Sembrot, Matteo share top spot in Junior Tour stop at Bensalem Country Club

    I’m falling behind on some of the big women’s college conference championships, but I’ll get to as many of them as I can. I’m in the midst of a deep dive into last weekend’s ACC Championship, but those Philly Junior Tour kids are the priority …

   Joey Sembrot, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at Central Dauphin last fall, and Connor Matteo of Drums shared the top spot in the 16-to-18 division, each carding an 8-over 78 in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Saturday at Bensalem Township Country Club.

   Sembrot made birdies at the first and fifth holes and had eight pars on his scorecard. Sembrot toured the outgoing nine at the par-70 Bensalem Township layout in 1-over 36. Matteo made birdies at the seventh and 11^th hole and had seven pars on his card.

   Quakertown sophomore Nick Joyce, another PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, made birdies at the third, seventh and 12^th holes and had five pars on his card as he finished alone in third place with a 79, a shot behind the co-medalists. Joyce has been off to a strong start on the Philly Junior Tour this spring.

   Christopher DiRita of Drexel Hill took fourth place with an 83, Jack Coleman of Kennett Square was fifth with an 85, Kevin Hochenberger of Sewell, N.J. was sixth with an 86 and Jacob Reibstein of Huntingdon Valley was seventh with an 87.

   Rounding out the top 10 was a foursome of players tied for eighth place, each signing for an 88. That group included Manraj Grewal of Newtown, Jack Chodkowski of Bryn Mawr, Jack Blackmon of Philadelphia and Ehren Weyman of New Hope.

   Liam McFadden of Bryn Mawr made a birdie on the 16^th hole and had nine pars on his scorecard as he finished atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a nine-over 79.

   Nick Linkchorst of Glen Mills made birdies at the sixth, 14^th and 18^th holes and had two pars on his card as he claimed runnerup honors with an 81. Zach Moua of Berwyn had seven pars, including four straight pars to begin his round, as he finished a shot behind Linkchorst in third place with an 82.

   Radnor High freshman Will Walsh took fourth place with an 83, Michael Liu of Garnet Valley was fifth with an 84 and Benjamin Boyanoski of Scranton and Alex Topping of Philadelphia finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 85.

   Jack Crowley of Wayne captured eighth place with an 86 and Anderson Brexler of Doylestown and Justin Marcus of Glenmoore rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting an 89.

   The best score among a small field of girls came out of the 13-to-15 division as Naaz Mehta of Newtown claimed the victory with a solid 84 that featured back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and three pars.

   Rhea Malakar of Flourtown rounded out the field of younger girls as she was the runnerup with a 118.

   Leah Armour of Doylestown was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division and earned a Philly Junior Tour win with a 102 that included a birdie at the 17^th hole and a par at four.

   It was another 1-2 finish for the Nazareth guys among the nine-holers, although Alex DiGiacinto turned the tables on Holden Sparks this time. A week earlier in a Philly Junior Tour stop at Reading Country Club, it was Sparks finishing first and DiGiacinto claiming runnerup honors.

   DiGiacinto made a birdie at the seventh hole and had three pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 4-over 39. Sparks had four pars on his card as he finished a shot behind DiGiacinto in second place with a 5-over 40.

   Ian Rotto of Kennett Square had three pars on his card as he finished alone in third place with a 6-over 41.

   Thomas Carpenter of Bristol and Justin Stickel of Churchville shared fourth place as each carded a 42 and Grant MacCall of Harrisburg finished alone in sixth place with a 44.

   Sebastian Park of Lansdale and Winston Chew of Exton finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 45, and Rithvik Nimma of Newtown ended up in ninth place with a 48.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under were Ben Meixell of Wilmington, Del. and Rayan Shah of Newtown as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each signing for a 49.