Brendan Bauer, who finished in a tie for eighth at districts last fall, and Chad Kemmerer of Malvern.
It was a four-way logjam to round out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring at 4-over 75, a group that included Mario Ventresca III of Blue Bell, Luke Corcoran of Lansdale, Drew Davenport of Haverford and Brady Davidson of Mechanicsburg.
Zachary Antao of Chadds Ford capped a solid summer by claiming a Junior Tour Championship victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 7-over 78. Antao rattled off three straight pars to close out the front nine.
The level of play was so strong among the older guys that Antao could do no better than finish in a tie for 19th place in the overall scoring.
Anthony Carson of Broomall had two birdies on the front nine as he claimed runnerup honors among the younger guys with a 79.
Noah Moelter of Doylestown was awarded third place in a scorecard playoff after his 80 was matched by Connor Gherghel of Orwigsburg and Kevin Wortmann of Lords Valley. Moelter had a run of five straight pars on White Manor’s front nine to highlight his round.
Maxwell Wager of State College finished alone in sixth place
with an 82. Sean Surowiec of West Chester and Jarred Berish of Pottstown shared
seventh place, each posting an 84.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Penncrest sophomore Eli Shah, the reigning Graham Company Player of the Year in the younger division, and Joe Hilferty of Blue Bell, both of whom carded an 87 to finish in a tie for ninth place.
Baldwin sophomore Megan Adelman outdueled Emma Shipley of Hellertown in a three-hole playoff after each carded an 80 as Adelman topped the 16-to-18 division and was crowned the overall winner of the Junior Tour Championship among the girls.
Adelman finished in seventh place in the Inter-Ac League Championship at French Creek Golf Club as an eighth-grader in the spring of 2019, but lost her freshman season to the pandemic. A birdie on the 17th hole at White Manor got her to the top of the girls leaderboard. A birdie at the eighth hole highlighted Shipley’s round.
Episcopal Academy senior Kathleen Mark was awarded third place in a scorecard playoff after her 81 was matched by Downingtown East junior Ava O’Sullivan.
Mark finished third in the Inter-Ac Championship as a sophomore at French Creek. Mark opened her round Monday at White Manor with a pair of pars. O’Sullivan was a Class AAA East Regional qualifier last fall.
Harriton senior Niosha Parvizi finished alone in fifth place in the division and in the overall scoring as she posted an 83.
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy senior Emma Schotsch took sixth place in the division and ended up in a tie for seventh in the overall scoring with an 89. Schotsch finished in a tie for fourth place in the Inter-Ac Championship at French Creek a year ago.
Olivia Strigh of Hammonton, N.J. and Sarah Lawrie of Eagleville finished in a tie for seventh place in the division and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring by sharing 10th place as each signed for a 90.
Ashley Ea of Perkasie finished in ninth place in the older division with a 91, Katrina Cabinian of Egg Harbor Township, N.J. took 10th with a 95 and Conestoga junior Sophia Brubaker, a District One Class AAA qualifier last fall, was 11th with a 98.
Nicole Yun of Limerick claimed a victory in the Junior Tour Championship’s 13-to-15 division and was sixth in the overall scoring as she made two birdies on the front nine on her way to an 86.
Clarissa Leung of Villanova won a scorecard playoff with Jillian Burks of Paoli for second place among the younger girls after both carded an 89. That left them in a tie for seventh place along with Schotsch in the overall scoring. A birdie at the fifth hole highlighted Leung’s round. Burks had four pars on the front nine.
Burks will finally get to represent the Philadelphia Junior Tour in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals next spring at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday of Masters week. Burks had qualified for this year’s Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals, but the event was postponed a year by the pandemic.
Hayley Ekert of Fairview Village finished in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 92, Danielle Higbee of Mickelton, N.J. was fifth with a 98 and Curstan Bunch of Wilmington, Del. rounded out the field in the younger group as she took sixth with a 102.
Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg made a birdie at the eighth hole on his way to a sparkling 3-over 38 that gave him the win in the Junior Tour Championship coed 12-and-under division.
Proud finished a shot ahead of Malvern Prep seventh-grader Davis Conaway of East Bradford, who had five pars on his way to a 4-over 39. Conaway has dominated the nine-holers for much of the 2019-’20 season and I suspect he’ll finish atop the points standings – the Junior Tour Championship marks the end of the season-long points races – and earn Graham Company Junior Tour Player of the Year honors in the division.
A par on the par-4 fifth hole helped Hank Kancher of Philadelphia take third place with a 6-over 41. There was a three-way tie for fourth place among Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J., Ravi Khanna of Bryn Mawr and Kiersten Bodge of West Chester as each landed on 42.
Liam McFadden of Bryn Mawr finished alone in seventh place with a 44. A shot behind McFadden in a three-way tie for eighth place at 45 were Lawson Leeper of York, Ian Larsen of Glenmoore and Chase Mitstifer of Sinking Spring.
Avery O’Neill of Romansville took 11th place with a 50 and Anthony Primo of Marlton, N.J. rounded out the coed 12-and-under field by finishing 12th with a 58.
Since the Junior Tour Championship marks the end of a season, it’s always a good opportunity to remind all the youngsters to thank whomever it was driving you all over the tri-state area to play in all the events.
Maybe some of the older kids are driving themselves, but the younger kids certainly had one of their parents or the parent of a friend getting them around. And that pandemic thing made the whole operation a little more challenging. Staying safe and healthy were as much a priority in the 2020 portion of the season as improving your golf game was.
The Graham Company is the title sponsor for the Philadelphia Junior Tour and it deserves a lot of credit for giving the region’s junior players a chance to develop their skills in a game many of them will still be playing 50 years from now, maybe more.
Saw a 74-year-old guy shoot 4-under 66 at Stonewall’s North Course in the Super Senior division of the Pennsylvania Senior Amateur Championship a couple of weeks ago, so that “game for a lifetime” stuff isn’t just hype.
No comments:
Post a Comment