Thorkelson's victory at Kimberton his second straight Philly Junior Tour win

 

   William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr recorded his second Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in as many days as he carded a solid 3-over-par 73 at Kimberton Golf Club, the popular public course on Route 23 just west of Phoenixville, to claim the top spot in the 13-to-15 division Aug. 14^th.

   Thorkelson had finished at the top of the leaderboard among the younger guys a day earlier at Philmont Country Club’s North Course to earn a Philly Junior Tour win.

   Unlike his victory at Philmont, though, Thorkelson had the best round of the day in either of the boys divisions at Kimberton.

   The steady Thorkelson had just one birdie, at the 12^th hole, but had 13 pars on his scorecard, including a run of seven straight pars from the seventh through the 13^th holes.

   Reid Tornetta, a sophomore on the Pope John Paul II golf team and a Collegeville resident, made birdies at the seventh, 10^th and 17^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Thorkelson in second place with a 4-over 74.

   Eric Cunningham of Wayne finished two shots behind Tornetta in third place as Cunningham made a birdie at the 10^th hole and had 11 pars on his card on his way to a 6-over 76.

   Grady O’Hair of Downingtown – pretty sure he is the son of PGA Tour veteran Sean O’Hair – took fourth place with an 81, Gavin Brand of Newtown Square and Bret Wade of Pottstown shared fifth place, each posting an 82, and Danny DiDomenico, a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, and Nick Jensen of Chester Springs finished in a tie for seventh place, each signing for an 86.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division at Kimberton were Noah Gates of Ardmore and Matthew Riuli of Berwyn as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each tallying an 87.

   Joey Bilotta, a senior on the Boyertown golf team, had 14 pars on his scorecard as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a 4-over 74.

   Bilotta had a string of five straight pars from the second through the sixth holes and closed out his round with four straight pars.

   Charles Ball of West Chester had 13 pars on his card, closing out his round with eight straight pars on the incoming nine at Kimberton, as he finished a shot behind Bilotta in second place with a 5-over 75.

   Brody Calle, a senior on the Owen J. Roberts golf team, and Noah Brand, a senior on the Malvern Prep golf team and a Newtown Square resident, shared third place, each ending up a shot behind Ball with a 6-over 76.

   Calle, coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division a day earlier at Philmont, made birdies on the 10^th and 15^th holes and had eight pars on his card, opening his round with four straight pars. Brand made a birdie on the 15^th hole and had 10 pars on his card.

   Shane Cornell, a junior on the Avon Grove golf team, took fifth place with a 77 and Pearson Wolfe of Haddon Heights, N.J. finished sixth with a 78.

   The trio of Mike White, a junior on the Springfield golf team, Will Pendse, a junior on the Germantown Friends School golf team and Max Angermeier of Mount Laurel, N.J. finished in a tie for seventh place, each recording a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was the trio of Beau Bliem, a junior on the Pope John Paul II golf team and a Collegeville resident, Sean McGettigan of Somerdale, N.J. and Trey Barkman of West Chester as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each registering an 80.

   Pretty competitive group of older guys as only six shots separated the top 12 finishers.

   Kiran Bagga, who wrapped up a standout scholastic career at Germantown Academy last fall, had the best score of the day among the girls as she made a birdie on the second hole and had 10 pars on her scorecard, finishing up her round with four straight pars, on her way to a solid 7-over 77 that gave her the top spot in the 16-to-18 division.

   Conestoga senior Suri Ahn rounded out a short field in the 16-to-18 division as she had seven pars on her card on her way to an 84.

   Ahn, a member of a Conestoga team that finished in fourth place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall, was playing some solid golf leading into her senior season with the Pioneers.

   Gabrielle Kim of Ambler made birdies on the second and 15^th holes and had four pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with an 82.

   Brianna Stwalley, a sophomore on the Central Bucks West golf team, had four pars on her card, including three straight pars at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes, as she earned runnerup honors with an 87.

   Stwalley was coming off a second-place finish a day earlier at Philmont’s North Course.

   Addison Murphy, playing close to her Phoenixville home, had two pars on her card as she rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division by finishing in third place with a 95.

   Helmut Dang of Newtown Square made eight straight pars to close out his round as he bested a typically competitive group of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 1-over 35 on the outgoing nine at Kimberton.

   Bobby Stefanski, another Newtown Square guy, and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for second place, each ending up two shots behind Dang with a 3-over 37.

   Stefanksi had six pars on his scorecard, including a string of four straight pars from the second through the fifth holes, and Muego had six pars on his card, including a run of five straight pars from three through seven.

   Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr took fourth place with a 39. Gilbert was coming off a share of first place in the Philly Junior Tour stop a day earlier at Philmont’s North Course.

   Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. took fifth place with a 40, Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville shared sixth, each signing for a 42 and Ryan Kaye of Lansdale finished eighth with a 45.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division were August Steel of Perkasie and Thayer Boyd of Kennett Square as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting a 48.

   Antonella Ferrer of Wynnewood made pars on the first two holes on her way to a 45 as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers.

   Allison Choi of Penn Valley earned runnerup honors with a 51 and Addison Sabatini of West Chester rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as she finished in third place with a 56.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aronimink's Teachman cruises to title in Women's Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Gulph Mills

 

   For the second time in three years, Tessa Teachman, an instructor at Aronimink Golf Club, captured the title in the Women’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship as she matched par with a 72 Wednesday at Gulph Mills Golf Club, the venerable Donald Ross design that is an island of tranquility amid the hustle and bustle of Upper Merion Township.

   Teachman was just off the injured list when she claimed the Philly Section’s top prize for its women pros two years ago at Chester Valley.

   A junior phenom in her hometown of Rochester, N.Y., Teachman played her college golf at LSU in the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference and competed on the Symetra Tour, now known as the Epson Tour, the LPGA’s developmental circuit.

   She has found a home at Aronimink and has clearly established herself as one of the Philly Section’s top women players.

   Teachman got off to a little bit of a slow start at Gulph Mills. After a bogey at the second hole, Teachman made a birdie at three, but then got on the bogey train a little with bogeys at four, six and 11 that left her at 3-over for the round.

   Not long before that bogey at the 11^th hole, Teachman got a pep talk from her caddy and boyfriend Andrew Cornish, an assistant pro at Green Valley Country Club and a talented player in his own right.

   “It was an interesting day,” Teachman told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I was hitting it well, but just couldn’t get it going, but when we turned the back nine, my boyfriend and caddy (Cornish) lit a fire under me and said, ‘Let’s get moving.’ From there, the ball started going in the hole.”

   Teachman made birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes, stumbled briefly with a bogey at 15, but finished strong with birdies at 16 and 18 to get it in at even-par and claim the top prize of $2,300.

   It was eight shots back to Beatrice Smith, who works out of the pro shop at Gulph Mills and who was Teachman’s playing partner in the first group of the day, and Brittany Weddell, who works out of the Green Valley Country Club pro shop, in a tie for second place, each posting an 8-over 80.

   Weddell worked in the pro shop at Stonewall before heading to Green Valley a few years ago and she was in our group for the Partner-Pro at the ’Wall earlier this month. She was really solid that day. I looped that day for Cornish, Teachman’s boyfriend and caddy for the Women’s Philly Section Championship. Cornish has a ton of game.

   Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club and the Philadelphia Section’s three-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Women’s Player of the Year, did not tee it up at Gulph Mills.

   Coe has been playing some really solid golf, finishing in a tie for 11^th place in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord Country Club earlier this month. That earned her a ticket to next spring’s PGA Professional Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort, one of the game’s most popular destinations on Oregon’s rugged coastline.

   Wilmington Country Club’s Meghan Spero finished a shot behind Smith and Weddell in fourth place with an 81.

   Spero’s round was highlighted by her first career hole-in-one as her 5-iron shot at the 153-yard 17^th hole found the bottom of the cup.

   Megan Leineweber, in her first full year as the head pro at Stonewall, and Jennifer Cully, playing out of Honeybrook Golf Club, shared fifth place, each signing for an 83.

   Patty Post, the director of both the men’s and women’s golf programs at Delaware, and Alex Carr, a colleague of Teachman’s in the pro shop at Aronimink, finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 85.

   Carol Gossett, playing out of the pro shop Brookside Country Club in Pottstown, took ninth place with an 88 and Bridget McLaughlin, who works in the pro shop at Waynesborough Country Club, rounded out the field in the Women’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship as she finished 10^th with a 95.

   The Women’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship was presented by the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board and was supported by KM Golf Sales/Kevin McClellan and the PGA Tour.

 

 

 

 

Calle's steady round at Philmont's North Course earns him a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Brody Calle, a senior on the Owen J. Roberts golf team, put together a solid 4-over-par 74 over a tough Philmont Country Club North Course layout to capture a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division Aug. 13.

   Calle made birdies on the sixth and 10^th holes and had 11 pars on his scorecard to finish four shots ahead of runnerup Ethan Barroway of Cherry Hill, N.J.

