Holt heats up on back nine at Blackwood to capture a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Thomas Holt IV of Haddonfield, N.J. torched the incoming nine at Blackwood Country Club in Blackwood, N.J. with a 3-under-par 33 on his way to a 1-under 71 that gave him a victory in the 13-to-15 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop June 10^th.

   Holt made birdies at the third and ninth holes to get his round going, but then really heated up on Blackwood’s back nine, going back-to-back with birdies 11 and 12 and adding another birdie at 17.

   Holt had nine pars on his scorecard, six of them on the back nine, including a run of four straight pars from 13 through 16.

   Rayan Shah, who helped George School capture the Friends Schools League championship as a sophomore this spring, punctuated his round with an eagle at the par-5 17^th hole as he finished three shots behind Holt in second place with a 2-over 74.

   Shah also made a birdie on the fourth hole and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from five through eight.

   Jack Ferry of Port Deposit, N.J. finished up his round with a birdie at the 18^th hole and had 11 pars on his card, including a run of five straight pars from eight through 12, as he ended up in third place with a 5-over 77.

   The trio of Brody Campell, a Plymouth Meeting resident and a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, Sam Whitehouse of Pottstown and Helmut Dang of Newtown Square finished in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 78.

   Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr and Jackson Roy of Medford, N.J. finished in a tie for seventh place, each tallying a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Ethan Moran, a sophomore on the Spring-Ford golf team, and Thayer Boyd of Kennett Square as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each recording an 80.

   Trey Barkman of West Chester matched Holt’s 1-under 71 for the low round overall among the guys as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division.

   Barkman made birdies at the second and sixth holes on Blackwood’s outgoing nine, went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and had 11 pars on his scorecard, including a string of five straight pars from seven through 11. Barkman toured the incoming nine at Blackwood in 1-under 35.

   A.J. Sundstrom, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Parkland last fall, Nicholas Fargnoli of Mickleton, N.J. and Ryan Bechtel of Cherry Hill, N.J. finished in a tie for second place, each posting a 79.

   Sundstrom made birdies at the fourth and 10^th holes and had eight pars on his card. Fargnoli made a birdie at the 13^th hole and had 10 pars on his card. Bechtel made birdies at the seventh and 16^th holes and had nine pars on his card, opening his round with four straight pars.

   Justin Wheeler of Warminster took fifth place with an 80 and Everett Harrold, a senior on the Central York golf team, and Bradford Bergstrom of Moorestown, N.J. shared sixth, each landing on 81.

   Benjamin Perticari of West Deptford, N.J. took eighth place with an 83 and Cole Kelly of Philadelphia was a shot behind Perticari in ninth with an 84.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Carter Hemminger, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Upper Moreland last fall, and Anderson Tineo of Mount Royal, N.J. as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each registering an 88.

   The best score among the girls at Blackwood came from Morgan Tyhanic of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., who was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division. Tyhanic had seven pars on her scorecard, finishing up her round with back-to-back pars at the 17^th and 18^th holes to card an 88.

   Hailey Cousins of Port Republic, N.J. had three pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 90.

   Elkins Park’s Team Brillman, Evelyn Brillman and older sister Eleanor Brillman, rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as they finished 2-3, respectively.

   Evelyn Brillman had three pars on her card, all of them on the outgoing nine at Blackwood, as she claimed low-Brillman honors with a 94.

   Eleanor Brillman had four pars on her card, three of them on the incoming nine at Blackwood, as she finished a shot behind her younger sister with a 95.

   Sid Joshi of Coopersburg made pars on the second and eighth holes as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 7-over 43.

   Cameron Persons of Collegeville and Kash Gray of Eagleville shared runnerup honors as each ended up a shot behind Joshi with a 44.

   Persons made back-to-back pars at the second and third holes and went back-to-back again with pars at six and seven. Gray opened his round with three straight pars at the first, second and third holes.

   Aidan Herbert of New Hope took fourth place with a 45, Andrew Herman of Telford was fifth with a 46 and the trio of Charlie Weaver of West Chester, Ryan Stefanski of Newtown Square and Caleb Solano of Vineland, N.J. finished in a tie for sixth, each signing for a 47.

