Daniel Boone’s Chase Yenser and Phoenixville’s Kayley Roberts will be returning for their senior seasons in a couple of weeks as better, more confident and more experienced players than they were at this time last year.
And both had very good scholastic seasons a year ago, Yenser finishing in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AAA boys competition and Roberts finishing in a tie for third in the PIAA Class AAA girls competition, both at Penn State’s White Course.
Both teed it up in the Junior PGA Championship, which concluded Aug. 1st at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. with Yenser faring a little better than Roberts.The Junior PGA Championship is the PGA of America's premier event for junior golfers.
There is something about playing in that kind of atmosphere, in one of the marquee national events for juniors and surrounded by all those talented kids. You realize you belong and you realize that you can take your game even higher.
Yenser certainly made some noise when he opened the week with a sizzling 7-under-par 64 at the Ackerman-Allen Course that left him leading the pack.
Starting off the 10th tee, Yenser made birdies at the 10th, 12th, 15th and 18th holes on the Ackerman-Allen Course’s incoming nine to get it to 4-under. Yenser ripped off three straight birdies at the second, third and fourth holes with his bogey-free 64 landing him at the top of the heap.
I suspect it was a career-low round for Yenser and, considering the setting, a round he will remember for a long time.
Yenser put together a solid 2-under 70 in the second round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and was still in a tie for second place, although the eventual winner, Lunden Esterline of Andover, Kan., had put some distance between himself and the rest of the field with a remarkable 10-under 62 at the Kampen-Cosler Course.
Yenser lost a little ground with a pair of 1-over 72s in the final two rounds at the Ackerman-Allen Course and finished alone in 19th place with a 7-under 275 total.
There were cuts following the second round again following the third round down to the top 30 and ties, so just surviving both cuts and playing 72 holes was an accomplishment. To earn a top-20 finish against that kind of competition made it a tremendous week for Yenser.
No one was going to catch Esterline, who plans to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Auburn at the end of the summer of 2027, as he took command with that ridiculous second round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and cruised to a six-shot victory with a 19-under 266 total.
After opening with a 4-under 67 at the Ackerman-Allen Course, Esterline went off on the outgoing nine at the Kampen-Cosler Course in the second round as he made birdies at the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth holes and then made an eagle at seven in a 7-under 29 tour of the front nine.
Esterline added birdies at the 10th, 12th and 16th holes to finish at 10-under for the day.
Esterline added a 5-under 66 in the third round at the Ackerman-Allen Course and closed by matching par at Ackerman-Allen with a 71. He was never really threatened.
A couple of Floridians, Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island and Guiseppe Puebla of Royal Palm Beach, shared runnerup honors as each landed on 13-under 272.
Mawhinney, who will join the program at SEC power Vanderbilt at the end of next summer, had four rounds in the 60s at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex, opening with a 2-under 69 at the Ackerman-Allen course, adding a 4-under 68 in the second round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and a 5-under 66 back at Ackerman-Allen in the third round before closing with a bookend 2-under 69 in the final round at Ackerman-Allen.
Puebla surged up the leaderboard in the final round with the best round of the day at the Ackerman-Allen course, a sizzling 7-under 64.
There were a lot of eyeballs on Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, at Purdue after the kid put together back-to-back 66s – 6-under in the second round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and 5-under in the third round at the Ackerman-Allen Course – to move into a tie for second place heading into the final round.
Woods, a Class of 2027 competitor from Jupiter, Fla., struggled a little in the final round with a 2-over 74 at the Ackerman-Allen Course, but still finished among a large group tied for ninth place with a 9-under 276 total.
Michael Quallich, a junior at Baldwin and a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, also survived two cuts and finished among the group tied for 24th place with a 5-under 280 total. Quallich finished strong with back-to-back 2-under 69s in the final two rounds at the Ackerman-Allen Course.
Fox Chapel junior Carson Kittsley, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, opened with a solid 4-under 67 at the Ackerman-Allen Course, but struggled to a 5-over 77 in the second round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and failed to survive the 36-hole cut with a 1-over 144 total.
Malvern Prep junior Colby Komancheck also failed to survive the 36-hole cut at Purdue as he opened with a 4-over 75 at the Ackerman-Allen Course and added a 3-over 75 at the Kampen-Cosler Course for a 7-over 150 total.
