Whitney emerges from a four-way playoff with the title in the Jock MacKenzie Memorial at Sandy Run

 

   Tyler Whitney, a junior on the Cherry Hill East golf team, rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff on a hot and humid Tuesday to come out on top of a deep and talented field that gathered at Sandy Run Country Club in Oreland for the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 41^st Jock MacKenzie Memorial.

   The Jock MacKenzie is one of GAP’s major championships for junior golfers and nearly 100 players teed it up from all over the Philadelphia region.

   Whitney had a solid spring, helping Cherry Hill East to a runnerup finish in the state Group 4 Championship.

   When he drained a 10-footer for birdie at the 299-yard, par-4 seventh hole, it enabled Whitney, playing out of The Legacy Club, to finish with a 2-under-par 70 over the 6,567-yard, par-72 Sandy Run layout.

   It was a total that was matched by Radley Run Country Club’s Charlie Barrickman, a senior at Unionville and a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier, Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, the runnerup in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship at the St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del. in May that wrapped up an outstanding scholastic career at The Tatnall School, and Philmont Country Club’s Benjamin Robbins, a junior on the Lansdale Catholic golf team.

   Whitney got in trouble on the opening hole of the playoff, Sandy Run’s 335-yard, par-4 18^th, when he yanked his 3-wood into the woods off the tee.

   But he was able to lift a pitching wedge over a tree and get the ball on the putting surface, 20 feet from the hole. A two-putt par kept him alive in the playoff.

   Whitney again had a wedge in his hands on the second hole of the playoff, the 134-yard, par-3 10^th and his ball settled 10 feet from the hole. His three playoff opponents also reached the putting surface, but none was as close as Whitney was.

   After three birdie tries failed to fall, Whitney didn’t miss and he had one of the biggest prizes on GAP’s junior circuit.

   “This is my first big win,” Whitney told the GAP website. “I actually had a two-day tournament I was supposed to play in, but this is a big field, I have a lot of friends playing here and I like the course.

   “Hopefully some college coaches recognize that I have the potential as a junior golfer. I’d like to play at a Division I school.”

   Whitney started his regulation round off the 10^th tee and opened with a bogey. He got that shot back with a birdie at the 13^th hole and got it into red figures for the day when a 30-foot birdie putt at the first hole found the bottom of the cup.

   Whitney fell back to even-par with a bogey at the third hole. But after making a birdie at the fourth hole, Whitney dropped that 10-footer for birdie at seven that got him a place at the table for the playoff.

   The foursome battling for the title was the biggest playoff field in the long history of the Jock MacKenzie.

   RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve’s Colby Komancheck, a junior on the Malvern Prep golf team, headed a trio of players who finished in a tie for fifth place, each posting a 1-under 71 that left them just a shot out of the playoff.

   Komancheck had captured medalist honors a week earlier in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship on his home course, the victory earning him a spot in the field for the Boys Junior PGA Championship, which tees off July 29 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

   Komancheck was joined at 1-under by Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Ian Natale, who wrapped up a standout scholastic career with Catholic League power La Salle last fall, and Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia’s Anthony Primo IV.

   Philadelphia Country Club’s Harrison Brown had a solid showing in defense of the Jock MacKenzie title he won a year ago as he matched par with a 72 to finish alone in eighth place.

   Brown was a senior leader on The Haverford School’s Inter-Ac League championship team last fall as the Fords claimed the crown for the second year in a row.

   Commonwealth National Golf Club’s Ryan Quinn was another shot behind Brown in ninth place with a 1-over 73.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Junior Boys Division were Philadelphia Cricket Club’s David Nissen, a junior on the Wissahickon golf team, and Declan Conner, a junior on the Ridley golf team who was representing The Skramble House of Golf, as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each signing for a 2-over 74.

   At least in recent years, the Jock MacKenzie had been the final event in GAP’s series of major championships for junior golfers, following the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship and the Christman Cup, a grueling, one-day, 36-hole stroke-play test.

   The Jock MacKenzie would be the deciding event in the race for the Harry Hammond Award, which included the scores from the 18 holes of qualifying for the Junior Boys, the 36 holes of the Christman Cup and the 18 holes of the Jock MacKenzie.

   This year, however, the Christman Cup, which will be played July 15 at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course, will decide the Harry Hammond Award.

   Wilmington’s Homer will take a three-shot lead over The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt, a senior on the Strath Haven golf team, into the Christman Cup in the battle for the Harry Hammond Award.

   Kleinschmidt, the medalist in qualifying for the Junior Boys at Merion Golf Club’s West Course, finished among the group tied for 20^th place in the Jock MacKenzie with a 4-over 76.

   The stars of the future in junior golf were on display in the Jock MacKenzie as Stonewall’s Grayson McCann recorded a solid 3-over 39 on Sandy Run’s incoming nine to capture the title in the Junior-Junior Boys Division by a shot.

   The 13-year-old McCann had bookend double bogeys at the 10^th and 18^th holes, but picked up an important shot with a birdie at 16.

   Riverton Country Club’s Gavin Lane and Llanerch Country Club’s Ryan Comly finished a shot behind McCann in a tie for second place, each carding a 4-over 40.

   Baylor Keim of Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Samuel Karas of North Hills Country Club were another shot behind Lane and Comly in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 41.

   Waynesborough Country Club’s Jack Kolmer took sixth place with a 44 and Overbrook Golf Club’s Nolan English rounded out the field in the Junior-Junior Boys Division as he finished seventh with a 49.