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Saturday, December 29, 2018

This blogger's conclusion after reviewing 2018: The kids are all right


   Looking back at another year of blogging and a little looping at Stonewall …

   The tee times for the opening round of qualifying for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula were out.
   I always like to check them, mostly just to see if any of the alternates from any of the local qualifiers that I had blogged about had managed to sneak into the field. It was in the midst of that process that I had one of those “Wait, what?” moments.
   Sydney Yermish, Wynnewood, Pa.? How could a kid who was just starting to break 40 while competing in the 12-and-under, coed, nine-hole division of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour the previous fall have a starting time in the most prestigious event for junior girls in the world?
   I was pretty sure Sydney was the daughter of Dana Yermish, whom I had been in contact with during the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club because she was a co-chair of the group of Rolling Green members who had staged the event. I still had Dana Yermish’s e-mail address and, with mom’s help, I was able to recount Sydney Yermish’s road to the U.S. Girls’ Junior in a post from the opening day of the tournament.
   At age 12, Sydney Yermish had carded a 74 in a Girls’ Junior qualifier at Old York Country Club at Chesterfield in Chesterfield, N.J. to punch her ticket to Poppy Hills. I have covered some very good players, guys and gals, who have come up just a little short in the cauldron of a USGA qualifier.
   It is one round against a field filled with equally talented youngsters vying for two or three spots in the biggest junior event in the world. Yet Yermish made it in her first try.
   Yermish struggled at Poppy Hills, posting rounds of 86 and 87, although she carded a respectable 39 on her final nine holes.
   I bring up Sydney Yermish’s trip to the U.S. Girls’ Junior to highlight a larger point about 2018 because I can only conclude after this year of blogging that the kids are all right.
   Yes, this blog is largely devoted to the up-and-coming young golfers, but they just were so impressive in 2018. And in many cases, they are better at a younger age than ever before.
   Yermish had turned 13 by the time she booked herself a spot in another of the more high-profile events in junior golf, the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals, broadcast by The Golf Channel the Sunday before the Masters. It has become the highly anticipated kickoff to Masters week with past champions coming out with the sun rising over Augusta National to watch the future of their game unfold.
   Yermish captured the Girls 12-13 division in a regional competition at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. behind a first-place finish with the driver in her hands to earn a trip to Augusta National next spring.
   Some guys who I’m sure Yermish knows well comprised the Delaware 1 team that advanced to the PGA Junior League Championship, presented by National Car Rental, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in November.
   The group was captained by Dave Seeman, a PGA professional at Hartefeld National in Chester County right on the border with Delaware, and coached by Shawn Gross.
   The group was largely comprised of players who had developed their games on the Philadelphia Junior Tour, including two guys who would earn the Graham Company Player of the Year honors on the Junior Tour a few weeks later, Win Thomas in the 13-to-15 age group and Nicholas Gross – pretty sure he’s the pride and joy of coach Shawn Gross – among the nine-holers, the same division from which Yermish sprang in 2018.
   Their teammates included Adrian Jordan, Matthew Normand, Henry Stone, Michael Maslanka, Zac Antao, Jack Homer and Jax Puskar.
   Thomas won eight times on the Junior Tour's wraparound 2017-'18 season, including the overall title in the Junior Tour Championship as one of the youngest competitors in the field.
   If Yermish needs any tips on what to expect at Augusta National, she can check with Gross. His 2018 included a third-place finish in the Boys 10-11 division in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals. He won a whopping 20 times on the Junior Tour in the 2017-’18 Junior Tour campaign.
   A Yermish pal, Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J., was the Junior Tour’s Graham Company Player of the Year in the girls 13-to-15 division. The two of them teamed up to take a shot at qualifying for next spring’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship. They didn’t make it, but carded a very respectable 4-over 76 at Kennett Square Golf & Country Club. Not bad for a couple of 13-year-olds.
