Evans, Finger chill out in claiming respective boys, girls crowns in two-day Philly Junior Tour stop at Seaview

   Hopefully, the kids who teed it up in the weekend’s Philadelphia Section PGA’s Junior Tour two-day stop at Seaview Golf Club’s Bay Course in Galloway Township, N.J. will never play in colder weather than they did in Sunday’s final round.

   Can’t imagine it was much warmer at the Jersey Shore than it was in Philadelphia’s western suburbs, where the temperature never reached 40 and the wind was just howling all day, making the real-feel temperature maybe in the low 30s.

   Playing in the wind on a links like the Donald Ross-designed Bay Course can be tricky in any weather. Throw in that you’re having trouble feeling your hands because of the cold and you have about as challenging conditions as you can possibly experience on the golf course.

   Of course, if the goal of junior golf is to develop players – and it certainly is – competing under the kind of conditions the Philly Junior Tour kids faced Sunday is a tremendous learning experience. Golf isn’t easy under the best of circumstances and what the players faced at the Jersey Shore was anything but the best of circumstances.

   Somehow Radnor High junior Luke Evans improved on the 7-over-par 78 he posted in the relatively benign conditions of Saturday’s opening round with a fairly spectacular 4-over 75 in Sunday’s final round to finish atop the 16-to-18 division and the overall 13-to-18 scoring with an 11-over 153 total.

   The two-day Philly Junior Tour stops are Junior Golf Scoreboard events that can earn a player points that make him or her eligible for tournaments at higher-level junior circuits like the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). I usually break down the results using the Philly Junior Tour’s usual age-group breakdowns while referring to the overall scoring in the 13-to-18 age group.

   Evans made a birdie on the ninth hole and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including seven on the Bay Course’s incoming nine, in his final-round 75 in Sunday’s wind and cold. He had made a birdie on the third hole and had 11 pars on his card in his opening-round 78 Saturday.

   Harrison Brown of Villanova had grabbed the overall lead with a solid 4-over 75 in Saturday’s opening round as he made birdies on the first and 12^th holes and had 11 pars on his card, including a stretch of seven in a row to close out his front nine.

   Brown had eight pars as he struggled in Sunday’s tough conditions to an 83. Still, his 16-over 158 total enabled him to finish second among the older guys and in the overall scoring, five shots behind Evans.

   Justin Forman of Sewell, N.J. was one of a handful of players who broke 80 in Sunday’s second round as he made birdies at the eighth and 10^th holes and had nine pars on his card on his way to an 8-over 79 that gave him a 164 total. Forman finished in third place in the 16-to-18 division, six shots behind Brown, and he was fifth in the overall scoring.

   In Saturday’s opening round, Forman made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had six pars on his card while registering an 85.

   It was another six shots back to Owen Doyle, playing close to his Galloway, N.J. home, in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division with a 170 total as he added an 88 in Sunday’s tough conditions after opening with an 82. Doyle’s total got him just inside the top 10 in the overall scoring as he finished in a tie for ninth place.

   West Chester East junior Thomas Baschoff and Luke Tappeiner of Northfield, N.J. finished in a tie for fifth place in the 16-to-18 division, each landing on 174, four shots behind Doyle.

   Baschoff added an 89 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 85. Tappeiner had the opposite splits and was one of the few players with a better score in Sunday’s cold and wind as he added an 85 to his opening-round 89.

   Brian Cotter of Cherry Hill, N.J. bounced back from an opening-round 91 as he, too, improved in Sunday’s final round with an 85 to finish in seventh place in the 16-to-18 division with a 176 total.

   Daniel DiLella of Wayne and Caleb Bennett of Pitman, N.J. finished in a tie for eighth place among the older guys, each landing on 179.

   DiLella added a 90 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 89. Bennett struggled to a 95 in Saturday’s opening round, but found his game in Sunday’s cold and wind, posting an 84.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Radnor High sophomore Will Walsh, who finished alone in 10^th place with a 181 total. Walsh struggled in Sunday’s tough conditions with a 94 after opening with an 87.

   West Chester Rustin freshman Cole Berry and P.J. Foley of Northfield, N.J. shared the top spot in the 13-to-15 division and finished in a tie for third place in the overall scoring, each posting solid 161 total.

   It was a pretty nice showing all around by the younger guys as the top six finishers landed in the top 10 in the overall scoring.

   Berry opened with a solid 5-over 76 that was the second-best score overall Saturday as he made birdies at the fifth, eighth, 14^th and 18^th holes and had six pars on his scorecard. Berry still managed to make three more birdies in Sunday’s difficult conditions at the third, fourth and 15^th holes, but only had three pars on his way to an 85.

   Foley showed plenty grit with a birdie at the 16^th hole and 10 pars on his way to a 79 in Sunday’s fierce winds. Foley had opened with an 82 Saturday that featured birdies at the second and 12^th holes and seven pars on his card.

