Civitella, Updike finish 1-2 in Philly Junior Tour series

   It was a busy week on the Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour with two qualifiers for the Junior PGA Championship and a two-round series at Bellewood Golf Club and Downingtown Country Club.

   Several players with Delco ties in the 13-to-15 division had strong showings in the series Tuesday and Wednesday at Bellewood and Downingtown, respectively, led by Aronimink Golf Club’s Billy Civitella, who had a 75 over the 6,550-yard, par-71 Bellewood layout on the edge of the Schuylkill River and a 78 at the 6,325-yard, par-71 Downingtown course.

   That gave him top honors for the series at 153, three shots clear of Wayne’s John Updike, who fired a 75 at Downingtown after posting an 81 at Bellewood. Also among the top finishers for the series (Bellewood scores listed first) were Jacob Calamaro of Newtown Square (79-83—162, fourth place), Jacob Liberman of Radnor (87-80—167, ninth) and D.J. Colleran of Radnor (84-89—172, 10^th).

Also at Bellewood in the 13-to-15 division, Daniel Bullock of Wayne had a 90, William Condran of Radnor had a 91 and Aj Aivazoglou of Glen Mills had a 93.

   In the 16-to-18 division at Downingtown, Strath Haven senior Jeff Painter finished in a tie for ninth with an 85, Brian Kilroy of Drexel Hill finished in a tie for 17^th with an 89 and Matt Hoppe of Garnet Valley finished in a tie for 26^th with a 104.

   Top honors in that division for the series with to Andrew Kriebel of Pennsburg who had an 81 at Bellewood and a 78 at Downingtown for a 158 total.

   Billy Civitella’s younger brother Kevin competed among the nine-holers and had a 49 at Bellewood and a 47 at Downingtown to finish second in the series at 96. Davis Flannery of Radnor fired a 44 at Downingtown, which, combined with his 48 at Bellewood, gave him the series win with a 92 total.

Also among the nine-holers at Downingtown, James Quinn of Radnor had a 44, Dolan Cox of Newtown Square had a 47 and Heyward George of Newtown Square had a 58. George finished fourth in the series as he had a 57 at Bellewood for a 115 total.

   Recent Bonner-Prendergast graduate Anna Haley finished third in the 16-to-18 division at Downingtown with a 103. Radnor junior Caitlin Bullock teed it up in the 16-to-18 division at Bellewood and finished fifth with a 113. Owen J. Roberts junior Maddie Sager, a state medalist in Class AAA last fall, fired an 84 to take top honors in the division.

   Earlier in the week, Penncrest senior Griffin Colvin carded a 77 to finish third in the 16-to-18 division at the Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour’s stop Monday at Lebanon C.C.

   The event also served as a qualifier for the Junior PGA Championship July 7 at North Hills and Colvin earned a ticket into that field. Tom Fisher of Horsham had the day’s best score, a 2-over 74 over the 6,480-yard, par-72 Lebanon C.C. layout.

   Also earning spots in the field at North Hills were Liberman of Radnor with an 81 and Updike of Wayne with an 82. They were competing in the 13-to-15 division for daily honors at Lebanon and finished second and tied for third, respectively, behind Max Harrington of Emmaus, who took division honors with a 79.

   The week concluded with another Junior PGA Championship qualifier at Avalon Golf Club and Marple Newtown junior Joey Del Franco carded a sparkling 1-over 72 over the 6,325-yard, par-71 layout to finish second in the 16-to-18 division and earn a spot in the field next week at North Hills    Country Club.

   Del Franco finished two shots back of division winner Blaine Lafferty of Marlton, N.J.

   Christopher Pollan of Wayne grabbed one of the 11 berths for North Hills as he had an 80 to finish tied for 10^th. Kevin Seits of Bryn Mawr just missed the cutoff with an 81 that left him in a tie for 12^th.

   Nick Miller and Matthew Davis of Newtown Square grabbed qualifying berths in the 13-to-15 division at they shot matching 80s to finish in a tie for third. Top honors in the division went to Jack Mitchell of Moorestown, N.J. with a 77.

   Radnor’s Flannery just missed the cutoff among the nine-holers as his 47 left him in fifth place. Luke Farquhar of Haddon Heights, N.J. took division honors with a 38.

Medico captures GAP Junior crown

   With all of the Delco contenders knocked out by Wednesday, I went ahead and reported on their results in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys Championship at Riverton Country Club in the Golf  Notebook in Saturday’s print edition of the Daily Times.

   The title was decided Friday as Mariano Medico of Fox Hill Country Club claimed a 3 and 2 decision over Nicolas McCook of Applecross Country Club in the final. McCook reached the final with a 4 and 3 victory in the semifinals over Erik Reisner of Plymouth C.C. Reisner was the Central League champion for Harriton last fall.

   First-flight honors went to Yardley Country Club’s Steve Cerbara, who defeated Nicholas Cappetti of Burlington Country Club, 2-up.

