Wins for Lower Merion's Yermish and Strath Haven make it a Central day at District One Championship

   LIMERICK – It was a pretty good day for the Central League Tuesday in the District One Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club with Lower Merion freshman Sydney Yermish capping a dominant performance in claiming the Class AAA girls crown and surprising Strath Haven pulling out a two-shot victory in the Class AAA team competition, an historic first district golf team crown for the Panthers.

   Two other Central League girls will join Yermish in the Class AAA East Regional field at Golden Oaks Golf Club next week, including sophomore Grace Smith, who played a big role in Strath Haven’s winning team bid, and four Central League guys are also headed for Golden Oaks.

   Pretty good day, too, for the Pioneer Athletic Conference as Norristown junior Josh Ryan claimed an impressive three-shot victory in the District One Class AAA boys competition and Pope John Paul II sophomore Paul Brady captured the AA boys crown.

   Let’s start with Yermish because it was such an impressive performance by a freshman and because I saw more of her round than that of anybody else.

    Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, probably won the tournament with her jaw-dropping 6-under 65 in Monday’s opening round at nearby Raven’s Claw Golf Club. But she bettered par again at the Turtle, playing 5,827 yards for the girls, with a 1-under 71 that was absolutely the highest number she could have shot. Should have been a 68. Maybe better.

   Yermish finished with a 7-under 146 total, five shots ahead of playing partner Jade Gu, a junior at Pennsbury who will be the defending champion in Class AAA next week at Golden Oaks, and six shots ahead of another of her playing partners, Wissahickon’s Elizabeth Beek, another impressive freshman.

   In past years, finishing under par – Gu added a 1-over 73 to the 3-under she shot at Raven’s Claw for a 1-under 141 total and Beek matched par at the Turtle with a 72 after carding a 1-under 70 at the Claw for a 1-under 142 total – would win you a district title. Not this year. Not with Yermish in the field.

   Yermish opened with a birdie on the first hole, but was fighting the driver for a while. The wind turned around out of the north and made things a little difficult. She made a bogey at the 373-yard, par-4 fifth hole to fall back to even for the round.

   “I started with the birdie at one and that was good for momentum,” said Yermish, who finished fifth in the 12-13 Girls division in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National the Sunday of Masters week last spring. “But from two through seven, I just wasn’t right.”

   I caught up with Yermish in time to see her drop a 12-footer that saved par at the par-4 seventh hole after she tried to do too much with her approach and came up short. She was textbook on the par-5 eighth, knocking her approach to 10 feet and draining the birdie putt.

   A misplaced drive on the short, par-4 10^th hole led to a bogey. But then she started heating up.

   A well-executed chip and run at the short, par-4 12^th hole left Yermish eight feet for birdie and she made it.

   A magnificent 6-iron from 185 yards away at the par-5 13^th hole left Yermish with a really good look at eagle from 25 feet. But she was a little too aggressive with the eagle try, blowing it eight feet by and missing the comebacker for a three-putt par.

   A gap wedge at 14 left her 15 feet for birdie. Made it.

   Maybe the tee shot at the 140-yard, par-3 15^th hole was the best display of Yermish’s increasing grasp of the subtlety of club selection.

   “It was back into the wind, so I eased off an 8-iron and flighted it down a little under the wind,” Yermish said. Four feet. Birdie. There just aren’t a whole lot of 13-year-olds who have that shot.

   OK, so Yermish slowed that roll by yanking her approach at the par-4 16^th hole into the water left of the green and three-putted it for a triple bogey.

   “After 15, I knew I had a big enough lead that I could make a triple bogey and still be OK,” Yermish said.

   She was so traumatized by the triple that Yermish hit a pitching wedge from the right rough at the par-4 17^th feet to three feet and made the putt for her fourth birdie on the back nine and sixth of the day.

   Yermish had a pretty good look at birdie at the par-5 18^th hole at Turtle, where all the competitors gather ’round to watch everybody finish. She slid a tough six-footer by and holed the four-footer coming back for par.

   Yermish has played on some big stages already in her young career and that had a lot to do with her poise under pressure. But it’s never easy to win an individual title in District One. Yermish just made it look that way.

   “It was just another tournament, go with the flow,” Yermish said. “I actually got a little nervous with all those people around 18 when I had to make that four-footer after missing the six-footer for birdie.”

   Central Bucks East senior Sarah Scarpill matched Yermish’s 1-under 71 to finish fourth at 4-over 147, five shots behind Beek.

   Haverford junior Riley Quartermain, a product of the Llanerch Country Club junior program, rode a birdie-birdie start to a 2-over 74 and earned her second straight trip to Golden Oaks as she finished fifth at 7-over 150.

   West Chester East sophomore Victoria Kim, the district champion a year ago with an even-par total – you could argue that last year’s opening-round site for the girls, the Red and White nines at Gilbertsville Golf Club, was a little less of a challenge than Raven’s Claw presented this year – finished a shot behind Quartermain in sixth place at 8-over 151 after adding a 75 to the 76 she posted at the Claw.

   Strath Haven sophomore Grace Smith matched Quartermain’s 2-over 74 that earned Smith her first trip to the East Regional and was crucial to the Panthers’ team success. Smith had opened with a 78 at Raven’s Claw and finished at 9-over 152.

   Unionville freshman Mary Dunigan was a shot behind Grace Smith in eighth place at 153 after adding a 77 to her opening-round 76. The final ticket to Golden Oaks went to Downingtown East sophomore Ava O’Sullivan, who added an 80 to the solid 74 she registered at Raven’s Claw for an 11-over 154 total.

   Strath Haven senior Kevin Smith couldn’t help but be a little disappointed that his high school career, at least as an individual, was over after he struggled to an 80 in Monday’s opening round at the Turtle and missed the cut in the individual competition.

