Gross' holiday tour finds him in contention everywhere he goes

   Nick Gross, the Downingtown West freshman who finished third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in October, concluded a holiday season tour of some of America’s great golf destinations by finishing in a tie for third place in the Boys 15-to-18 Division in The Junior Honda Classic, which wrapped up Sunday at the PGA National Golf  Club’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

   Last week, Gross, who claimed the District One Class AAA crown in the fall, finished in a tie for third place, again in the Boys 15-to-18 Division, in the 66^th Donald Ross Junior Championship at the Pinehurst Resort’s Nos. 4 and 5 Courses in Pinehurst, N.C.

   In the early part of Christmas week, Gross finished fourth in the Boys 14-to-15 Division of the Doral-Publix Junior Golf Classic, presented by the Orange Bowl, at the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral in Miami, Fla. after leading following two rounds of the 54-hole event.

   I’m going to start with this past weekend’s Junior Honda Classic and work backward. I tried to check into some of the credentials of the top finishers and tried to pick up any other local names of interest I could find.

   Gross carded a pair of 1-over-par 73s at The Champion Course to finish just three shots behind the champion, Beni Long of Canada, and Shaun Cook of Peachtree Corners, Ga., who lost in a playoff to Long after both finished with 1-under 143 totals, in The Junior Honda Classic.

   The 14-year-old Gross was playing up in the 15-to-18 division. He had an up-and-down opening round that included four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.

   Not totally positive if he started his round off the first tee, but Gross made a bogey at the second hole, birdied the fourth, bogeyed the fifth and birdied the sixth and was even-par on the outgoing nine. Gross bogeyed the 10^th hole and birdied the 16^th before stumbling with a double bogey at the 17^th. But he recovered with a birdie at the 18^th hole to finish at 1-over.

   Cook carded a 2-under 70 to earn a share of the opening-round lead.

   In Sunday’s final round, Gross again had four birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey. After making a birdie at the first hole, Gross made bogeys at the second and sixth holes and was 1-over on the front nine.

   After making a birdie at the 10^th hole, Gross made a bogey at 13 and a double bogey at 15. But Gross made birdies at the 17^th and 18^th holes and again got it in at 1-over for a 2-over 146 total.

   Long, who had opened with a 2-over 74, put together a sparkling 3-under 69 in Sunday’s final round to catch Cook before defeating Cook in a playoff to capture the title. Long, a Class of 2023 entry, made birdies at the second, fourth and sixth holes before the only blemish on his scorecard, a bogey at the 12^th. A birdie at the 13^th hole got him back to 3-under for the round.

   Cook, a Class of ’22 competitor, added a 1-over 73 to his opening-round 70 to get in at 1-under 143.

   Maxmillian Jelinek of Port St. Lucie, Fla. joined Gross in the tie for third place at 2-over 146. Jelinek, like Gross a Class of ’24 entry, added a 1-under 71 to his opening-round 75.

   There was also a playoff to determine the winner of the Boys 13-14 Division on the par-72 Fazio Course as Shawn Coulthoff of Winter Garden, Fla. edged Phillip Dunham of Jacksonville, Fla. after both landed on 2-under 142 to take the title.

   Coulthoff opened with a 2-under 70 and matched par in Sunday’s final round with a 72. Dunham opened with a 74 before catching up to Coulthoff with a sparkling 4-under 68 in the second round.

   Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla. was a four-shot winner in the Boys 10-to-12 Division, also played at the Fazio Course, as he opened with a 4-under 68 before finishing up with a 2-under 70 for a 6-under 138 total. Hampton Beebe was the runnerup as he added a 2-under 70 to his opening-round 72 for a 2-under 142 total.

   Reagan Southerland of Atlanta, Ga. captured the Girls 15-to-18 Division as she struggled to a 77 in the final round after opening with a  2-under 70 over the par-72 Palmer Course for a 3-over 147 total. Southerland was a Class of ’23 entry.