   I was able to show up at several stops on the Pennsylvania high school postseason trail, including the Central League and District One championships at Turtle Creek Golf Club, the PIAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club and the PIAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort.
   And many of the names I had come across in local, regional and national junior events during the summer were prominent on the scholastic scene.
   Palmer Jackson, a senior at Franklin Regional who plays out of Hannastown Country Club in Greensburg, had earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club and played all four rounds in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.
   So it wasn’t a huge surprise to see the Notre Dame-bound Jackson deliver Franklin Regional its first PIAA individual champion when he captured the Class AAA crown with a brilliant final round of 4-under 67.
   Central Bucks East senior Patrick Sheehan, who had captured the District One Class AAA crown a couple of weeks earlier, finished in a tie for third place in his first look at Heritage Hills. Like Jackson, Sheehan played all four rounds in the Boys Junior PGA at Valhalla.
   Sheehan had defeated Holy Ghost Prep’s Liam Hart and Central Bucks East’s Luca Jezzeny in a playoff for the district title at Turtle Creek. Hart, the 2017 Class AAA state champion, shared third with Sheehan at Heritage Hills.
   Jezzeny, who had a strong summer that included trips to both the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol and the Boys Junior PGA at Valhalla, finished eighth at Heritage Hills.
   District One had two brother acts at Heritage Hills as Norristown’s Caleb Ryan, who capped his scholastic career by making it to the state championship for a third straight year, and brother Joshua were both in the field for the second year in a row and Unionville’s Bennink twins, Connor and Will, had strong showings.
   Caleb Ryan, the Philadelphia Junior Tour’s Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader in the 16-to-18 division, and Connor Bennink finished in a tie for sixth place, Will Bennink finished in a tie for 12th place and Joshua Ryan finished in a tie for 19th place.
   The Benninks couldn’t quite lead Unionville to a second straight PIAA Class AAA team title, the Indians finishing as the runnerup to Pittsburgh Central Catholic. But it was a pretty nice run for the best team in District One the past two falls.
   A face that kept turning up in every stop I made along the postseason high school trail was that of Harriton left-hander Andrew Wallace. Short of stature but long on heart, Wallace, betrayed by a driver that broke in the middle of the second round at districts, had a share of the lead after the opening round at Heritage Hills before struggling in the second round and finishing in a tie for 15th place.
   The runnerup to Jackson at Heritage Hills was Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Jimmy Meyers, who would lead the Vikings to the team title the next day, and Greater Latrobe’s Brady Pevarnik finished in a tie for ninth place at Heritage Hills. Pevarnik, like Jackson a product of the junior program at Hannastown, led the Pennsylvania Amateur at Johnstown’s famed Sunnehanna Golf Club for two rounds before finishing tied for third.
   Sheehan, Meyers and Pevarnik will all be taking their talents to Penn State, so that’s three pretty good gets for Nittany Lions head coach Greg Nye.
   He was off his game a little at Heritage Hills, finishing in a tie for 12th in Class AAA, but Central York’s Carson Bacha, an Auburn recruit, was brilliant in winning the individual title a week earlier in the East Regional at Golden Oaks and in capturing the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course in the summer.
   The Class AA crown went to William Mirams from Notre Dame in East Stroudsburg. Mirams, playing out of the Shawnee Inn Golf Resort, had reached the final of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship in the summer.
   Devon Prep’s Ryan McCabe, the District 12 champion, got a share of second place behind Mirams at Heritage Hills. McCabe was prominent on Philly Junior Tour leaderboards all summer.
   The Bert Linton Inter-Ac League Championship at Sunnybrook Golf Club was held the same day as the final day of the PIAA Championships, so I couldn’t get there, which means I missed Malvern Prep’s senior captain Andrew Curran firing the round of his life, a brilliant 6-under 66 that gave him the title by seven shots.
   Nobody follows the Inter-Ac like this blog does and Curran’s stunning round probably eased a little of the disappointment he felt from the failure of the Friars and everybody else in the league to figure out a way to stop The Haverford School from claiming its second straight league title.