   But he knew he’d be back Tuesday to compete in the District One Class AAA team competition with the Central League champion Panthers. And Kevin Smith and his Strath Haven teammates will play one more team round at the PIAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Resort in Springettsbury Township, York County in a couple of weeks.

   Kevin Smith, who started off the 10^th tee, led the way with a wild even-par 72 that featured six birdies, little sister Grace Smith’s 74 was huge, junior Jackson Debusschere contributed a 78 and senior David Merz added an 80. It added up to a 304 total, two shots clear of Pennsbury and three shots better than third-place finisher West Chester Rustin.

   “The team, it’s just different,” Kevin Smith said after the Panthers held off the Falcons, a Suburban One League power. “It would have been nice to make it as an individual, but with the team everybody gets to go. I made a birdie on 11 and then drove the green at (the par-4 12^th) and two-putted for birdie and I was on my way.

   “We were 3-under on (the tough par-3 ninth hole). That might have won it for us right there.”

   Nick Cardow posted a throw-out 85, but he’ll be part of the five-player contingent that will represent Strath Haven and, in a very real way, The Springhaven Club, where they are all members, in the state team competition.

   Radnor, behind two-time state champion Brynn Walker, gave the Central League its last state team champion in 2015.

   Strath Haven ended the two-year reign of Unionville, which finished five shots behind its Ches-Mont League rival Rustin in fourth place at 312. Central League runnerup Conestoga was fifth at 313, Wissahickon was sixth at 314, Plymouth-Whitemarsh was seventh at 315, Pioneer Conference champion Methacton was eighth at 317 and Central Bucks West was another shot behind Methacton in ninth place at 318.

   Only 14 shots separated first place from ninth place.

   Nobody ever really threatened Ryan, who is home-schooled by Commonwealth Connections Academy, but represents Norristown on the golf course, for the Class AAA district title after he opened up a two-shot lead with an opening round of 1-under 71.

   Ryan, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of his first two seasons of scholastic golf, posted a steady even-par 72 for a 1-under 143 total. He took a four-shot lead to the 18^th tee and played the par-5 finishing hole conservatively, making a bogey that didn’t matter.

   “I never checked where I stood until 18,” Ryan said. “I was just trying to shoot a solid round. The conditions, with the wind, were a little tougher than (Monday). I felt like I putted a lot better. My ball-striking was not quite as good.”

   Ryan made birdies at the first and fourth holes. I saw him make a nice par-saving putt at the par-5 eighth hole after he dumped his second shot into the water on the left. When he made par on the ninth hole, Ryan had a four-shot lead and he was on his way.

   Ryan, who captured the Pioneer Conference individual title with a 69 at Gilbertsville last week, is playing his best golf at just the right time.

   “I’ve been playing really well,” Ryan said. “I found the putter today, but I’ve been driving it well and I’ve been hitting my irons really well. I feel like my game’s in pretty good shape going into these next two weeks.”

   Plymouth-Whitemarsh junior Dylan Gooneratne and Holy Ghost Prep sophomore Calen Sanderson matched Ryan’s even-par 72 and shared second place at 2-over 146.

   Harriton senior Andrew Wallace, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier a year ago, also matched par with a 72 and earned a tie for fourth place with Central Bucks West sophomore Kevin Lydon at 3-over 147. Lydon added a 73 to his opening-round 74.

   Unionville senior Jack Cooley struggled to a 5-over 77, but finished alone in sixth place at 6-over 150. West Chester Rustin sophomore Ryan D’Ariano was another shot behind Cooley at 7-over 151 after carding a 3-over 75.

   A couple of juniors, Milo Jezzeny of Central Bucks West and Brendan Bauer of Pennridge, shared eight place at 8-over 152. They had identical splits, each adding a 78 to an opening-round 74.

   A couple more Central League players, Conestoga junior Morgan Lofland and Harriton senior David Fitzgerald, were among a group of six players tied for 10^th place at 153. Lofland, a Central League co-champion for the second year in a row, bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a 75 while Fitzgerald, like his teammate Wallace, seeking a second straight trip to the PIAA Championship, struggled to an 80 after opening with a 73.

   Rounding out the group tied for 10^th place were Boyertown junior John Engle, who closed with a 76, Wissahickon sophomore Christian Matt, who posted a final-round 77, Central Bucks East junior Jack Dunsmore, who carded a 78 in the second round, and Owen J. Roberts senior Conrad Benford, who added a 76 to his opening-round 77.

   Radnor senior Jack Hamilton survived a five-man playoff for the last three tickets to Golden Oaks to give the Central League its fourth player through to the East Regional. Hamilton carded his second straight 77 to land at 10-over 154.

   The other two playoff survivors were Unionville junior Roy Anderson, who added a 76 to his opening-round 78, and Methacton junior Jeff Cooper, who added a 78 to his opening-round 76.

Harboro-Horsham senior Jack Marvin and Conestoga senior Drew Ridder were the playoff casualties after they also landed on 154.

   Pope John Paul II’s Brady added a 77 to his opening-round 79 to claim the District One Class AA crown with a 12-over 156 total.

   New Hope-Solebury junior Evan Menz was the runnerup with a 161 total and earned the district’s second berth in next week’s East Regional. Menz added an 80 to his opening-round 81 and led New Hope-Solebury to the Class AA team crown.

   Nate Wiseman carded an 82, Kyle Sullivan had an 84 and Will Kelley was the final counter for New Hope-Solebury with a 96. New Hope-Solebury will have to survive a sub-regional match to advance to the PIAA Class AA team competition. Brady and Pope John Paul II finished second in the team competition with a 342 total.