Hunter Po of Bridgewater, N.J. was limited to 11 holes by Sunday’s rain, but he made them count and his 1-under-par 41 for those 11 holes at Old York Country Club in Chesterfield, N.J. gave him the overall title in the Bustard Memorial Junior Invitational.
The Bustard is played in memory of Paul Bustard, a long-time Old York Country Club member who was a big supporter of junior golf. The 36-hole event started Saturday and, much like the Precision Pro Golf Open event at Seaview at the Jersey Shore, persistent rains forced Sunday’s second round to be shortened. The guys got 11 holes in and the girls were limited to nine holes.
The Bustard Memorial brings together top players from both the New Jersey Section PGA and Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tours.
Po, playing in the younger 11-to-15 age group, opened with a solid 3-over 74 over the par-71 Old York layout in Saturday’s opening round. He trailed fellow 11-to-15 entrant Hunter Stetson of Newtown Square and Tyler Kipp, who graduated from Muhlenberg in the spring and was playing out of the older 16-to-18 age group, by just a shot.
Po had three birdies in Saturday’s round to offset four bogeys and a double bogey. But after a bogey at the second hole Sunday, Po ripped off birdies at the third, sixth, and seventh holes to get it to 2-under. He made a bogey at the ninth hole and two more pars before play was halted.
Po’s 1-under 41 Sunday, combined with his opening-round 74 gave him a 2-over 115 total, good enough to land him atop the leaderboard in both the 11-to-15 age group and in the overall 11-to-18 scoring.
Derek Gutierrez of Cranford, N.J. had matched Po’s opening-round 74 and added a 4-over 46 for 11 holes Sunday to earn runnerup honors among the younger guys with a 120 total that left him five shots behind Po. Gutierrez finished in a tie for fourth place with three of the older guys in the overall scoring.
Stetson had an up-and-down start to Saturday’s opening round, but parred the last eight holes to get it in at 2-over 73. He fell back a little with a 49 for 11 holes Sunday to finish two shots behind Gutierrez in third place among the younger guys at 122. Stetson also earned a top-10 finish in the overall scoring as he was tied for ninth place.
Jun Chun of Old Tappan, N.J. and Mo Sanagavarapu of Edison, N.J. each landed on 124, two shots behind Stetson in a tie for fourth place in the 11-to-15 age group. Chun opened with an 81, but posted a solid 1-over 43 Sunday. Sanagavarapu added a 46 to his opening-round 78.
Aarush Malmandi of Edgewater, N.J. and Michael Vital of Bethlehem were another two shots behind Chun and Sanagavarapu at 126 in a tie for sixth place. Malmandi opened with a 78 before finishing up with a 46 while Vital opened with a solid 4-over 75 before cooling off with a 51 in the rain Sunday.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 11-to-15 division were three players – Mihir Koperia of Cranbury, N.J., Isaiah Williams of Flemington, N.J. and Franklin Zhu of Warren, N.J. – who finished in a tie for eighth place, each landing on 127.
Kiperia added a solid 44 to his opening-round 83. Williams opened with an 81 before finishing up with a 46. Zhu opened with a solid 77 before closing with a 50.
Ethan Lee of Jackson, N.J. matched Po’s opening-round 74 and added an even-par 42 Sunday for a 3-over 116 total that landed him atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and enabled him to earn runnerup honors in the overall 11-to-18 scoring, a shot behind Po.
Lee’s opening round featured 14 pars and he went 1-under on the Old York back nine, including a birdie at the 16th hole. He was just as steady in Sunday’s rain-shortened round with a birdie at the third hole, a bogey at the eighth and nine pars.
Kipp added a 2-over 44 to his opening-round 73 for a 4-over 117 that gave him runnerup honors behind Lee in the 16-to-18 division and left him in third place overall.
