Radnor junior Brad McDermott had the best score of the day, a sparkling 4-under-par 68 that included seven birdies at the Pine Meadows Golf Complex in Lebanon in spectacular May weather on a Mother’s Day Sunday in a qualifier for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship qualifier.
The top finishers in the overall 13-to-18 age group for boys earned a spot in the field for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, which will be played July 1 at the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve.
The top finishers at RiverCrest will earn a spot in the field for the Boys Junior PGA Championship, one of the premier national events for junior golfers which tees off July 29 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
The results from Pine Meadows did not include a cut line in the overall 13-to-18 scoring. It’s usually the top 20, or thereabouts, so I’ll take it out to the large group that finished in a tie for 19th place.
The Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour broke out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 age groups for the boys, so I’ll round them up while referring to the overall 13-to-18 scoring.
Nobody was better than McDermott on this day. He made birdies on the second and fifth holes, ripped off three straight birdies at nine, 10 and 11 and then added two more birdies at 14 and 18. He also had eight pars on his scorecard and toured the incoming nine at Pine Meadows in 3-under 33.
McDermott was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore in the fall of 2023, but came up short of a return trip to states last fall. He did help Radnor capture the Central League title with an undefeated run through the league for the Raptors.
McDermott claimed the top spot in the 16-to-18 division and finished at the top of the leaderboard in the overall scoring.
Unionville junior Charlie Barrickman, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier, made a birdie at the third hole, had a run of three straight birdies at five, six and seven and added two more birdies at 11 and 18 on his way to a 3-under 69 that left him a shot behind McDermott among the older guys and in a tie for second in the overall scoring with Malvern Prep sophomore Colby Komancheck, who finished first in the 13-to-15 division, with a 3-under 69.
Barrickman had eight pars on his card and put up a 2-under 34 on the outgoing nine at Pine Meadows.
Andrew Ekstrom, who wrapped up an outstanding scholastic career at York Suburban with his third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, finished four shots behind Barrickman in third place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for fourth in the overall scoring with Logan McGinn of South Williamsport and State College sophomore Luke McGraw from the 13-to-15 division with a 1-over 73.
Ekstrom made birdies on the 10th, 12th and 18th holes and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of seven straight pars from three through nine.
Downingtown West sophomore Ian Larsen, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, finished a shot behind Ekstrom in fourth place among the older guys and was alone in seventh in the overall scoring with a 2-over 74.
Coatesville junior Carson Holmes, who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of the last two falls, headed a group of four players tied for fifth place in the 16-to-18 division and in a five-way tie for eighth in the overall scoring with a 3-over 75.
Joining Holmes in the tie for fifth place among the older guys at 3-over were Southern Lehigh junior Caleb Walsh, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, Scranton Prep freshman Brendan Bell, a Dickson City resident who was a PIAA Class AA qualifier last fall, and Luke LaScala, a sophomore on the Salesianum golf team and a Wilmington, Del. resident.
A couple of two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifiers, Lower Merion junior Seiji Sako and Unionville junior Nicolas Gaughan, rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each recording a 4-over 76.
Gaughan and Sako were in a tie for 13th place in the overall scoring with Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J. from the 13-to-15 division.
John Mayer of Warrington and Jamie Ciesielka of Woolwich Township, N.J. each signed for a 79 and were tied for 11th place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for 16th in the overall scoring with Holden Sparks, a freshman on the Nazareth golf team, from the 13-to-15 division.
Dover junior Lawson Leeper, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier for the second year in a row last fall, and Harrison Perry, a sophomore on the Episcopal Academy golf team and a Berwyn resident, each carded an 80 to finish in a tie for 13th place in the 16-to-18 division and joined four players from the 13-to-15 division in a six-way tie for 19th in the overall scoring.
Komancheck, who finished in a tie for third place in the Bert Linton Invitational Inter-Ac League individual championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club last fall, made back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes and went back-to-back again with birdies at nine and 10 on his way to a 3-under 69 that gave him the top spot in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for second place with Barrickman from the 16-to-18 division in the overall scoring.
Komancheck had 13 pars on his scorecard, including eight straight pars to conclude his round.
Komancheck will be looking forward to teeing it up in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship because he is very familiar with RiverCrest, where his parents, Jamie and Kelly Komancheck, are the husband-and-wife team in the pro shop.
McGinn had back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a string of eight straight pars from five through 12, as he shared second place in the 13-to-15 division with McGraw and was part of a three-way tie for fourth overall with McGraw and Ekstrom from the 16-to-18 division with a 1-over 73.
Like McGinn, McGraw, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, had a steady round as he made birdies on the first and fifth holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a run of six straight from six through 11.
Quinn Gallagher of Bryn Mawr finished alone in fourth place among the younger guys and got a share of eighth overall with the quartet of Holmes, Walsh, Bell and LaScala from the 16-to-18 division with a solid 3-over 75.
Sun’s 4-over 76 left him in fifth place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for 13th overall with Sako and Gaughan from the 16-to-18 division in the overall standings.
Nazareth’s Sparks recorded a 79 as he finished in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for 16th in the overall scoring with Mayer and Ciesielka from the 16-to-18 division.
Onyu Park of Blue Bell, who was coming off a Hurricane Junior Golf Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division in the Philly Junior Open at Golden Pheasant the previous weekend, headed a group of four players who rounded out top 10 in the 13-to-15 division and was part of a group of six players tied for 19th in the overall scoring with an 80.
Joining Park in the tie for seventh place in the 13-to-15 division at 80 were Rithvik Nimma of Newtown, Taimoor Naseem of Sinking Spring and Samuel Vinc of Brockton. That foursome was joined by the pair of Leeper and Perry from the 16-to-18 division in the logjam tied for 19th place in the overall standings.
Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr made a birdie at the fifth hole and had four pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 5-over 41.
Charlie Sears of Wilmington, Del. made a par on the sixth hole as he finished four shots behind Gilbert in second place with a 45.
Rylan Foust of Exton made a par on the seventh hole as he finished two shots behind Sears in third place with a 47.
Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. took fourth place with a 48 and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished fifth with a 49.
Trisha Lobo of Collegeville had three pars on her scorecard as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 45.
Katelyn Burks of Paoli had three pars on her card as she finished a shot behind Lobo in second place with a 46. Emilie Davoli of Ambler made a par on the sixth hole as she ended up two shots behind Burks in third place with a 48.
Rounding out the field in the girls 12-and-under division was Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square as she finished in fourth place with a 58.
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