Stevenson a repeat winner of GAP Junior Boys crown with victory over Wallace in final at The Ridge at Back Brook

 

   If you’re a follower of the high school golf scene in the Philadelphia region, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) Junior Boys’ Championship is an event in which the different leagues and players in the region come together in one place.

   District One, the Inter-Ac League, the Catholic League, Delaware, the Allentown area, even some more far-flung areas like Lancaster County, the Scranton area. Even northeast Maryland got in on the act this summer.

   For the second straight summer John Stevenson and the Catholic League came away with bragging rights as Stevenson was the repeat winner in the 110^th edition of the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship, pulling out a 2 and 1 victory over Noah Wallace of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club on a sweltering Wednesday at The Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, N.J.

   Stevenson is a recent graduate of Catholic League power La Salle, which finished in second place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall at Penn State. Stevenson won the GAP Junior Boys title on his home course at LuLu Country Club a year ago, but has since moved to Sunnybrook Golf Club. Stevenson is the first Sunnybrook player ever to capture the GAP Junior Boys crown.

   Not only were the Explorers represented by the guy hoisting the Peg Burnett Trophy in Stevenson, but Stevenson's gauntlet of four matches to put his name on that trophy for the second year in a row included two of his teammates from La Salle’s state runnerup team.

   Stevenson knocked off former teammate Ethan Martin of Talamore Country Club in Tuesday’s opening round and then found himself matched up against another former Explorer in Sebastian Botero of North Hills Country Club in the semifinals Wednesday morning.

   Botero grabbed the early lead, but Stevenson rattled off wins at the eighth, 10^th, 11^th and 13^th holes to turn a 2-down deficit into a 2-up lead. Botero cut into the lead with a win at the 14^th hole, but when Stevenson drained a six-foot birdie putt at the 152-yard, par-3 17^th, the match was over.

   In the other semifinal, Wallace, a recent graduate of North East High in Maryland who is headed for Wilmington College, pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Thomas Young, the Saucon Valley Country Club entry who had been the medalist in Monday’s qualifying round.

   In the final, Stevenson again made a burst in the middle of the round, rattling off wins at the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes, all with pars, to turn a 1-down deficit into a 2-up advantage.

   After Wallace cut his deficit in half with a win at the 11^th hole, Stevenson drilled a 7-iron to eight feet at  the 173-yard, par-3 12^th and poured in the birdie putt to restore his 2-up lead.

   Wallace kept battling, again cutting his deficit to 1-down with a win at the 16^th hole.

   Wallace’s 9-iron at the par-3 17^th hole finished 18 feet from the hole and Stevenson’s 8-iron left him just outside of Wallace. Stevenson, though, then delivered the dagger as his birdie try found the bottom of the cup. When Wallace couldn’t get his birdie putt to fall, it was over.

   Stevenson, who will join head coach Ben Feld’s Drexel program at the end of the summer, became just the 10^th player in the event’s storied 110-year history to repeat as the champion.

   And, oh yeah, his looper in Wednesday’s final? That would be Nolan Corcoran, a junior on La Salle’s PIAA Class AAA runnerup team last fall.

   “It’s great, I’ve been playing well and working hard,” Stevenson told the GAP website. “It came together this week. This tournament means a lot to me. I won last year and it was really special. Winning this last year was what set me up for college golf and got me recognized. I really wanted to come back.”

   As I mentioned in my last post on the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship, the final four in the First Flight were a testament to the depth of talent in the junior ranks in this area.

   Malvern Prep junior Davis Conaway, playing out of Fieldstone Golf Club, captured the First Flight title with a 2 and 1 victory over Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, a senior at The Tatnall School.

   Conaway captured the Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac’s individual championship, as a freshman in the fall of 2022 and finished in a tie for third place in the Bert Linton last fall at Aronimink Golf Club. Homer lost in a playoff for the title in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship last month at Maple Dale Country Club.

   Conaway picked up back-to-back wins at the eighth and ninth holes to take a 2-up lead in the final, but Homer battled back with wins at 10 and 15 to even the match. Conaway, however, again went back-to-back with wins at the 16^th and 17^th holes to close out Homer.

   Conaway had reached the final with a 2 and 1 decision over Ridley sophomore Declan Conner, representing The Skramble House of Golf, in the semifinals. Homer cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Downingtown West sophomore Ian Larsen, playing out of Honeybrook Golf Club, in the other semifinal.