Michael Foley of Sparta Township, N.J., Devon Prep senior Ryan McCabe, a three-time PIAA Class AA qualifier, and Liberty sophomore Matt Vital, winner of the Boys 12-13 division in the 2019 Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals, finished in a tie for third place among the older guys at 120 and joined Gutierrez from the 11-to-15 age group in the tie for fourth place overall.
Foley added a 3-over 45 to his solid opening-round 75. McCabe, the Philadelphia Junior Tour’s Graham Company 16-to-18 Player of the Year for the wraparound 2019-2020 season, added a 2-over 44 to his opening-round 76. Vital opened with a solid 74 before finishing up with a 46. He did get low-Vital honors as brother Michael Vital finished in a tie for sixth place in the 11-to-15 age group at 126.
Shane Quinn of Morristown, N.J. finished strong with a 1-over 43 Sunday after opening with a 78 for a 121 total that left him alone in sixth place among the older guys and alone in eighth place in the overall scoring.
Jake Shmonov of Harrisburg also played well in the rain Sunday with a 1-over 43 after opening with a 79 to finish alone in seventh place among the older guys with a 122 total. Shmonov earned a top-10 finish in the overall scoring as he shared ninth place with Stetson from the 11-to-15 age group.
Elijah Ruppert, who wrapped up his outstanding scholastic career at Brandywine Heights by finishing in a tie for third place in the PIAA Class AA Championship a couple of weeks ago at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, finished in a tie for eighth place with John Clark of Florham Park, N.J., each ending up with a 124 total. Ruppert added a 47 to his opening-round 77 and Clarke, after opening with a 78, registered a 46 in Sunday’s second round.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Arjun Malik of Marlboro, N.J. and Matthew Altomare of Franklin Lakes, N.J., both of whom landed on 128 to finish in a tie for 10th place. Malik added a 48 to his opening-round 80 while Altomare closed with a 50 after carding a 78 in Saturday’s opening round.
On the girls side, Sydney Kuo of Edison, N.J. followed up an even-par 71 in Saturday’s opening round with a 3-over 38 for nine holes in the rain-shortened second round Sunday to capture top honors in the 16-to-18 age group and in the overall 11-to-18 scoring with a 3-over 109 total.
Kuo held on as Samantha Galantini of West Orange, N.J., playing in the 11-to-15 age group, came out firing in the rain Sunday, putting together a 3-under 32 that earned her the top spot among the younger girls and left her just a shot short of Kuo for the overall title with a 4-over 110 total.
Kuo got on the roller coaster on the front nine of her Saturday round. She bogeyed the first hole, birdied the third, made double bogey at the fourth, birdied the sixth, bogeyed the seventh and birdied the ninth to make the turn at 1-over. Kuo steadied herself on the incoming nine, though, making a birdie at the 12th hole and parring the rest to get her in at even par.
Kuo had double bogeys at the fourth and seventh holes and birdied the sixth in Sunday’s second round.
Grace Lu, another entry out of Edison, matched Kuo’s 3-over 38 in Sunday’s second round after opening with a 75 and was the runnerup to Kuo in the 16-to-18 division and finished third overall with a 7-over 113 total.
Srishti Dhurandhar of Livingston, N.J. was another five shots behind Lu in third place in the division and fourth overall with a 118 total. Dhurandhar opened with a solid 78 and added a 40 in Sunday’s second round.
Rounding out the 16-to-18 division field was Ashley Liu of Clinton, N.J. as she added a 43 to her opening-round 93 for a 136 total that left her in fourth place among the older girls and sixth overall.
Galantini couldn’t find a birdie during her opening-round 78, but she was steady, going 2-over for the last 13 holes. She made up for the lack of birdies in Saturday’s round in Sunday’s second round. She made back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes and, after a bogey at the fourth, Gallantini made an eagle 2 at the par-4 sixth hole to highlight her sparkling 3-under 32 that left her at 4-over 110.
Anushka Sawant of Monmouth Junction, N.J. was the only other competitor in the 11-to-15 age group and she added a solid 4-over 39 to her opening-round 82 for a 121 total that left her in fifth place in the overall scoring.
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