Yearley, Schwandt are two of the winners in HJGT South Jersey Fall Finale at Seaview

    Episcopal Academy freshman Jack Yearley, such a solid player for the Churchmen as an eighth-grader a year ago, was an impressive winner in the Will Smith Boys 14-15 division in the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour’s South Jersey Fall Finale at the Seaview Resort across the bay from Atlantic City, N.J.

   There was also a strong local presence in the Justin Timberlake Girls 14-to-18 division as Tower Hill senior Olivia Schwandt held off Haverford High senior Riley Quartermain to claim the victory and three members of Unionville’s recently crowned PIAA Class AAA championship team finished among the top seven in the division.

   On a spectacular weekend of weather for early November at the Jersey Shore, Yearley grabbed the lead in the Will Smith 14-15 division with an opening round of 4-over 75. Pretty sure the field was playing the Bay Course at Seaview, the classic design that is the site of the LPGA ShopRite Classic each year.

   The LPGA ShopRite Classic was moved twice this year from its normal June dates as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and was played last month, so I’m sure the Bay Course, where the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour played a Precision Pro Golf Open event last weekend, was still very much in championship condition for the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour event.

   Yearley, a product of the Merion Golf Club junior program, got off to a bit of a slow start in Sunday’s final round with a double bogey at the third hole. But he quickly got those two shots back with birdies at the fourth and ninth holes.

   Yearley struggled a little coming home with bogeys at the 10^th and 11^th holes, a double bogey at the 14^th and a bogey at the 15^th. He got a shot back with a birdie at the 16^th hole before closing with a bogey at the 18^th.

   It added up to a 5-over 76, still one of the best scores of the day in his age group, for a 9-over-par 151 total. Cole Waymire of Flemington, N.J. was Yearley’s closest pursuer, adding a 77 to his opening-round 76 to finish two shots behind Yearley in second place with a 153 total.

   Yearley earned a trip to the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship as an eighth-grader a year ago for Episcopal Academy. The following week his 82 at Brookside Country Club gave the Churchmen a one-shot edge over Malvern Prep and their first team title in the relatively brief history of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship.

   Jonathan Oakes of Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. was two shots behind Waymire in third place after adding a 78 to his opening-round 77 for a 155 total. Jayden Ko of Tenafly, N.J. took fourth place as he trailed Yearley by a shot with his opening-round 76 before cooling off with an 81 that gave him a 157 total.

   Jack Breutsch of Center Moriches, N.Y. bounced back from an opening-round 84 with the low round of the weekend for the division, a 3-over 74 that moved him into fifth place at 158.

   Strath Haven sophomore Tyler Debusschere continued his strong run of play this fall as he shared sixth place with another Delco guy, Hunter Stetson of Newtown Square, each landing on 159.

   Debusschere, who led the Panthers to the team title by finishing fourth individually in the Central League Championship two weeks ago at Downingtown Country Club, shaved three shots off an opening-round 81 with a 78 Sunday. Stetson got himself in contention with an opening-round 76 before backing off a little with an 83 Sunday.

   Michael McConie of Huntington, N.Y. and Matthew Normand of Lumberton, N.J., a fixture on Philly Junior Tour leaderboards during the summer, shared eighth place, each ending up at 161. McConie added a solid 77 to his opening-round 84 while Normand opened with an 80 before finishing up with an 81.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Will Smith Boys 14-15 division was Jake Portugal of South Salem, N.Y. as he struggled to an 87 in Sunday’s second round after opening with a 78 to finish alone in 10^th place at 166, five shots behind McConie and Normand.

   In the Justin Timberlake Girls 14-to-18 division, Schwandt built a four-shot lead with her impressive opening round of 5-over 76 before adding an 80 that left her two shots clear of Quartermain with a 14-over 156 total.

