Millichip edges Robertson in final to capture title in WGAP Match Play Championship at Hershey's Mill

 

   Barbora Millichip is a native of Czechia, but has increasingly popped up doing good things on the golf course in the Philadelphia area from her base at Honeybrook Golf Club.

   Saw her celebrate when she earned a trip to the 2022 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Fiddlesticks Country Club’s Long Mean Course in Fort Myers, Fla. in a local qualifier staged at Stonewall’s North Course.

   A year ago, Millichip reached the final of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship at Trenton Country Club before falling to White Manor Country Club’s Jill Burks, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga.

   This year, Millichip got to the final again and reversed the outcome, claiming a 2-up victory over Allie Robertson of RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve July 29^th at Hershey’s Mill Golf Club.

   The WGAP Match Play Championship isn’t what it once was, but Millichip’s name goes on the Glenna Collett Vare Cup along with some of the greats in the history of Philadelphia area women’s golf alongside Dottie Porter, Helen Sigel Wilson, Ann Laughlin-Fulginiti, Meghan Stasi (she was Meghan Bolger when she won the title seven straight times from 1999 to 2005), the winning U.S. Curtis Cup captain at Bel-Air Country Club in June, and Laura Hammond, the current executive director of WGAP.

   The Senior Division actually had more competitors at Hershey’s Mill and Lisa Day made it a sweep for Honeybrook as she rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over DuPont Country Club’s Angie Coleman in the final July 30^th.

   Millichip got the jump on Robertson in the final with wins at the first and second holes. Robertson got one back with a win at the third hole, Millichip restored her 2-up edge by taking the fourth and Robertson again battled back with a win at six to cut her deficit to 1-down.

   Wins at the seventh and 11^th holes gave Millichip a commanding 3-up lead, but Robertson wasn’t done as she took the 12^th and 14^th holes to creep within 1-down with four holes to go.

   Millichip, however, grinded out halves at the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th holes before getting a win at the last to complete her 2-up victory.

   Millichip reached the final with a 2 and 1 victory in the semifinals over Rolling Green Golf Club’s Alaina Carson, a junior at Cardinal O’Hara who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf.

   Robertson earned a 3 and 2 decision over Concord Country Club’s Sophia DeSantis, a scholastic standout at West Chester Rustin who is a junior on the golf team at Fairfield.

   The four semifinalists comprised the entire field and Robertson earned medalist honors in qualifying July 27^th with an 8-over 79.

   Carson was a shot behind Robertson in second place with an 80, Millichip was third with an 85 and DeSantis was fourth with an 86.

   In the Senior Championship, Day ripped off consecutive wins at the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to turn a 1-down deficit into a 3-up advantage.

   Coleman got a win at the 10^th hole to cut her deficit to 2-down, but Day responded by taking the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes, giving her a commanding 5-up advantage. Day needed just a half at the 14^th hole to finish off her 5 and 4 victory.

   Day reached the final by pulling out a thriller on the 19^th hole over her Honeybrook clubmate Allison Long.

   Day was 3-down when she picked up wins at the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes to even the match. Long grabbed a 2-up advantage by taking the 15^th and 16^th holes, but Day battled back with wins at 17 and 18 to send the match to extra holes before pulling out the victory.

   It was another tight semifinal in the other half of the bracket as Coleman earned a 1-up decision over Nancy Jones of Radley Run Country Club.

   Coleman was staring at a 4-down deficit after eight holes, but rallied with wins at the 10^th, 14^th, 15^th and 17^th holes to even the match before completing her comeback by taking the 18^th to advance to the final.

   Coleman had sprung a huge upset in the quarterfinals with a 2 and 1 victory over three-time defending champion Suzi Spotleson.

   Spotleson listed Scottsdale, Ariz. as her home when she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Ore. a year ago, falling to 2023 champion Sarah Gallagher.

   But Spotleson, playing out of RiverCrest, always seems to make room on her schedule for the week of the WGAP Match Play Championship.

   Day had opened her journey to the title with a 9 and 7 victory over Jaynee Costanzo of Hartefeld National Golf Club.

   Long earned a 5 and 4 decision over Muffy McCabe of French Creek Golf Club to set her semifinal showdown with Day.

   Jones reached the semifinals by edging Diane Cardano-Cascio of Cedarbrook Country Club in a 20-hole thriller.

   Long was the medalist in qualifying with a solid 7-over 78 at Hershey’s Mill. Day and Cardano-Cascio finished in a tie for second place, each tallying an 81.

