Yermish finishes in a tie for fourth, five shots behind PKBGT Tournament of Champions winner Rudisill

    Lower Merion junior Sydney Yermish, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, struggled a little in Sunday’s final round of the Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Golf Tour’s National Tournament of Champions and finished in a tie for fourth place at Forest Creek Golf Club’s South Course in Pinehurst, N.C.

   Yermish had the highest Junior Golf Scoreboard ranking in the field at No. 76 and was the defending champion in the PKBGT’s Tournament of Champions. Yermish, who swept to wins in the Central League and District One Class AAA Championships on her way to the state title, was only a shot out of the lead following an opening round of 1-over-par 73 over the C6,000-yard, par-72 South Course layout Saturday.

   Pretty sure, much like the Philadelphia area, Saturday’s spring-like warmth was replaced by chillier temperatures and gusty winds Sunday in the Carolinas and higher scores seemed to reflect the change in conditions.

   Yermish finished up with a 4-over 76 that gave her a 5-over 149 total.

   Elizabeth Rudisill of Charlotte, N.C., No. 114 in the JGS rankings, and Ellen Yu of Greensboro, N.C., No. 121 in the JGS rankings, handled the conditions better than anybody as Rudisill carded a solid 1-under 71 to capture the title with an even-par 144 total and Yu registered a sparkling 4-under 68 to take second place with a 2-over 146 total.

   Rudisill, a Class of 2025 entry, had been one of five other players who shared second place with Yermish at 1-over 73 following Saturday’s opening round.

   She birdied the first hole and made back-to-back bogeys at four and five. But Rudisill ripped off three birdies at the seventh, ninth and 13^th holes over her next seven holes to take command. A bogey at the closing hole left Rudisill at even-par.

   That was two shots clear of runnerup Yu, a Class of ’26 entry who put together a flawless four-birdie, no-bogey round. Yu made birdies at the seventh, 13^th, 14^th and 18^th holes and her 68, combined with an opening-round 78, left her alone in second place at 2-over.

   Rudisill and Yu jumped to the top of the PKBGT National Division’s Order of Merit with their 1-2 finish, Rudisill with 263 points and Yu with 255 points.

   Kiera Bartholomew of Wake Forest, N.C., No. 132 in the JGS rankings, finished a shot behind Yu in third place after adding a 74 to her opening-round 73 for a 3-over 147 total.

   Pretty sure Bartholomew was a rising junior standout out of Indian Valley Country Club in Telford before her family moved to North Carolina. A Class of ’23 entry, Bartholomew has committed to join the program at Virginia in the summer of 2023.

   Morgan Ketchum of Winston-Salem, N.C., No. 115 in the JGS rankings, had grabbed the lead when she matched par in the opening round with a 72. She struggled a little in the final round with a 77 as she shared fourth place with Yermish at 5-over 149, two shots behind Bartholomew. Ketchum will join the Virginia Tech program at the end of next summer.

   Yermish was coming off a strong finish in the premier event on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) event, the Rolex Tournament of Champions, which wrapped up Thanksgiving Day. Yermish closed with a 3-under 69 to finish in a tie for 20^th place at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

   Yermish, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, was back at PGA National earlier this month to pick up the AJGA’s Jerry Cole Sportsmanship Award, recognizing her “Birdies for the Fallen” fund-raising campaign during the scholastic postseason when her birdies and an eagle in the District One Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course resulted in an $18,000 contribution to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md.

   Yermish, a volunteer firefighter at the Penn Wynne-Overbrook Hills Fire Station No. 21, solicited pledges for her postseason birdies in order to honor the memory of fellow volunteer firefighter Sean DeMuynck, who paid the ultimate price when he died in the line of duty in a fire in July.

   Yermish, who recently made a commitment to join the Michigan program in the summer of 2023, couldn’t get it going early in Sunday’s final round as she made bogeys at the third, eighth and ninth holes and a double bogey at 10. She battled back, going 1-under over the final eight holes with birdies at the 11^th, 14^th and 18^th holes offsetting bogeys at 13 and 15.

   Baldwin junior Megan Adelman of Bryn Mawr and Sussex Academy sophomore Sarah Lydic of Ocean View, Del. both landed in a large group tied for 17^th place with a 14-over 158 total. Adelman and Lydic had identical splits, each adding a 78 to an opening-round 80.

   Ashnoor Kaur of Roanoke, Va., No. 1,184 in the JGS rankings, finished atop the leaderboard in the Prep Preview Division with a 9-over 153 total. Kaur, a Class of ’27 entry, bounced back from an opening-round 81 by matching par in Sunday’s final round over a Forest Creek South Course that measured 5,700 yards for the younger girls.

   Riley Grimm, a Pinehurst home girl ranked 1,010^th by JGS, was the runnerup with a 10-over 154 total. Grimm, a Class of ’26 entry, added a 78 to her opening-round 76.

   Danielle Higbee of Mickelton, N.J., who often appears on Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour leaderboards, ended up in a tie for 25^th place as she added a 92 to her opening-round 88 for a 180 total.