   Runnerup honors went to Lisa Marie Rudometkin of San Jose, Calif., who added a 76 to her opening round of 2-over 74 for a 6-over 150 total. Rudometkin announced in the fall that she will join the University of San Francisco program at the end of this summer.

   Sawyer Brockstedt, the talented eighth-grader from Rehoboth Beach, Del., finished in a tie for 17^th place as she bounced back from an opening-round 85 with a 79 for a 164 total. Like Gross, Brockstedt was playing up in competing in the 15-to-18 Division.

   Kate Barber, like Brockstedt a Class of ’25 competitor, claimed top honors in the Girls 13-14 Division, also at the Palmer Course, by three shots. The Savannah, Ga. resident added a solid 2-under 70 to her opening-round 72 for a 2-under 142 total.

   Katelyn Huber of Gainesville, Fla. and Amelie Phung of Forest Hills, N.Y. shared second place, each landing on 1-over 145. Huber added an even-par 72 to her opening-round 73 while Phung led Barber by a shot with her opening-round 71 before adding a 74.

   Sofia Cherif Essakali of Morocco – yeah, there are good young golfers all over the world – won the Girls 10-to-12 Division at the Palmer Course as she carded a pair of 75s for a 6-over 150 total. Rayee Feng of Short Hills, N.J. was the runnerup, finishing two shots behind Cherif Essakali as Feng added a 74 to her opening-round 78 for an 8-over 152 total.

   The little kids played nine holes at the Fazio Course Saturday and Jake Williams captured the Boys 9-10 Division with a 1-under 35, edging Magnus Semenick, who matched par with a 36, by a shot.

   The Boys 7-8 Division was won by Alex Monssoh of Miami Beach, Fla, who fired a 3-under 33 and finished four shots clear of the field. The kid is already a full-blown phenom. When you Google him, you find a lengthy profile of Monssoh from Brian Wacker of Golf Digest from last April.

   Reese McMillan of Jupiter Fla. matched par with a 36 to win the Girls 9-10 Division. Sophia Christy of South Barrington, Ill. was the runnerup with a 3-over 39.

   Isia Amos posted a 1-under 35 to edge two players by a shot and finish atop the leaderboard in the Girls 7-8 Division.

   Gross is very comfortable at Pinehurst, where he twice won U.S. Kids Golf World Championship crowns and finished in a tie for 51^st place in last summer’s Boys’ North & South Championship. Gross used Pinehurst as his base of operation during an ambitious stretch of junior events last summer.

   Gross was a winner, pretty sure in the younger Boys 12-to-14 Division, in the Donald Ross Junior a year ago.

   While some of our area’s top junior girls were teeing it up in last week’s Peggy Kirk Bell Junior at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in nearby Southern Pines, N.C., Gross was competing at Pinehurst in the Donald Ross Junior.

   Gross opened with a solid 1-over 73 on the Gil Hanse-redesigned No. 4 Course and matched par with a 71 at No. 5 to finish in a tie for third place at 1-over 144, three shots behind the winner of the Boys 15-to-18 Division, Sihan Sandhu, like Gross a Class of ‘24 entry. Sandhu was listed as being from Pinehurst, but it looks like home is Ashburn, Va.

   Gross teed off on the 13^th hole in a shotgun start for his opening round on No. 4. He struggled early with bogeys at the 13^th, 15^th and 18^th holes. Gross got back on track with birdies at the second and fifth holes. A bogey at the sixth hole dropped him back to 2-over for the round before a birdie at the eighth hole and four straight pars to finish got him in at 1-over.

   Gross was steady in the final round at No. 5 making 16 pars around a bogey at the 11^th hole and a birdie at 12 in his even-par round.

   Like Gross, Sandhu opened with a 1-over 73 on the No. 4 Course. He added a very efficient 3-under 68 at No. 5 in the second round that featured birdies at the ninth, 14^th and 16^th holes and 15 pars.

   Sandhu’s 2-under 141 was one shot better than Troy Martin, another Class of ’24 competitor from Chesapeake, Va. Martin matched par with an opening-round 71 on the No. 5 Course and carded a solid 1-under 71 on No. 4 to claim runnerup honors at 1-under 142.

