Henry Nowak of Wilmington, Del. overcame brutal conditions with a sparkling 1-over-par 73 that was the best score of the day in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop at Maple Dale Country Club in Dover, Del. May 5th.
Maybe Dover is far enough south that it wasn’t quite as cold and rainy as it was if you might have been caddying in a Golf Association of Philadelphia match in northwest Chester County that Sunday, but it couldn’t have been much nicer.
The stop at Maple Dale was the back end of a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) Delaware Series weekend for the boys that began the previous day at Rock Manor Golf Club. JGS events offer top finishers points that can earn them status on some of the bigger junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).
JGS points were offered for the boys in the overall 13-to-18 age group. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions, so I’ll wrap them up and refer to the overall scoring along the way.
Nowak’s performance was even more impressive considering it came out of the younger 13-to-15 division.
Nowak made back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes and then added birdies at 10, 14 and 17 in a sizzling 3-under 33 on Maple Dale’s incoming nine. Nowak had eight pars on his scorecard as he finished atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring.
Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. was Nowak’s closest pursuer as he made birdies at the 12th and 16th holes and had 11 pars on his card while earning runnerup honors in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring with a solid 4-over 76 that left him three shots behind Nowak.
It was a strong weekend in Delaware for Sieben, the Philly Junior Tour’s Player of the Year in the 13-to-15 division in 2023. He captured top honors in the 13-to-15 division and his fourth-place finish overall earned him a spot in the field for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship July 1 at Bellewood Country Club.
The top three finishers in the overall scoring at Maple Dale matched the top three in the 13-to-15 division as Quinten Joiner of Millington, Md. made a birdie on the fourth hole and had 12 pars on his card while recording a 5-over 77 that left him in third place among the younger guys and in the overall scoring.
Gus Stoltzfus of Lincoln University was another two shots behind Joiner in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 79. That left him a tie for fourth place in the overall scoring with Archmere Academy sophomore Michael Liu, who was the top finisher in the 16-to-18 division.
Brendan Schott of Wilmington, Del. was the last of the 13-to-15 guys to finish in the top 10 in the overall scoring as he signed for an 83 that left him in fifth place in the division and in a tie for eighth in the 13-to-18 standings.
Lorenzo Viterbo of Landenberg took sixth place in the 13-to-15 division with an 85, Ian Rotto of Kennett Square was seventh with an 86 and Garnet Valley sophomore Ben Mayer and Matthew McGinnity of West Chester finished in a tie for eighth, each landing on 87.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Danny Curran of Malvern as he finished alone in 10th place with a 90.
Liu, a Garnet Valley resident, made back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division with his 79 that gave him a share of fourth place with Stoltzfus from the 13-to-15 division in the overall scoring.
Strath Haven junior Davis Fairbanks made a birdie at the 12th hole and had 11 pars on his card, eight of them on his way to a 1-over 37 on the back nine at Maple Dale, as he registered an 80 that earned him runnerup honors among the older guys and left him in sixth place in the overall chase.
Connor Breen of Medford, N.J. made birdies at the fifth and 18th holes and had eight pars on his card as he finished in third place in the 16-to-18 division and was seventh overall with an 82.
Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown finished in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division with an 83 that gave him a share of eighth with Schott from the 13-to-15 division.
Brandon Carrigan of Warrington and Kie Shaw of Wilmington, Del. finished in a tie for fifth place among the older guys and rounded out the top 10 in the overall standings as they ended up in a tie for 10th, each landing on 84.
Noah Vari of Newark, Del. took seventh place with a 92, Evan Zakielarz, another Wilmington, Del. guy, was eighth with a 93 and Michael Tucker of Bear, Del. rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as he finished ninth with a 106.
Hannah Webb of Woolwich, N.J. had a steady round with 11 pars and nothing worse than a bogey as she had the best score of the day among the girls, capturing the top spot in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 7-over 79.
Webb completed a sweep of that weekend’s Philly Junior Tour stops in Delaware as she also claimed the top spot in the 13-to-15 division a day earlier at Rock Manor. The girls rounds were shortened to nine holes at Rock Manor, presumably by weather or darkness or a combination of the two.
Isha Garg of Berlin, Md. had five pars on her card as she was the runnerup among the younger girls with an 89.
Molly Wagner of Newark, Del. had three pars on her card as she rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division by finishing in third place with a 110.
Kasey O’Brien of Linwood, N.J. was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division as she made a birdie at the sixth hole and had five pars on her scorecard to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory with a 92.
Benjamin Adkins of Lewes, Del. bested the field of nine-holers as he made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes and added a par at four on his way to an 8-over 44.
Adkins was coming off a second-place finish in the coed 12-and-under division a day earlier at Rock Manor.
Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. made a par at the third hole as he earned runnerup honors with a 47. Patrick Thomas of Hockessin, Del. was another shot behind Dollard in third place as he had two pars on his card on his way to a 48.
Samuel Karas of Blue Bell took fourth place with a 50 and Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division, finishing fifth with a 54.
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