   In the Senior First Flight final, Diane Bartunek of RiverCrest defeated Overbrook Golf Club’s Karen McFadden.

   Bartunek reached the final with a 4 and 2 victory over Tish Lawson of Talamore Country Club in the semifinals. McFadden cruised to a 4 and 3 decision over Lisa Dichter of Meadia Heights Golf Club in her semifinal match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Manor's Turner tames Sandy Run with a 66 to capture title in Jock MacKenzie Memorial

 

   White Manor Country Club’s Logan Turner made an immediate impact in his rookie season of high school golf at Devon Prep last fall.

   Turner finished in a tie for 15^th place in his debut in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State’s White Course and then helped Devon Prep finish in third place in the Class AA team chase.

   Turner was pretty quiet for much of this summer, but that all changed when he fired a sizzling 6-under-par 66 July 28^th at Sandy Run Country Club in Oreland to capture the title in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s final major junior event of the summer, the 42^nd Jock MacKenzie Memorial.

   Turner made a birdie at the first hole, but really heated up when he ripped off three straight birdies at seven, eight and nine.

   He added three more birdies on Sandy Run’s incoming nine at the 13^th, 15^th and 16^th holes to get it to 7-under for the round before finishing up with a bogey at Sandy Run’s closing hole, the only blemish on his scorecard.

   It left Turner three shots clear of runnerup Seiji Sako, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Lower Merion last fall with a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship, as Sako put together a solid 3-under 69.

   Sako, playing out of McCall Golf Club, has had a really strong summer, including a victory in the Christman Cup, another of GAP’s major championships for juniors, at the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve earlier in July. He is headed for Penn State and plans to try to make the golf team as a walk-on.

   A McCall guy I ran into at the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club said that Penn State has become aware that they have a pretty good player coming to Happy Valley and plan to give Seiko a shot at joining the program.

   Not sure if there’s scholarship money involved or if he will be a preferred walk-on, but Sako has certainly proven that he’s capable of playing at a pretty high level.

   Turner was well aware that anytime you win one of GAP’s major championships for junior golfers, you’re beating a deep and talented group of players. Turner’s 66 equaled the Jock MacKenzie record established by Phoenixville Country Club’s Morgan Lofland, who starred scholastically at Conestoga and collegiately at Penn State, in 2020.

   “Tying the tournament record is really cool,” Turner told the GAP website. “GAP’s history is really strong and over a long period of time. To be part of that is really cool. I’ve been wanting to win a GAP tournament ever since I started playing. It really means a lot of me.”

   The trio of Llanerch Country Club’s Bryce Ciochetto, Waynesborough Country Club’s Gavin Reger, Quinn Gallagher, another McCall guy, and The Legacy Club’s Tyler Whitney shared third place, each ending up a shot behind Sako with a 2-under 70.

   Cicochetto wrapped up his scholastic career at Haverford High by qualifying for the District One Class AAA Championship last fall. Reger, Cicochetto’s Central League rival in his freshman season at Radnor, helped the Raptors finish in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AAA team chase, just a shot behind state champion Unionville.

   Gallagher will be a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School this season.

   Gallagher’s teammate with the Fords, Merion Golf Club’s Sean Curran, headed a group of four players that rounded out the top 10 in the Junior Boys division of the Jock MacKenzie as he posted a 1-under 71.

   Curran, who is joining the program at Penn in the Ivy League, was the Inter-Ac League’s best player as a junior in the fall of 2024, sweeping to titles in the Bert Linton Memorial for the Inter-Ac's individual crown and in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship and leading the Fords to the Inter-Ac championship before dropping off only slightly as a senior last fall. He captured the title in the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Merion’s West Course in the summer of 2025.

   Joining Curran at 1-under were Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Adam Cifra, a senior at Catholic League power La Salle, Overbrook Golf Club’s Lannon Boyd, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at Radnor last fall, and RiverCrest’s Colby Komancheck, who will be one of the Inter-Ac’s top returning players as a senior at Malvern Prep this season.

   Sako’s showing at Sandy Run enabled him to wrap up the Harry Hammond Award, a summer-long stroke-play competition that includes rounds from GAP’s major championships for junior players.

   Sako recorded a 74 in qualifying for match play in the Junior Boys’ Championship at Chester Valley and a 67 in winning the Christman Cup, shortened from 36 holes to 18 holes by stormy weather, along with his 69 in the Jock MacKenzie to finish with a 3-under 210 total.

