Ferrise's game warms up as he opens Junior Tour season with a victory at Golden Pheasant

   It was still feeling like winter, but the need to get out and compete outweighed comfort as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour had a pretty good turnout as it opened the 2023 season Sunday with a stop at Golden Pheasant Golf Club in Lumberton, N.J.

   Pretty sure the plan was for the Philly Junior Tour open the 2023 season Saturday at Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster, but cold temperatures and some leftover morning drizzle made the conditions just too tough.

   The temperature was still hovering around 40 Sunday, but it didn’t seem to bother Spring-Ford junior Charlie Ferrise much as he made four birdies while matching par with a 72 that gave him the top spot in the 16-to-18 division and enabled him to start the season on a winning note.

   Ferrise made birdies at the second, seventh, 16^th and 18^th holes. He had 11 pars, seven of them on the back nine at Golden Pheasant as he toured the incoming nine in 2-under 34 to pull away for the victory.

   Episcopal Academy junior Hunter Stetson, who has been one of the Inter-Ac League’s top players in each of last two seasons, was the runnerup to Ferrise with a 4-over 76. Stetson made birdies on the ninth and 11^th holes and had 11 pars on his card. Stetson matched par on the incoming nine at Golden Pheasant with a 36.

   Stetson won the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship as a sophomore at Bluestone Country Club. He was the runnerup in the season-long regular-season points race in the Inter-Ac last fall and finished in third place in defense of his Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual crown at Llanerch Country Club.

   Ethan Legards of Voorhees, N.J. made a birdie at the 12^th hole and had 12 pars on his card as he took third place with a 78.

   Ken Fernandes took a road trip from Chappaqua, N.Y. and finished in fourth place with a 79.

   Erik Harken of Spring City was a shot behind Fernandes in fifth place with an 80, Luke Tappeiner of Northfield, N.J. was sixth with an 81 and Alex Henbest of Manahawkin, N.J. was seventh with an 82.

   Another of the Inter-Ac’s top players, Germantown Academy junior Ajeet Bagga, finished in a tie for eighth place with Nicholas Smith Jr., each registering an 83.

   Bagga finished atop the Inter-Ac’s regular-season points standings, edging Stetson in a tight battle. Bagga was the runnerup to Malvern Prep freshman Davis Conaway in an epic edition of the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship at Llanerch.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Boyertown sophomore Chase Dillman, who finished in 10^th place with an 84.

   Tyler Whitney of Cherry Hill, N.J. finished his round in style with birdies at the 17^th and 18^th holes as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 5-over 77 and a Philly Junior Tour victory to open the season. Whitney had nine pars on his scorecard.

   Bowen Liu of Morganville, N.J. made a birdie on the seventh hole and had eight pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with an 82.

   Alex Zeck of Hammonton, N.J. finished a shot behind Liu in third place with an 83 as he made a birdie on the 14^th hole and had seven pars on his card.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. took fourth place with an 84, Michael Keller of Chadds Ford and Declan Conner of Swarthmore finished in a tie for fifth place, each posting an 85, Jackson Bodony of Stafford Township, N.J. was seventh with an 87 and Logan Stoney of Hillsborough, N.J. was eighth with an 89.

   Brayden Tritsch of Medford, N.J. finished in ninth place with a 91 and Sebastian Furfaro of Mickleton, N.J. rounded out the top 10 as he ended up alone in 10^th place with a 94.

   Give credit to Cassandra Hughes of Galloway, N.J. as she was the only girl to tough it out for 18 holes in the March chill and her 97 gave a victory in the 16-to-18 division. Hughes had four pars on her scorecard, two on each side at Golden Pheasant.

   Nathan Lobo of Collegeville made a birdie on the ninth hole and had five pars on his scorecard, including four in a row from the fourth through the seventh holes, as he topped the field of nine-holers with a solid 4-over 40.

   Taimoor Naseem of Sinking Spring was the runnerup as he made pars on the second and ninth holes on his way to a 47.

   Chloe Donohue of Moorestown, N.J. and Rayan Shah shared third place, each landing on 48. Donohue made a par on the sixth hole while Shah had pars on the third and sixth holes on his card.

   Ethan Clouser, another Newtown entry, took fifth place with a 52 and Bradan Boal of Woodbine, N.J. rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division as he finished sixth with a 59.