Chen battles the wind to claim a Junior Tour victory with a 76 at Lederach

    Adam Chen of Wayne hung in there the best in chilly temperatures and winds gusting up to 40 mph as he carded a solid 5-over-par 76 at Lederach Golf Club in Harleysville to claim the top spot in the 16-to-18 division as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour completed the first weekend of the back end of the wraparound 2020-2021 season Sunday.

   Chen made birdies at the second and sixth holes on the front nine and kept battling over the par-71 Lederach layout to claim the victory by a shot over Downingtown East senior Dylan Gute and Guiseppe Debernardo of Dresher, both of whom posted a 6-over 77 to share runnerup honors.

   Gute had birdies at the eighth and 17^th holes on his scorecard while Debernardo made a birdie at the 11^th.

   Brady Manning of Downingtown finished alone in fourth place with an 80 and Luke Fazio of Schwenksville was fifth with an 82. Nick Parr of Spring City and Jaden Minter of Royersford shared sixth place, each landing on 86.

   Charlie Kerprich of Dresher took eighth place with an 87, Thomas DiGiulio of Sicklerville, N.J. was ninth with an 88 and William Irons of Blue Bell rounded out the top 10 as he was alone in 10^th place with a 92.

   Chase Dillman of Gilbertsville finished strong, making pars on three of his last four holes, to finish atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with an 85. Dillman had six pars on his scorecard overall. James Schramek of Chalfont was the runnerup as he had birdies at the first and 18^th holes to finish a shot behind Dillman with an 86.

   Sean Curran of Newtown Square had a steady round that included four pars as he carded an 88 that left him alone in third place. Jack Morgan of Elverson took fourth place with a 93, Brady Gallagher of Quakertown was fifth with a 94 and Christopher Sung of Paoli was sixth with a 98.

   Jacob Gabbard of Lewes, Del. finished in seventh place with a 108 and Sam Jacobson of West Chester rounded out the 13-to-15 field as he took eighth with a 111.

   North Penn sophomore Hayley Ekert finished with a par on the 18^th hole, one of four pars on her scorecard, as she signed for a 90 to capture the top honors in the girls 16-to-18 division.

   Phoenixville freshman Kate Roberts also had four pars as she settled for runnerup honors with a 93. West Chester Rustin senior Mary Emma Guldi was a shot behind Kate Roberts in third place with a 94. Ekert, Kate Roberts and Guldi were all District One Class AAA qualifiers last fall.

   Maria Crowe of Downingtown finished in fourth place with a 105 and Sophia Chesner of Moorestown, N.J. rounded out the 16-to-18 field as she took fifth with a 106.

   Kayley Roberts, another member of Phoenixville’s Team Roberts, was the lone competitor in the 13-to-15 division and registered a 99 that included two pars, one on each side at Lederach.

   In Saturday’s spring opener at Five Ponds, it was Kate Roberts who was unopposed in the 16-to-18 division while Kayley Roberts finished in fifth place in a competitive 13-to-15 field.

   William Johnson of Berwyn had the best nine holes of the day as he birdied the fourth hole and had six pars in a 1-over 37 that bested the field of nine-holers by three shots. Johnson had lost out in a three-way scorecard playoff for first place in the coed 12-and-under division in Saturday’s spring opener at Five Ponds and settled for third place. Pretty good start to the back end of the 2020-’21 season for Johnson.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. had five pars as he earned runnerup honors with a solid 4-over 40. Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg got off to a fast start with birdies at the first two holes as he finished in third place with a 42.

   Wyatt Underwood of Telford finished in fourth place and Jason Mack of Delaware Water Gap was fifth with a 45. Ian Larsen of Glenmoore and Giula Weisser of Reading finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 47.

   Such is the competition these days among the nine-holers that Mack and Larsen shared the top spot in Saturday’s spring opener at Five Ponds with Johnson.  Larsen won the scorecard playoff and Mack finished second. A day later, Mack finished in fifth place with Larsen in a tie for sixth.

   Jake Hollerback of Millsboro, Del. finished in eighth place with a 50 and Quin Zuegner of New Hope was ninth with a 53. Declan Conner of Swarthmore took 10^th place with a 54 and Ryan Kelly of Harleysville rounded out the coed 12-and-under field, finishing in 11^th place with a 59.