   It’s not that Malvern Prep and Episcopal Academy, which got a share of second place with the Friars, weren’t good teams. It’s just that the Fords were that good and that deep.
   Haverford School had seven players – A.J. Aivazoglou, Peter Garno, Mac Costin, Sam Walker, David Hurly, Charlie Baker and Jake Maddaloni – finish among the top 12 in the individual points standings compiled over the course of the six invitationals that make up the Inter-Ac’s regular season.
   The Fords also rolled to the title in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship at Gulph Mills Golf Club with the individual crown going to Curran’s fellow Malvern Prep senior Matt Civitella.
   The Inter-Ac girls still play in the spring and for the sixth year in a row I made it to the championship held at Gulph Mills for the third year in a row. And for the second year in a row and the third time in those six years I’ve been there, Agnes Irwin’s Kaitlyn Lees captured the title.
   Before she headed off to Dartmouth to start her college career, Lees would win the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey East for the third time in four years and play four rounds in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Ky.
   Notre Dame’s nine-year run as the Inter-Ac champion was halted by Episcopal Academy. The Churchwomen were led by freshman Lauren Jones, who finished third behind Lees and her Agnes Irwin teammate Meghan Fahey, in the individual championship.
   Lees will be joined at Dartmouth next summer by Samantha Yao, who capped her brilliant scholastic career at Conestoga by finishing in a tie for fifth in the PIAA Class AAA Championship.
   Yao’s pal, Downingtown East’s Liddie McCook, finished tied for 11th at Heritage Hills and led the Vikings to a runnerup finish in the Class AAA team competition. McCook will play college golf at Monmouth.
   A couple of promising youngsters burst onto the scholastic scene in the fall as West Chester East freshman Victoria Kim denied Yao a third straight District One title by winning that championship at Turtle Creek and Pennsbury sophomore Jade Gu was the East Regional winner a week later at Golden Oaks.
   Gu finished alone in seventh at Heritage Hills while Kim shared 11th place with McCook.
   Haverford High was represented in the state championship by sophomore Riley Quartermain, who finished alone in 14th place in her first crack at Heritage Hills.
   A couple of very talented youngsters from Delaware continued to impress in 2018 as Phoebe Brinker   earned a trip to the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills and Jennifer Cleary, like Lees, played four rounds in the Girls Junior PGA at Kearney Hill.
   Brinker of Archmere Academy earned a spot in the match-play bracket at Poppy Hills before falling in the first round. Cleary plays out of Tower Hill.
   Rylie Heflin is from Avondale, but she is a scholastic teammate of Cleary’s at Tower Hill in Delaware. Heflin was the runnerup to Lees in defense of the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship Heflin won in 2017. Cleary, who plays out of Applecross Country Club, finished sixth in the state Junior Girls’ at Hershey East.
   I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple of guys who finished their junior careers in style last summer.
   Former Conestoga standout Ryan Tall went on a remarkable match-play run when he reached the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club and then rolled to GAP’s Junior Boys’ title, defeating Mirams in the final at Blue Bell Country Club. On his way to Lafayette, Tall went 7-1 in two highly competitive match-play events.
   Brian Isztwan, the Inter-Ac’s best player in his final two seasons at Penn Charter, has been a favorite of mine since I looped for him in the 2017 Christman Cup at Stonewall’s North Course. He capped a strong junior career by earning a trip to the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol. He failed to make match play, but Harvard got itself a good one in that guy.
   The national scene was equally rich in standout youngsters. I have been a Lucy Li fan ever since the California Kid lit up Rolling Green Golf Club with rounds of 67 and 68 in qualifying for match play in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur at 13.
   In a stretch of eight weeks or so this summer, Li was incandescent, even in defeat. She was the darling of the Fox Sports crew that broadcast the Curtis Cup Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. And to the hard-core golf fans who showed up to root on the US of A to a rousing 17-3 victory over Great Britain & Ireland as well, I’m sure.