   Boyd, who is joining the program at Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10, and Komancheck shared second place, three shots behind Sako.

   Boyd lost in a playoff to his Central League rival Sako after Boyd matched Sako’s 4-under 67 in the Christman Cup at RiverCrest.

   Sako and Boyd wrapped up their careers as junior golfers by representing GAP in the 62^nd Williamson Cup, a gathering of nine teams of junior golfers from nine golf associations, included two from Canada, hosted by the Metropolitan Golf Association at Knickerbocker Country Club in Tenafly, N.J. Aug. 10^th and 11^th.

   Rounding out the GAP team were Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, a junior at Cinnaminson High who claimed the title in the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship at Chester Valley, and The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt, a Strath Haven standout who lost in the GAP Junior Boys final to Lane.

   Kleinschmidt is joining the program at PSAC power Millersville.

   Pretty good testament to Central League golf that three of the four members of the GAP team came out of the Central.

   Sako earned a share of medalist honors with David Kim from the Maryland State Golf Association in the individual scoring as each landed on 3-under 141.

   Sako added a 1-under 71 to his opening round of 2-under 70 while Kim matched par in the opening round with a 72 and caught Sako with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the second round.

   Kim led MSGA to the team crown with a 9-under total. Sako led the way for GAP as it earned runnerup honors, nine shots behind MSGA at even-par.

   In the Jock MacKenzie Junior Girls division, Valleybrook Country Club’s Cara Chojnacki was the lone entry and carded a 103.

   In the Junior-Junior Boys division, Llanerch’s Ryan Comly blitzed the incoming nine at Sandy Run with a sizzling 3-under 33, the lowest score in the history of the event, to capture the title.

   After opening his round with a bogey at the 10^th hole, Comly ripped off three straight birdies at 13, 14 and 15 before adding a fourth birdie at 17.

   Overbrook’s Bobby Stefanski and Gulph Mills Golf Club’s Jack Gilbert, the son of Gulph Mills head pro Tom Gilbert, shared second place as each signed for a 2-under 34.

   Baylor Keim of Huntingdon Valley Country Club took fourth place with a 1-over 37 and Ryan Diamond, a GAP Youth on Course representative, rounded out the top five as he finished fifth with a 40.

   In the Junior-Junior Girls division, Huntingdon Valley’s Stella Seese finished at the top of the leaderboard with a 48.

   Annie Remaker, playing on her home course at Sandy Run, finished two shots behind Seese in second place with a 50.

   Northampton Valley Country Club’s Avery Jaffe rounded out the field in the Junior-Junior Girls division as she finished a shot behind Remaker in third place with a 51.

 

 

 

 

 

Milone, Traynor share Philly Junior Tour victory as they scorch Wilmington North with 67s

 

   Nicholas Milone of Bryn Mawr and Harry Traynor, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Great Valley last fall, both blitzed the North Course at Wilmington Country Club with a 4-under-par 67 to finish in a tie atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop July 27^th.

   Milone ripped off three straight birdies at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, added back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including four straight pars to open his round and another run of four straight pars from 13 through 16.

   Milone toured the outgoing nine at Wilmington North in 3-under 32.

   Traynor made birdies at the first, fifth, 10^th, 11^th, 16^th and 18^th holes and had 11 pars on his card, including two separate strings of four pars in a row from six through nine and again from 12 through 15. Traynor was a dazzling 4-under 32 on Wilmington North’s incoming nine.

   Quinn Gallagher, another Bryn Mawr resident and a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School, made birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes and had 15 pars on his card, matching the card with nine straight pars to open his round, as he finished three shots behind Milone and Traynor in third place with a 1-under 70.

   J.D. Radio of West Chester took fourth place with a 1-over 72, Frank Kunze, a junior on the Garnet Valley golf team was fifth with a 74 and Trey Barkman, another West Chester guy, and Ben Nowland, a junior on the Avon Grove golf team, finished in a tie for sixth place, each posting a 76.

   Kunze’s Garnet Valley teammate, Jack Ferm, a senior who was a District One Class AAA qualifier a year ago, headed a six-player logjam that rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for eighth place, each signing for a 77.

   Quinn Marshall, who wrapped up his junior season at the Wilmington Friends School by finishing in third place in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at Baywood Greens in the spring, was also in the group tied at 77.

   Rounding out the gang of six tied for eighth place at 6-over were Pierce Drake, a senior on the Downingtown East golf team, Ben Fifer of Wyoming, Del., Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown and Christian Bennett of Wilmington, Del.