   Jordan Chase of Philadelphia took ninth place with a 48 and Jaxon Bucci of Marlton, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished 10^th with a 52.

   Claire Melbacho of Haverford made back-to-back pars at the third and fourth holes and added another par at eight as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 45.

   Olivia Konieczki of Sewell, N.J. rounded out a short field in the girls 12-and-under division as she made consecutive pars at the second, third and fourth holes to finish in second place with a 50.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kleinschmidt, Lane each win two matches to reach final of GAP Junior Boys' Championship at Chester Valley

 

   Luca Kleinschmidt, a recent Strath Haven graduate, will carry the Central League banner into the final of the 112^th Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship.

   Kleinschmidt, playing out of The Springhaven Club, capped an impressive three days at Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County with a surgical 3 and 2 victory over Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Liam Littleton, a senior on the golf team for Catholic League power La Salle, in a semifinal match Wednesday afternoon.

   Kleinschmidt’s opponent in the final will be Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, a junior at Collingswood High who took down the defending champion, Merion Golf Club’s Sean Curran, a recent graduate of The Haverford School, with a 2 and 1 victory in the other semifinal.

   The final, as well as the First Flight final between Union League Golf Club at Torresdale’s Logan Cassidy, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, and Mountain View Country Club’s Luke McGraw, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a junior at State College last fall, will have to wait.

   Golf course availability being what it is at this time of the year, the two finals will be played at a later date.

   It dates back to the nasty summer storm that rolled through Cheser Valley during Monday’s stroke-play qualifying.

   The 18-year-old Kleinschmidt, who arrived relatively late to competitive golf, beat the storm Monday, carding a 1-over 71 over the 6,631-yard, par-70 Chester Valley layout, which held up for a share of medalist honors.

   Kleinschmidt, who will join the program at PSAC power Millersville later this summer, had been the medalist in the GAP Junior Boys a year ago before falling in the quarterfinals.

   But Kleinschmidt was a man on a mission this year.

   After rolling to an 8 and 6 victory over Nathan Goblirsch, a GAP Youth on Course entry, in Tuesday’s round of 16, Kleinschmidt cruised into the semifinals with a 6 and 5 victory in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals over Galloway National Golf Club’s Paul Reilly.

   Kleinschmidt stayed patient in his semifinal showdown with Littleton, who grabbed a 1-up lead when he won the fifth hole.

   Kleinschmidt evened the match by taking the 10^th hole and then quickly grabbed a 1-up lead by winning the 11^th.

   Littleton battled back to even the match by winning the 12^th hole.

   But Kleinschmidt rattled off three straight wins at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to take command of the match, finishing off the burst with a majestic 6-iron from 185 yards away to 16 feet at 15 that led to a third straight win.

   “I’m really grateful for this opportunity,” Kleinschmidt told the GAP website. “I have a strong group of people that are supporting me and it feels really good to prove them right. It’s less about proving people wrong. I felt like that was my mentality originally. I had a tough time getting recruited.

   “I felt I was missing out on opportunities I was good enough for. Originally, I was like, ‘Let’s go prove all these people wrong.’ Hindsight, it’s less about proving people wrong and more about proving to the people that supported you, right. And I think that’s what I’m doing this week.”

   The 16-year-old Lane seems to get a little better every year, dating back to his days competing with the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour nine-holers.

   Lane jumped out to a 4-up lead over Curran, one of the Inter-Ac League’s best players with the Fords the last two falls who will take his talents to the Ivy League when he joins the program at Penn later this summer.

   Curran got a win at the ninth hole to cut his deficit to 3-down, but Lane quickly restored his 4-up lead with a win at 10.

   But Curran wasn’t going away. He ripped off wins at the 11^th, 12^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to get the match back to even, highlighting that run with an eagle at the par-5 14^th.

   You’d think Lane would be rattled, but he calmly got back in front by sticking a 52-degree wedge from 120 yards away at the 430-yard, par-4 16^th hole to eight feet, leading to a win.