   Joining Gross in a tie for third place at 1-over 144 was Soneil Peruvemba, a Class of ’22 entry from McLean, Va. Looks like Peruvemba’s 2-under 70 in the opening round was the best round of the day on the No. 4 Course. He added a 3-over 74 in the final round on No. 5 to share third place with Gross.

   Ieuan Jones of Ann Arbor, Mich. claimed the title in the Boys 12-to-14 Division by edging Benjamin Baker of Broadlands, Va. in a playoff after they shared the top spot on the leaderboard, each landing on 8-under 136 over the No. 8 Course.

   Jones, who had opened with a 69, needed to close with a 5-under 67 to catch Baker, who had grabbed the lead with a scintillating 7-under 65 in the opening round. Baker cooled off a little in the second round with a 1-under 71.

   Carson Higginbotham of Clarksburg, W.Va. earned a two-shot victory in the Boys 11-and-under Division with a 7-over 147 total over the par-70 No. 1 Course. Higginbotham opened with a 2-over 72 and added a 5-over 75.

   Daniel Park of Fulton, Md. was the runnerup at 9-over 149 as he matched Higginbotham’s opening-round 72 before adding a 77 in the final round.

   Eleanor Hodepohl, a senior at Cincinnati’s Ursuline High School, cruised to a five-shot victory in the Girls 15-to-18 Division as she posted a pair of 4-over 74s on the No. 1 Course for an 8-over 148 total. Hodepohl, who will join the Creighton program at the end of this summer, had a steady final round that featured 14 pars and four bogeys.

   Ella Stalvey, a Class of ’23 competitor from Blythewood, S.C., earned runnerup honors at 153 as she only trailed Hodepohl by a shot after opening with a 75 before adding a 78 in the final round.

   Karsyn Roberts, a Class of ’24 entry from Pikeville, N.C., bested the Girls 12-to-14 Division field with an even-par 144 total. Looks like the younger girls played the No. 1 Course to a par of 72 and Roberts opened with a sparkling 4-under 68 before closing with a 76.

   Jenna Kim, a Class of ’27 competitor from Raleigh, N.C., finished three shots behind Roberts in second place with a 3-over 147 total. Kim added a 74 to her opening-round 73.

   Found a Pennsylvania girl in the 12-to-14 Division as Zoey Stern of Greenville registered a pair of 88s to finish alone in 11^th place at 176.

   It was a full phenom red alert when it came to the winner of the Girls 11-and-under Division as Riley Grimm from Pinehurst blistered the No. 1 Course with rounds of 65 and 68 for an 11-under 133 total. The kid’s a Class of ’28 competitor, which makes her what, a fifth-grader.

   In 36 holes, Grimm had 12 birdies, two eagles and five bogeys. Looks like somebody’s been practicing.

   Addyson Newman of Knoxville, Tenn. had two very nice rounds, opening with a 1-under 71 and adding a 1-over 73 for an even-par 144 total, but she was still 11 shots behind Grimm.

   Early in Christmas week (Dec. 21 to 23), Gross put together a couple of outstanding rounds back-to-back at Doral’s Blue Monster in the first two rounds of the Doral-Publix Junior Golf Classic, an event that has been a staple on the junior circuit since 1981, long before junior golf was such a big deal. The event draws players from all over the world and has been a particularly popular destination for youngsters from South America over the years.

   Gross opened with a 1-under 71 and then improved on that by two shots with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the second round that left him with a 4-under 140 total and a three-shot lead over Erik Plenge of Peru through two rounds. Gross, however, struggled to an 82 in the final round and ended up alone in fourth place with a 6-over 222 total.

   Gross was at the top of his game in those first two rounds. In the opening round, Gross made bogeys at the fourth and seventh holes around a birdie at the fifth on the front nine. On the incoming nine, he had back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes and seven pars.

   Gross had birdies at the third, fourth, eighth, 15^th and 16^th holes against bogeys at five and 17 in his 3-under second round on a course that isn’t called the Blue Monster for nothing.