   Barroway got off to a good start with a birdie at the first hole and had nine pars on his card as he finished in second place with an 8-over 78.

   Gregory Kriz, a junior on the St. Joseph’s Prep golf team and an Oreland resident, made birdies on the first, fourth and 13th holes and had seven pars on his card as he finished in third place with an 81.

   Bradford Bergstrom of Moorestown, N.J. took fourth place with an 82, Adrian Ciaravelli, a senior on the Penncrest golf team, was fifth with an 84, and Devin Carpenter, a recent Haverford School graduate who was headed for MIT, and Mason Stephan, a junior on the Malvern Prep golf team and a Collegeville resident, finished in a tie for sixth, each posting an 86.

   John McCarthy of Conshohocken and Sean Rogers of King of Prussia finished in a tie for eighth place, each signing for an 87.

   Will Pendse, a junior on the Germantown Friends School golf team and a Wyndmoor resident, and Cole Dopke of Woolwich Township, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each recording an 88.

   William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr continued a solid run of golf as he captured a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 6-over 76.

   Thorkelson, who shared the top spot in the division earlier in the month in a stop at Woodstone Country Club, made birdies at the fourth and 18^th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard, including a string of five straight pars from the sixth through the 10^th holes.

   Rithvik Nimma of Newtown made birdies at the second and sixth holes and had eight pars on his card as he finished two shots behind Thorkelson in second place with a 78.

   Danny DiDomenico, a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team and a Devon resident, opened his round with seven straight pars and ended up with nine pars on his card as he took third place with an 81.

   Thanks to an update from Malvern Prep head coach Gary Duda, I can report that DiDomenico's older brother Michael, a junior, tied for the second-best score among the Friars with a 2-over 37 on the front nine of Stonewall’s North Course in Monday’s Squabble at Stonewall to help Malvern Prep capture the team title with a 186 total.

   The Inter-Ac League’s Friars edged Central League power Radnor by five shots as the Raptors posted a 191 total with Conestoga, another perennial Central League contender, in third place with a 196 and St. Joseph’s Prep out of the Catholic League in fourth with a 199 total.

   Jack Forstein of Moorestown, N.J. took fourth place at Philmont’s North Course with an 83, Vaughn Smartt of Bryn Mawr and Jack Lobley of Gladwyne shared fifth, each signing for an 84, and Lucas Shank of West Chester finished seventh with an 86.

   Eric Cunningham of Wayne, Brayden Thul of Moorestown, N.J. and Alex Salata of Devon rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for eighth place, each tallying an 87.

   Mia DeCarlo, a precocious 12-year-old from Glen Mills, had the best score among the girls who teed it up at Philmont’s North Course as she earned a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with an 84.

   DeCarlo made a birdie on the 14^th hole and had nine pars on her scorecard. She was coming off a first-place finish among the girls 12-and-under nine-holers in the Junior Tour Championship two days earlier at Chester Valley Golf Club.

   Brianna Stwalley, a sophomore on the Central Bucks West golf team, rounded out a short field in the 13-to-15 division as she had four pars on her card on her way to a second-place finish with a 98.

   Suri Ahn, a senior on the Conestoga golf team, was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division and she made a birdie on the fifth hole and had 11 pars on her scorecard on her way to an 85 as she continued a consistent run of golf on the Philly Junior Tour.

   Ahn helped the Pioneers finish in fourth place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall.

   Rylan Foust of Exton and Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr each put together a sparkling 1-under 36 on the Philmont North Course’s outgoing nine to share the top spot among the boys 12-and-under nine-holers.

   Foust finished strong with birdies at the fifth, sixth and eighth holes and had four pars on his scorecard.

   Gilbert, the son of Gulph Mills Golf Club head pro Tom Gilbert, made a birdie on the fifth hole, an eagle on the par-5 seventh and had five pars on his card.

   Niko Muego, another Bryn Mawr guy, made birdies on the fifth and eighth holes and had five pars on his card as he matched par with a 37, but had to settle for third place.

   Charlie Sears of Wilmington, Del. took fourth place with a 1-over 38 and a couple of Newtown Square guys, Xunnan Dang and Bobby Stefanski, accounted for the next two spots on the leaderboard as Dang was fifth with a 39 and Stefanski was sixth with a 40.

   Jackson Jones of Bryn Mawr, Matthew Bowman of Newtown and Nicholas Chung of Berwyn shared seventh place, each carding a 41 and Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished 10^th with a 42.

   Avery Jaffe of Richboro was the lone entry in the girls 12-and-under division and she posted a 66.