Joyce, Ekert the respective boys, girls winners in two-day Junior Tour event at Turtle Creek

    With a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship on the line, Quakertown’s Nick Joyce, just a sophomore last fall, got the job done and punched his ticket to the state tournament by finishing in a tie for 12^th place in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course in Limerick.

   Joyce was back at the Turtle, the 6,375-yard, par-72 layout in western Montgomery County that has been the home to the district tournament for more than two decades, for a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour two-day event last week and seemed to be quite comfortable with his surroundings.

   Joyce trailed Braden Rogers of Garnet Valley by six shots after Joyce opened with a 6-over-par 78 in Wednesday’s first round. But Joyce came on strong in Thursday’s final round, firing a sizzling 3-under 69 that included six birdies, as he stormed to a one-shot victory over John Curran of Malvern in the overall scoring to capture the victory with a 3-over 147 total.

   The two-day Philly Junior Tour tournaments are Junior Golf Scoreboard events that award points that can earn players enough status to play in American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) events, among other junior circuits.

   There is overall scoring for players from ages 13-to-18 and the Philly Junior Tour breaks out its usual results in the 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions. Joyce finished atop the overall leaderboard and also claimed a victory in the 16-to-18 division, his fifth this season.

   The Philly Junior Tour stop at Turtle Creek always draws a big field as many of the players at the PIAA schools know that the road to the state tournament runs through the Turtle each fall and this is a perfect opportunity to familiarize themselves with the course.

   Curran had a pair of 2-over 74s for a 4-over 148 total as he finished atop the 13-to-15 division and was the runnerup in the overall scoring, a shot behind Joyce. Curran was the only player among the younger group to crack the top 10 in the overall scoring.

   Joyce got hot early in the final round, the start of which was delayed by morning showers, as he ripped off three straight birdies at the third, fourth and fifth holes. He added birdies at the 10^th and 16^th holes before finishing up with his sixth birdie of the day at the risk-reward par-5 finishing hole. Joyce also had nine pars on his scorecard in a sparkling 69.

   Coming off a victory in Tuesday’s Philly Junior Tour stop at Indian Valley Country Club, Joyce was the only player to better par in either round at the Turtle.

   Joyce’s opening-round 78 included birdies at the second, fourth, 11^th and 15^th holes and seven pars.

   Joyce’s closest pursuers in the 16-to-18 division were Spring-Ford teammates Jaden Minter, a senior, and Charlie Ferrise, a junior, playing on the home course during the season for the Rams. Minter and Ferrise each landed on 5-over 149 as they shared second place among the older guys and were tied for third in the overall scoring.

   Minter made birdies at the first, second, 13^th and 14^th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard in a solid 1-over 73 in Thursday’s final round. Minter made birdies at the second, 14^th and 16^th holes and had eight pars in an opening round of 4-over 76.

   Ferrise opened the second round with a birdie and had 14 pars on his card as he closed with a 4-over 76. Ferrise trailed Rogers, the opening-round leader, by just a shot with a solid 1-over 73 in Wednesday’s first round.

   Ferrise toured the outgoing nine at Turtle Creek in a sizzling 3-under 33 as he made birdies at the first, second and fifth holes. He added a birdie at the 16^th hole and finished with 11 pars on his scorecard in his strong start.

   Kennett junior Kasim Narinesingh-Smith was another shot behind Minter and Ferrise with a 6-over 150 total that left him in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in fifth place in the overall scoring. Narinesingh-Smith matched Minter’s solid 1-over 73 in Thursday’s final round after opening with a 5-over 77.

   Rex Opdahl of West Chester and Jarred Berish of Pottstown finished two shots behind Narinesingh-Smith at 8-over 152 as they were tied for fifth place among the older guys and tied for sixth in the overall scoring.

   Opdahl shaved four shots off his opening-round 78 with a solid 2-over 74 in the final round. Berish opened with a 3-over 75 before closing with a 77.

   Zach Holmlund of Fort Washington and Joey Carr of Ambler finished in a tie for seventh place in the 16-to-18 division and shared eighth in the overall scoring as each landed on 9-over 153.

