A third Homer puts his name on the Christman Cup by prevailing in a playoff at Saucon Valley's Grace Course

 

   Jack Homer has almost always been in contention when he teed it up in one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major junior championships.

   But the Wilmington Country Club representative and recent Tatnall School graduate was never quite able to close the deal.

   Homer had one more chance to capture a big GAP junior title when the Christman Cup, postponed a month by the soggy early summer, teed off Monday at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course.

   The Christman Cup is a one-day 36-hole shootout and it had added significance for Homer because both of his older twin brothers had claimed Christman Cup titles, Jeff in 2021 and Matt in 2022.

   Well, make room for a third Homer on that Christman Cup because Jack Homer joined his twin brothers as a winner of the event after he prevailed in a three-way playoff over Overbrook Country Club’s Cole Berry, a senior at West Chester Rustin, and White Manor Country Club’s Will Johnson, a sophomore at Conestoga.

   Jack Homer’s Christman Cup performance also enabled him to nail down the Harry Hammond Award, which includes a player’s scores from qualifying for match play in the Junior Boys’ Championship, the Jock Mackenzie Memorial and the two rounds of the Christman Cup.

   Jack Homer, who was headed for Virginia to begin his freshman year of college later in the week, finished with a 282 total for those four rounds to end up six shots clear of Radley Run Country Club’s Charlie Barrickman, a senior at Unionville. Jack Homer’s older brother Jeff had claimed the Harry Hammond Award in 2021 and again in 2023.

   Jack Homer, the runnerup in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) individual championship in the spring at the St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del., put together a pair of 2-under-par 70s over the 6,749-yard, par-72 Grace Course layout in regulation.

   His total was matched by Berry, who helped Rustin finish in a tie for fifth place in the PIAA Class AAA team competition last fall, and Johnson, whose tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a freshman last fall was the best by a District One player.

   Berry matched Homer’s splits with a pair of 2-under 70s while Johnson, after opening with a 2-over 74, ripped off the day’s best round, a sizzling 6-under 66 in the afternoon.

   Homer made three straight birdies at the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes to highlight his morning round and he and Berry shared the lead with their opening-round 70s.

   An eagle at the par-5 fourth hole gave Homer a boost early in his afternoon round. Back-to-back birdies at the 14^th and 15^th holes got Homer to 5-under for the tournament, but he gave a shot back with a bogey at the tough 444-yard, par-4 finishing hole.

   Johnson, who finished in a tie for second place in the District One Class AAA Championship last fall, unleashed a seven-birdie, one-bogey masterpiece in the afternoon, including a birdie at the 18^th hole that earned him a spot in the playoff.

   But Johnson couldn’t carry his momentum to the playoff. His approach at the Grace Course’s 562-yard, par-5 first hole found a greenside bunker and Homer and Berry both made birdies to knock Johnson out of the running.

   Berry’s drive on the second playoff hole, the long par-4 18^th, found the left rough with some low-hanging tree branches to negotiate. Berry came up 10 yards short of the green while Homer knocked a pitching wedge to the front of the green, 25 feet from the pin.

   Berry’s chip left him a 10-foot putt for par. He couldn’t convert the par putt and Homer calmly completed a two-putt par and the Christman Cup crown was his.

   “It means the world to me,” Homer told the GAP website. “Growing up playing GAP my whole life (and) playing golf my whole life, I had a lot of success as a junior junior. I won (the Junior-Junior division) of the Jock (Mackenzie Memorial) and the Junior-Junior (Boys’ Championship).

   “Honestly, (those are) probably the last tournaments I’ve won. It’s really special to be able to join (Jeff and Matt) at the top.”

   Unionville’s Barrickman, who has been really solid all summer, and North Hills Country Club’s Declan McLane, a recent St. Joseph’s Prep graduate, finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up two shots out of the playoff with a 2-under 142 total.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Barrickman added a 2-under 70 in the afternoon. McLane added a solid 3-under 69 in the afternoon to his opening round of 1-over 73.

   The 1912 Club’s Cody Sutcliffe, a senior on the roster for Catholic League power La Salle, and Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart, a junior on the Salesianum golf team, finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 1-over 145.

   Sutcliffe signed for a solid 2-under 70 in the afternoon after opening with a 3-over 75. Burkhart matched par in the afternoon with a 72 after opening with a 1-over 73.

   North Hills’ Chris Vahey, who wrapped up his scholastic career at La Salle last fall and will join the program at Lafayette, finished alone in eighth place with a 2-over 144 total. Vahey bounced back from an opening round of 5-over 77 with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the afternoon.

   A trio of Inter-Ac League standouts, past and present, were part of a foursome of players who rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for ninth place at 3-over 147.

   RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve’s Colby Komancheck, a junior on the Malvern Prep golf team, added a 2-over 74 in the afternoon to his opening round of 1-over 73. Komancheck teed it up in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. earlier this summer.

   Aronimink Golf Club’s Liam Crowley, a junior on the Episcopal Academy golf team, matched par in the afternoon with a 72 on the tough Grace Course layout after opening with a 3-over 75.

   Philadelphia Country Club’s Harrison Brown, who helped The Haverford School claim its second straight Inter-Ac crown as a senior last fall, added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon to his opening round of 2-over 74.

   Rounding out the quartet tied for ninth at 3-over was Atlantic City Country Club’s Keller Tannehill as he bounced back from an opening round of 6-over 78 with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the afternoon.