Leeper tames Phoenixville with a 37, tops field of nine-holers for Junior Tour win

    A Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Tuesday was for the nine-holers only and their games were tested by one of the best nine-hole layouts in the region at Phoenixville Country Club.

   Lawson Leeper of York battled the tough Phoenixville course and the high heat and humidity and came out on top with a 2-over-par 37. Leeper, a regular on the coed 12-and-under division leaderboards, birdied the third hole and had five pars, including four straight from the fifth through the eighth holes.

   David Nissen of Lower Gwynedd birdied the second hole and had four pars as he earned runnerup honors with a 5-over 40.

   Wyatt Underwood of Telford had three pars and Ian Rotto of Kennett Square had four pars on his scorecard as they shared third place, each posting a 6-over 41.

   Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg took fifth place with a 42, Callahan Harrell of Royersford was sixth with a 43, and Colby Komancheck, another Royersford entry, and Onyu Park of Blue Bell finished in a tie for seventh place, each registering a 45.

   Alaina Carson of Broomall finished alone in ninth place with a 46. Henry Sokol of Villanova, Giula Weisser of Reading and Alex DiGiacinto of Nazareth rounded out the top 10 as they ended up in a tie for 10^th place, each signing for a 47.

 

Lofland, Cox survive playoffs to capture respective Pennsylvania Junior Boys, Girls crowns

    Recent Conestoga graduate Morgan Lofland and recent Emmaus graduate Michelle Cox have been two of the best junior players in Pennsylvania for the last three years.

   After prevailing in playoffs to capture the respective Pennsylvania Boys’ and Girls’ Junior Championships on a sweltering late June Tuesday in central Pennsylvania, both have something to show for all their hard work. The Pennsylvania Junior Championships are presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

   Lofland, who plays out of Phoenixville Country Club, was a pretty good wrestler as a freshman at Conestoga when he decided to concentrate on golf. But the grit and tenacity you have to have on the wrestling mat have been hallmarks of Lofland’s golf game as he has overcome all kinds of adversity, particularly these last couple of years.

   Like every high school kid in America, Lofland was faced with the life-altering reality of the coronavirus pandemic in the middle of March of his junior year.

   When golfers were allowed to compete again in early June of 2020, nobody was more prepared to play than Lofland was as he teed it up everywhere he could, including a fourth-place finish in the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship at Hershey.

   He had capped his junior season in the fall of 2019 with an impressive victory in the Class AAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club and a ninth-place finish in the PIAA Class AAA Championship.

   He wanted to finish his scholastic career with a third straight trip to the Heritage Hills Golf Resort for the state tournament, maybe contend for PIAA crown.

   But the season was always in doubt with the pandemic continuing to make for tough choices for schools and scholastic leagues when it came to whether it was safe to play sports. Ultimately, a mononucleosis-type virus kept Lofland off the golf course for most of his senior season, although he did get in the lineup one last time as the Pioneers beat arch-rival Radnor for the Central League’s dual-match crown.

   The good news is that in the midst of all that adversity, Penn State head coach Greg Nye had seen enough of Lofland’s talent and toughness to ask him to join the Nittany Lions beginning this summer and Lofland accepted. As I’ve mentioned before, Nye is getting a good one.

   Lofland proved that again Tuesday, outlasting a talented Karl Frisk, a Spring Grove senior, in a tense battle played in draining heat and humidity on Hershey Country Club’s challenging East Course.

   Frisk, playing out of the Out Door Country Club, took a one-shot lead into the final round after firing a 4-under 67 to Lofland’s 3-under 68 over the par-71 East Course in Monday’s opening round.

   And it was really just the two of them, going toe-to-toe all day, kind of like a wrestling match.

   Both would reach 7-under a couple of times. Lofland birdied the first, fifth, 10^th and 11^th holes to get it 7-under. He gave a shot back with a bogey at the 13^th hole and got it back to 7-under with a birdie at 14 only to make bogeys at 16 and 17 to fall back to 5-under. It added up to a 2-under 69 and a 5-under 137 total.

   Frisk got it to 7-under with birdies at the third, 10^th and 11^th holes, but stumbled with a double bogey at 16 that dropped him back to 5-under. He added a 2-under 70 to his opening-round 67, joining Lofland at 5-under 147.

   That par-3 16^th hole would prove to be Frisk’s undoing one more time. It was the second hole of the playoff and, from what I can gather from Twitter, his tee shot found a bunker. Lofland reached the green with his tee shot and would win the playoff.

   The victory capped a tremendous month of June for Lofland, who reached the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Cedarbrook Country Club before falling to eventual champion Conor McGrath, repeated as the medalist in qualifying for match play in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 107^th Junior Boys’ Championship at Overbrook Golf Club and reached the final before falling to Josh Ryan.