Komancheck had defeated Yenser in a playoff after they finished in a tie for first place in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, the qualifier for the Boys Junior PGA Championship, at RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, where his parents, Jamie and Kelly, head the team in the pro shop.
Komancheck will be one of the top returning players in the Inter-Ac League this season. He finished in a tie for third place in the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship last fall at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club after taking fifth as a freshman at Aronimink Golf Club.
On the girls side, Roberts put together a couple of solid rounds to easily survive the 36-hole cut as she opened with a 2-under 70 at the Kampen-Cosler Course and added a 1-under 70 at the Ackerman-Allen Course in the second round.
Roberts offset three bogeys with five birdies at the Kampen-Cosler Course and had four birdies against three bogeys in the second round at the Ackerman-Allen Course.
But Roberts never got it going in the third round at the Ackerman-Allen Course as she went birdieless while making five bogeys and a double bogey for a 7-over 78 that left her with a 4-over 218 total.
You had to make it to 1-under to survive the tough 54-hole cut.
Really strong summer for Roberts, though. She earned a spot in the field for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course in Johns Creek, Ga., coming up a shot short of a spot in the playoff for the final spots in the match-play bracket in sweltering conditions in Hot-lanta.
Roberts claimed the top spot in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship, the qualifier for the Girls Junior PGA Championship, by five shots over Archmere Academy junior Hannah Webb of Woolwich, N.J. by five shots at DuPont Country Club’s Nemours Course.
Asterisk Talley, the 16-year-old phenom from Chowchilla, Calif., made a birdie on the final hole to turn the tables on Zoe Cusack of Potomac, Md. and capture the title in the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a 12-under 273 total.
Talley, No. 14 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), was trailing Cusack by two shots going to the final hole. But Talley stuck her approach to two feet and Cusack faltered with a double bogey to finish a shot behind Talley with an 11-under 274 total.
Talley, who was upset in the second round of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club, opened with a 4-under 68 at the Kampen-Cosler Course and added a sparkling 6-under 65 in the second round at the Ackerman-Allen Course.
Problem was, Cusack, who plans to join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Virginia at the end of next summer, was right with Talley, matching both of Talley’s totals in the first two rounds.
Talley inched in front with a 2-under 69 in the third round at the Ackerman-Allen Course while Cusack matched par with a 71.
Her birdie at the final hole enabled Talley to match par in the final round with a 71 while Cusack’s double bogey at the last left her with a 1-under 70 in the final round.
A year ago, Talley lost in the final of the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Amateur to Rianne Malixi.
As I’m putting this post together, Talley has completed a 3-under 69 in the opening round of qualifying for match play the U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort’s Bandon Dunes Course that has her in a tie for fourth place, trailing a trio of players, one of whom is Malixi, tied for first place at 4-under.
Alyssa Zhang, who finished in third place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a freshman at Shady Side Academy last fall, survived both cuts at Purdue and finished among the group tied for 29th place with a 1-over 286 total.
Zhang, coming off a seventh-place finish in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur the week before heading to the Girls Junior PGA Championship, opened with a 3-under 69 at the Kampen-Cosler Course and matched par with a 71 in the second round at the Ackerman-Allen Course.
Zhang finished up with a pair of 2-over 73s in the final two rounds at the Ackerman-Allen Course.
Joining Roberts at 4-over after surviving the 36-hole cut, was Kate Sowers, the runnerup in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a junior at West Middlesex last fall.
Sowers matched par in the opening round with a 72 at the Kampen-Cosler Course and added a 2-over 73 at the Ackerman-Allen Course to reach the third round. Sowers signed for another 2-over 73 at the Ackerman-Allen Course to miss the 54-hole cut at 218.
Cora Hirz, who finished in fifth place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a junior at Fairview last fall, was unable to survive the 36-hole cut at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex as she opened with a 3-over 75 at the Kampen-Cosler Course and added a 4-over 75 in the second round at the Ackerman-Allen Course for a 7-over 150 total.
Archmere’s Webb, who capped her sophomore season by capturing the girls individual crown in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at the St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del. in the spring, failed to survive the 36-hole cut at Purdue as she struggled to a 7-over 79 in the opening round at the Kampen-Cosler Course and added a 4-over 75 in the second round at the Ackerman-Allen Course for an 11-over 144 total.
Much like Roberts, it was a big summer for Webb as she qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior at the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Purdue.
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