Stevenson earns spot in Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship with an 80 at Maple Dale

    John Stevenson of Flourtown had the day’s best score with an 8-over-par 80 at Maple Dale Country Club Tuesday in Dover, Del. to head a group of seven Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour players who earned a spot in next month’s Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   Stevenson’s steady round featured birdies at the 12^th and 18^th holes and 11 pars as he topped the overall scoring for all the 13-to-18 division competitors trying to make it to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, which tees off July 11 at Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry, Chester County. Stevenson also finished atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division.

   Evan Gebhart of Magnolia, Del. and Daniel Shin of Horsham shared second place in the overall scoring and in the 16-to-18 division as each carded an 81 to finish a shot behind Stevenson.

   Gebhart had nine pars on his scorecard while Shin made birdies on the fourth and 18^th holes and had six pars on his card.

   Darius Laws of Wilmington, Del. finished in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and shared sixth place with Matt Caputo, a freshman at Strath Haven from the 13-to-15 division, with an 84 as they got the last two qualifying berths available for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   The top finishers at Bellewood will advance to the Boys Junior PGA Championship, a national event for junior golfers staged by the PGA of America, Aug. 2 to 5 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Ill.

   Anthony Carson of Broomall took fifth place among the older guys with an 87, Matthew Morris of Haddonfield, N.J. was sixth with an 89 and Anthony Loria of Downingtown was seventh with a 91.

   Rounding out the 16-to-18 division field was Grayson Jakuc of Newtown Square as he finished in eighth place with a 93.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. earned a spot in the field at Bellewood with a fourth-place finish in the overall scoring and landed atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with an 82. Sieben made an eagle on the par-5 12^th hole and has seven pars on his scorecard.

   Nick Linkchorst of Glen Mills finished a shot behind Sieben with an 83 that featured nine pars as he was the runnerup to Sieben among the younger guys and punched his ticket to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship by ending up in fifth place in the overall scoring.

   Strath Haven’s Caputo had eight pars on his card as he earned a trip to Bellewood with an 84 that gave him a third-place finish in the 13-to-15 division and left him in a tie for sixth in the overall scoring with Laws.

   Kevin Zheng finished in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division with an 86.

   Caputo’s fellow freshman at Strath Haven, Davis Fairbanks, joined Carson Jakuc of Newtown Square’s Team Jakuc and Jacob Gebhard of Lewes, Del. as each landed in a tie for fifth place with an 88.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Tom Biscotti of Mountain Top as he finished in eighth place with an 89.

   The best score among the girls came out of the 13-to-15 division as Reagan Garnsey of Camden-Wyoming, Del. made birdies at the 13^th and 16^th holes and had 10 pars on her scorecard in recording a sparkling 6-over 78.

   Garnsey, a freshman at Cesar Rodney, was coming off a fifth-place finish in last week’s Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at Odessa National Club.

   The Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship will also be held July 11 at Laurel Creek Country Club, but it is an open tournament with no qualifiers necessary.

   Meredith Finger of Wilmington, Del. was the runnerup among the younger girls as she made a birdie on the sixth hole and had six pars on her card on her way to an 87. Kaitlynne Simmons of Townsend, Del. made a birdie on the 13^th hole and had six pars on her card as she finished two shots behind Finger in third place with an 89.

   Krista Brosius of Magnolia, Del. took fourth place with a 95, Emily Mayo of Boothwyn was fifth with a 101 and Maia Alinskas of Millsboro, Del. rounded out the 13-to-15 division field as she finished alone in sixth place with a 115.

   Dane Mohap of Nazareth had four pars as he bested a small field of nine-holers with a 5-over 41. Ruben Yoon of Magnolia, Del. made a par on the third hole as he earned runnerup honors with a 49.

   Haden Mazurek of Middletown, Del. made a birdie on the eighth hole and had a par on the first to open his round as he rounded out the coed 12-and-under field, finishing in third place with a 51.