The defending boys and girls champions in the District One Class AAA Championship picked right up where they left off a year ago as Downingtown West sophomore Nick Gross grabbed a one-shot lead over the boys field and Downingtown East senior Ava O’Sullivan surged to a three-shot lead over the girls field following Monday’s opening round.
Gross carded a solid 2-under-par 70 at Turtle Creek Golf Club, but has a foursome of players right on his heels, each posting a 1-under 71.
O’Sullivan’s sparkling 5-under 66 came a few miles up Ridge Pike at Raven’s Claw Golf Club. Her round also led the Cougars to the District One Class AAA team crown as Downingtown East took down Ches-Mont League rival Unionville, the defending champion which went on to capture the team title in the PIAA Class AAA Championship.
The girls will join the guys at Turtle Creek Tuesday for the final round of the District One Championship. From what I’ve been able to gather, the PIAA has decided to skip the regional tournaments, a concession to the coronavirus pandemic. That means the top finishers in the district tournament will advance directly to the PIAA Championship.
Also, the PIAA Championship will again be limited to one round, as opposed to the traditional two rounds.
The District One Class AAA boys team champion will also be crowned Tuesday and it is shaping up to be a heated battle among the top two teams from leagues all around the most talented district in Pennsylvania for golf from top to bottom. The plan is for me to head over to Turtle and do a little live blogging Tuesday.
Gross, who has established himself as one of Pennsylvania’s top junior players while playing a regional and national schedule in the summer, made pars on the first seven holes at Turtle and made a bogey at the par-5 eighth hole. Pretty sure it was a shotgun start, so I’m not sure where his round began.
Gross was a little more aggressive on the incoming nine of the 6,375-yard, par-72 Turtle Creek layout. He birdied the short par-4 10th hole, made a bogey at the par-3 11th, and then made birdies at 13, 14 and 18 to cap a 3-under tour of the back nine. Both 13 and 18 are gettable par-5s, although a wayward shot on either hole can result in a big number.
Gross had a busy summer, highlighted by a really strong showing in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, site of five U.S. Opens. Gross, playing in a field filled with talented amateurs from all over Pennsylvania, survived the 36-hole cut and finished in 32nd place with a 14-over 224 total.
A couple of weeks later, Gross opened the Beth Daniel Junior Azalea at the Country Club of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. with a spectacular 9-under 62. He added a 67 in the second round before closing with a 64 for a 20-under 193 total that was nine shots clear of the field and broke the tournament record by six shots.
Gross opened his postseason journey last week by winning his second straight Ches-Mont League individual title with a 6-under 65 on his home course, Applecross Country Club.
Two of his Ches-Mont League rivals, West Chester East senior Frankie Sass and West Chester Rustin freshman Sam Feeney, were among the quartet of players a shot behind Gross, each posting a 1-under 71.
Sass did most of his damage on the front nine at the Turtle with birdies at the second, fourth, fifth and eighth holes around a bogey at six. Sass had three bogeys on the incoming nine at 11, 12 and 17, but did get a birdie at the tough par-4 16th. Feeney bogeyed the par-5 second hole, but recovered with birdies at the fourth and eighth holes. He was steady on the back nine at the Turtle with a bogey at the 10th hole and a birdie at 12.
Rounding out the foursome at 71 were Garnet Valley senior Matt Pulcinella and Central Bucks South freshman Brendan Reilly. Pulcinella, coming off a tie for 11th place in the Central League Championship two weeks ago with an 80 at Turtle Creek, had 15 pars on his scorecard as he made birdies at the sixth and 13th holes and made a bogey at the risk-reward par-5 18th. Reilly also had 15 pars. He made a bogey at the tough, par-4 sixth hole, but recorded birdies at the two par-5s on the back nine at 13 and 18.
Heading up a group of three players who matched par, each signing for 72, was reigning PIAA Class AAA champion Calen Sanderson, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep and a Notre Dame recruit.
Sanderson battled Gross right to the finish before settling for a runnerup finish in the District One Class AAA Championship a year ago, then turned the tables on Gross by claiming the state title two weeks later at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County. Gross finished in third place in the state tournament.
Joining Sanderson at even-par were Radnor sophomore Shaun Mazzalupi and Marple Newtown senior Jake Micewski.
Another Central League entry, Penncrest junior Eli Shah, joined Bishop Shanahan junior Ben Saggers, Upper Dublin senior Charlie Kerprich and Central Bucks West senior Kevin Lydon in a foursome of players tied for ninth place, each posting a 1-over 73.
Suburban One League champion Christian Matt, a senior at Wissahickon, headed a group of five players tied for 13th place, each carding a 2-over 74. Joining Matt at 2-over were Radnor senior Chase Stephano, Upper Dublin senior Alex McCauley, Holy Ghost Prep senior Nick Henn and West Chester Rustin senior Eric Miller.
The cut fell at 4-over 76 and 33 players will return to the Turtle Tuesday bidding to punch their ticket to the PIAA Class AAA Championship.
