Hager posts solid 74 at Woodstone to claim a Junior Tour victory

    Tyler Hager, playing not far from his Lehighton home, had the best score of the day among the guys, a solid 2-over-par 74 to capture the 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Tuesday at Woodstone Country Club & Lodge in Danielsville, Lehigh County.

   Hager had birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes while posting a 1-under 35 on Woodstone’s incoming nine and also had 12 pars on his scorecard.

   Dylan Gute, who graduates from Downingtown East this month if he hasn’t already, Chase Skrapits of Nazareth and Will Huntley of Lansdale shared runnerup honors, each landing on 6-over 78.

   Gute birdied the eighth hole and had 11 pars, Skrapits birdied the 17^th hole and had 12 pars and Huntley had birdies at the eighth, ninth and 14^th holes and added seven pars.

   Jim Kelly of Slatington and Kyle Langan of Shavertown finished in a tie for fifth place, each signing for an 80. Aaron Miller, another Lehighton entry, took seventh place with an 82 and Bryson Hicklin of Nazareth was eighth with an 83.

   Aiden Greenberg of Nazareth took ninth place with an 86 and Trey Campbell of Haverford rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as he finished alone in 10^th with an 88.

   The second-best score of the day among the guys was the 3-over 75 recorded by Michael Lugiano of Shavertown which landed him atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division.

   Lugiano stayed aggressive the whole round as he made birdies at the first, third, seventh, ninth, 15^th and 17^th holes, six in all, and added four pars in bettering the field of younger guys by seven shots.

   Marshall Kain of Newtown Square birdied the ninth, 12^th and 17^th holes and had five pars as he claimed runnerup honors with an 82. Hunter Probst of Bear Creek birdied the 17^th hole and had eight pars on his scorecard as he finished in third place with an 84.

   Justin Edwards of Northampton took fourth place with an 85 and David Fiorita of Jamison was fifth with an 88. Derek Johnson of Mountain Top finished in sixth place with a 94 and Braeden Sullivan of Warrington rounded out the 13-to-15 field as he ended up in seventh place with a 109.

   Rhianna Gooneratne of Plymouth Meeting had the best score of the day among the girls as she had seven pars, including three straight at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes, on her way to an 86 that gave her the top spot in the 13-to-15 division.

   Despite being sidelined with an injury for much of 2020, Gooneratne was the Philly Junior Tour’s 13-to-15 Player of the Year for the wraparound 2019-2020 season on the strength of a stretch of dominance in the fall of 2019 that saw her win her age group eight straight times that she teed it up. Gooneratne also won the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award.

   Ava Hneleski of Springfield had six pars and kept the pressure on Gooneratne, settling for a runnerup finish with an 88, just two shots behind Gooneratne.

   Hannah Kopec of State College rounded out the 13-to-15 field as she finished alone in third place with a 117.

   Madison Salter of Walnutport had seven pars, including three straight on the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th holes, to claim a victory in the 16-to-18 division with an 88.

   Emma Shelby of Hellertown was the only other competitor in the division and she had four pars, two on each side, while posting a 93.

   Jason Mack of Delaware Water Gap continued his strong play this spring as he made birdies on the first and sixth holes and had two pars in a 3-over 39 to best the field of nine-holers. Mack was the runnerup in last week’s two-day Precision Pro Golf event at Hickory Valley Golf Club’s Ambassador and Presidential courses.

   Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg, another player who has had a strong spring, had three pars as he claimed runnerup honors with a 44. Hayden Sparks of Nazareth had three pars to take third place with a 45, a shot behind Proud.

   Alex DiGiacinto, another Nazareth entry, finished in fourth place with a 48 and Carson Jakuc of Newtown Square and Ethan Messerman of Fort Washington shared fifth place, each posting a 50.

   Onyu Park of Blue Bell took seventh place with a 52, Joseph Solt of Kunkletown was eighth with a 54 and William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr was ninth with a 56.

   Eliza Messerman of Fort Washington’s Team Messerman took 10^th place with a 57 and Vyam Shukla of Berwyn rounded out the coed 12-and-under division, taking 11^th with a 66.