A strong finish by Lower Merion junior Sydney Yermish vaulted her into the top 20 and Downingtown West sophomore Nick Gross struggled, but still ended up in the top 12 as the respective Pennsylvania girls and boys Class AAA champions wrapped up play Thanksgiving Day in the premier event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) calendar, the Rolex Tournament of Champions.
Yermish, who announced her intention last month to join the program at Michigan of the Big Ten in the summer of 2023, saved her best for last as she carded a flawless 3-under-par 69 on the PGA National Resort & Spa’s Fazio Course that left her in a tie for 20th place with an 8-over 296 total.
Gross had four double bogeys, but kept battling as he closed with an 8-over 79 on PGA National’s Champions Course to finish in a group of five players tied for 12th place at 5-over 291.
At the top of the leaderboard, Meja Ortengren of Sweden and No. 27 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Girls division as she matched par with a 72 over the 6,165-yard, par-72 Fazio Course layout for an 11-under 277 total that was six shots clear of runnerup Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Fla. and No. 89 in the Women’s WAGR.
On the boys side, Jackson Koivun of San Jose, Calif. couldn’t quite match Ortengren’s feat. Koivun had been the overnight leader after each of the first three rounds, but a disastrous triple bogey on the par-3 15th hole in the midst of the Champions Course’s infamous Bear Trap enabled Eric Lee of Fullerton, Calif. to catch Koivun and ultimately claim the title in a playoff.
Junior golf is all about developing young talent and there is nowhere you can learn how to protect a lead on a challenging layout like the 7,122-yard, par-71 Champions Course. You can only learn by going through the experience. To his credit, Koivun birdied the closing hole to complete a 2-over 73 and get into the playoff with his playing partner Lee, each landing on 8-under 278.
It was the first career AJGA invitational victory for both Ortengren and Lee and it came in the junior circuit’s marquee event.
Ortengren started off the first tee on the Fazio Course and made birdies at the second and fourth holes to open her round. Bogeys at the fifth and eighth holes left her at even-par heading to the incoming nine.
Ontengren, a Class of 2024 competitor, was steady on the back nine, making a birdie at the 10th hole and a bogey at 14.
Pano closed with a solid 2-under 70, but couldn’t get close enough to apply any real pressure on Ontengren. Pano ended up with a 5-under 213 total, six shots behind Ontengren, but six shots ahead of third-place finisher Anna Davis of Spring Valley, Calif.
Pretty sure Pano will turn professional at some point in 2022, if not sooner, so her career as a junior player and as an amateur is probably nearing a conclusion. She certainly left her mark on the Rolex Tournament of Champions as this was her fifth appearance and her fourth top-10 finish.
Davis, the runaway winner of the Girls Junior PGA Championship last summer at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., finished up with a 1-under 71 for a 1-over 289 total that left her six shots behind Pano in third place. Davis is a Class of ’24 entry.
Megha Ganne of Holmdel, N.J. and No. 19 in the Women’s WAGR flashed her considerable talent with the best round of the week on the Fazio Course, a scintillating 6-under 66, as she headed a group of four players tied for fourth place, a shot behind Davis with a 2-over 290 total.
Ganne, the Rolex Junior Player of the Year, was 4-under heading for the back nine after she made a birdie at the first hole, an eagle at four and another birdie at nine. She stumbled briefly with a bogey a the 10th hole, but ripped off birdies at 14, 15 and 17 on her way to the clubhouse.
Ganne gained a lot of deserved acclaim when she contended in last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco before finishing in a tie for 14th place and claiming low-amateur honors. She will join what looks will be an already formidable cast at Stanford next summer.
One of Ganne’s future teammates, Kelly Xu, the reigning Southern California Golf Association’s Women’s Amateur champion from Claremont, Calif., joined Ganne in the group tied for fourth place. Xu, who is also headed for Stanford next summer, made a move up the leaderboard with her final round of 4-under 68 that enabled her to finish at 2-over.
Rounding out the foursome tied for fourth place were Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Fla. and another California kid, Yurang Li, a Class of ’24 entry from Fullerton, Calif.
Schroeder, who plans to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama in the summer of 2023, closed with a 4-over 76. Schroeder made a nice run to the quarterfinals of last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md. Yurang Li closed with a 1-over 73.
Yermish had completed a sweep of the scholastic postseason, earning medalist honors in the Central League Championship and capturing the District One Class AAA crown for the second time before claiming a state title at Heritage Hills.
Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, had her struggles at PGA National this week, but she was really solid in Thursday’s final round on the Fazio Course. She made back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes, added a birdie at 17 and had nary a bogey on her scorecard for a 3-under 69 that enabled her to sneak into the top 20.
Another Jersey girl, Basking Ridge’s Katie Li, struggled a little in the final round with a 5-over 77 that left her among the group tied for 52nd place at 21-over 209. Katie Li made a run to the semifinals of last summer’s U.S. Girls’ Junior at Columbia.
West Chester East senior Victoria Kim, the 2020 PIAA Class AAA champion, finished up with an 81 and ended up in a tie for 64th place with a 319 total. Kim earned her spot at PGA National by being named a Rolex Scholastic All-American award winner.
On the boys side, Eric Lee caught Koivun with a really solid regulation round. He opened with a birdie at the first hole, added a bogey at nine, birdied 14 and made a bogey at 16 as he matched par in the final round with a 71 that enabled him to finish with an 8-under 278 total.
Lee plans to join the program at California of the Pac-12 in the summer of 2023.
Koivun looked like a winner for a long time. After he made a birdie at the third hole, a bogey at six, a birdie at seven and a bogey at eight, Koivun rattled off six straight pars and arrived at the par-3 15th hole still 10-under for the tournament. A triple bogey at 15 dropped him back to 7-under for the championship, although he did make a birdie at the last to get into the playoff with Lee.
Koivun, who will join the program at SEC power Auburn next summer, closed with a 73 to join Lee at 8-under 278. He was so solid all week, opening with a 5-under 67 at the Fazio Course and adding a 4-under 67 in his first tour of the Champions Course in Tuesday’s second round. A 1-under 71 at the Fazio Course in Wednesday’s third round gave him a two-shot advantage over Lee heading into Thursday’s final round.
It was another two shots back to Ben James of Milford, Conn. in third place as he matched par in the final round with a 71 to end up with a 6-under 280 total. James, winner of three AJGA invitationals in 2021, will join the program at Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference next summer.
Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C., an impressive winner of the Boys Junior PGA Championship last summer at the Kearney Hills Golf Links in Lexington, Ky., matched par in the final round with a 71 to finish a shot behind James in fourth place with a 5-under 281 total.
Surratt will join the program at Tennessee of the SEC next summer.
Michael La Sasso of Raleigh, N.C. was two shots behind Surratt in fifth place as he closed with a 2-over 73 to finish with a 3-under 283 total. La Sasso will join the program at N.C. State of the ACC next summer.
Gross might have hit the wall in his Thanksgiving Day final round. He finished in a tie for sixth place in the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship at the Coushatta Hotel & Resort’s Kosati Pines course in Kinder, La. earlier this month.
Gross made double bogeys at the third, fourth and sixth holes and closed out his front nine with a bogey at nine. He righted the ship a little with a birdie at the 10th hole, but made a bogey at 12 and another double bogey at the tough 15th before finishing up with a birdie at the last.
Gross’ final round of 8-over 79 left him in the group tied for 12th place with a 5-over 291. It was probably a little bit of a disappointing finish for him, but, after hanging out in the top 10 all week, he was still one of the youngest finishers in the top 20.
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