Team Joyce accounts for a pair of Junior Tour victories at the Steel Club

    It was a big day for Quakertown’s Team Joyce at the Steel Club in Hellertown as Nick Joyce and Rachel Joyce, both playing in the younger 13-to-15 division, claimed Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victories Tuesday.

   Nick Joyce jump-started his round with an eagle 2 on the par-4 seventh hole. He added birdies at the 10^th and 15^th holes and had 12 pars on his scorecard as he finished with the best score of the day among the guys, a 1-under-par 71 over the 6,391-yard, par-72 Donald Ross design at the Steel Club.

   Thomas Young of Center Valley birdied the 10^th and 15^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the younger guys with a 79. Matthew Ronca of Bethlehem made back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes and had nine pars, including six straight from the seventh through the 12^th holes, as he finished in third place with an 80.

   Joshua Brown of Audubon rounded out the 13-to-15 division field as he took fourth place with a 101.

   Joe Smith of Bethlehem made birdies at the sixth and 11^th holes and had 11 pars on his card as he claimed a victory in the 16-to-18 division with a solid 4-over 76.

   Chase Skrapits of Nazareth and Jeremiah Brown of Audubon’s Team Brown shared runnerup honors as each signed for an 81. Skrapits finished up with a birdie at the 18^th hole and had seven pars on his card. Jeremiah Brown’s round was highlighted by 10 pars.

   Nathan Jones of Wayne and Jack Brennan of Pottstown, who’s been doing a lot of looping at Stonewall this summer, shared fourth place, each registering an 83.

   Owen Wisner of Reading took sixth place with an 86 and Thomas DiGiulio of Sicklerville, N.J. and Aaron Miller of Lehighton rounded out the 13-to-15 division field as they finished in a tie for seventh, each posting an 87.

   Rachel Joyce had the best score among the girls as she made birdies at the third and 15^th holes and had nine birdies on her scorecard as she claimed a victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 5-over 77. Still just an eighth-grader, Rachel Joyce has become a very solid player.

   Natalie White of Bangor had two pars, one on each side, as she rounded out the field of younger girls by finishing in second place with a 95.

   Emma Shelby, playing close to her Hellertown home, birdied two of the Steel Club’s four par-5s, the fifth and 14^th holes, and had seven pars as she finished atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a solid 7-over 79.

   Mount St. Joseph senior Nora Blatney rounded out the field of older girls as she was the runnerup to Shelby with a 90 that featured seven pars, five of them on the outgoing nine. Blatney helped the Mount capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown in 2019.

   Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg birdied the second and sixth holes and had four pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 2-over 38. Lawson Leeper of York made pars on four of the first five holes on his way to a second-place finish with a 5-over 41.

   Holden Sparks of Nazareth had four pars, including three straight to finish his round, as he landed in third place, a shot behind Leeper with a 6-over 42. Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. continued her strong run of recent play as she finished in fourth place with a 44.

   Jason Mack of Delaware Water Gap took fifth place with a 46 and Carter Hippauf of Quakertown and Benjamin Robbins of Holland  finished in a tie for sixth, each signing for a 47.

   Preston Minio of Lansdale took eighth place with a 50, Alex DiGiacinto of Nazareth was ninth with a 51, Justin Stickel of Churchville was 10^th with a 52 and Griffin Reach of Wallingford rounded out the coed 12-and-under field as he finished in 11^th place with a 58.