Unionville's Gaughan, Barrickman head list of qualifiers in Philly Junior Tour stop at Rock Manor

 

   Three members of Unionville’s District One Class AAA championship last fall figured prominently in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop May 4^th at Rock Manor Golf Course in Wilmington, Del.

   There was a lot going on at Rock Manor as it was a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) event and, more importantly, the first qualifier for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, which will be played Monday, July 1 at Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry Township, just across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.

   The top finishers at Bellewood will earn a trip to the Boys Junior PGA Championship, one of the top national junior events each summer, which will tee off July 30 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

   The qualifying was in the overall 13-to-18 age group for the boys. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 age groups, so I’ll round up those divisions while referring to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA qualifiers in the overall 13-to-18 scoring.

   Nicolas Gaughan and Charlie Barrickman, sophomores on Unionville’s district championship team, finished 1-2, respectively, in both the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   Gaughan made birdies on the fifth, eighth and 11^th holes and had 13 pars on his scorecard, including seven straight pars on his way to the clubhouse, as he had the best score of the day, a sparkling 1-under 70.

   Barrickman made birdies at the first, fourth, ninth, 11^th and 13^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he matched par with a 71 to finish a shot behind his fellow Longhorn and earned runnerup honors among the older guys and in the overall scoring.

   Gaughan and Barrickman also qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State last fall as individuals.

   Andrew Rindgen of Havertown made birdies at the sixth and 11^th holes and had 13 pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Barrickman in third place in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring with a 1-over 73.

   Lower Merion sophomore Seiji Sako took fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and was fifth overall with a 5-over 76. Sako earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State last fall and had the highest finish of any District One golfer, ending up in a tie for fourth place.

   A third member of Unionville’s District One Class AAA championship team last fall, junior Jax Puskar, finished a shot behind Sako in fifth place in the division and sixth in the overall scoring with a 77.

   Malvern Prep sophomore Davis Conaway and Kieran Gillespie of Havertown finished in a tie for sixth place in the 16-to-18 division and were part of a trio of players tied for seventh in the overall scoring as both landed on 7-over 78.

   Conaway captured the title in the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship as a freshman at Llanerch Country Club in the fall of 2022 and finished in a tie for third in defense of that title last fall at Aronimink Golf Club.

   Ian Larsen, coming off a solid freshman season at Downingtown West last fall, finished in eighth place among the older guys and finished 10^th in the overall scoring with an 80.

   Nick Linkchorst, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at West Chester Rustin last fall, and Michael Keller of Chadds Ford finished in a tie for ninth in the 16-to-18 division and were part of a four-way logjam at 11^th in the overall scoring as they both signed for an 81.

   Sachin Blake, a former Conestoga standout, Michael Dignazio, a senior on Tower Hill School’s reigning state championship team in Delaware, and Harrison Brown, a junior on The Haverford School’s Inter-Ac championship team last fall, finished in a tie for 11^th place among the older guys and were tied for 15^th overall, each tallying an 82.

   Radnor junior Will Walsh and Callahan Harrell of York finished in a tie for 14^th place in the 16-to-18 division and were part of a trio of players tied for 18^th overall as each recorded an 83.

   Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. took 1th place among the older guys and was 21^st in the overall scoring with an 84.

   Brad McDermott, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at Radnor last fall, punched his ticket to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship on the number as his 85 left him in 17^th place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for 22^nd overall with five players from the 13-to-15 division.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. made birdies at the second, ninth, 11^th and 13^th holes and had seven pars on his scorecard as he finished atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and was fourth overall with a 4-over 75.

   Sieben was the Philly Junior Tour Player of the Year in the 13-to-15 division in 2023.

   Luke McGraw of Boalsburg had 13 pars on his card as he was the runnerup to Sieben among the younger guys and finished in a tie for sixth overall with Conaway and Gillespie from the 16-to-18 division with a 7-over 78.

   West Chester Rustin sophomore Cole Berry and Drake Brogan of Ocean View, N.J. each registered an 81 to share third place in the 13-to-15 division and finish in a tie for ninth in the overall scoring with Linkchorst, Berry’s Rustin teammate, and Keller from the 16-to-18 division.

   Berry, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, made a birdie on the ninth hole and had seven pars on his card with six of them coming on the outgoing nine at Rock Manor. Brogan made a birdie at the 11^th hole and had six pars on his card.

   Logan Turner of Berwyn finished alone in fifth place among the younger guys and shared 18^th place in the overall scoring with Walsh and Harrell from the 16-to-18 division as he carded an 83.

   Five players from the 13-to-15 division signed for an 85, including Declan Conner, coming off a solid freshman season at Ridley, Kie Shaw of Wilmington, Del., Luka Fedlukov of Downingtown, Quinn Gallagher of Bryn Mawr and Frederik Hartmann of Devon, as they finished in a tie for sixth place in the division and punched their tickets to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, along with McDermott from the 16-to-18 division, on the number in a tie for 22^nd overall.

   The weather was a little spotty for the stop at Rock Manor and, while the boys got their full rounds in, the girls were apparently limited to nine holes.

   The best score among the girls came out of the 13-to-15 division as Hanah Webb of Woolwich, N.J. had four pars on her scorecard on her way to a 4-over 42.

   Marietta Hartmann of Devon’s Team Hartmann made a birdie at the sixth hole and added a par at five as she earned runnerup honors with a 44 that left her two shots behind Webb.

   Stella Bernardi of Sewell, N.J. had four pars on her card as she finished in third place with a 45. Another member of Team Bernardi from Sewell, Lydia Bernardi, finished a shot behind Stella Bernardi in fourth place with a 46.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Anna Firko of Wilmington, Del. as she finished in fifth place with a 50.

   Mariana Walker of Richboro was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division and claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory with a 51.

   Xunnan Dang of Newtown Square bested a short field of nine-holers, making a birdie at the fifth hole and recording three pars in a 4-over 40.

   Benjamin Adkins of Lewes, Del. rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division as he made a par at the fifth hole on his way to a 47 that left him three shots behind Dang in second place.