Traynor, Firko the respective boys, girls winners in Harry Hammond Invitational at Penn Oaks

 

   Harry Traynor, a senior on the Great Valley golf team, carded a sizzling 3-under-par 68 over a tough layout at Penn Oaks Golf Club, where Delaware County meets Chester County along Route 202, to claim a victory in the 16-to-18 division in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Harry Hammond Invitational Aug. 19.

   Anna Firko, a senior on the Concord golf team in Delaware, posted a solid 4-over 75 to finish at the top of the leaderboard in the girls 16-to-18 division.

  The Harry Hammond is considered a major championship on the Philly Junior Tour schedule for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that it bears the name of Harry Hammond, who was the director of golf at Penn Oaks before the club was sold and a guy who has done more to promote junior golf programs than anyone in the Philadelphia area. And nobody’s really a close second.

   The Harry Hammond is something of a tournament of champions with invitations going out to players who finished in first or second place in a Philly Junior Tour age group over the last two years.

   There is also a scholarship aspect to the Harry Hammond as players are invited to submit essays which are judged with scholarships awarded at a later date to the authors of the best submissions.

   Before being part of the ownership group at Penn Oaks, Hammond was the long-time head pro at Whitford Country Club and also had a stint as the head golf coach at West Chester University. He has been honored with a couple of the major national awards handed out by the PGA of America.

   Traynor, coming off a fifth-place finish in the Junior Tour Championship eight days earlier at Chester Valley Golf Club, got hot on the incoming nine at Penn Oaks, making birdies at the 12^th, 13^th, 15^th and 18^th holes while touring the back in 3-under 33.

   Traynor also made a birdie at the second hole and had 11 pars on his scorecard, seven of them on the outgoing nine.

   Ravi Gohel of Mount Laurel, N.J. made birdies on the ninth and 12^th holes and had 14 pars on his card, including six straight pars to close out his round, as he earned runnerup honors with a 1-over 72 that left him four shots behind Traynor.

   Dover senior Lawson Leeper, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier, finished a shot behind Gohel in third place with a 2-over 73 as he made birdies on the 10^th, 13^th, 16^th and 18^th holes while touring the incoming nine in 2-under 34.

   Leeper also had nine pars on his card, opening his round with six straight pars.

   Sussex Central junior Jake Hollerback, who captured the title in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship at the St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del. in the spring, finished two shots behind Leeper in fourth place with a 4-over 75.

   Holy Ghost Prep junior Thomas Carpenter, a Bristol resident, and Kevin Cavalluzzo of Doylestown shared fifth place, each posting a 76.

   Carpenter had represented the Philly Junior Tour against stars from the New Jersey Section PGA Junior Tour in the Jon M. Pritsch Memorial Cup at Medford Village Country Club in Medford, N.J. four days earlier.

   Chris Parrish, a senior on the Kingsway golf team in South Jersey, and Michael Liu, a senior on the Archmere Academy golf team and a Garnet Valley resident, finished in a tie for seventh place, each signing for a 7-over 78.

   Like Carpenter, Parrish represented the Philly Junior Tour in the in the Pritsch Cup four days earlier at Medford Village.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 16-to-18 division were Trevor Sieben, a veteran Philly Junior Tour competitor from Medford, N.J., and Justin Marcus, a senior on the Downingtown West golf team, as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each tallying a 79.

   Like Traynor, the boys winner, Firko was coming off a solid showing in the Junior Tour Championship eight days earlier at Chester Valley as she finished in third place.

   Firko made seven birdies at Penn Oaks, getting off to a fast start with back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes and adding another birdie at seven. After a birdie at the 12^th hole, she went back-to-back again with birdies at 14 and 15 before adding the seventh birdie of her round at the finishing hole.

   Firko toured the incoming nine at Penn Oaks in 1-under 35. She finished with four pars on her scorecard.

   Exeter junior Giulia Weisser, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf, made a birdie at Penn Oaks’ finishing hole and had seven pars on her card as she finished six shots behind Firko in second place with an 81.

   Agnes Irwin senior Makalaya Stone, a Garnet Valley resident and a mighty mite who finished in a tie for second place in the Inter-Ac League Championship at French Creek Golf Club in the spring, also closed with a birdie at the 18^th hole and had three pars on her card as she finished in third place with an 85.

   Nicole Tarquinio of Bridgeton, N.J. finished a shot behind Stone in fourth place with an 86, Andi Jones, a senior on the Cheltenham golf team, took fifth with a 93 and Christina St. Pierre, a senior on the Pennsbury golf team, and Shloka Vishwanath, a junior on the Downingtown West golf team, ended up in a tie for sixth, each recording a 94.

   Samantha Matey of Manahawkin, N.J. took eighth place with a 101, Miranda Post of Lincoln University was ninth with a 103 and Emily Renouf of Cinnaminson, N.J. rounded out the field in the girls 16-to-18 division as she finished in 10^th placed with a 111.