It was going to take a lot for Downingtown West freshman Nick Gross, winner of the District One Class AAA crown last fall, to catch front-running Bryant Hernandez in the final round of the TaylorMade TP5 Junior All-Star, an American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) event, on an Easter Sunday at the Longleaf Golf & Family Club in Southern Pines, N.C.
But second place, that was there for the taking and Gross, rattling off four straight birdies on the incoming nine, got a piece of runnerup honors with a sparkling 5-under-par 67 over the 6,495-yard, par-72 Longleaf layout that left him in a four-way tie for second place with a 7-under 209 total.
Hernandez of San Marine, Calif. was one of the youngsters featured in the Justin Timberlake-Jessica Biel produced documentary “The Short Game,” which focused on some of the competitors in the 2012 U.S. Kids Golf World Championships at the Pinehurst Resort, not far at all from Longleaf in Southern Pines.
Hernandez seized control of the TaylorMade TP5 with a pretty spectacular stretch on Longleaf’s back nine in Saturday’s second round. The kid made birdies at the 12th, 13th and 14th holes, eagled the par-5 16th and then birdied the last two – that’s 7-under for the last seven holes – for a 7-under 30 on the incoming nine. It gave Hernandez a 6-under 66 and a four-shot lead over Frank Kennedy of Jupiter, Fla. via England, Daniel Boone of Fuquay-Varina, N.C. and Ethan Paschal of Fayetteville, N.C. going into Sunday’s final round.
Hernandez closed with another strong round, a 4-under 68, in Sunday’s final round for an 11-under 205 total that earned him his first AJGA victory.
Gross is very comfortable playing in the Pinehurst area. He won his age group the last two years he teed it up in the U.S. Kids Golf World Championships. He finished in a tie for third place in the 15-to-18 age group in the 66th Donald Ross Junior Championship, staged Christmas week on Pinehurst’s Nos. 4 and 5 Courses.
Gross has also become pretty comfortable playing in AJGA events, particularly at the Junior All-Star level, which includes mostly high school freshmen, like Gross, and Class of 2023 sophomores. Gross won back-to-back AJGA events in Pennsylvania last August when he captured the Junior Golf Hub Junior All-Star, presented by Explore York, at Regents’ Glen Country Club by five shots and the AJGA Junior All-Star at Toftrees at the Toftrees Golf Resort outside State College by seven shots.
Gross struggled a little in the opening round at Longleaf with a 74, but he was his typically efficient self in Saturday’s second round with four birdies, three of them on the incoming nine at the 13th, 16th and 17th holes, and no bogeys in a 4-under 68 that left him five shots behind the pace-setting Hernandez.
Gross made birdies at the first and ninth holes in Sunday’s final round before a bogey at the 10th hole – his only blemish the last two days – dropped him back to 3-under for the tournament. But he surged into the tie for second place with birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes that gave him a final-round 67 and a 7-under 209 total for the weekend.
Kennedy carded a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s second round after matching par with a 72 in the opening round and was four behind Hernandez going into Sunday’s final round. He finished up with a 4-under 68 to join the quartet tied for second place at 7-under. Boone added a 5-under 67 to his opening-round 74 to share second place with Kennedy following Saturday’s second round. Boone closed with a 4-under 68 to also land at 7-under.
Rounding out the foursome tied for second place at 209 was Trey Morrison of Chesapeake, Va. Morrison was in a tie for fifth place with Gross after two rounds as he added a 3-under 69 to his opening-round 73. Morrison matched Gross’ final-round 67 to climb into the tie for second place.
Everybody in the top five was a Class of ’24 competitor with the exception of Boone, who is a Class of ’23 entry.
On the girls side, Lily Zhang of Buffalo, N.Y. overcame a four-shot deficit to Michelle Woo of Fremont, Calif. with a final round of 4-under 68 over a Longleaf layout that measured 5,624 yards for the ladies, to earn her first AJGA victory by six shots.
Zhang, a Class of ’26 competitor, had opened with a 74 before adding a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round. Her final-round 68 featured six birdies and left her as the only player under par for the tournament at 3-under 213. An eagle at the par-5 eighth hole in Saturday’s second round gave Zhang a big boost.
Woo, a Class of ’25 entry, had built her four-shot lead by adding a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 73. She struggled to a final-round 78, but held on to claim runnerup honors at 3-over 219.
Camryn Coffield, a Class of ’26 competitor from Hamilton, Ga., and Katie Ha, a Class of ’24 entry from Los Angeles, finished a shot behind Woo in a tie for third place, each landing on 4-over 220. Coffield got off to a good start by matching par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 75 in Saturday’s second round and closing with a 73. Ha sandwiched a 74 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 1-over 73s.
Sawyer Brockstedt, the talented eighth-grader from Rehoboth Beach, Del., had a strong showing, finishing in a tie for seventh place with a 6-over 222 total. Brockstedt added a 74 to her opening round of 1-over 73 that left her in a tie for fourth place, six shots behind Woo after two rounds. Brockstedt finished up with a 75.
North East’s Anna Swan, who finished in a tie for seventh place in the PIAA Class AA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County as a freshman last fall, finished alone in seventh place with a 13-over 229 total. Swan bounced back from an opening-round 80 with a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 76.
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