Yermish trails leaders by one after opening round of PKBGT National Tournament of Champions

    Lower Merion sophomore Sydney Yermish, playing in her home away from home in Pinehurst, N.C., carded a solid 2-over-par 74 in the opening round of the Peggy Kirk Bell Golf Tour (PKGBT) National Tournament of Champions Saturday at Forest Creek Golf Club.

   Yermish captured the District One Class AAA title at Turtle Creek Golf Club and lost in a playoff for the PIAA Class AAA crown as a freshman a year ago, but was unable to participate in the PIAA postseason in this crazy coronavirus year of 2020 because the Central League failed to put together a District One qualifier in time.

   Yermish entered the National Tournament of Champions in sixth place in the PKGBT National Division Order of Merit with 137.5 points. Yermish finished in fifth place in last month’s PKGGT Invitational at Bermuda Run Country Club.

   Yermish, the pride of Rolling Green Golf Club, was up and down on the front nine at the 6,000-yard, par-72 Forest Creek layout, following up a birdie at the fourth hole with a bogey at the fifth and following up a birdie at the seventh with a bogey at the eighth. Bogeys at the 15^th and 18^th holes on her way to the clubhouse left Yermish at 2-over.

   One of the highlights of a busy summer of junior golf for Yermish was a runnerup finish in the Junior Girls’ North & South Championship at the Pinehurst Resort.

   Ella Perna, a junior at Cardinal Gibbons in Raleigh, N.C., and Katie Scheck, a Greensboro, Ga. native who will join the Penn State program next summer, shared the lead after each opened with a 1-over 73. The 36-hole event concludes with Sunday’s second round.

   Perna struggled on the outgoing nine at Forest Creek, making bogeys at the second, fourth and eighth holes. But she got it back to even-par for the round with birdies at the 12^th, 15^th and 17^th holes before closing with a bogey at the 18^th.

   Scheck finished up the front nine with back-to-back bogeys at the eighth and ninth holes. She matched Perna’s birdies at the 12^th and 15^th holes to get back to even-par for the round before making a bogey at the 17^th to join Perna at 1-over.

   Morgan Ketchum, the reigning North Carolina Junior Girls’ champion from Winston-Salem, N.C., Abby Franks of Roebuck, S.C., and Maria Atwood, a James Madison recruit from Holly Springs, N.C. were tied for fourth place, each ending up two shots behind Yermish at 4-over 76.

   Two talented youngsters from Delaware, ninth-grader Sarah Lydic of Ocean View and eighth-grader Sawyer Brockstedt of Rehoboth Beach, landed in a tie for seventh-place, each posting a 5-over 77. I’m guessing Sarah has joined older sister Hannah, a junior, at Sussex Academy this year. Hannah Lydic was two shots behind her little sister in the group tied for 15^th place at 79.

   Also in the top 10 at Forest Creek was Kiera Bartholomew of Wake Forest, N.C. who was one of five players tied for ninth place at 6-over 78. I’m guessing she’s the same Kiera Bartholomew who finished eighth in the 2019 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course when she was playing out of Indian Valley Country Club.

   Emmaus senor Michelle Cox, who lost in a playoff to West Chester East East’s Victoria Kim in this fall’s PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, and Haverford High senior Riley Quartermain were two of the five players that were tied for 22^nd place, each posting an 81.

   Quartermain wrapped up her scholastic career by edging Yermish by a shot to win medalist honors among the girls in the Central League Championship that was played the week after the PIAA Championship at Downingtown Country Club.

   Unionville sophomore Mary Grace Dunigan was a shot behind Cox and Quartermain in the group tied for 27^th place with an 82. Dunigan finished in fifth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a freshman in 2019. She failed to qualify individually for states this fall, but came back to lead Unionville to the PIAA Class AAA team crown.

   Yermish fired a sparkling 3-under 69 in the middle round of last month’s PKBGT Invitational at Bermuda Run to get herself in contention. She had opened with a 1-over 73 and closed with a 77 in finishing with a 1-over 219 total.

   A shot behind Yermish at Bermuda Run was reigning Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ champion Megan Meng, a Pennington, N.J. resident who was playing out of Jericho National Golf Club last summer at Lebanon Country Club. Meng matched par in the opening round with a 72 and followed it up with back-to-back 74s to finish tied for sixth place with a 4-over 220 total.

   Meng is right behind Yermish in a tie for seventh place in the PKBGT National Division Order of Merit with 132.5 points.

   Bartholomew picked up a top-10 finish in the PKBGT Invitational at Bermuda Run when she ended up in the group tied for ninth place at 5-over 221, closing with a solid even-par 72.