Pintof finishes strong at Pitman to claim a Junior Tour victory with a 73

    Springfield’s Ben Pintof, who wrapped up his scholastic career by earning a trip to the District One Class AAA Championship last month, claimed a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory by carding a solid 3-over-par 73 to finish at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division on an unseasonably warm November Sunday at Pitman Golf Course in Pittman, N.J.

   Pintof made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes to jump-start his round and added a third birdie at 15. He had nine pars on his scorecard and finished strong, posting a 1-over 36 on Pitman’s incoming nine.

   Caleb Bennett, playing close to his Pitman, N.J. home, made a birdie on the 10^th hole and had 13 pars on his card as he finished in second place, a shot behind Pintof with a 4-over 74. Bennett opened his round with pars on the first five holes and finished the same way with pars on the final five holes at Pitman.

   Justin Forman of Sewell, N.J. and Joseph Fargnoli of Mickleton, N.J. finished in a tie for third place, each ending up three shots behind Bennett with a 77. Forman made birdies at the second and 12^th holes and had eight pars on his card and Fargnoli had birdies on the first, third and 14^th holes and also had eight pars on his card.

   Owen Doyle of Galloway, N.J. took fifth place with a 79, Peter Lafon of Audubon, N.J. was sixth with an 80, Brian Cotter of Cherry Hill, N.J. was seventh with an 82 and Joey Simonetti of Bellmawr, N.J. was eighth with an 86.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division were Jack Morrissey, Pintof’s classmate on the Springfield golf team, and Emmett Phillips III of Langhorne as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 93.

   Michael Liu of Garnet Valley was steady with 11 pars on his scorecard as he captured top honors in the 13-to-15 division with an 8-over 78.

   Quin Zuegner of New Hope made a birdie on the fifth hole and had nine pars on his card as he finished in second place with a 79. Matthew Sanderson of Newtown made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had 10 pars on his card as he finished in third place with an 80.

   Gavin McClaskey of Williamstown, N.J. and Matthew Duphorn of Erial, N.J. ended up in a tie for fourth place, each signing for an 82. Paul Reilly of West Creek, N.J. and Drake Brogan of Ocean View, N.J. shared sixth place, each recording an 83.

   Eddie Gebhardt of Swarthmore and Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. finished in a tie for eighth place, each posting an 87. Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Brayden Tritsch of Medford, N.J. as he finished in 10^th place with an 88.

   The best score in the two girls divisions at Pitman emerged from the 13-to-15 division as Danielle Higbee of Mickleton, N.J. made birdies on the first and 16^th holes and had seven pars on her scorecard to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory with a solid 8-over 78.

   Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. had seven pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors with an 87. Anna Firko of Wilmington, Del. had four pars on her card, finishing up with back-to-back pars at the 17^th and 18^th holes, as she finished a shot behind Katherine Liu in third place with an 88.

   Rylee Delaney of West Deptford, N.J. rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished in fourth place with a 100.

   Camryn Bazulis of Oaklyn, N.J. made five of the six pars on her scorecard on Pitman’s incoming nine as she captured a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division with a 92.

   Jiayin Ou of Pottstown had three pars on her card as she took second place with a 98. Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Isabella Magno of Delran, N.J. as she finished in third place with a 104.

   Henry Sokol of Villanova had five pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 5-over 40.

   Rayan Shah of Newtown and William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for second place, each signing for a 42. Shah had three pars on his card while Thorkelson had four pars on his card.

   Another member of Villanova’s Team Sokol, Jack Sokol, shared fourth place with Megan Choi of Penn Valley and Lucas Solano of Vineland, N.J., each posting a 45.

   Nicholas Fargnoli, another member of Team Fargnoli from Mickleton, N.J., finished in a tie for seventh place with Anthony Beach of Westville, N.J. as each registered a 50.

   Gabriella Magno, another member of Team Magno from Delran, N.J., finished in ninth place with a 51. Rounding out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division was Jason Leekley of Moorestown, N.J. as he finished in 10^th place with a 52.