   At the 387-yard, par-4 17^th hole, Lane’s tee shot clipped a tree and he was forced to punch the ball out. He hit a sand wedge to 20 feet.

   Curran, who had driven it in the fairway, saw his approach trickle off the back. After a poor chip, Curran three-putted, missing a four-footer for bogey.

   Lane cozied his par putt to three feet and dropped that one for a winning bogey.

   Lane reached the semifinals with a 6 and 4 victory over McCall Golf Club’s Seiji Sako, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Lower Merion with a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, in a quarterfinal match Wednesday morning.

   Curran reached the semifinals with a 1-up victory over his Merion clubmate and Haverford School teammate Nicky Nemo in a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match that was a rematch of last year’s final won by Curran at Merion’s West Course.

   Curran charged out to a 5-up lead through 10 holes only to see his friend and rival cut the deficit to 1-down going to the 18^th hole.

   After a poor drive forced Curran to punch out of the trees, he lifted a 9-iron from 160 yards away to five feet for a winning par that enabled him to hold off Nemo.

   A third Central League standout and a third Merion member among the final eight, Brad McDermott, who capped his senior season at Radnor by reaching the Class AAA state tournament for a second time, suffered a 3 and 1 setback at the hands of Littleton in the other quarterfinal.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Lannon Boyd, the medalist in the Central League Championship for a second time as a senior at Radnor last fall, dropped a 3 and 2 decision to Cassidy in the First Flight semifinals.

   Boyd, who earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer. Boyd and McDermott led the Raptors to a tie for second place with McGraw and State College in the PIAA Class AAA team competition, a shot behind state champion Unionville.

   McGraw, one of the top returning scholastic players in Pennsylvania this year, reached the First Flight final with a 2 and 1 victory over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart in the semifinals.

   Burkhart was coming off a runnerup finish behind Salesianum teammate Joseph Kelly in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship last month at Baywood Greens Golf Course.

   Burkhart and fellow junior Kelly led the Sallies to a runaway victory in the team chase at Baywood Greens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curran, Nemo set up a rematch of last year's final in the quarterfinals of GAP Junior Boys at Chester Valley

 

   The Merion Golf Club pair of Sean Curran and Nicky Nemo, recent graduates of The Haverford School, will reprise their meeting in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship title match a year ago, but this time in the quarterfinals.

   The 112^th GAP Junior Boys’ Championship got behind schedule as a result of Monday’s stormy weather that hit Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County pretty squarely.

   There was still some golf to be played to complete stroke-play qualifying for match play Tuesday morning, although Curran, who defeated his Merion clubmate and Haverford School teammate Nemo in the final at Merion’s West Course a year ago, was exempted into the top seed in match play as the defending champion.

   There was a playoff among seven players who carded 4-over-par 74s for the final five spots.

   The plan was to play two rounds of matches Tuesday and get it down to four semifinalists. But the two suspensions and the resumption of play Tuesday only allowed for the round of 16 matches to be played.

   I’m guessing GAP will try to get in two rounds of matches Wednesday with the two finalists battling it out to put their name on the Peg Burnett Trophy Thursday.

   With the match-play bracket finally set Tuesday, there was no more intriguing round-of-16 matchup than the one between Inter-Ac League rivals Nemo and Aronimink Golf Club’s Liam Crowley, who captured the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship and helped Episcopal Academy capture the Inter-Ac team crown as a junior with the Churchmen last fall.

   The Haverford School-EA rivalry is as intense as any in the Philadelphia region and the Fords have been the dominant power in golf in recent years. But Episcopal Academy claimed Inter-Ac supremacy last fall in an incredibly tight three-way battle among the Churchmen, the Fords and Malvern Prep.

   Nemo and Crowley traded wins on the outgoing nine at Chester Valley, once the home of the Bell Atlantic Classic on what was then called the PGA Senior Tour, and the pair were all even heading for the back nine.

   Nemo, however, grabbed a 2-up lead with consecutive wins at the 10^th and 11^th holes on what looks like were concessions by Crowley.