   Holmlund added a 4-over 76 in the final round to his opening-round 77. After opening with a 2-over 74, Carr fell back with a 77 in Thursday’s second round.

   Rogers got off to a great start with his even-par 72 in the opening round. Rogers made a birdie at the sixth hole and a bogey at 17 and in between had 16 pars on his scorecard. He backed off in the second round with an 83, but still finished in ninth place among the older guys and 10^th overall with a 155 total.

   Luke Fazio, the Pioneer Athletic Conference individual champion and a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Spring-Ford last fall, posted a pair of 79s as he rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division by finishing alone in 10^th place with a 158 total.

   Curran kept the pressure on Joyce in the battle for the overall victory in the final round as he made birdies at the first, third, fourth, seventh and 12^th holes and had seven pars on his scorecard for a 2-over 74 that left him a shot behind Joyce with a 4-over 148 total.

   Curran was 13 shots clear of the rest of the 13-to-15 field in easily winning the division.

   Curran had opened with an equally solid 2-over 74 as he made birdies at the first, second, fifth and 13^th holes and had nine pars on his card.

   Radnor sophomore Will Walsh made birdies at the third, 10^th and 13^th holes and had seven pars on his scorecard on his way to a final-round 79 that earned him runnerup honors among the younger guys with a 161 total. Walsh opened with an 82 as he made back-to-back birdies at the 12^th and 13^th holes and had eight pars on his card.

   Walsh and the Raptors usually play their Central League Championship at Turtle Creek, so the Central players often see a lot of the Turtle in the fall.

   Colton Orris of Hershey and Colby Komancheck of Royersford finished in a tie for third place in the 13-to-15 division, each landing on 165, four shots behind Walsh.

   Orris bounced back nicely from an opening-round 89 with a solid 4-over 76 in Thursday’s final round as he made birdies at the third and 13^th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard. Orris also birdied the par-5 13^th hole and had five pars in the opening round.

   Komancheck, the son of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve pro shop team of Jamie and Kelly Komancheck, has been competing with the nine-holers, but moved up to the 13-to-15 division for the Philly Junior Tour stop at Turtle Creek and had a solid showing.

   Komancheck made a birdie on the third hole and had six pars on his scorecard in a final-round 82. He had eight pars in the opening round on his way to an 83.

   Cameron Peffel of Fleetwood added an 85 in Thursday’s second round to his opening-round 84 as he finished in fifth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 169 total. James Schramek of Chalfont was another three shots behind Peffel in sixth place with a 172 total as he added an 87 in the second round to his opening-round 85.

   Brody Bell of Royersford took seventh place among the younger guys with a 178 total as he added an 88 in the second round to his opening-round 90. Zach Moua of Berwyn opened with a solid 85, but struggled to a 100 in Thursday’s final round as he finished in eighth place with a 185 total.

   Jack O’Connor of Collegeville shaved 10 shots off an opening-round 105 with a closing 95 that left him in ninth place with a 200 total.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Calvin Pace of Exton as he added a 115 in the second round to his opening-round 106 for a 121 total that left him alone in 10^th place.

   North Penn senior Hayley Ekert finished atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and was the overall girls winner by four shots with a solid 8-over 152 total.

   Ekert finished up with a steady 2-over 74 as she made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had 14 pars on her scorecard. That enabled her to overtake first-round leader Nicole Yun, a Spring-Ford senior, for the title.

   Ekert had opened with a 6-over 78, making birdies at the eighth and 17^th holes and recording nine pars.

   That left her a shot behind Yun, who opened with a 5-over 77 that featured 13 pars. Yun matched the scorecard with nine pars on the Turtle’s outgoing nine.

   Yun made a birdie at the tough par-3 ninth hole and another at the finishing hole and had eight pars on her card on her way to a 79 in the second round that left her four shots behind Ekert with a 12-over 156 total. Yun was the runnerup in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   Perkiomen Valley junior Abigail McCorkell was seven shots behind Yun in third place among the older girls and third in the overall scoring with a 163 total.

   McCorkell got two of the Turtle’s par-3s, making birdies at the third and 11^th holes, and had six pars on her scorecard to card an 82 in Thursday’s final round. McCorkell had opened with an 81 that was highlighted by a birdie at the second hole and 11 pars.

