Gross finishes in a tie for 14th in Junior Invitational at Sage Valley; South Africa's Potgieter the runaway winner

   When Nick Gross finished in fourth place in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, which has quickly become one of the most prestigious events in junior golf, a year ago, it turned out to be a sign of things to come in 2022.

   The Downingtown West junior went on to reach the second round of match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon, finish in third place in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in suburban Chicago and then reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.

   Got a chance to watch the closing stages of Gross’ 8-under-par 64 at Turtle Creek Golf Course in October that gave him a runaway victory in the District One Class AAA Championship, his second district crown. In defense of the PIAA Class AAA title Gross won as a sophomore at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, he finished in third place, this time at Penn State’s White Course.

   Gross has been staying busy playing in American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) events since the high school season ended and his victory in the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Colton Woods last month at The Woodlands, Texas indicated he was still playing some pretty good golf.

   Gross struggled a little in finishing in a tie for 29^th place in the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship held earlier this month at TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

   And while Gross was unable to match last year’s performance at Sage Valley, finishing in a tie for 14^th place in the 12^th Junior Invitational, which wrapped up Saturday, isn’t all that bad.

   When you reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur a week before your 16^th birthday, expectations get unrealistically high, but nobody knows better than Gross how much talent there is in the junior ranks these days.

   Exhibit A would be the winner of the Junior Invitational last week, Aldrich Potgieter, a 17-year-old native of South Africa raised in Australia – two pretty good golf nations, those two.

   All Potgieter did last summer was win The Amateur Championship, defeating English veteran Sam Bairstow, 3 and 2, in the scheduled 36-hole final at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in England.

   Potgieter arrived at Sage Valley at No. 37 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), looking for a place to tune up for The Masters, which tees off next month at Augusta National Golf Club, not all that far from Sage Valley.

   Sage Valley has purposely tried to make its Junior Invitational The Masters of junior golf, emulating arguably professional golf’s most prestigious championship in as many ways as possible. Potgieter added a gold jacket that goes to the Junior Invitational winner to his wardrobe just in time  for The Masters.

   Potgieter came out of the gate with birdies at five of his first six holes in Thursday’s opening round on his way to a brilliant seven-birdie, no-bogey 7-under 65.

   While Gross opened with an adventurous even-par 72 that included a triple bogey 8 at the par-5 fourth hole, he was only a shot out of second place. Potgieter led the rest of the field by six shots.

   Potgieter never really took his foot off the gas. He did make back-to-back bogeys at the eighth and ninth holes in Friday’s second round, but then made birdies at 10, 13, 15 and 17 on the incoming nine to record a 2-under 70.

   Potgieter had eight birdies on his scorecard on his way to a 4-under 68 in Saturday’s final round that gave him a 13-under 203 total.

  In addition to the triple bogey at the fourth hole, Gross’ opening-round 72 included five birdies and a double bogey.  

   Gross’ second triple bogey of the tournament, at the third hole, again stalled his momentum in Friday’s second round. Gross made three birdies and three bogeys the rest of the way for a 3-over 75. Gross had four birdies and four bogeys before a double bogey at the 17^th hole left him with a 2-over 74 in Saturday’s final round and a 5-over 221 total for the tournament.

   The trip to the quarterfinals in last summer’s U.S. Amateur makes at a lot easier for Gross to map out a schedule for this summer. He’s exempt into section qualifying for the U.S. Open and he’s exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C. in July and the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado in August.

   The college recruiting process is behind him as Gross announced last fall that he had made a verbal commitment to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama in the summer of 2024.

   At 5-over, Gross was only eight shots out of second place as Potgieter’s closest pursuers were Byungho Lee of Plano, Texas via South Korea, and Aaron Pounds of The Woodlands, Texas, both of whom finished in a tie for second place, 10 shots behind Potgieter.

   Byungho Lee, who plan to join the program at Pepperdine in the summer of 2024, sandwiched a 3-under 69 in Friday’s second round with a pair of even-par 72s.