   Crowley cut the deficit to 1-down by taking the 13^th hole, but Nemo restored his 2-up advantage with a win at 14.

   Crowley kept battling, again cutting his deficit to 1-down with a win at the 16^th hole. But Nemo grinded out halves at the final two holes to pull out a 1-up victory.

   Curran, who is headed for the Ivy League and the program at Penn this summer, never quite recaptured the magic of his junior season when he swept to titles in the Bert Linton and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship and led Haverford School to the Inter-Ac team crown, as a senior last fall.

   Not that he was bad. He had just set a pretty high bar for himself.

   Curran rolled to a 5 and 3 victory over Keller Tannehill of Galloway National Golf Club to set up his rematch with Nemo in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals.

   A couple of Central League standouts, McCall Golf Club’s Seiji Sako, who made a third straight appearance in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Lower Merion last fall, and Radnor’s Brad McDermott, who made a second appearance in the Class AAA state tournament as a senior at Radnor last fall, were survivors of the 7-for-5 playoff with a steady rain coming down in the morning and won their round-of-16 matches in the afternoon to reach the quarterfinals.

   Sako, who earned a spot in the match-play bracket in last week’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Sunnybrook Golf Club, cruised to a 6 and 4 decision over Blue Bell Country Club’s Ty Sheftic, a senior on the Wissahickon golf team.

   Sako earned a mention in GAP’s Day One notebook on the Philly Am last week after he survived a less stressful 10-for-9 playoff to nail down a spot in the match-play bracket. He plans to try to walk on at Penn State. As he has proven these last two weeks, the kid can play.

   Sako’s quarterfinal opponent will be Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, who knocked off another McCall entry, Quinn Gallagher, who will be a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School this fall, with a hard-fought 1-up decision.

   It was an impressive 4 and 3 victory in the round of 16 for McDermott over RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve’s Colby Komancheck, who will be a senior at Malvern Prep this fall and has been one of the Inter-Ac’s top players for the last three falls.

   Komancheck, who captured the individual crown in the PAISAA Championship at Radley Run Country Club to cap his junior season with the Friars, still had three holes left to complete stroke-play qualifying with rain coming down early Tuesday morning.

   Komancheck made three pars to complete a 1-over 71 that gave him a share of medalist honors in qualifying with The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt, a recent Strath Haven graduate.

   McDermott, the son of three-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship winner Michael McDermott, will join the program at Bucknell later this summer.

   McDermott’s quarterfinal opponent will be Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Liam Littleton, a senior on the golf team of Catholic League power La Salle who claimed a 4 and 3 decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s Harry Neilly, yet another Haverford School guy who will be a senior with the Fords this fall.

   Kleinschmidt, a District One Class AAA qualifier in each of his last two seasons at Strath Haven, rolled into the quarterfinals with an 8 and 6 victory over Nathan Goblirsch, a GAP Youth on Course entry from Hammonton, N.J.

   Kleinschmidt’s quarterfinal opponent will be Galloway National Golf Club’s Paul Reilly, who had to go to the 19^th hole to get past Fox Hill Country Club’s Liam Gill, a sophomore on the golf team at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre.

   GAP also crowned a Junior team champion at the end of stroke-play qualifying and Overbrook Golf Club edged Merion by a shot with a 21-over 231 total.

   Overbrook was led by Lannon Boyd, who qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Radnor last fall.

   Boyd, who will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer, just missed out on a spot in the Championship Flight with a 5-over 75. Boyd is still alive in the First Flight, however, after earning a 1-up victory in the round of 16 over Philmont Country Club’s Benjamin Robbins, a senior on the La Salle golf team.

   Boyd’s quarterfinal opponent will be Wilmington Country Club’s Connor Smolenski, another member of Episcopal Academy’s Inter-Ac championship team as a junior last fall, in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals. Smolenski pulled out a 1-up decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s Jesse Shurman in his round-of-16 match.

   Backing up Boyd in Overbrook’s winning team effort were Freddy Hartmann, also a junior on Episcopal’s Inter-Ac championship team last fall, and Cole Berry, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at West Chester Rustin last fall, both of whom tallied a 78.