Conestoga senior Morgan Lofland closed with a second straight 3-over-par 75 at The Club at 12 Oaks in Holly Springs, N.C. Sunday to finish in a tie for 22nd place in the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Junior at 12 Oaks.
When golf emerged from last spring’s coronavirus-enforced lockdowns, nobody was more prepared to play than Lofland, who had finished in ninth place in the 2019 PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort to cap his junior season. He also captured the individual title in the Class AAA East Regional with a 5-under 67 at Golden Oaks Golf Club the week before the state championship.
Lofland was showing up on junior leaderboards all over the place in the late spring and early summer, culminating in a 6-under 64 at The 1912 Club that gave him medalist honors in qualifying for match play in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship.
The Central League struggled to get the fall golf season off the ground and it probably wouldn’t have mattered to Lofland as he was sidelined with an illness (not COVID). I had a chance to chat with him at the Central League Championship, which was played at Downingtown Country Club the week after the PIAA Championship.
Lofland hadn’t been cleared in time to play in the championship, but he was able to play in the final dual-match of the season against arch-rival Radnor later that day. Both teams were undefeated, but with Lofland back in the lineup, the Pioneers defeated Radnor to claim the Central League’s dual-match crown. Lofland had earned a share of the Central League individual title in 2018 and 2019.
Lofland opened with a 77 at the 6,971-yard, par-12 12 Oaks layout last Friday before finishing up with a pair of 75s.
Chase Nevins, a Class of 2023 competitor from Great Falls, Va., grabbed the lead with a sparkling 6-under 66 in Saturday’s second round and closed with a 3-under 69 in Sunday’s final round to earn his third AJGA victory with a 7-under 209 total.
After opening with a 2-over 74, Nevins opened his second round with a birdie at the second hole, an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole and another birdie at the eighth to get it to 4-under for the round. Birdies at the 10th, 11th and 17th holes got him to 7-under for the round before he made his only bogey of the day at the closing hole.
Nevins had five more birdies and another eagle at the par-5 fifth hole on his scorecard on his way to the final-round 69.
The best round of the weekend belonged to runnerup Waymon Thomas, also a Class of ’23 entry out of Mount Pleasant, S.C. who went off for eight birdies with nary a bogey on the card in an 8-under 64 in Saturday’s second round. Thomas had opened with a 77, but drew within a shot of Nevins with his scorching second round.
Thomas closed with a 1-under 71 to finish three shots behind Nevins with a 4-under 212 total.
It was another three shots back to Michael La Sasso, a Class of ’22 competitor from Raleigh, N.C. who had grabbed the lead following Friday’s opening round with a 3-under 69. La Sasso matched par in the second round with a 72 that left him just a shot behind Nevins heading into the final round. La Sasso finished up with a 2-over 74 to end up alone in third place at 1-under 215.
Nick Gross, who captured the District One Class AAA crown as a freshman at Downingtown West last fall at Turtle Creek Golf Club, and Spring Grove senior Karl Frisk finished in a tie for 30th place, each landing on 14-over 230.
Gross has played an ambitious schedule of junior golf since he finished third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County last fall. After opening with a 76, Gross added a 3-over 75 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 79.
Gross was coming off a tie for second place in the AJGA’s TaylorMade TP5 Junior All-Star event at Longleaf Golf & Country Club in Southern Pines, N.C. earlier this month.
Frisk, who finished a shot behind Gross in a tie for fourth place in last fall’s PIAA Class AAA Championship, bounced back from an opening-round 78 at 12 Oaks with a sparkling 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round before struggling in the final round with an 81.
On the girls side at 12 Oaks, Taylor Kehoe of Canada was steady all weekend, closing with her second straight 1-over 73 for a 5-over 221 total that gave her a four-shot victory.
Kehoe, who plans to join the powerful Alabama program in the summer of 2022, opened with a 3-over 75 over a 12 Oaks layout that measured 5,814 yards for the girls. Kehoe’s second-round 74 featured 13 pars and she offset three bogeys with birdies at the seventh and 13th holes.
Kehoe opened the final round with seven pars, including five straight to begin the round, on the front nine along with a birdie at the sixth hole and bogey a the seventh. Kehoe had 11 pars on her final-round scorecard on her way to her sixth AJGA victory.
Maria Atwood, playing close to her Holly Springs, N.C. home, got a share of second place with Gloria Nip, a Class of ’24 entry from Port St. Lucie, Fla. via Hong Kong, at 9-over 225.
Atwood, who plans to join the James Madison program in the summer of 2022, was coming off a victory earlier this month in the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour’s Mid-Atlantic Girls Championship at Bulle Rock Golf Club in Havre de Grace, Md., opened with a 76 at 12 Oaks and added a 75 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 74.
Nip added a 77 to her opening-round 75 before finishing up with a solid 1-over 73 to get her piece of runnerup honors.
Michelle Cox, who capped an outstanding scholastic career at Emmaus when she fell in a playoff to West Chester East’s Victoria Kim for the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills last fall, finished alone in 19th place at 12 Oaks. Cox shaved five shots off an opening-round 85 with an 80 in Saturday’s second round before closing with an 84 for a 249 total.
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