   Brody Campbell, a Plymouth Meeting resident and a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, matched the 4-under 67s registered by Milone and Traynor with a sizzling effort of his own as he earned a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division.

   Campbell opened his round with five straight birdies as he scorched Wilmington North’s outgoing nine in 5-under 30. He added another birdie at the 11^th hole and had 10 pars on his scorecard, including a string of five straight pars from six through 10.

   Daniel Ross, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Souderton, last fall, went back-to-back twice on Wilmington North’s back nine with birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes and then again at 16 and 17, as he earned runnerup honors with a sparkling 1-under 70.

   Ross had 12 pars on his card, including a run of seven straight pars from the third through the ninth holes.

   Charles Blok of Downingtown made birdies at the 13^th and 15^th holes and had 14 pars on his card, including a string of nine consecutive pars from four through 12, as he finished in third place by matching par with a 71.

   Preston Minio of Lansdale, coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory the previous week at Raven’s Claw Golf Club, took fourth place with a 2-over 73.

   Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr, coming off a victory the previous week in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior-Junior Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s St. Martins Course, finished in fifth place with a 74.

   Bobby Stefanski of Newtown Square, coming off co-medalist honors in a Philly Junior Tour stop the previous week at The Bucks Club, finished in sixth place with a 75.

   Helmut Dang, another Newtown Square guy, Noah Gates of Ardmore and Tucker Detwiler, a West Chester resident and a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, shared seventh place, each ending up with a 76.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was a foursome tied for 10^th place at 78 that included Jack D’Emilio of Wilmington, Del., Jack Ferry of Port Deposit, Md., Baylor Keim of Blue Bell and Carter Bove of Kennett Square.

   Brooke Burge, a senior on the Appoquinimink golf team, had seven pars on her scorecard, finishing up her round with back-to-back pars at the 17^th and 18^th holes, as she earned a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with an 82.

   Kallista Spence of Phoenixville earned runnerup honors in a short field as she tallied a 108.

   Looks like the 13-to-15 girls were halted by weather after 14 holes with He Hannah of Chadds Ford, Molly Wagner, a Newark, Del. resident and a junior on the St. Mark’s golf team, and Emma Cowan of Moorestown, N.J. shared medalist honors as each were at 16-over 71 when weather forced them off the golf course.

   Hannah had four pars on her scorecard, going back-to-back with pars at the 12^th and 13^th holes. Wagner had four pars on her card, three of them on Wilmington North’s outgoing nine. Cowan had four pars on her card, three of them also coming on the front nine.

   Rachel Santoso, a sophomore on the Downingtown East golf team, finished four shots behind the co-medalists in fourth place with a 75.

   Mae Racowski of Newtown Square took fifth place with an 87, Hridya Shah of Downingtown was sixth with a 94 and Finley Campbell of West Chester rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished seventh with a 96.

   James Wilson of Wilmington, Del. made birdies at the 15^th and 18^th holes and had five pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with an even-par 36.

   Jack Kolmer of Wayne, in the middle of a stretch on the Philly Junior Tour in which he could be found hanging out at or near the top of the leaderboard, had five pars on his card, including four straight pars to close out his round, as he earned runnerup honors with a 4-over 40.

   Nolan English of Villanova had three pars on his card, including back-to-back pars at the 16^th and 17^th holes, as he finished in third place with a 42.

   Ryan Stefanski, another member of Newtown Square’s Team Stefanski, took fourth place with a 43, Benny Pollard of Haverford and Julian Kelley of Wilmington, Del. shared fifth, each signing for a 45, and Luca Saienni, another Wilmington, Del. guy, and Kayaan Patel of Mullica Hill, N.J. finished in a tie for seventh, each recording 46.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division was the pair of Jackson Larrabee, another Wilmington, Del. guy, and Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each registering a 47.

   Claire Malbacho of Haverford had three pars on her scorecard, including back-to-back pars at the 13^th and 14^th holes, as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 47.

   Vivian Anderson of Wilmington, Del. made a par at the 17^th hole as she earned runnerup honors with a 54.

   Addison Sabatini of West Chester made a par at the 11^th hole as she finished a shot behind Anderson in third place with a 55.

   Katelyn Cunningham of Havertown took fourth place with a 58, Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square and Julie Prickitt of Ambler shared fifth, each posting a 59, and Natalie McKinley of Wilmington, Del. rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as she finished seventh with a 68.