It was a little colder -- OK, it was a lot colder -- than the spring-like warmth we had experienced the previous few days, but I’m sure the kids who teed it up in the first event of 2021 on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour – the wraparound 2020-’21 season started late last summer – were thrilled to be out there hitting it around and competing Saturday at Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster.
The back end of the wraparound 2019-’20 season had also been scheduled to start this very same weekend a year ago, the very same weekend when the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic really landed with a thud. There would be no Philly Junior Tour events until June. There wouldn’t be much of anything to do until June.
So, another layer of cold-weather gear wasn’t so tough to handle with the memory of not being able to compete at all so fresh in their memories.
Nobody battled the difficult conditions better than Hunter Stetson of Newtown Square as Stetson had two birdies on his scorecard, at the fourth and 14th holes, to offset two bogeys and two double bogeys as he carded a 4-over-par 75 over the par-71 Five Ponds layout. It was the low score of the day and gave him a victory in the 13-to-15 division by two shots over Andrew Ekstrom of York.
Ekstrom also birdied the 14th hole on his way to a 6-over 77 that earned him runnerup honors.
Strath Haven sophomore Tyler Debusschere, who was a constant presence on the Philly Junior Tour leaderboards last fall, finished in third place, a shot behind Ekstrom with a 78. J.P. Hoban of Havertown, winner of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior-Junior Championship last summer at West Chester Golf & Country Club, was another shot behind Tyler Debusschere in fourth place with an 83.
Hank Kancher of Philadelphia, moving up from the coed 12-and-under nine-holers, took fifth place with an 87. Luke Tappeiner of Northfield, N.J. was two shots behind Kancher in sixth place with an 89.
Holden Hummel of Philadelphia took seventh place with a 91, Ryan Quinn of Jamison was eighth with a 92, Sean Curran of Newtown Square was ninth with a 93 and Alec Thiele of Philadelphia rounded out the top 10 as he was alone in 10th with a 95.
Noah Moelter of Doylestown was steady in the March chill with 12 pars on his scorecard as he posted a 7-over 78 that gave him top honors in the 16-to-18 division.
Cardinal O’Hara senior Thomas Larkin was the runnerup, a shot behind Moelter with a 79 that featured birdies at the fifth and 18th holes. I don’t think the Catholic League players ever got out to compete last fall due to pandemic concerns. Not sure if there’s a plan for them to play a spring season.
Nathan Guertler of Merchantville, N.J., the Graham Company Player of the Year in the Junior Tour’s 13-to-15 division for the wraparound 2019-’20 season, took third place, two shots behind Larkin with an 81.
Strath Haven senior Jackson Debusschere of Wallingford’s Team Debusschere was a shot behind Guertler in fourth place with an 82, although he was four shots behind younger brother Tyler in the battle for low Debusschere.
The pandemic fog of 2020 prevented the Central League players from getting a chance to compete in the PIAA postseason. But when the Central League did put together a championship at Downingtown Country Club after the PIAA Championship had been completed, the Debusschere brothers led the way as the Panthers captured the team title, the league deciding to crown both tournament and dual-match champions for 2020.
Downingtown East senior Dylan Gute finished a shot behind Jackson Debusschere in fifth place with an 83. Luke Fazio of Schwensville and Nick Parr of Spring City shared sixth place, each carding an 87 and Christopher DiRita of Drexel Hill and Guiseppe DeBernardo of Dresher finished in a tie for eighth, each signing for an 89.
Rounding out the top 10 were two players, Jake Blackmore of Pottstown and Cole Appledorn of Southampton, who finished in a tie for 10th place, each registering a 91.
The low round among the girls also emerged from the younger 13-to-15 division as Season Wei of Warren, N.J. birdied the 17th hole and made five pars on her way to an 84 that landed her atop the leaderboard.
Kiersten Bodge of West Chester birdied the 10th hole and also had five pars on her scorecard as she earned runnerup honors, finishing two shots behind Wei with an 86.
Jillian Burks of Paoli and Ysabel Liu of Milburn, N.J. finished in a tie for third place, each posting a 93.
Burks should get her long-awaited trip to Augusta National Golf Club for the Drive, Chip & Putt Finals, rescheduled from 2020. When the 2020 Drive, Chip & Putt Finals was called off due to the pandemic, it was rescheduled for a year later, but there wasn’t a new round of qualifiers.
The rescheduled Drive, Chip & Putt Finals will be held Easter Sunday morning next month, kicking off Masters week, which returns to its normal April spot on the calendar after being played in November last year, the pandemic again to blame. It was in the summer of 2019 when Burks earned her ticket to Augusta National in a qualifier at the iconic Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh.
Kayley Roberts of Phoenixville finished in fifth place with a 97 and Brynne Mushlin of Berwyn rounded out the 13-to-15 division field as she finished sixth with a 106.
Kate Roberts of Phoenixville’s Team Roberts was the only competitor in the girls 16-to-18 division and posted a solid 88, making five pars on her first six holes on the back nine at Five Ponds. Kate Roberts was a District One Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Phoenixville last fall.
Ian Larsen of Glenmoore emerged from a scoreboard playoff among three players, all of whom posted a 5-over 40, to top the increasingly competitive field of nine-holers. Larsen birdied the fifth hole and had three pars on his scorecard. His total of 27 on the last six holes gave him the tiebreaker edge on Jason Mack of Delaware Water Gap and William Johnson of Berwyn.
Mack birdied the third hole and had two pars. His total of 12 on the final three holes edged Johnson by a shot for second place. Johnson had four pars in sharing the top spot on the leaderboard with a 40.
Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg was just a shot behind the top three as he settled for fourth place with a 41. Wyatt Underwood of Telford took fifth place with a 43 and Callahan Harrell was sixth with a 44.
Ian Rotto of Kennett Square and Lawson Leeper of York finished in a tie for seventh place, each posting a 45.
Rounding out the top 10 was a four-way logjam tied for ninth place at 49, including Henry Sokol of Villanova, Tyler Whitney of Cherry Hill, N.J., Alex DiGiacento of Nazareth and Quin Zuegner of New Hope.
That’s 12 12-and-under kids breaking 50 for nine holes on a Five Ponds course that wasn’t exactly yielding a bunch of low scores Saturday. That’s some pretty good playing.
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