Whitney closes Philly Junior Tour season with a victory at Shore Gate

 

    Tyler Whitney of Cherry Hill, N.J. carded a solid 2-over-par 74 for the best score of the day as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour closed out its 2024 season Nov. 10^th with the second half of a Jersey Shore weekend at Shore Gate Golf Club in Ocean View, N.J.

   It was a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) event for the boys, offering players points that can earn them status on some of the higher-profile junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions and I’ll wrap them up while referring to the overall 13-to-18 scoring.

   Looks like a couple of the guys who would have been top-10 finishers in the overall scoring might not have been eligible to be included in the JGS results.

   Whitney punctuated his round with an eagle at the par-5 16^th hole as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring. Whitney also made birdies at the first and sixth holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard.

   Ethan Yip of Marlboro, N.J. made birdies on the seventh, 13^th and 18^th holes and had seven pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the younger guys. Yip was one of those players who was not included in the overall scoring.

   Samuel Vinc of Brockton capped a solid weekend at the shore as he made a birdie at the fourth hole, went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and had six pars on his card to finish in third place in the 13-to-15 division and fifth in the overall scoring with a 79.

   Vinc had finished in a tie for second place in the 13-to-15 division a day earlier in a Philly Junior Tour stop at The Shore Club.

   Jackson Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. was a shot behind Vinc in fourth place in the division and sixth in the overall standings with an 80.

   Michael O’Kane of Springfield finished a shot behind Jackson Lane in fifth place in the 13-to-15 division with an 81, but was not included in the overall standings.

   Wushouyi Sun of State College took sixth place in the division and was seventh in the overall scoring with an 82.

   Logan Stoney of Hillsborough, N.J. finished in seventh place in the 13-to-15 division and ninth in the overall standings with an 84. Owen Ciesielka of West Chester finished two shots behind Stoney in eighth place in the division and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring by taking 10^th with an 86.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was a trio of players, including Jack Pavuk of Clarks Summit, Wil Simonson of Haddonfield, N.J. and Jaxon Piccoli of Berlin, N.J., all of whom signed for a 93 to finish in a tie for ninth place.

   Chase Dillman, who recently wrapped up a standout scholastic career at Boyertown by earning a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship, and Rory Asselta of Ramsey, N.J. finished in a tie atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and shared second in the overall standings as each registered a 5-over 77.

   Dillman made birdies at the seventh and 16^th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard as he claimed his 11^th Philly Junior Tour victory in his 31^st start of 2024.

   Asselta’s round featured bookend birdies at the first and 18^th holes and he had 10 pars on his card, including a string of seven straight pars from the 11^th through the 17^th holes. Asselta’s showing at Shore Gate capped a solid weekend at the shore as he earned a share of runnerup honors in the 16-to-18 division a day earlier at The Shore Club.

   Christopher Parrish of Woolwich Township, N.J. capped a solid weekend at the shore and a really strong 2024, particularly in the second half of the season, as he took third place in the 16-to-18 division and was fourth in the overall scoring with a 78.

   Parrish made birdies at the ninth and 16^th holes and had 12 pars on his card, including six straight pars to open the incoming nine at Shore Gate from the 10^th through the 15^th holes. Parrish had claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory a day earlier at The Shore Club.

   Andrew Brendlinger, a junior on the Perkiomen Valley golf team this fall, took fourth place among the older guys with his 79, but did not appear in the overall standings.

   Carson Holmes, a junior at Coatesville who qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship for the second straight fall, posted an 83 as he took fifth place in the 16-to-18 division. Holmes was the last of the players in the 16-to-18 division to appear in the top 10 in the overall standings as he finished eighth.

   Holmes had a strong weekend at the shore as he finished in a tie for second place with Asselta behind Parrish in the 16-to-18 division a day earlier at The Shore Club.

   Chase Mitchell of Medford, N.J. took sixth place in the 16-to-18 division with an 86, Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. was seventh with a 90, Patrick Hiltner of Northfield, N.J. was eighth with 91 and Donato Stridacchio of Doylestown was ninth with a 93.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Michael Doyle of Haddonfield, N.J. as he finished alone in 10^th place with a 95.

   Jonathan Thomas of Landenberg made a birdie at the second hole and had four pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 3-over 39.

   It was the sixth victory in the coed 12-and-under division for Thomas in 21 Philly Junior Tour starts.

   Aiden Jose of Brick, N.J. and Gavin Lane, another member of Team Lane out of Cinnaminson, N.J., shared second place, each ending up two shots behind Thomas with a 5-over 41.

   Jose made a birdie on the fifth hole and had three pars on his card.

   Gavin Lane had six pars on his card, finishing up his round with five straight pars from the fifth through the ninth holes. It was a strong weekend at the shore for Gavin Lane as he was coming off a victory in the coed 12-and-under division a day earlier at The Shore Club.

   Jameson Foreman of Somers Point, N.J., coming off a runnerup finish to Gavin Lane a day earlier at The Shore Club, took fourth place with a 44.

   Grayson McCann of Downingtown, coming off a third-place finish behind Foreman a day earlier at The Shore Club, took fifth place with a 47.

Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. and Connor Clayton of Mays Landing, N.J. shared sixth place, each signing for a 49, Joseph (Joey) Charpentier of Schwenksville was eighth with a 50 and Michael Antolino III of Richboro was ninth with a 51.

Zheng Yan of Malvern took 10^th place with a 54 and Jack Spear of Villanova rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division as he finished 11^th with a 62.