Larsen finishes strong to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory at Honeybrook

 

   Ian Larsen, coming off a solid freshman season at Downingtown West last fall, put together a solid 1-over-par 71 to claim the top in the 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Saturday at Honeybrook Golf Club.

   Easter eve at the par-70 Honeybrook layout in the far northwest corner of Chester County was chilly with gusty winds, but certainly playable conditions for late March.

   Larsen made birdies at the seventh and 11^th holes and had 13 pars on his scorecard. The birdie at the seventh hole was the beginning of a 2-under-par run to conclude Larsen’s round as he made 10 of his pars and both his birdies over the final 12 holes.

   Zach Raihill of West Chester made birdies at the first, ninth, 12^th and 15^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the older guys with a 3-over 73.

   Lower Merion sophomore Seiji Sako, the top District One finisher in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s Blue Course last fall, headed a group of four players tied for third place at 5-over 75 that included Boyertown junior Chase Dillman, Downingtown West sophomore Avery O’Neill and Andrew Rindgen of Havertown.

   Saiko, who finished in a tie for fourth in the state tournament, made a birdie on the fourth hole and had 13 pars on his card at Honeybrook, including seven straight from the 10^th through the 16^th holes.

   Dillman made birdies on the eighth and 18^th holes and had nine pars on his card. O’Neill had bookend birdies at the first and 18^th holes and had 11 pars on his card. Rindgen made birdies at the eighth, 12^th and 16^th holes and had eight pars on his card.

   Strath Haven sophomore Luca Kleinschmidt was just a shot behind the foursome tied for third place as he finished seventh with a 6-over 76.

   Andrew Brendlinger of Collegeville and Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown shared eighth place, each landing on 80, and Tower Hill School senior Michael Dignazio rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as he finished 10^th with an 81.

   Tower Hill’s spring season is just getting under way and Dignazio helped the Hillers captured the state championship in Delaware last spring.

   Grant Burkhart, a Kennett Square resident and a freshman at Salesianum School, made a birdie at the ninth hole and went back-to-back with birdies at 16 and 17 as he captured top honors in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 3-over 73. Burkhart had 10 pars on his scorecard, seven of them in his even-par 35 on Honeybrook’s outgoing nine.

   Collin Schreiber of Kunkletown made a birdie at the 16^th hole and had 10 pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the younger guys with a 78.

   Zachary Daniels of Bryn Mawr had 10 pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Schreiber in third place with a 79.

   Vyom Shukla of Berwyn took fourth place with an 80, Ben Duffy of Moorestown, N.J. was fifth with an 82 and Brendan Schott of Wilmington, Del. was sixth with an 83.

   Henry Mariani of Unionville, John Peyton of Wayne and Winston Chew of Exton finished in a tie for seventh place, each posting an 86.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was a foursome that included Tyler Myers of York, Braydon Jakatt of Coatesville, Sylas Serafin of Royersford and Braydon Dolan of Springfield as each tallied an 87.

   Germantown Academy junior Kiran Bagga made birdies at the 16^th and 17^th holes and had 12 pars on her scorecard, including seven in a row from the ninth through the 15^th holes, as she recorded a solid 3-over 73 to finish atop the leaderboard in the girls 16-to-18 division.

   Emily Stauffer of Lititz had four pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors among the older girls with a 93.

   Julia Hashem of Coatesville had three pars on her card as she rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division by taking third place with a 97.

   Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. made a birdie on the 14^th hole and had 13 pars on her scorecard, including seven in a row from the fifth through the 11^th holes, as she claimed a victory in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 4-over 74.

   Concord sophomore Anna Firko and Giulia Weisser, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Exeter last fall, also had strong showings, finishing in a tie for second place as each carded a 7-over 77.

   Firko made birdies on the ninth, 14^th and 16^th holes and had six pars on her card while Weisser made a birdie on 17 and had 10 pars on her card.

   Zuzu Connolly of Wilmington, Del. took fourth place with an 85, Macy Linsley, a sophomore on Downingtown West’s Ches-Mont League championship team last fall, was fifth with a 91 and Emma Gangemi, another member of Team Gangemi of Downingtown, was sixth with a 101.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Eilah Drucker of Chester Springs as she finished in seventh place with a 121.

   Kaycen Subbio of Blue Bell closed out his round with a birdie on the ninth hole and had five pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 3-over 38.

   Nathan Lobo of Collegeville had three pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 42 that left him four shots behind Subbio. Grayson McCann of Downingtown made a birdie on the seventh hole and had two pars on his card as he finished two shots behind Lobo in third place with a 44.

   Noah Howard of Lafayette Hill, Benjamin Gangemi, another member of Downingtown’s Team Gangemi, Steven Musacchio of Glenmoore and Eric Cunningham of Wayne made up a foursome of players tied for fourth place, each landing on 45, a shot behind McCann.

   Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. took eighth place with a 49 and Jaxson Refold of Bryn Mawr and Connor Michaels of Lancaster finished in a tie for ninth, each signing for a 52.

   Rounding out the field in the coed 12-and-under division was Kyle Keenan of Birdsboro as he finished in 11^th place with a 53.