Yermish wins by eight shots in PKBGT's Kiawah Resort Girls Classic at Oak Point

    Lower Merion sophomore Sydney Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, continued her dominant run in the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour (PKBGT) National Division as she rolled to an eight-shot victory in the Kiawah Resort Girls Classic, which wrapped up Sunday at the Oak Point Golf Course on Johns Island, S.C.

   Yermish has been on roll in the PKBGT National Division’s wraparound 2020-2021 season and the win in the Kiawah Resort Girls Classic enabled her to extend her lead in the National Division Order of Merit. It was Yermish’s second win in her last PKBGT three starts and gives her an Order of Merit-leading 368.00 points.

   Her closest pursuer is Morgan Ketchum of Winston-Salem, N.C., who won last month’s Peggy Kirk Bell Junior at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. Ketchum, who didn’t tee it up in the Kiawah Resort Girls Classic, is in second place in the Order of Merit with 287.25 points. Yermish finished in a tie for second place at Pine Needles.

   Yermish, whose swing coach is Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, grabbed a two-shot lead with a solid 1-under 71 from the 5,902-yard, par-72 PKBGT tees at Oak Point in Saturday’s opening round.

   After getting an early birdie at the third hole, Yermish made a double bogey at the fifth and a bogey at the seventh and was 2-over on Oak Point’s outgoing nine. But Yermish registered birdies at the 15^th, 17^th and 18^th holes on the back nine to get it into red figures. She was the only player in the field to better par for the weekend.

   Yermish then pulled away from the field by matching par in Sunday’s final round with a 72 that gave her a 1-under 143 total. Yermish started slowly Sunday with bogeys at the first and second holes. A birdie at the eighth hole and a bogey at nine left her at 2-over on the front nine. After a birdie at the 10^th hole and a bogey at 13, Yermish again finished strong with back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 to get it back to even-par for the round.

   Defending champion Grace Holcomb, a senior at Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C., was the runnerup. Holcolmb, who will join the North Carolina-Greensboro program at the end of the summer, trailed Yermish by two shots after opening with a solid 1-over 73. A 6-over 78 in Sunday’s final round left her eight shots behind Yermish at 7-over 151.

   Yermish followed up a fifth-place finish in the PKBGT Invitational at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, N.C. in early November with a victory in the PKBGT Tournament of Champions over the Thanksgiving weekend at Forest Creek Golf Club in Pinehurst, N.C. Yermish followed up that win with her tie for second in the Peggy Kirk Bell Junior at Pine Needles.

   Maggie Jackson, a senior at Tallulah Falls School in Georgia, was another two shots behind Holcomb in third place at 9-over 153. Jackson, who will join the Wofford program at the end of the summer, added a 78 to her opening-round 75.

   Nicole Nash, like Yermish a Class of 2023 entry, of Charlotte, N.C. and Layla Meric, a senior at Culbertson High School in Wesley Chapel, N.C., finished in a tie for fourth place at 12-over 156, three shots behind Jackson. Nash shaved eight shots off her opening-round 82 with a solid 2-over 74 in Sunday’s final round and Meric improved four shots from her opening-round 80 with a closing 76.

   Carlisle sophomore Hannah Barrett, who finished in a tie for 14^th place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County in October, finished alone in sixth place at 13-over 157. Barrett opened with a 4-over 76 before adding an 81 in the second round.

   Tower Hill senior Rylie Heflin, who will join the powerful Duke program at the end of the summer, finished in a tie for 16^th place with a 163 total. Heflin, who was the 2017 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ champion and finished in a tie for fifth place in that event last summer at Lebanon Country Club, opened with a 77, but struggled to an 86 in Sunday’s final round.

   Heflin, an Avondale resident, plays out of Hartefeld National Golf Club.

   Baldwin sophomore Megan Adelman got a share of first place in the Futures National Division at Oak Point as her second-round 73 enabled her to catch Caroline Hawkins of Columbia, S.C. at 5-over 149.

   Adelman, another student of Merion’s Sheftic, had opened with a 76 over an Oak Point layout that measured 5,206 yards for the Futures National Division.

   Hawkins, a Class of ’26 entry, which makes her a seventh-grader, grabbed the lead with an opening round of 2-over 74 before adding a 75 in the final round.

   Adelman was up and down on the outgoing nine at Oak Point in the second round. She started strong with birdies at the second and third holes before giving both shots back with a double bogey at the fourth. Adelman made bogeys at the sixth and seventh holes, birdied the eighth and added another bogey at the ninth. That added up to 2-over on the front nine.

   But Adelman really settled down on the back nine with a 1-under loop that featured eight pars around a birdie at the 12^th hole and enabled her to catch Hawkins.