Saucon Valley's Young claims medalist honors in qualifying for match play in GAP Junior Boys' Championship

 

   Thomas Young, a Center Valley resident, made it to the round of 16 in last week’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club and gave Patrick Sheehan, a five-year veteran at Penn State, all he wanted before suffering a 1-up setback.

   So, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Young, who will join the program at Methodist University later this summer, land at the top of the leaderboard in Monday’s stroke-play qualifying round for the 110^th Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) Junior Boys’ Championship with a sparkling 2-under-par 69 at The Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, N.J.

   Young, playing out of Saucon Valley Country Club, was 1-under for his round when he made a double bogey at the par-3 12^th hole to fall out of red figures at 1-over. But Young bounced right back to finish strong with birdies at the 14^th, 16^th and 18^th holes and capture medalist honors by two shots.

   Young, who spent his senior year of high school at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., used his length off the tee to overpower the two par-5s in that final stretch of the 6,555-yard, par-71 Tom Fazio-designed Ridge at Back Brook layout.

   Young reached the 534-yard, par-5 14^th hole in two with a pitching wedge from 160 yards away and two-putted for birdie from 27 feet. After draining a birdie bomb from 26 feet at the 410-yard, par-4 16^th hole, Young needed just a 54-degree wedge to reach the green at the 518-yard, par-5 18^th in two, two-putting for birdie from 15 feet.

   Unionville junior Charlie Barrickman, playing out of Radley Run Country Club, was Young’s closest pursuer as he, too, finished strong, matching Young’s birdies at the 14^th, 16^th and 18^th holes to end up in second place, two shots behind Young with an even-par 71.

   Barrickman led the Longhorns to the District One Class AAA team crown as a sophomore last fall, punching his ticket to the PIAA Class AAA Championship as an individual in the process.

   Malvern Prep senior Michael Henry, playing out of Overbrook Golf Club, and recent La Salle graduate Sebastian Botero, playing out of North Hills Country Club, finished in a tie for third place, each posting a  1-over 72 to end up a shot behind Barrickman.

   Henry, a left-hander, was the runnerup in last fall’s Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship, at Aronimink Golf Club.

   Botero helped Catholic League La Salle finish second in the PIAA Class AAA team chase at Penn State last fall, just ahead of Barrickman and Unionville.

   Sunnybrook Club’s John Stevenson, who captured the GAP Junior Boys title a year ago on his home course, opened defense of his title with a 2-over 73 that left him in a tie for fifth place with Philadelphia Country Club’s Harrison Brown and Colin McAskin, another Saucon Valley entry.

   As the defending champion, Stevenson was awarded the top seed in the match-play bracket with qualifying medalist Young earning the second seed.

   Stevenson was a teammate of Botero’s on La Salle’s PIAA Class AAA runnerup team last fall. Brown was a junior on The Haverford School’s Inter-Ac League championship team last fall.

   Lower Merion junior Seiji Sako, playing out of McCall Golf Club, headed a group of six players who finished in a tie for eighth place at 3-over 74.

   Sako had the highest finish among a strong contingent of District One golfers in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State last fall as he ended up in a tie for fourth place.

   Also in that group at 3-over was Llanerch Country Club’s Aidan Farkas, who finished in seventh place in the Class AAA state tournament last fall as a junior at St. Joseph’s Prep.

   Overbrook’s Lannon Boyd, a co-medalist in the Central League Championship as a sophomore at Radnor last fall, also landed in the group at 3-over.

   Rounding out the group tied for eighth place were The Springhaven Club’s Jake Lairdieson, a recent Archmere Academy graduate, Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Noah Wallace and Cedarbrook Country Club’s Diego Yanez, a senior at La Salle.

   Looks like there were five players involved in a playoff for the final three spots in the match-play bracket as they each tallied a 4-over 75.

   Talamore Country Club’s Ethan Martin, a recent La Salle graduate and another member of the Explorers’ PIAA Class AAA runnerup team last fall, was one of the three survivors. Martin and his La Salle teammate Stevenson will square off in an opening-round match Tuesday morning.

   The other two players who advanced to the match-play bracket in the championship flight were Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart, a sophomore at Salesianum, and North Hills’ Declan McLane, a junior at St. Joseph’s Prep.

   Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Ian Natale, yet another member of La Salle’s Class AAA state runnerup team, and Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, a senior at The Tatnall School, were the two players who shot 4-over, but were casualties of the playoff.

   Behind Young’s 69 and McAskin’s 73, Saucon Valley claimed the GAP Junior Boys’ team crown with an 8-over 221 total. Daniel Burmeister added a 4-over 76 to round out the scoring for Saucon Valley in the four-score-three format. Saucon Valley was able to toss the 87 posted by Caleb Walsh.

   Looks like somebody in that Saucon Valley pro shop is doing something right in developing junior golf talent.

   Overbrook, behind Henry’s 72 and Boyd’s 74, finished three shots behind Saucon Valley in second place with an 11-over 87.

   The winners of Tuesday morning’s round-of-16 matches will meet in the quarterfinals in the afternoon. Looks like the quarterfinal winners will meet in the semifinals Wednesday morning with the title match to follow Wednesday afternoon.