Bagga soars with a pair of eagles in a Junior Tour victory at Skippack

   Have some serious catching up to do with the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour events. If you’re a regular follower of this blog, though, you know I just couldn’t stay away when many of the best women amateur golfers in the world were competing in the 42^nd Curtis Cup Match at my favorite golf course, the historic East Course at Merion Golf Club. It was a great weekend.

   Ajeet Bagga had a pretty strong sophomore season at Germantown Academy last fall.

   Bagga finished second in the Inter-Ac League’s individual regular-season points race while leading the Patriots to their first Inter-Ac title since 1995. After finishing in a tie for fourth place in the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual championship at Bluestone Country Club, Bagga fired a 2-under 69 at the Golf Course at Glen Mills to lead GA to the first Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association team crown in the history of the program.

   Bagga, a Blue Bell resident, flashed his considerable talent June 8 in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop at Skippack Golf Club as he fired a 2-under-par 69 to finish atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division.

   Bagga made eagles on both the par-5s on Skippack’s incoming nine, the 12^th and 14^th holes, on his way to a 4-under 31 on the back nine. Bagga also made birdies on the second, fourth and 11^th holes and had nine pars on his scorecard.

   Springfield junior Daniel Flaherty, who claimed the Central League’s individual crown with an even-par 72 at Turtle Creek Golf Course last fall, was the runnerup to Bagga among the older guys as he matched par at Skippack with a 70.

  Flaherty had five birdies on his scorecard, at the second, fourth, eighth, 14^th and 16^th holes, and had eight pars on his card.

   Owen Blazick of Mountain Top finished three shots behind Flaherty in third place with a 3-over 73 as he also made an eagle at the par-5 14^th hole as well as birdies at two, seven, eight and 16. Blazick also had six pars on his scorecard.

   Methacton freshman Matthew Rieger took fourth place with a 4-over 74, Matthew Hurchalla of Wallingford was fifth with a 78, Brock Denlinger of Sellersville was sixth with a 79, Thomas Kennedy of Collegeville was seventh with an 80 and Leo Knott of Havertown was eighth with an 81.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were two players, Daniel McNavage of Perkasie and Tynan Adams of Springfield, who finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 85.

   Ethan Martin, a North Wales resident and a sophomore at La Salle who was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, claimed a victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 3-over 73. Martin made birdies at the eighth, 10^th, 12^th and 16^th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard.

   Wyatt Underwood of Telford had a steady round that featured 11 pars as he earned runnerup honors with a 78 that left him five shots behind Martin.

   Kennett Square’s Jax Puskar, the runnerup in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior-Junior Championship at West Chester Golf & Country Club in 2020, and Nolan Corcoran of Lansdale finished in a tie for third place, each ending up two shots behind Underwood with an 80.

   Puskar had birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes and eight pars on his scorecard while Corcoran made birdies at 14 and 16 and also had eight pars on his card.

   Nicky Nemo of Bryn Mawr finished alone in fifth place with an 81 and the trio of Brady Bell of Royersford, Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg and Mac Traynor of Villanova finished in a tie for sixth place, each signing for an 82.

   Alex Topping of Philadelphia finished alone in ninth place with an 84 and William Shuford of Wayne and Benjamin Mayer of Garnet Valley rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they ended up in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 85.

   Hayley Ekert, a junior at North Penn, had the best round of the day among the girls as her 7-over 77 gave her the top spot in the 16-to-18 division. Ekert made birdies at the second and 11^th holes and had eight pars on her scorecard, six of them on her way to a 1-over 36 on Skippack’s outgoing nine.

   Yasmeen Muhammad of Barnegat, N.J. made a birdie at the 17^th hole and had five pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors among the older girls with an 87. Madison Salter of Walnutport had four pars as she took third place with an 89 that left her two shots behind Muhammad.

   Mina Cho of Ambler took fourth place with a 106 and Clare Farrington of Doylestown rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as she finished in fifth place with a 110.

   Kiersten Bodge of West Chester made an eagle at Skippack’s par-5 14^th hole and had seven pars on her scorecard as she earned a win in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 81. Giulia Weisser of Reading had seven pars, including four straight on the final four holes of Skippack’s incoming nine, as she took second place with an 87.

   Rounding out the field among the younger girls was Rhea Malakar of Flourtown as she had pars on the second and 18^th holes on her way to a 105.

   Sebastian Park of Lansdale had five pars in a 4-over 39 as he bested the field of nine-holers.

   Dane Mohap of Nazareth and Ian Rotto of Kennett Square shared second place as each landed on 5-over 40, a shot behind Park. Mohap made a birdie at the eighth hole and had three pars on his scorecard while Rotto matched Mohap’s birdie at eight and had two pars on his card.

   Jackson Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. and Alex DiGiacinto, another Nazareth guy, finished in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 41. Carter Hippauf of Quakertown finished alone in sixth place with a 42 and William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr and Holden Sparks, another member of the Nazareth contingent, ended up in a tie for seventh place, each posting a 43.

   Team Sokol of Villanova, Henry and Jack – both Class of 2029 entries, so possibly twins – rounded out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each recording a 49.