   Declan Conner of Swarthmore and Keller Tannehill of Margate, N.J. finished six shots behind Berry and Foley in a tie for third place among the younger guys, each landing on 167. They finished in a tie for sixth place in the overall scoring.

   Conner was solid in Saturday’s opening round with a birdie at the third hole and 14 pars on his way to an 82. He made a birdie at the 17^th hole and had seven pars on his card in an 85 in Sunday’s final round. Tannehill made birdies at the sixth, 12^th and 18^th holes and had six pars on his card to finish up with an 84 in Sunday’s difficult conditions. Tannehill had opened with an 83 that featured a birdie on the eighth hole and seven pars.

   Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. added an 85 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 84 to finish in fifth place in the 13-to-15 division and in eighth place in the overall scoring.

   Paul Reilly of West Creek, N.J. had one of the best rounds of the day in Saturday’s opening round as he made birdies at the first and 12^th holes and had eight pars on his card in a solid 79. Reilly struggled to a 91 in Sunday’s wind and cold to finish in sixth place among the younger guys with a 170 total. That still got him into the top 10 in the overall scoring as he finished in a tie for ninth place with Doyle from the 16-to-18 division.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. added an 87 in Sunday’s second round after opening with an 86 as he finished in seventh place in the 13-to-15 division with a 173 total.

   Drake Brogan of Ocean View, N.J. was not bothered a bit by Sunday’s brutal weather as he carded a solid 82 after struggling to a 92 in Saturday’s opening round as he climbed into eighth place with a 174 total.

   Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J. added an 89 in Sunday’s second round after opening with an 88 to finish in ninth place among the younger guys with a 177 total.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Brayden Tritsch of Medford, N.J. and Trey Barkman of West Chester as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each landing on 178.

   Tritsch added a 90 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 88. Barkman opened with a solid 81, but struggled to a 97 in Sunday’s difficult conditions.

   The overall winner among the girls emerged from the 13-to-15 age group as Meredith Finger of Wilmington, Del. grinded out an 87 in Sunday’s wind and cold after opening with a solid 80 Saturday for a 167 total that was 19 shots better than any of the rest of a small, but determined group of girls could put together.

   Finger had seven pars on her scorecard in Sunday’s second round after finishing up her opening round with a birdie at the 18^th hole to go along with nine pars.

   Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. made a birdie on the 10^th hole and had three pars on her card on her way to a 95 in Sunday’s cold and wind after opening with a 91 that featured six pars as she finished second in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring with a 186 total.

   Rounding out the 13-to-15 division was Kasey O’Brien of Linwood, N.J. as she made a par on the sixth hole in an opening-round 100 and a par at eight on her way to a 103 in Sunday’s second round for a 203 total that left her in third place in the division and fourth in the overall scoring.

   Gaby Becker of Franklin Lakes, N.J. made four pars on her way to a 97 in Sunday’s second round after having three pars on her scorecard in an opening-round 93 as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and in third place in the overall scoring with a 190 total.

   Rounding out a short 16-to-18 field was Cassandra Hughes, playing close her Galloway, N.J. home, as she made a par on the 12^th hole in a 104 in Sunday’s second round and a par at 17 on her way to an opening-round 103 for a 207 total. Hughes was the runnerup in the division and finished in fifth place in the overall scoring.

   David Padgett of Barnegat, N.J. built a six-shot lead with his opening-round 45 and held on to best the field of nine-holers by two shots and claim a Philly Junior Tour victory.

   Padgett had four pars on his scorecard in posting the best round of the weekend in the coed 12-and-under division in Saturday’s first round. Padgett’s 55 in Sunday’s wind and cold gave him a 100 total.

   Ethan Clouser of Newtown made pars at the first and fourth holes in Sunday’s second round as he recorded a second straight 51 to finish two shots behind Padgett in second place with a 102 total. Clouser also made a par at the fourth hole in the opening round.

   Adam Revness of Yardley made pars at the second and seventh holes as he had the best round of the day in Sunday’s tough condition with a 50 that enabled him to finish in third place, a shot behind Clouser with a 103 total. Adam Revness had opened with a 53.

   Bradan Boal of Woodbine, N.J. added a 54 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 51 to finish in fourth place, two shots behind Adam Revness with a 105 total.

   Ben Revness, another member of Yardley’s Team Revness, finished six shots behind Boal in fifth place with a 111 total as he added a 57 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 54. Adam and Ben Revness are both Class of 2030 entries, so twins maybe?

   David Gilman of Cape May Court House, N.J. struggled to a 71 in Sunday’s brutal weather after opening with a 58 as he finished in sixth place with a 129 total. Eleanor Brillman of Elkins Park also finished up with a 71 after opening with a 68 as she finished in seventh place with a 139 total.

   Rounding out the coed 12-and-under division field was Aiden Cooper of Moorestown, N.J. who added a 71 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 69 to finish in eighth place with a 140 total.