   Luke Thompson of Huntingdon Country Club matched par with a 71 Tuesday after opening with a 69 to finish alone in third place at 2-under 140, two shots behind Lofland and Frisk.

   Northampton Country Club’s Matt Vital, a junior at Liberty, added a 1-under 70 to his opening-round 71 to finish alone in fourth place at 1-under 141. Vital won the Boys 12-13 division in the 2019 Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club and has been lighting it up in on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour this spring.

   Pittsburgh Central Catholic junior Rocco Salvitti, playing out of Oakmont Country Club, had the best round of the day, a sparkling 4-under 67 to get a share of fifth place with Connor Strine of Bent Creek Country Club at even-par 142.

   Salvitti, who finished in a tie for second in the Pennsylvania Junior Boys a year ago, had opened with a 4-over 75. Strine added a 1-under 70 to his opening-round 72.

   Salvitti’s Pittsburgh Central Catholic teammate and Oakmont clubmate, Carter Pitcairn, finished a shot behind Salvitti and Strine in seventh place at 1-over 143 after adding a 1-under 70 to his opening-round 73.

   Holy Ghost Prep senior Calen Sanderson, who captured the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall at Heritage Hills, headed a group of four players tied for eighth place at 2-over 144. Sanderson, a Notre Dame recruit who plays out of Jericho National Golf Club, carded a 2-over 73 in Tuesday’s final round after matching par in the opening round with a 71.

   Joining Sanderson at 2-over were Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Evan Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) individual member Scott Jordan and Waynesboro Country Club’s Devin Smith.

   Barbin added a 3-over 75 to his opening-round 70 and Jordan and Smith, who finished in a tie for fourth place with Frisk at Heritage Hills as a senior at Waynesboro last fall, each posted a second straight 1-over 72.

   Salvitti’s 67 and Pitcairn’s 70 helped Oakmont card a 1-under 212 in the four-score-three format to give the historic Pittsburgh-area club the Junior team championship with a 13-over 439 total. Oakmont had opened with a 14-over 227.

   David Fuhrer – I’m sure the latest in a long line of golfing Fuhrers in the Pittsburgh area – was the final counter for Oakmont with a 4-over 75. Oakmont was able to toss the 79 posted by Nolan Shilling.

   Cedarbrook added a 224 to its opening-round 223 to earn runnerup honors with a 447 total, eight shots behind Oakmont.

   Cedarbrook got a 2-over 73 from recent Wissahickon graduate Jackson Tappen, a 3-over 74 from La Salle senior Darren Nolan and a 6-over 77 from La Salle sophomore Scott Hughes. Cedarbrook was able to toss the 77 posted by Wissahickon senior Christian Matt. Tappen and Matt were both PIAA Class AAA qualifiers last fall.

   Cox, who plays out of Lehigh Country Club, lost in a playoff to West Chester East’s Victoria Kim for the PIAA Class AAA crown at Heritage Hills to cap her senior season at Emmaus last fall. She battled Caroline Wrigley down the stretch of the Pennsylvania Junior Girls two summers ago before coming up one shot short.

   But it was Cox holding the trophy after she and Jade Gu, a recent Pennsbury graduate playing out of Yardley Country Club, battled all day at Lebanon Country Club.

   Cox birdied the 18^th hole for a 1-under 71 over the par-72 Lebanon layout, which, combined with her  opening-round 73, gave her an even-par 144 total. Gu made bogey at the last for a two-shot swing as she closed with a 2-over 74 after grabbing a two-shot lead with an opening-round 70.

   Cox, who will join head coach Denise St. Pierre’s Penn State program later this summer, prevailed on the second hole of the playoff.

   Gu will represent the Philadelphia area in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship next month at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md. after surviving a playoff in a GAP-administered local qualifier last week at the Steel Club.

   Downingtown East senior Ava O’Sullivan, playing out of Whitford Country Club, nearly got herself into the playoff as she closed with a 1-under 71, which, combined with an opening-round 74, gave her a 1-over 145 total, a shot behind Cox and Gu.

   O’Sullivan captured the District One Class AAA crown and finished in third place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills last fall.

   Recent Haverford High graduate Riley Quartermain, playing out of Llanerch Country Club, bounced back from an opening-round 75 with a 1-under 71 to get a share of fifth place with Paige Richter, a recent Camp Hill graduate playing out of the Country Club of Harrisburg, at 2-over 146. Quartermain will join the North Carolina program later this summer.

   Merion Golf Club’s Lauren Jones, who capped an outstanding scholastic career at Episcopal Academy by winning the Inter-Ac League’s individual crown at French Creek Golf Club last month, added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 72 to finish alone in sixth place with a 3-over 147 total. Jones will join the Richmond program later this summer.

