Vital makes six more birdies in another Junior Tour victory at Iron Valley

    Liberty sophomore Matt Vital continues to pile up the birdies and the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour wins.

   Matt Vital made six birdies over the Iron Valley Golf Club layout in Lebanon Saturday as he cruised to an eight-shot victory in the 16-to-18 division with a sparkling 3-under-par 69. It wasn’t quite the nine-birdie, one-bogey 62 Matt Vital unleashed at Reading Country Club a couple of weeks ago that earned him quite a bit of notoriety, including a spot on The Golf Channel, but he made birdies at the second, third, 11^th, 13^th, 15^th and 18^th holes.

   Pretty strong for a youngster who could be playing in the younger 13-to-15 division, but chooses to play up in the older 16-to-18 division.

   Downingtown East senior Dylan Gute had five birdies on his scorecard at the fourth, seventh, 10^th, 16^th and 18^th holes as he earned runnerup honors with a 5-over 77. Alexander McCauley of Maple Glen made birdies at the 13^th and 18^th holes as he finished alone in third place with a 83, six shots behind Gute.

   Gute’s Downingtown East teammate, junior Jake Leon, was a shot behind McCauley in fourth place with an 84. La Salle junior Darren Nolan and Brant Bomberger of Lititz finished in a tie for fifth place, each posting an 85.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were four players – Jared Foltz of Wyomissing, William Gronland of Lewisburg, Joshua Hiles of Boiling Springs and Eric Fryer of Ambler – who landed in a tie for seventh place, each signing for an 88.

   Nick Joyce of Quakertown had four birdies himself, three of them in a front nine of 1-under 35, on his way to a 6-over 77 that left him atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division. Thomas Young of Center Valley birdied the 18^th hole and had 11 pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 78, a shot behind Joyce.

   Matt Vital’s twin brother Michael Vital birdied the seventh hole and made 12 pars and Andrew Ekstrom of York made pars on the first five holes and then made birdies at the seventh, ninth and 10^th holes as they finished in a tie for third place, each registering a 79.

   Joseph Sembrot of Harrisburg and Robert Munley of Clarks Summit finished in a tie for fifth place, each carding an 84. Nathan Eldridge of Owings Mills, Md., was another shot behind Sembrot and Munley in seventh place with an 85.

   Noah Shultz of York and Chase Dillman of Gilbertsville each posted an 87 to share eighth place and Will Goldstein of Jenkintown rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished alone in 10^th place with a 93.

   Silvana Gonzalez of Exton picked up her first Philly Junior Tour victory of the season as she had five pars, three of them coming on the first four holes at Iron Valley, on her way to a 94 that topped the girls 16-to-18 field. Maria Crowe of Downingtown rounded out a short field as she was the runnerup to Gonzalez with a 117 that included a birdie on the fifth hole.

   Cierra Griffin of Pottstown matched Gonzalez’s 94 to take top honors in the 13-to-15 division. Griffin birdied the first hole and made two pars in a front-nine 44.

   Spring-Ford teammates Morgan Kunze, a sophomore, and Alison Adams, a freshman, finished second and third with respective scores of 96 and 97. Kunze had three pars on the front nine and Adams birdied the ninth hole and had four pars on her scorecard. Kunze and Adams were both District One Class AAA qualifiers last fall.

   Jason Mack of Delaware Water Gap has been hanging around on the coed 12-and-under division leaderboards all spring and at Iron Valley he finished on top of the leaderboard. Mack birdied the fifth and seventh holes and had five pars in an even-par 36 that bested the field of nine-holers.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. also had two birdies, at the fourth and seventh holes, as he claimed runnerup honors with a 4-over 40. Lawson Leeper of York and Ian Rotto of Kennett Square each had two pars on their scorecard as they shared third place by carding 44s.

   Thomas Carpenter of Bristol and Luke McGraw of Boalsburg finished in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 45. Colby Komancheck of Royersford took seventh place with a 46, Benjamin Mayer of Garnet Valley was eighth with a 50 and Ethan Meersman of Fort Washington was ninth with a 51.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division were Vyom Shukla of Berwyn and Niklas Skjeveland of Jamison as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each posting a 52.