   Serena Bagga, a Germantown Academy senior, was a shot behind McCorkell in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring with a 164 total. Serena Bagga helped the Patriots capture their first Inter-Ac League crown since 1995 last fall. That’s an Inter-Ac boys title. Serena Bagga closed with a solid 6-over 78 after opening with an 86.

   Sophia DeSantis of Glen Mills finished in fifth place among the older girls and eighth in the overall scoring with a 171 total as she added an 87 in Thursday’s final round to her opening-round 84.

   Conestoga junior Brynne Mushlin and recent Methacton graduate Sarah Lawrie shared sixth place in the 16-to-18 division and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring, finishing in a tie for ninth place, as each landed on 178.

   Mushlin, who finished in a tie for fifth place in the Central League Championship at Turtle Creek last fall, posted a pair of 89s. Lawrie, who will join the program at Millersville later this summer, opened with an 84, but struggled a little in Thursday’s second round with a 94.

   Oley Valley senior Heidi Wegscheider rounded out the 16-to-18 division field as she finished in eighth place with a 182 total, registering a pair of 91s.

   Only two shots separated the top three finishers in the 13-to-15 division with Alexandra Engart of Harleysville emerging with a one-shot victory.

   Engart made a birdie at the par-5 13^th hole and had 10 pars on her scorecard in a final-round 79 that enabled her to erase the six-shot deficit she faced at the end of the opening round and claim a victory among the younger girls and finish in fifth place in the overall scoring with a 165 total.

   Engart had eight pars in the opening round on her way to an 86 that left her six shots behind Downingtown East junior Mia Pace, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier who helped the Cougars claim the PIAA Class AAA team crown last fall.

   Pace’s opening-round 80 featured birdies at the first and seventh holes and nine pars. Pace, another member of Exton’s Team Pace, again had nine pars on her scorecard in a final-round 86 that her a shot behind Engart in second place in the 13-to-15 division and sixth overall with a 166 total.

   Serena Bagga’s Germantown Academy teammate and younger sister Kiran, a sophomore, was a shot behind Pace in third place and seventh in the overall scoring with a 167 total.

   Kiran Bagga had 10 pars on her scorecard on her way to an 83 in the second round. Kiran Bagga had opened with an 84 that included a birdie at the fifth hole and nine pars.

   Rounding out the 13-to-15 division field was Elayna Fanelli of Villanova as she added a 92 in the second round to her opening-round 89 to finish in fourth place with a 181 total.

   Jackson Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. came on strong with a 1-over 37 on Turtle Creek’s front nine in the second round as he bested the field of nine-holers with an 8-over 80.

   Lane parred his first five holes, made a birdie at the seventh hole and added one more par in his solid finish. Lane had opened with a 6-over 43 on the back nine at the Turtle, a round that featured three pars.

   That left Lane in a tie for second place with Alex DiGiacinto of Nazareth, a shot behind Jack Sokol of Villanova.

   DiGiacinto, who has been a regular on the coed 12-and-under division leaderboards all spring, made five pars in the final round on his way to a 5-over 41 in the final round as he earned runnerup honors with an 84 that left him four shots behind Lane. DiGiacinto had opened with a 43 that included birdies at the 10^th and 14^th holes and two pars.

   Jack Sokol had three pars in the second round on his way to a 45 that left him three shots behind DiGiacinto in third place with an 87 total. Jack Sokol had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 6-over 42 as he made a birdie at the short par-4 10^th hole and had three pars on his scorecard.

   Jack Sokol did emerge with low-Sokol honors as he finished a shot ahead of Henry Sokol, another member of Villanova’s Team Sokol who finished with an 88 total that left him in fourth place. Henry Sokol shaved eight shots off his opening-round 48 with a 40 on the Turtle’s front nine.

   Alaina Carson of Broomall added a 43 in Thursday’s final round to an opening-round 48 to finish a shot behind Henry Sokol in fifth place with a 91.

   Rounding out the coed 12-and-under division field was William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr as he added a 47 in Thursday’s second round to his opening-round 48 to finish in sixth place with a 95 total.