Gross the runnerup, Yermish finishes in a tie for fourth in the respective boys, girls Junior North & South Amateur at Pinehurst

    A couple of District One Class AAA champions, Downingtown West sophomore Nick Gross, who captured the boys title last fall at Turtle Creek Golf Course, and Lower Merion junior Sydney Yermish, the 2019 Class AAA girls winner as a freshman in 2019, had strong finishes in the 43^rd Junior North & South Amateur Championships last week at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst Village, N.C.

   Gross, who finished third in his first crack at the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, played fairly spectacular golf for the first two days of the North & South boys, taking a two-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round after opening with a 3-under-par 69 at Pinehurst’s No. 8 Course Monday and adding a 3-under 67 at Pinehurst’s iconic No. 2 Course Tuesday.

   Gross cooled off a little with a 1-over 73 back at the No. 8 Course in Wednesday’s final round and was overtaken by a local guy, Pinecrest senior Jackson Bode, who made a couple of late birdies to register a final round of 2-under 70 and end up with a 6-under 208 total, one shot better than Gross’ 5-under 209 total.

   Gross has been a familiar face at the Pinehurst Resort as he owns a pair of U.S. Kids Golf World Championship wins and finished in a tie for third in last December’s Donald Ross Junior Championship, contested on Pinehurst’s Nos. 4 and 5 courses. Gross finished in a tie for 51^st place in last summer’s Junior North & South.

   A year later, he almost won the thing and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t turn 15 until a little later this summer.

   Going off the 10^th tee in Monday’s opening round at Pinehurst No. 8, Gross birdied the 11^th hole, got an eagle at the 17^th hole and headed for the front nine at 3-under. Birdies at the first and second holes got him 5-under before he made bogeys at the third and ninth holes to finish at 3-under.

   Gross was borderline electric in Tuesday’s second round, particularly on the front nine of the No. 2 Course, the Donald Ross masterpiece around which one of golf’s most notable destinations has been built.

   Gross birdied the first hole, made an eagle 2 on the third hole and birdied the fourth hole and was 4-under through four holes. He made a bogey at the fifth, but completed a 4-under 31 tour of the outgoing nine with a birdie on the ninth hole. Gross made eight pars on the back nine around a bogey at the 15^th hole for a sparkling 3-under 67.

   The birdies were harder to come by in Wednesday’s final round at the No. 8 Course as Gross got just one at the fourth hole. He made a bogey at the seventh hole and another at the 10^th, but Gross didn’t flinch on the way to the clubhouse, grinding out eight straight pars to complete his 1-over 73.

   Bode had opened with a 4-under 68 at No. 8 and matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 70.

   He opened the final round with birdies at the first and second holes. But he won the tournament by holing a 50-foot putt for birdie at the 15^th hole and adding one last birdie at the par-5 17^th hole as he reached the green in two and two-putted.

   It was a big week for the Pinehurst guys as Bode got to root on his teammate, Jackson Van Paris, in Sunday’s North & South Amateur Championship final as Van Paris fell in 19 holes to Australian Louis Dobbelaar.

   Another Pinecrest teammate, junior Holland Giles, finished alone in fourth place in the Junior North & South, with a 3-under 211 total that was three shots behind Bode. Giles was steady, opening with a 1-under 71 at No. 8, matching par with a 70 at the challenging No. 2 and closing with a 2-under 70 back at No. 8 for the final round.

   Canadian Jean-Philippe Parr carded three straight 70s to finish alone in third place with a 4-under 210 total.

   It was a strong showing for recent Conestoga graduate Morgan Lofland at Pinehurst as well as he finished in a tie for 18^th place with a 2-over 216.

   Lofland, who will join head coach Greg Nye’s Penn State program later this summer, was coming off a strong June which saw him reach the semifinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Cedarbrook Country Club, the final of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Overbrook Golf Club and win the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course.

   Lofland was among the leaders after opening with a 4-under 68 at No. 8 Monday. He added a solid 2-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round at No. 2 and was only four shots behind the pace-setting Gross heading into the final round.

   Lofland cooled off with a final round of 4-over 76, but that did nothing to diminish his performance against a top-notch field.

   Yermish didn’t get the opportunity to defend her District One crown last fall as the Central League couldn’t overcome the hurdles of trying to deal with the coronavirus pandemic in time for a district qualifier to get its players eligible for the postseason.

   Like Gross, Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, has found a home away from home in the Pinehurst area, playing in several Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour events in the region. Yermish was the runnerup in the Junior North & South a year ago.

   And she was pretty close again. Looks like Pinehurst No. 2 played to a par of 72 for the girls and Yermish opened with a 1-under 71. Yermish was 2-under on the outgoing nine at No. 2 as she made birdies at the first and eighth holes. After bogeys at the 11^th and 14^th holes dropped Yermish back to even-par, she made birdie at the last to get it in at 1-under.