   Li had some company in the phenom department in the Girls Junior PGA at Kearney Hill as fellow Cali girl Yealimi Noh blazed her way to the title with a 24-under 264 total. Another teen star, Floridian Alexa Pano, was fourth at Kearney Hill at 17-under 271 while Li settled for a share of sixth at 13-under 275.
   Li followed that up with a remarkable 9-under 62 in the opening round of qualifying for match play in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills.
   By the time a foggy week at Poppy Hills reached its final day, Li and Pano were matched in the semifinals with Noh in the other semi. Pano pulled out a 1-up decision over Li and she and Noh went at it for 33 more holes in the final with the red-hot Noh claiming a 4 and 3 victory. Pano played 51 holes and Noh 49.
   Noh, who turned 17 the week after the U.S. Girls’ Junior, will bypass college golf and plans to turn pro at some point in 2019.
   Li was at it again a couple of weeks later, firing a brilliant 6-under 65 in the second round of qualifying in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Golf Club of Tennessee to get a share of medalist honors. Pano, who was the leader after the opening round of qualifying with a sparkling 66, and Noh also made the match-play bracket.
   Li made it all the way to the semifinals at The Golf of Tennessee before falling to her Curtis Cup teammate and eventual U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Kristen Gillman, 1-up, in a tremendous match.
   On the boys side, two guys dominated the junior scene with Cole Hammer and Akshay Bhatia hooking up in the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol. Hammer, making his junior swan song, fell, 4 and 2, to Bhatia in a riveting match before Bhatia dropped a 1-up decision to  Michael Thorbjornsen in a hard-fought 36-hole final that went the distance.
   A week later, Bhatia nervelessly bumped a little chip shot from the deep rough behind the 18th green at Valahalla and watched the ball trickle down the slope and into the hole for an eagle that gave him his second straight title in the Boys Junior PGA. It was about as good a shot to win a golf tournament as you’ll ever see. Like Noh, Bhatia plans to bypass college golf and turn pro.
   Hammer arrived on the Monterey Peninsula for the U.S. Amateur fresh off an impressive win in the Western Amateur at Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Ill., 72 holes of qualifying and four matches.
   The Texan added a 4-under 68 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course to his opening round of 2-under 69 at the iconic Pebble Beach Golf Links to get a share of medalist honors. Hammer made it all the way to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Viktor Hovland, a Norwegian who added a U.S. Amateur title to the NCAA team crown he helped Oklahoma State claim in the spring.
   I didn’t check in much on the first fall of Hammer’s college career at Texas, but I’m sure he’ll be a key figure for the Longhorns in the spring of 2019.
   There weren’t any big tournaments at Stonewall in 2018, but I did manage to hook up again with Jeff Frazier and Brent Will, a couple of Harrisburg area guys, for the Fall Scramble.
   I was, at the very least, an effective good-luck charm when Frazier, a talented left-hander who has played in, I believe, seven U.S. Mid-Amateur Championships, and the long-hitting Will won the Fall Scramble in 2016. I watched in awe as they carded a brilliant 8-under 62 on a chilly day with a fierce wind on the Old Course and added another 62 in the second round at the North Course.
   They didn’t quite have the same magic this year, although they never stopped competing in a second round that was played in temperatures in the low 40s, an occasional drizzle and a steady 20 mph wind. The occasional drizzle was the leftovers of an overnight drencher that dropped upwards of two inches of rain on the golf course.
   The weather? Yeah, let’s not talk about the weather in 2018. It was not good.
   What was good were all the tremendously talented young kids who proved that the future of golf is bright.
   Did I miss somebody in this year-ender? Undoubtedly, because there are just so many talented youngsters out there. But the beauty of the blog is that if you finished in the top 10 in a Junior Tour event in 2018, you’re in here somewhere.
   And I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next Sydney Yermish who comes storming out of the Junior Tour nine-holers onto a national stage in 2019. She proved it can happen.










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