Two Jenkintown players, senior Jeff Staples and junior Will Couveia, will battle it out for the District One Class AA Championship Tuesday after Staples matched par at the Turtle and his teammate Couveia was a shot behind him with a 1-over 73.
Collegium Charter junior Nick Kiley was four shots behind Couveia in third place with a solid 5-over 77.
New Hope-Solebury junior Nate Wiseman was in fourth place with an 83 and another New Hope-Solebury entry, freshman Max Wright, rounded out the Class AA field as he was fifth with a 91.
Over at Raven’s Claw, O’Sullivan, who repeated as the Ches-Mont League champion last week at Applecross, had six birdies against a lone bogey on her way to a scintillating 66. Pretty sure the girls were mostly playing the 5,357-yard gold tees at Raven’s Claw, although I suspect the tees were moved back in a couple of instances, probably stretching it out to something in the 5,800-yard ballpark.
Again, it was probably a shotgun start, so I’m not exactly sure where O’Sullivan started, but she had birdies at the third, fourth, seventh and ninth holes in a 4-under 32 on the outgoing nine at Raven’s Claw. She made another birdie at the 10th hole, had a bogey at 14 and one more birdie at 16.
O’Sullivan’s Ches-Mont League rival, Unionville junior Mary Grace Dunigan, held down second placed after carding a solid 2-under 69. Dunigan was really solid Monday with birdies at the third, ninth and 13th holes around a lone bogey at six.
Lower Merion junior Sydney Yermish had blitzed Raven’s Claw with a 6-under 65 when she captured the District One Class AAA title as a freshman two years ago. She was unable to defend that title because the Central League was unable to put together a district qualifier in time, concerns over the pandemic the chief culprit in all that uncertainty.
Yermish, the medalist in the Central League Championship two weeks ago with a 1-over 73 at Turtle Creek, headed a group of three players tied for third place, each carding a 1-under 70.
Yermish was playing well coming into the scholastic season, twice losing in a playoff for the title in American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) events in August. The Rolling Green Golf Club member had birdies on the third, fourth and seventh holes in a 3-under 33 on Raven’s Claw outgoing nine. Yermish made bogeys at the 13th and 15th holes on the back nine.
The three more birdies will add to the volunteer firefighter’s “Birdies for the Fallen” fund-raising campaign. Yermish has sought pledges for her postseason birdies with the money going to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md. to honor the memory of Sean DeMyunck, a fellow volunteer in the Penn Wynne-Overbrook Hills Fire Company #21 who lost his life in the line of duty in July.
Joining Yermish at 1-under were Phoenixville sophomore Kate Roberts, one of three co-medalists in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championship last week at Gilbertsville Golf Club, and Central Bucks East freshman Elle Lundquist.
Roberts got hot in the middle of the golf course with birdies at the seventh, 10th, 11th and 12th holes that offset three bogeys. Lundquist, who teamed with Delaware phenom Sawyer Brockstedt to earn a trip to next spring’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship in Puerto Rico in a recent qualifier at Berkshire Country Club, did her best work on the back nine at Raven’s Claw with birdies at the 12th, 14th and 15th holes. She had a fourth birdie at the fourth hole to offset three bogeys.
Reigning PIAA Class AAA champion Victoria Kim, a senior at West Chester East, and North Penn junior Hayley Ekert each matched par at Raven’s Claw and were tied for sixth place.
Downingtown East sophomore Mia Pace carded a 1-over 72 and was alone in eighth place.
Strath Haven senior Grace Smith and Central Bucks West senior Abby Lynn were tied for ninth place, each registering a 2-over 73. Smith will lead the way for the Panthers as they try to win their second District One Class AAA boys team crown in the last three years Tuesday at the Turtle.
Smith and Strath Haven completed a perfect 11-0 run through the Central League last week to claim the league title. Smith played a big role in the first Strath Haven District One team title in program history as a sophomore two years ago. She also finished in ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA girls individual competition.
The cut fell at 6-over 77 and 15 girls will head for Turtle Creek Tuesday to battle it out for a ticket to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills.
O’Sullivan’s 66 and Pace’s 72 led the way as Downingtown East, which finished four shots behind Unionville in the District One Class AAA team competition a year ago at Raven’s Claw, beat the Longhorns by 12 shots this year.
Junior Silvana Gonzalez carded a solid 79 and was the crucial third counter for the Cougars in the five-score-three format. Rounding out the Downingtown East lineup were seniors Maria Crowe, who carded a 92, and Ava Lichock, who posted a 97.
Dunigan led Unionville to a 16-over 229 total that left the Longhorns in second place. Mount St. Joseph, which saw its run of seven straight District One Class AAA team titles halted by Unionville a year ago, finished eight shots behind the Longhorns in third place with a 24-over 237 total.
Springfield (Montco) junior Mollie Young was the only entry in the District One Class AA field and carded an 88 at Raven’s Claw.
No comments:
Post a Comment