   Pounds, who will join the program at Texas A&M, another SEC power, this summer, bounced back from a 1-over 73 in Thursday’s opening round with a 3-under 69 in Friday’s second round before closing with a 1-under 71.

   A couple of guys who made some noise in last summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes, Eric Lee of Fullerton, Calif. and Preston Stout of Richardson, Texas, finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

   Eric Lee, who is headed for California in the Pac-12 this summer, opened with a solid 1-under 71 and matched par in the final two rounds with a pair of 72s to finish in fourth place with a 1-under 215 total. Eric Lee, like Downingtown’s Gross, reached the second round of match play at Bandon Dunes last summer.

   Stout, who will join the program at Big 12 power Oklahoma State this summer, opened with a 1-under 71, struggled a  little in Friday’s second round with a 3-over 75 and closed with a solid 2-under 70 to finish in fifth place with an even-par 216 total. Stout reached the round of 16 before his run ended at the U.S. Junior Amateur last summer.

   Gross never really got it going in the Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship at TPC Myrtle Beach. He bounced back a little from an opening-round 77 with a 1-over 73 in the second round before closing with a 76 for a 10-over 226 total.

   Jackson Koivun of Chapel Hill, N.C., who rallied to win the Rolex Tournament of Champions, AJGA’s premier event in November at TPC San Antonio, was the winner in the Dustin Johnson World Championship with a 5-under 211 total.

   Koivun, who will join the program at SEC power Auburn this summer, was one of five players tied for sixth place at Sage Valley with a 1-over 217 total.

   The Junior Invitational at Sage Valley added a girls division for the first time last year and Anna Davis, a California teen-ager, used a strong showing there as a springboard to a stunning victory a few miles away in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship a few weeks later.

   The left-hander from Spring Valley, Calif. returned to Sage Valley last week as the No. 9 player in the Women’s WAGR and played like it, capturing the girls division by two shots with a 7-under 209 total.

   Davis showed she’s ready for her title defense in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and, like Potgieter, she earned her gold jacket in wire-to-wire fashion.

   Davis, who made a verbal commitment last fall to join the Auburn program in the summer of 2024, took control of the Junior Invitational with a sparkling 2-under 34 on the back nine at Sage Valley in Thursday’s opening round on her way to a 2-under 70. Davis bookended seven straight pars with birdies at the 10^th and 18^th holes.

   Davis had an efficient four-birdie, one-bogey 3-under 69 in Friday’s second round. She opened Saturday’s final round with nine straight pars before offsetting a lone bogey with three birdies on the incoming nine for a 2-under 70 that gave her a 7-under 209 total.

   Nika Ito of Japan and No. 45 in the Women’s WAGR was the runnerup as she matched par in each of the first two rounds with back-to-back 72s before closing with a sparkling 5-under 67 to finish two shots behind Davis with a 5-under 211 total. Ito threw a little scare into Davis when she holed out for eagle at the par-4 17^th hole.

   Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke this summer, finished in a tie for sixth place as she added a pair of 2-over 74s in the final two rounds to her opening-round 73 for a 5-over 221 total.

   Li reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship last summer at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

   Gianna Clemente of Estero, Fla. and No. 54 in the Women’s WAGR ended up in the trio tied for eighth place with a 6-over 222 total. Clemente, a native of Warren, Ohio, bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a 1-over 73 in Friday’s second round before matching par in Saturday’s final round with a 72.

   Clemente, a Class of 2026 competitor, was the runnerup in last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky.

   Yana Wilson of Henderson, Nev., who defeated Clemente, 3 and 2, in the scheduled 36-hole final at The Club at Olde Stone, finished in 24^th place at Sage Valley with a 240 total.

   The winner of the girls division in the Dustin Johnson Junior World Championship was Ryleigh Knaub, a Class of ’25 entry from DeBary, Fla. who finished with a 3-under 213 total that was two shots clear of the field.

   Tower Hill School sophomore Avery McCrery, who has had some nice finishes throughout the winter season, ended up in a tie for 26^th place with a 241 total at TPC Myrtle Beach.