The 45th Boys Junior PGA Championship wrapped up Thursday at the Kearney Hills Golf Links in Lexington, Ky.
Actually, it was pretty much over – at least the battle for first place – when 17-year-old Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C. blitzed the par-71 Kearney Hills layout for a 9-under-par 62 in Wednesday’s third round. The kid had nine birdies, six of them on the back nine. Can you imagine trying to keep up with that?
Surratt, who will join the Tennessee program next summer, closed with a more modest 1-under 70 in Thursday’s final round for a 16-under 268 total that gave him a three-shot victory and put his name on the Jack Nicklaus Trophy. He got off to a nice start with a 2-under 69 in Monday’s opening round before adding a 4-under 67 in Tuesday’s second round, which was interrupted by weather and wasn’t completed until Wednesday morning.
The really good news is that the PGA of America was able to stage one of the major national junior events this year. That was not the case in the pandemic summer of 2020. A lot of local and regional events were played – even the qualifiers for the Boys Junior PGA Championship staged by the PGA sections around the country – but the logistical hurdles of putting on a national event with travel and housing and everything else involved were just too much to overcome.
The members of the local contingent that earned their spots in the field at Kearney Hills didn’t fare particularly well, but at least they got to go.
It really was a remarkable accomplishment in the summer of 2020 when Nick Ciocca, then heading into ninth grade at Devon Prep, beat a really talented field of guys, nearly all of whom were older than him, for the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship in a 36-hole test at Bellewood Country Club.
Ciocca, who would go on to qualify for the PIAA Class AA Championship as a freshman in the fall, would normally have earned a trip to the Boys Junior PGA Championship with his victory, but the national event was cancelled.
Ciocca, a product of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club, came right back and did it again this year. He fired a 3-under 67 at Valley Country Club – weather shortened the scheduled 36-hole event to just one round – to repeat as the winner of the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship.
And this time there was an additional reward, a trip to Kearney Hills. Ciocca struggled, registering an 82 in the opening round and shaving six shots off that with a second-round 76. He did not survive the 36-hole cut.
But you can’t measure the value to a young golfer – a kid who is just going into this sophomore year in high school – of teeing it up in a big national event like the Boys Junior PGA Championship. You’re rubbing shoulders with some of the top junior golfers in the country. You’ve got a bag tag that tells anyone that looks at your bag that you were there.
When you tee it up in a Catholic League match in the fall, you’re the kid the other kids are whispering about – “Isn’t that the kid who went to Junior PGA nationals.”
The runnerup to Ciocca at Valley, Bethlehem’s Evan Eichenlaub, a Moravian Academy junior, struggled a little in the opening round with a 77, but bounced back with a solid 1-over 72. His 149 total missed the cut by three shots, but again, the experience of being there will pay dividends down the road.
Another Bethlehem guy, Liberty junior Matt Vital, also teed it up at Kearney Hills. He, too, struggled in the opening round with an 80 and didn’t complete his second round.
Vital has already shown an ability to perform on a national stage, though. He quite memorably holed his chip shot with The Golf Channel cameras rolling at Augusta National Golf Club in April of 2019 to clinch a victory in the Boys 12-13 division of the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals.
Another name that I recognized was that of Pittsburgh Central Catholic junior Rocco Salvitti, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of his first two scholastic seasons. Salvitti opened with a 79 at Kearney Hills and, like Eichenlaub, bounced back with a 1-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round, but failed to make the cut.
As for Surratt, he set the stage for his victory in the Boys Junior PGA Championship with a remarkable win in last month’s Western Junior Championship at the Onwentsia Club in Lake Forest, Ill. Barely surviving the 36-hole cut, Surratt ripped off rounds of 65 and 67 in a double round on the final day to blow past the rest of the field.
Nick Dunlap of Huntsville, Ala. had opened the Boys Junior PGA Championship with a sparkling 7-under 64. After adding a 1-under 70 in the second round and a 4-under 67 in the third round, Dunlap, a Class of 2022 entry who intends to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama next summer, was Surratt’s closest pursuer heading into the final round. Dunlap’s 12-under 201 total trailed Surratt, who was at 15-under 198, by three shots.
Dunlap closed with a 1-under 70 and ended up in a four-way tie for second place at 13-under 271, still three shots behind Surratt.
Joining Dunap at that figure were a couple of Virginia recruits, Ben James, a Class of ’22 player from Milford, Conn., and Bryan Lee, also a Class of ’22 player from Fairfax, Va., and Eric Lee, a Class of ’23 from Fullerton, Calif. who plans to join the California program in two summers.
James had four rounds in the 60s, but still had to settle for a share of runnerup honors. James had the 36-hole lead after adding a 5-under 66 to his opening-round 67. He posted back-to-back 2-under 69s in the final two rounds.
Bryan Lee fired a 6-under 65 in the third round to get it to 11-under 202 heading into the final round before finishing up with a 2-under 69.
After opening with a 1-under 70, Eric Lee signed for a 5-under 66 in the second round and added a 4-under 67 in the third round before closing with a 3-under 68.
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