When Episcopal Academy senior Hunter Stetson punched his ticket to the U.S. Junior Amateur by posting a 4-under-par 67 at RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier in late June, he told the GAP website he was happy that he was finally seeing some results from all the hard work he had put into his golf game.
Turned out that was just the beginning as Stetson was in the process of blossoming from a very good player into one of the Philadelphia area’s elite junior golfers.
Stetson capped a strong fall of scholastic golf last week when he dropped a putt on the final hole at Waynesborough Country Club to capture the title in the inaugural Inter-Ac League Players Championship.
Only the top 16 players in the Inter-Ac teed it up in the Inter-Ac Players Championship, which saw foursomes competing in more of a match-play format.
The top 12 finishers from the points race from six invitationals that comprise the Inter-Ac’s regular season were automatic qualifiers. The top four finishers from the Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac individual championship played a couple of weeks ago at Aronimink Golf Club, not already qualified for the Inter-Ac Players Championship rounded out the field.
The Inter-Ac Players Championship teed off Nov. 1st and while we’ve experienced some chilly mornings as October was giving way to November, the weather last Wednesday at Waynesborough was downright cold with a steady 20-mph wind making temperatures in the 40s feel more like the high 30s, at best.
Not exactly sure how the points were distributed, but the 16 qualifiers went out in four foursomes playing nine holes and Stetson advanced to the final four by winning his group, which included two members of Inter-Ac champion The Haverford School, J.P. Hoban and Gregor Weissenberger, who had claimed the title in the Bert Linton with a solid 2-over 72 at Aronimink, and Germantown Academy’s Will Irons.
Malvern Prep’s Michael Henry advanced out of his group, which included fellow Friar Eamon Cochran, Episcopal Academy’s Jack Crowley and Haverford School’s Nicky Nemo.
Haverford School’s Sean Curran advanced out of his group, which included Malvern Prep’s pair of talented youngsters, sophomore Davis Conaway and freshman Colby Komancheck, and Penn Charter’s Jasper Dittus.
Germantown Academy’s Ajeet Bagga advanced out of his group, which included the Haverford School pair of Harrison Brown and Alex Nemo and Malvern Prep’s Brody Bell.
The final four headed out for a final nine holes and Stetson’s winning putt gave him the victory with 15.5 points, a half-point better than the 15 points compiled by Henry and Curran. Bagga finished in fourth place with 8.5 points.
Following his strong showing in the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at RiverCrest, Stetson punched his ticket to another major national junior event, the PGA of America’s Boys Junior PGA Championship, by finishing in second place in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at the Toftrees Resort in State College.
That event, run by the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour, annually brings together one of the strongest fields of junior golfers in the region each summer.
Just before heading to the U.S. Junior Amateur, Stetson picked up a runnerup finish in another big junior event, the Christman Cup, a major championship on GAP’s junior schedule, which was held at Gulph Mills Golf Club, the Donald Ross gem in Upper Merion.
Stetson, playing out of Aronimink, recorded rounds of 4-under 67 and 1-over 72 in the one-day test played in high heat and humidity at Gulph Mills to finish two shots behind the winner, LuLu Country Club’s John Stevenson, with a solid 3-under 139 total.
Turned out to be perfect preparation for the U.S. Junior Amateur as Stetson earned a spot in the match-play bracket and reached the round of 16 before dropping a 3 and 1 decision to Zeqian Fang of China at the Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek Course.
A week later, Stetson failed to survive the 36-hole cut in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark., but he didn’t play badly, putting together a 2-over 146 total.
Not exactly sure when Stetson made a verbal commitment to join the program at the Atlantic Coast Conference’s North Carolina State next summer. I suspect he first got on the radar of some of the top Division I golf programs with his showing in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island.
When the Inter-Ac season got under way, Stetson was the best player in arguably the toughest scholastic circuit in Pennsylvania. Stetson was the individual medalist in three of the six invitationals that comprise the Inter-Ac’s regular season.
Stetson had a scoring average of 35.3 and was the runaway winner of the Inter-Ac’s Champion Golfer of the Year award that goes to the top finisher in the regular-season points race. Stetson’s record against the rest of the league was 256-14-11 as he piled up 523 points.
It was a bit of a disappointing day for Stetson as he tried to add a second Bert Linton title on his home course at Aronimink to the one he won as a sophomore in 2021 at Bluestone Country Club.
Stetson’s ball-striking was impeccable, but his putter betrayed him several times on the tricky Aronimink putting surfaces and he settled for a tie for third place with a 5-over 75 that left him three shots behind Haverford School’s Weissenberger, who, like Stetson, is a product of the junior program at Aronimink. Stetson’s last three tries in the Bert Linton were a win, third place and a tie for third.
Stetson struggled in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship with an 81 at Radley Run Country Club, but he came back two days later to claim the title in the inaugural Inter-Ac Players Championship at Waynesborough.
It was a fitting end to one of the finest three-year runs in the Inter-Ac since Penn Charter’s Brian Isztwan dominated the league a few years ago.
Stetson will tee it up against the top American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) players in the AJGA’s Rolex Tournament of Champions, which wraps up Nov. 22, the day before Thanksgiving, at TPC San Antonio’s Canyons Course.
It will be one more chapter in a year when all his hard work paid off for Stetson.
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