   Schwandt got off to a shaky start in Saturday’s opening round with a quadruple-bogey 9 at the third hole, but played even-par golf the rest of the way. With a bogey at the 14^th hole, a birdie at the 18^th and seven pars, Schwandt was even on the back nine with a 34. Schwandt struggled again on the front nine Sunday with a 6-over 43. But she was steady down the stretch with three bogeys and six pars on the incoming nine.

   Quartermain, who edged Lower Merion’s Sydney Yermish by a shot to claim medalist honors among the girls as she wrapped up her scholastic career in the Central Championship at Downingtown, trailed Schwandt by five shots after opening with an 81.

   Looks like Quartermain got within two shots of Schwandt with a birdie at the ninth hole, but Quartermain couldn’t gain any ground on the back nine as she made bogeys at the 12^th, 14^th, 16^th and 17^th before closing with a birdie at the 18^th. Quartermain’s 6-over 77 was the only sub-80 round in the division in Sunday’s final round and gave her a 16-over 158 total.

   It was four more shots back to Unionville senior Charlotte Scully, who was Schwandt’s closest pursuer following an opening-round 80. Scully closed with an 82 to take third place with a 162 total.

   Scully wrapped up her scholastic career in style last month, finishing in a tie for fifth in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort and coming back a week later to help Unionville nail down the Class AAA team crown.

   Two of Scully’s Unionville teammates, sophomores Kaitlyn Ferrer and Mary Grace Dunigan, also had strong showings at Seaview. Ferrer shaved nine shots off her opening-round 90 with an 81 in Sunday’s final round to finish in fifth place at 171 and Dunigan improved 13 shots from an opening-round 93 with a final-round 80 to land in seventh place at 173.

   Yvette O’Brien of Greenwich, Conn. finished six shots behind Scully in fourth place at 168. A Class of 2025 competitor, which makes her, what, an eighth-grader, O’Brien added an 83 to her opening-round 85.

   Finishing in between Unionville’s Ferrer and Dunigan in sixth place was Jamie Andrade of Milford, Conn. as she closed with an 87 after opening with an 85 for a 172 total.

   Sirina Ganne of Holmdel, N.J. was three shots behind Dunigan in eighth place at 176 after shaving six shots off an opening-round 91 with an 85. I’m going to go ahead and guess that Sirina Ganne is related to Megha Ganne, the Holmdel, N.J. teen who made a remarkable run to the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinals at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

   Vivian D’Orazi of Brooklyn, N.Y. finished in ninth place, adding an 88 to her opening-round 93 for a 181 total. Rounding out the top 10 in the Justin Timberlake Girls 14-to-18 division was Madeline Kent of Linwood, N.J. as she added a 99 to her opening-round 100 for a 199 total that left her alone in 10^th place at 199.

   It was a tight battle in the Justin Rose Girls under-13 division as Emma Lee of Scarsdale, N.Y. edged Samantha Loninger of Crosswicks, N.J. by a shot.

   Lee led Loninger, who occasionally tees it up in Philly Junior Tour events, by three shots after Lee’s opening-round 79. Lee then added a 5-over 76 in the second round for a 13-over 155 total. Loninger opened with an 82, but carded the best round of the weekend in the division in Sunday’s final round of 3-over 74 to finish a shot behind Lee at 156.

   It was seven shots back to Jillian Burks, the talented sixth-grader from Paoli who finished in third place with a 163 total. Burks, who will represent the Philly Junior Tour in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals next April at Augusta National Golf Club, added an 80 to her opening-round 83.

   Jordan Levitt of Pound Ridge, N.Y. was seven more shots behind Burks in fourth place at 170 after shaving 10 shots off her opening-round 90 with a solid 80 in Sunday’s final round.

   Aphrodite Deng of Short Hills, N.J. was six shots behind Levitt in fifth place at 176 after following up an opening-round 84 with a 92. Piper Smith of Lancaster improved by nine shots off her opening-round 93 with an 84 to finish a shot behind Deng in sixth place at 177. Madison Koshko of State College improved five shots from her opening-round 93 with an 88 in Sunday’s final round to finish in seventh place with a 181 total.

