Luterman captures a Philly Junior Tour victory at a windswept Maple Dale

 

   Jack Luterman, an Ardmore resident and a sophomore on the golf team at The Haverford School, overcame some wild winds to capture the top spot in the 16-to-18 division with a 5-over-par 77 in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Sunday at Maple Dale Country Club in Dover, Del.

   Luterman made birdies on the second and 16^th holes and had nine pars on his scorecard on a day when the wind blew pretty steadily at 20 mph with gusts that reached nearly 40 mph, conditions that were reflected in higher scores.

   The Maple Dale stop on the Philly Junior Tour was a Junior Golf Scoreboard event for the boys with top finishers earning points that can earn them status on some of the higher-profile junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).

   The JGS points are awarded to players in the overall 13-to-18 age group. The Philly Junior Tour breaks out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions, so I’ll wrap them up and refer to the overall scoring.

   Looks like only the players who teed it up in both of the Philly Junior Tour events in Delaware over the weekend – there was a Philly Junior Tour stop at Rock Manor Golf Club in Wilmington Saturday – were eligible for JGS points at Maple Dale.

   Luterman did not play in both events in the Delaware series, so the first-place finisher in the overall JGS scoring was Jimmy Warmkessel, one of the Episcopal Academy golf team’s junior co-captains last fall, as he got it going on the incoming nine at Maple Dale with a 3-under 33 on his way to a 6-over 78 that left him a shot behind Luterman in second place in the 16-to-18 division.

   Warmkessel had back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes, added a third birdie on the back nine at 15 and had nine pars on his card.

   Tyler Baritz of Blue Bell made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had 10 pars on his card as he finished in third place among the older guys and in a tie for third in the overall scoring with Quinn Gallagher of Bryn Mawr from the 13-to-15 division with an 80.

   Gus Stoltzfus, a sophomore on the Avon Grove golf team, finished in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for fifth place in the overall scoring with Alex DiGiacinto, a freshman on the Nazareth golf team playing in the 13-to-15 division, as each recorded an 81.

   J.P. Hoban, a Havertown resident and a senior on The Haverford School’s Inter-Ac League championship team last fall, and Jake Hollerback, a sophomore on the Sussex Central golf team, finished in a tie for fifth place in the 16-to-18 division, each signing for an 82.

   Hoban, who finished in fifth place among the older guys Saturday at Rock Manor, took seventh in the overall scoring at Maple Dale. Hollerback was not eligible for the overall JGS scoring.

   Andrew Carroccio, a Newtown Square resident and a junior on the Devon Prep golf team that finished in third place in the PIAA Class AA team competition last fall, took seventh place in the 16-to-18 division with an 84 and Chase Mitchell of Medford, N.J. was a shot behind Carroccio in eighth with an 85.

   Neither Carroccio nor Mitchell was eligible for the JGS scoring.

   A couple of Wilmington, Del. guys, Colin Burke and Quinn Marshall, played in both of the Delaware events over the weekend. They rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division with Burke taking ninth place with an 86 and Marshall finishing 10^th with an 87.

   Burke and Marshall also rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring at Maple Dale with Burke finishing in ninth place and Marshall in 10^th.

   Henry Sokol of Villanova had a steady round in the howling winds as he made a birdie on the 15^th hole and had 10 pars on his scorecard as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division and was the runnerup to Warmkessel in the overall scoring with a 79.

   Henry Sokol was one of four players who finished in a tie for third place among the younger guys a day earlier at Rock Manor.

   Bryn Mawr’s Gallagher made a birdie on the second hole and had 11 pars on his card with strings of five pars in a row on the outgoing nine from the fourth through the eighth holes and again on the incoming nine from 11 through 15 as he was the runnerup in the 13-to-15 division with an 80.

   That left Gallagher in a tie for third place in the overall scoring with Baritz from the 16-to-18 division.

   Nazareth’s DiGiacinto made birdies on the fourth and 12^th holes and had seven pars on his card as he took third place among the younger guys with an 81 that left him in a tie for fifth in the overall scoring with Hoban from the 16-to-18 division.

   William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr took fourth place in the 13-to-15 division, finishing a shot behind DiGiacinto with an 82.

   Coming off co-medalist honors in the 13-to-15 division a day earlier at Rock Manor, Ian Rotto, a freshman on the Kennett golf team, finished in fifth place among the younger guys at Maple Dale with an 83.

   Rotto was the last of the players in the 13-to-15 division to finish among the top 10 in the overall scoring as he ended up in eighth place.

 Trebor Melendez, the phenom from Vineland, N.J., took sixth place in the 13-to-15 division with an 85 and Jack Sokol, Henry Sokol’s twin brother, and Holden Sparks, a freshman on the Nazareth golf team,   finished in a tie for seventh, each landing on 88.

   A couple of Wilmington, Del. guys, Brooks McCall and Ben Meixell, rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as McCall took ninth place with a 91 and Meixell finished 10^th with a 93.

   Isha Garg of Berlin, N.J. made a birdie on the second hole and had seven pars on her scorecard as she earned a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with an 87.

   Coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory at day earlier at Rock Manor, Anna Firko, a junior on the Mt. Pleasant golf team in Delaware, had seven pars on her card as she was the runnerup among the older girls with a 93.

   Brooke Burge of Middletown, Del. had three pars on her card as she rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division, finishing in third place with a 104.

   Ellie Walls of Millsboro, Del. made birdies on the sixth and ninth holes and a par on 11 as she claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 92.

  Gabrielle Hamstead of Milton, Del. had five pars on her card as she was the runnerup among the younger girls with a 95.

    Hannah LeGrow of Wilmington, Del. made pars on the third and 15^th holes as she rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division, finishing in third place with a 108.

   Michael Perry of Wilmington, Del. had three pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 47.

   Jasper Zhang of West Chester made a par on the sixth hole as he finished two shots behind Perry in second place with a 49.

  Grayson Wright of Philadelphia made a par on the ninth hole as he rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division, finishing in third place with a 52.