   Rylie Heflin, the 2017 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ champion playing out of Hartefeld National Golf Club, headed a group of three players tied for seventh place at 4-over 148. Heflin, who also earned a ticket to the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia next month in last week’s qualifier at the Steel Club, added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 73.

   Heflin, a scholastic standout at Tower Hill in Delaware, will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke later this summer.

   Joining Heflin at 4-over were Natasha Kiel, playing out Jericho National, and The Club at Nevillewood’s Caroline McConnell. Kiel, who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt later this summer, added a 76 to her opening-round 72. McConnell matched par in Tuesday’s final round after opening with a 76.

   Kim, who captured the PIAA Class AAA crown at Heritage Hills as a junior at West Chester East last fall, shared 10^th place with another Jericho National entry, Ellison Lundquist, at 5-over 149.

   Kim added a 1-over 73 to her opening-round 76 while Lundquist had one of the best rounds of the day Tuesday, a 1-under 71, after opening with a 78.

   Lundquist’s 71 led Jericho National to its second straight Junior Girls’ Team Championship. Kiel and Megan Meng, who was the defending individual champion at Lebanon, each carded a 76 in the three-score-two format as Jericho National added a 3-over 147 to its opening-round 146 for a 5-over 293 total.

   Meng, who plays on the boys team at Hopewell Valley in New Jersey, had opened with a 74 and finished in a tie for 12^th place at 6-over 150 in defense of her title.

   The Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association finished 16 shots behind Jericho National in second place with a 309 total, adding a 160 to its opening-round 149.

   Philadelphia Publinks got a 77 from Brooke Oberparleiter and an 83 from Ysabel Liu. Pretty good effort to get second place with just two girls on the team.

   Ian Larsen, playing out of Honeybrook Golf Club, cruised to the Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship title, adding a sparkling 1-under 71 at Lebanon to his opening-round 77 for a 4-over 148 total.

   Seiji Sako of McCall Golf Club added a 3-over 75 to his opening-round 79 to earn runnerup honors with a 10-over 154 total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choi posts a solid 76 at Meadia Heights to beat the heat and claim a Junior Tour victory

    Darren Choi of Philadelphia beat the heat and the 16-to-18 field with a solid 5-over-par 76 at Meadia Heights Golf Club in the Lancaster area Monday to claim a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory.

   Choi made birdies at the third and ninth holes and had nine pars on his scorecard to finish three shots clear of runnerup Anthony Carson of Broomall. Carson made birdies at the first, 11^th and 15^th holes to finish in second place with a 79 over the par-71 Meadia Heights layout. Aaron Miller of Lehighton had 10 pars as he finished in third place with an 83.

   Brady Manning of Downingtown, Grey Conta of Hummelstown and Trey Campbell of Haverford finished in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 84. Bryson Hicklin of Nazareth was a shot behind that trio in seventh place with an 85.

   Kyle Langan of Shavertown and Colin Keiser of West Chester shared eighth place, each registering an 87. Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Trey Rios of Denver, who finished alone in 10^th place with an 88.

   Andrew Bilson of Lititz made back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes and had 10 pars, including pars at the last five holes, as he took top honors in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 6-over 77.

   Avery O’Neill birdied the fourth hole and had five pars on his scorecard as he earned runnerup honors with an 87. Zach Moua of Berwyn rounded out the 13-to-15 field as he had two pars to finish in third place with a 97.

   The best score among the girls emerged from the 13-to-15 age group as Danielle Higbee of Mickelton, N.J. had nine pars in a steady 83 that earned her the victory.

   Cierra Griffith of Pottstown battled to the end before finishing a shot behind Higbee in second place with an 84 that featured seven pars, including four straight to open the incoming nine at Meadia Heights.

   Maggie Hawkins of Berwyn had three pars as she finished in third place with a 98. Kaitlyn Hummers of Bethlehem rounded out the 13-to-15 field as she carded a 101 to take fourth place.

   Keerthana Rajamohan of Limerick was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 field and she made a par at the first hole on her way to a 111.

   William Littleton of Fort Washington birdied the seventh hole and had three pars as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 6-over 41. Declan Conner of Swarthmore had two pars on his way to a steady 43 that earned him runnerup honors.

   Onyu Park of Blue Bell had two pars to finish a shot behind Conner in third place with a 44. Nicholas Shanahan of Devon took fourth place, a shot behind Park with a 45.

   It was another shot back to Hannah Webb of Woolwich, N.J. as she finished in fifth place with a 46. Andrew Carroccio of Newtown Square took sixth place with a 48, Tara Griscavage of Mechanicsburg was seventh with a 64 and Jia Yan of Malvern rounded out the coed 12-and-under division by finishing in eighth place with a 69.