   Ethan Lee of Jackson, N.J. capped an impressive rally with birdies at two of his last three holes to claim a two-shot victory in the Tiger Woods Boys 16-to-18 division.

   Ethan Lee trailed by five shots after an opening-round 80, but matched par with a 71 in Sunday’s final round for a 9-over 151 total. Jack Tarzy, a player out of Medford, N.J. who also shows up on Philly Junior Tour leaderboards, added a 4-over 75 to his opening-round 78 to earn runnerup honors with a 153 total.

   Ethan Lee made a bogey on the third hole, but got it in red figures with birdies at the fifth and 10^th. He stumbled briefly on the back nine with a double bogey at the 14^th hole and a bogey at the 15^th, but birdies at 16 and the finishing hole got him to even for the round.

   Steven Lee of Team Lee from Scarsdale, N.Y. was a shot behind Tarzy in third place as he added a 78 to his opening-round 76 for a 154 total.

   Peter Malia of Scarborough, Maine, Shawn Colella of Marcellus, N.Y. and Anthony Caputo of New York, N.Y. finished in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 155.

   Malia had grabbed a share of the opening-round lead with a solid 4-over 75 before closing with an 80. Colello bounced back from an opening-round 81 with a 3-over 74 in Sunday’s final round. Caputo also came on strong in Sunday’s final round, firing a 1-over 72 after opening with an 83.

   James Ulsh of Carlisle and Richard Calve of Oceanport, N.J. shared seventh place, each registering a 157 total. Ulsh added a 79 to his opening-round 78 while Calve opened with a 77 before finishing up with an 80.

   Sean Maue of Ridgefield, Conn. carded a pair of 79s to finish alone in ninth place with a 158 total. James Thomas IV of Fairfax, Va. opened with a solid 4-over 75 to get a share of the lead, but fell back with an 84 as he rounded out the top 10, finishing alone in 10^th place with a 159 total.

   I’m guessing the youngest guys in the Ernie Els Boys 11-to-13 division played a shorter golf course from the up tee boxes, but that doesn’t minimize the sparkling 2-under 69 carded by division winner Mihir Roperia of Cranbury, N.J.

   Roperia, a Class of 2026 competitor, which makes him, what, a seventh-grader, had grabbed the lead with an opening-round 78 before really going off in Sunday’s final round.

   Roperia birdied the first hole before bogeys at the eighth and 11^th dropped him back to 1-over for the round. But he turned it on down the stretch with birdies at the 12^th, 15^th and 17^th holes that enabled him to cruise to a runaway 13-shot victory with a 5-over 147 total.

   Ryan Altschul of Franklin Lakes, N.J. added a 79 to his opening-round 81 to earn runnerup honors at 160. Arth Sinha of Princeton Junction, N.J. was two shots behind Altschul in third place at 162 after shaving 10 shots off an opening-round 86 with a 76 in Sunday’s final round.

   Matthew Lu of Basking Ridge, N.J. signed for a pair of 83s to finish alone in fifth place with a 166 total. Asher Katz of Ridgefield, Conn. was five shots behind Lu in fifth place after adding an 83 to his opening-round 88 for a 171 total. It was two more shots back to Nicholas Prosa of Holbrook, N.Y. as he ended up in sixth place with a 173 total. Prosa opened with an 87 before finishing up with an 86.

   Nicky Sadav of Latham, N.Y. finished alone in seventh place as he bounced back from an opening-round 100 with a solid 83 for a 183 total.

   Rounding out the field in the Ernie Els Boys 11-to-13 division were two players, Eric Kim of Tenafly, N.J. and Anthony Primo IV of Marlton, N.J., who finished in a tie for eighth place, each landing on 184. Kim improved eight shots from an opening-round 96 with his final-round 88 while Primo shaved six shots off an opening-round 95 with a closing 89.