 

Kim has a big week in Delaware

   The Philadelphia Section PGA’s Junior Tour was all over the state of Delaware last week with its three-day Rehoboth Beach Series presented by Club Champion hitting three courses and the week getting started with the Rehoboth Junior Open.

   One of the stars of the week was Radnor sophomore Gabby Kim, who topped the 13-to-15 division at all three stops on the Rehoboth Beach Series to easily win the overall series title.

Kim reached the second day of the Class AAA District One Tournament as a freshman last fall, but struggled on Day 2 at Turtle Creek Golf Club and failed to advance to the East Regional.

But she continues to work had and that effort was certainly paying off in the Diamond State last week.

   Kim wrapped up her week with an 84 Thursday at the Bayside Resort Golf Club in Selbyville, Del. That gave her a 10-shot edge over runnerup Rylie Heflin of Avondale for the day at Bayside and, combined with the 80 she shot at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club Tuesday in Dagsboro, Del. and the 85 she posted at Bear Trap Dunes Wednesday in Ocean View, Del., gave her a whopping 21-shot margin over Heflin for the series.

   The final stop at Bayside also acted as a qualifier for the Philadelphia Section Junior PGA championship, which will be held July 7 at North Hills Country Club. Jacob Calamaro of Newtown Square carded an 81 to finish in a tie for 11^th and earned one of the spots in the 13-to-15 field at North Hills. Calamaro fired a 75 in the series opener at Cripple Creek and added another 75 the next day at Bear Trap Dunes.

   The Bayside event concluded a week of dominance for reigning District One champion Kyle Vance, a sophomore at Methacton. Vance, competing in the 13-to-15 division, had his worst round of the week at Bayside with a 1-under 71 that left him tied for the top spot with Joe Parrini of York.

Vance lost the daily honor to Parrini at Bayside in a match of cards, but that’s about all he lost during the week. He opened the week by taking top honors in the Rehoboth Junior Open with a 74 at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. The Reheboth Junior Open served as a tuneup for the Rehoboth Beach Series and Vance was just getting started.

   He took top honors at Cripple Creek with a blistering 5-under 67 and then went low again the next day at  Bear Trap Dunes with another 5-under 67.

   Vance’s combined total in the three events that comprised the series was 205, 19 shots clear of runnerup R.J. Wrenn.

   Also Thursday at Bayside, Michael Hoare of Mechanicsburg took top honors for the day in the 16-to-18 division with an even-par 72. That wrapped up the series title for Hoare, who had a 75 at Cripple Creek and a 78 at Bear Trap Dunes for a 225 total.

   Also at Bayside in the 16-to-18 division, Nick Andreades of Broomall had a 97, Nicholas Alizzi of Havertown had a 103 and Matthew Hoppe of Garnet Valley had a 107. At Bear Trap Dunes, Hoppe had a 92, Alizzi had a 96 and Andreades had a 107. At Cripple Creek, Hoppe had a 97, Andreades had a 102 and Alizzi posted a 111. Also at Cripple Creek, Patrick Lyons of Glen Mills carded a 97.

June Kim of Wayne competed with the nine-holers in all three legs of the series. After struggling to a 61 at Cripple Creek, Kim improved to a 47 at Bear Trap Dunes and concluded with a 52 at Bayside for a 160 total.

   Julia Devine of Media teed it up in all three legs of the series in the 16-to-18 division, carding a 102 at Cripple Creek, a 98 at Bear Trap Dunes and a 109 at Bayside for a 309 total. Morgan Frazier of Mechanicsburg topped the field in the division for the series with a 90 at Cripple Creek, an 83 at Bear Trap Dunes and an 82 at Bayside for a 255 total.

   The week started with the Rehoboth Junior Open and Media’s Devine posted a 101 to finish fifth in the 16-to-18 division. Emily Gilbert of Gilbertsville took top honors in the divison with a 91.

Also at Rehoboth Beach Country Club, Lyons of Glen Mills posted a 102 to finish 32^nd in the 16-to-18 division.

Hummer bests nine-holers

   Case Hummer of Glen Mills fired a 1-under 34 at Flourtown Country Club to take top honors as just the nine-holers competed in a Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour stop Friday.

Hummer had two birdies against one bogey in taking top honors.

   Kevin Civitella of Aronimink Golf Club took second place in a match of cards with Stephen Lorenzo of Lower Gwynedd after they both carded 40s.

   Other finishers at Flourtown included Davis Flannery of Radnor in fifth place with a 42, James Quinn of Radnor in a tie for sixth at 43, Dolan Cox of Newtown Square and Joseph Morganti of Havertown in a tie for 11^th at 45, Alec Stern of Bryn Mawr in a tie for 11^th with a 47, Jackson Fields of Glen Mills in 15^th with a 48, David Merz of Swarthmore in a tie for 15^th with a 49, June Kim of Wayne in 20^th with a 51, Nicholas Cardow of Wallingford in 24^th place with a 54, Nicky Scarpone of Havertown in a tie for 25^th with a 55 and Aidan Lowe of Villanova in 27^th with a 62.