   The course exacted its revenge on Gross in the final round as he was only able to muster a lone birdie at the 11^th hole while recording eight bogeys and a triple bogey at the 10^th. Still, for two rounds, Gross was the best player in his division and his strong showing at Doral set the stage for two more solid efforts at Pinehurst and at PGA National in the weeks that followed.

   The winner of the Boys 14-15 Division was Hans Risvaer, a Class of ’23 competitor from Miami who made up 14 shots on Gross with a final round of 4-under 68 that gave him a 2-over 218 total. After opening with a 77, Risvaer carded a solid 1-over 73, but still trailed Gross by 10 shots after two rounds.

   Risvaer opened the final round with a birdie at the second hole followed by the only blemish on his card, a bogey at the third. He was flawless the rest of the way with birdies at fifth, ninth, 10^th and 16^th holes on his way to the clubhouse.

   Plenge closed with a 4-over 76 to earn runnerup honors with a 3-over 219 total. Lance Hollingshead, like Gross a Class of ’24 entry from West Palm Beach, Fla., also closed with a 76 to finish alone in third place at 5-over 221, two shots behind Plenge and one in front of Gross.

   Gustavo Rangel of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico finished atop the leaderboard in the Boys 16-to-18 Division, a final round of 2-over 74 giving him a 9-over 225 total. Rangel opened with a 1-over 73 and struggled a little in the second round with a 78.

   Three players – Dennis Staykov of Bulgaria, Jack Pepin of Plaistow, N.H. and Areen Aggarwal of Columbia, Mo. – shared second place, each finishing a shot behind Rangel at 226.

   Staykov had the best final round of the three as he closed with a 2-over 74. Pepin finished up with a 76 while Aggarwal registered a final-round 77.

   Looks like Aaron Williams of Owings Mill, Md. had the lead going into the final round after adding a 73 to his opening-round 74, but Williams cooled off in the final round with an 81 that left him alone in fifth place at 228, two shots behind the trio tied for second.

   Shady Side Academy senior Adam Lauer, who finished in a tie for sixth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County in October, finished alone in 32^nd place at 243. Lauer’s final-round 78 was his best round of the week.

   Kate Bibby, a Class of ’22 competitor from the United Kingdom who is playing out of Dunwoody, Ga. in the States, had three steady rounds on Trump National Doral’s Red Tiger Course to claim the title in the Girls 16-to-18 Division with a 7-over 223 total. After opening with a 1-over 73, Bibby posted a pair of 75s.

   Jieming “Cissy” Yang, a native of China playing out of Orlando, Fla., was the runnerup with a 9-over 225 total. Yang, who will join the California program in Berkley this summer, closed with a 1-over 73 after registering a pair of 76s in the first two rounds.

   Maria Jose Marin Negrete of Colombia was a runaway winner of the Girls 14-15 Division, also at the Red Tiger Course, as she sandwiched a 1-under 71 in the second round with a pair of even-par 72s for a 1-under 215 total.

   Larissa Carrillo of Mexico and Alex Pool, a home girl from Miami Beach, Fla., finished in a tie for second place, each landing on 230, 15 shots behind Marin Negrete. Carrillo closed with her best round of the week, a 2-over 74. After opening with a 76, Pool carded a pair of 77s.

   Rehoboth Beach’s Brockstedt also teed it up in the Doral-Publix and finished alone in sixth place in the Girls 14-15 Division with a 235 total. Brockstedt sandwiched a 79 in the second round with a pair of 78s.

   In the middle of Gross' holiday tour, he was named the Boys Golf Player of the Year in West Chester's Daily Local News. It was a nice profile authored by the Daily Local's Neil Geoghegan and is probably still alive on the paper's website.

   I collaborated with Geoghegan on coverage of the two AT&T Championships played at Aronimink Golf Club in 2010 and 2011 as well as at the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club's historic East Course in 2013 which appeared in the Daily Local News, the Delaware County Daily Times and The Mercury in Pottstown, among other publications.