   Yermish really had it going in Tuesday’s second round at No. 6 as she made an eagle at the second hole and birdies at six, eight and 10 and was 5-under for the round. After making a bogey at the 16^th hole, Yermish made a birdie at the 17^th before a disastrous triple-bogey seven at the last turned a great round into a pretty good one.

   Yermish’s 2-under 70 left her just three shots behind eventual winner Brooke Rivers of Canada heading into the final round.

   Yermish, who, I’m pretty sure, turns 16 later this summer, matched par in the final round with a 72 in another tour of Pinehurst No. 6 for a 3-under 213 total.

   Yermish matched the scorecard on the front nine of No. 6 in the final round with nine straight pars before recording her second eagle of the week at the 10^th hole. A birdie at the 15^th hole got her to 3-under for the round before a double-bogey, bogey finish at 17 and 18, respectively, to fall back to even-par for the round.

   The 16-year-old Rivers got off to a strong start by opening with a solid 4-under 68 at No. 2. She added a couple of solid 2-under 70s at No. 6 to finish with an 8-under 208 total.

   Raya Nakao, a 15-year-old from Kaneahe, Hawaii, did Rivers one better in the opening round with a 5-under 67 at No. 2, fell back with a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s second round at No. 6 and closed with a 3-under 69, again at No. 6, to earn runnerup honors with a 6-under 219 total.

   Ho Yu An, a native of Chinese Taipei who is playing out of Beaumont, Calif., was a shot behind Nakao in third place at 5-under 211. An, who played in both the U.S. Women’s Open at the Champions Golf Club in Houston in December and in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship, closed with a 5-under 67 at No. 6 to move up the leaderboard. An is No. 7 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Three players joined Yermish in the quartet tied for fourth place at 3-under 213, including Kiera Bartholomew, a Wake Forest, N.C. resident who began her junior career at Indian Valley Country Club in Telford. Bartholomew opened with a 1-under 71 at No. 2 and matched par at No. 6 in the second round with a 72 before finishing up with a 2-under 70 at No. 6.

   Bartholomew and Yermish are Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the latest Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour National Series Order of Merit standings.

   Rounding out the foursome at 3-under were Adrian Anderson of Murrells Inlet, S.C. and Canadian Nicole Gal.

   Anderson, the reigning Carolinas Golf Association Junior Player of the Year, matched par at No. 2 in the opening round with a 72, added a 2-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round at No. 6 and closed with a 1-under 71 at No. 6. Gal matched par in the opening round with a 72 at No. 2 and added a 1-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round at No. 6 before finishing up with a 2-under 70 at No. 6.

   Hannah Lydic of Ocean View, Del., a Sussex Academy senior, closed with a strong 4-under 68 at No. 6 to finish in a tie for 11^th place with a 1-over 217 total. Lydic struggled a little in the opening round at No. 2 with a 77 before matching par in Tuesday’s second round with a 72 at No. 6.

   Another top junior player from the First State, Sawyer Brockstedt of Rehoboth Beach, Del., finished among the group tied for 23^rd place at 4-over 220. Brockstedt, a Class of 2025 entry, opened with a 1-over 73 at No. 2 and closed with a 1-over 73 at No. 6 with a 2-over 74 at No. 6 in Tuesday’s second round in between.

   Brockstedt was joined at 220 by Natasha Kiel of New Hope, who is in the final summer of her junior career. Kiel finished up with a solid 1-under 71 at No. 6 after opening with a 2-over 74 at No. 2 and adding a 3-over 75 at No. 6 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Kiel, a standout at the George School before completing her scholastic career in Florida, will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt later this summer. Kiel was coming off a tie for seventh place in last week’s Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon Country Club.

   Several other top finishers from the Pennsylvania Junior Girls also teed it up in the Junior North & South at Pinehurst.

   West Chester East senior Victoria Kim, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, finished among the group tied for 35^th place at 9-over 225. Kim struggled in the opening round at No. 2 with an 80 before adding a 1-over 73 at No. 6 in Tuesday’s second round and matching par in the final round at No. 6 with a 72. Kim finished in a tie for 10^th place in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls.

   Recent Pennsbury graduate Jade Gu, who lost in a playoff to Michelle Cox in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls at Lebanon, finished in the group tied for 52^nd place at Pinehurst with a 13-over 229 total. After opening with a 78 at No. 2, Gu added a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s second round at No. 6 before finishing up with a 77 in the final round, again at No. 6.

   Gu will represent the Philadelphia area in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship later this month at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md. after surviving a playoff in a GAP-administered local qualifier at the Steel Club.

   Lauren Jones, who capped her scholastic career at Episcopal Academy by winning the Inter-Ac League individual crown in May at the French Creek Golf Club, finished in a tie for 76^th place at 22-over 238 in the Junior North & South. After opening with an 84 at No. 2, Jones posted a pair of 77s at No. 6.

   Jones, who plays out of Merion Golf Club, finished alone in sixth place in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon. Jones will join the Richmond program later this summer.