Jolo Timothy Magcalayo has come to the United States from
the Philippines each of the last two years in search of some top-notch junior
competition against which to test his game.
He’s launched those bids by teeing it up in Philadelphia
Section PGA Junior Tour events. He captured a Junior Tour victory at Back Creek
Golf Club in May.
In the opening round of the 44th Boys Junior PGA
Championship at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn. Tuesday, Magcalayo
matched the course record with a sizzling 8-under-par 62 over the 6,446-yard,
par-70 Keney Park layout that gave him a share of the lead with Canon Claycomb
of Bowling Green, Ky.
Magcalayo was actually briefly over par as he made a bogey
on the 11th hole, his second of the day. But he ripped off four
straight birdies at the 13th, 14th, 15th and
16th holes to get it 3-under. He had another three-hole birdie burst
on the first three holes of the outgoing nine. He added a birdie at the fifth
hole and nearly made an ace at the par-3 sixth hole for his ninth birdie of the
day.
“When I am playing my game, every shot should be good,”
Magcalayo, coming off a victory in the AJGA Junior at Chicopee, presented by
John D. Mineck Foundation in Chicopee, Mass., told the PGA of America website.
Claycomb, who plans to join the Alabama program in January,
was just as hot as Magcalayo as he had eight birdies with nary a bogey on his
card.
Magcalayo and Claycomb held a two-shot lead over the pair of
Andy Mao of Johns Creek, Ga. and Peyton Snoeberger of Lafayette, Ind., both of
whom carded a 6-under 64. Mao plans to join the powerhouse Georgia Tech program
and Snoeberger will join the Purdue program later this summer.
Two of Pennsylvania’s top high school players last fall,
Palmer Jackson, the winner of the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at
Franklin Regional, and Central York senior Carson Bacha, the Class AAA East
Regional champion, got off to strong starts at Keney Park.
Jackson, who will join the Notre Dame program later this
month, fired a 4-under 66 and is in the group tied for 11th place.
Jackson is coming off a strong showing in the U.S. Junior
Amateur at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, where he reached the third round
of match play with a stunning 1-up upset of defending champion Michael
Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, Mass. in the second round.
Bacha, who plans to join the Auburn program in the summer of
2020, blitzed the front nine at Keney Park with five birdies for a 5-under 30.
He cooled off on the back nine, but joined the group tied for 24th
place with a 2-under 68.
Bacha made birdies at the second, fourth, sixth, seventh and
ninth holes in a scintillating outgoing nine. He opened the back nine with a
double bogey at the 10th hole and had three more bogeys against two
birdies on the incoming nine.
Austin Barbin of Elkton, Md., winner of the Philadelphia
Boys Junior PGA Championship at The Springhaven Club during a sizzling stretch
of golf that included a victory in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 105th
Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club, matched par at Keney
Park with a 70 and was among the group tied for 52nd.
Barbin, who will join the Maryland program later this
summer, and Magcalayo were also at the Inverness Club for the U.S. Junior
Amateur and both came up a shot short of an 8-for-7 playoff for the final spot
in match play as they checked in at 151.
Jaden Weisman, a recent Westtown School graduate, was the
other player, along with Barbin, to emerge from the Philadelphia Section PGA
Junior Tour qualifier for Keney Park. Weisman landed among the group tied for
87th with a 2-over 72.
The field will be cut after Wednesday’s second round. The
72-hole tournament, one of the biggest events on the national junior calendar, will
conclude Friday.
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