It’s been a pretty good week for western Pennsylvania junior
golfers.
While Palmer Jackson, who captured the PIAA Class AAA
Championship as a senior at Franklin Regional last fall, was making a run to
the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort & Country
Club, his fellow Hannastown Golf Club member Brady Pevarnik was leading the
Western Pennsylvania Golf Association team to its second straight title in the
Williamson Cup.
Pevarnik, who finished in a tie for ninth in the state tournament
as a senior at Greater Latrobe, was the individual winner by three shots and
helped Western Pennsylvania cruise to a nine-shot victory over a solid quartet
of Golf Association of Philadelphia players in in the 56th
Williamson Cup played at Irondequoit Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.
Pevarnik, part of a foursome of Pennsylvania scholastic
standouts preparing to join Greg Nye’s Penn State program, fired a 6-under-par
66 in Monday morning’s opening round before adding a 1-under 71 Monday
afternoon for a sparkling 7-under 137 total.
Pevarnik’s 66 helped Western Pennsylvania post a 7-under 209
total in the opening round, four shots clear of Team GAP. The top three scores
from the four-man teams counted. Pevarnik’s second-round 71 helped Western
Pennsylvania card a 3-under 213 total in the afternoon for a 10-under 422 total
as it repeated its feat of a year ago when it hosted the Williamson Cup at St.
Clair Country Club.
Team GAP, led by Penn Charter junior Patrick Isztwan, who
plays out of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, followed up its opening round of
3-under 213 Monday morning with a 2-over 218 in the afternoon for a 1-under 431
total. Team GAP finished in a tie for second a year ago at St. Clair.
Washington Metropolitan Golf Association was another five
shots behind Team GAP in third place at 4-over 436 after adding a 1-over 217 to
its opening-round 219. The always strong Metropolitan Golf Association from the
New York City area was three shots behind Washington Metropolitan in fourth
place at 439.
Golf Ontario finished fifth at 444, the Syracuse District
Golf Association was sixth at 455, the Buffalo District Golf Association was
seventh at 463, the host Rochester District Golf Association was eighth at 464,
the Delaware State Golf Association was ninth with a 466 total and Golf Quebec
was 10th at 471.
The only other holdover from last year’s Williamson Cup winner
besides Pevarnik, Angus McHolme, a PIAA Class AA qualifier as a senior at
Elizabeth Forward last fall, also had a strong showing at Irondequoit. McHolme
carded a 1-under 71 in the opening round and followed it up with an even-par 72
for a 1-under 143 total.
Neal Shipley, a senior on Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s PIAA
Class AAA championship team last fall, opened with an even-par 72 and had the low
score of the afternoon for Western Pennsylvania, a 2-under 70, for a 2-under
142 total. Shipley finished fourth in the individual scoring.
Scott Blair had scores of 74 and 73 that probably would have
been counters for every other team in the tournament, but were both throw-outs
for the champion Western Pennsylvania team.
Isztwan, the winner of the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League
Championship as a freshman in the fall of 2017, opened with a 4-under 68 and
was only two shots behind Pevarnik in the individual chase.
Isztwan added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon for a 3-under 141
total that left him third place individually, a shot behind Carlo Pizzano of
Washington Metropolitan. Pizzano, who captured the individual title a year ago
at St. Clair, added the afternoon’s best round, a 3-under 69, to his
opening-round 71 for a 4-under 140 total.
Talamore Country Club’s Patrick Sheehan, who will join
Pevarnik at Penn State later this month, had a strong start for Team GAP,
carding a 1-under 71. His afternoon 76 was a throw-out for Team GAP.
Sheehan, who captured the District One Class AAA title as a
senior at Central Bucks East last fall, has played well this summer, winning
the Jock MacKenzie Memorial and falling in the final of the GAP Junior Boys’
Championship. He also qualified for the match-play bracket in the BMW
Philadelphia Amateur at Stonewall.
Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Will Bennink had
the best score of the afternoon for Team GAP, a 2-under 70, after opening with
a 2-over 74. Bennink, who will join the program at Wheaton College in Illinois
this month, was a member of a Unionville team that won the PIAA Class AAA
championship in 2017 and was the runnerup to Pittsburgh Central Catholic last
fall.
Rolling Green Golf Club’s A.J. Aivazoglou, who helped The
Haverford School win the last two Inter-Ac League titles, struggled in the
opening round with a 78, but his 3-over 75 in the afternoon was a counter for
Team GAP.
Aivazoglou, who will join the Fordham program later this
month, finished second to Episcopal Academy’s Jacob Zeng in the Inter-Ac’s
points race compiled from the league’s six regular-season invitationals as a
senior last fall.
Team Delaware was led by recent Mount Pleasant graduate
Nikita Romanov, who opened with an even-par 72 before adding a 77 in the
afternoon. Romanov will join the La Salle program later this month.
Matthew Miller backed up Romanov with a 4-over 76 in the
morning, but struggled in the afternoon with an 88 that Team Delaware tossed.
Anthony Ciconte opened with a 77 before adding an 83 in the afternoon.
Matthew Homer’s opening-round 79 was a throw-out for Team
Delaware, but his afternoon 81 was a counter.
The Williamson Cup was started in 1964 by A. Fred Williamson
in honor of his father, Fred Williamson, who was one of the founders of Winged
Foot Golf Club, which hosts the U.S. Open in 2020.
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