Sass leads the way with a 70 in a Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA qualifier at Coatesville

    West Chester East senior Frankie Sass captured medalist honors with a 1-under-par 70 at Coatesville Country Club Monday as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour held the second of its four qualifiers for next month’s Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   After making birdies at the first and third holes, Sass made an eagle 2 on the short par-4 seventh hole. Sass added a birdie at the 10^th hole and had 10 pars on his scorecard as he finished atop the leaderboard in the overall 13-to-18 scoring and in the 16-to-18 division.

   Not sure exactly how many qualifiers emerged from Coatesville to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, which will tee off July 11 at Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry Township, Chester County. The Philly Junior Tour didn’t break out the overall scoring, but pretty sure the top 11 finishers in the 16-to-18 division earned spots in the field at Bellewood as well as several of the top finishers in the 13-to-15 division.

   The top finishers at Bellewood will earn a ticket to the Boys Junior PGA Championship, one of the top national events for juniors staged by the PGA of America which will be held Aug. 2 to 5 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Ill.

   The overall runnerup was Andrew Ekstrom of York as he carded a 1-over 72 to finish atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division. Ekstrom made birdies at the first, third and ninth holes and had 11 pars on his scorecard, including a run of six in a row from the 10^th through the 15^th holes.

   Jack Davis, a senior leader on Inter-Ac League runnerup Malvern Prep last fall, finished four shots behind Sass in the 16-to-18 division to claim runnerup honors in the division and end up third in the overall scoring with a 3-over 74.

   Davis got it going on the outgoing nine at Coatesville, opening with three straight birdies at the first, second and third holes and another at the eighth on his way to a 3-under 32 on the front nine. Davis also had nine pars on his card.

   Radnor sophomore Shaun Mazzalupi, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Unionville sophomore Rex Opedahl shared third place in the 16-to-18 division and were tied for fourth in the overall scoring as each landed on 4-over 75.

   Mazzalupi made birdies at third, 11^th and 15^th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard. Opdahl made birdies at the second and 11^th holes and had 10 pars on his card.

   Pope John Paul II junior Jack Brennan, who does some looping at Stonewall, and Kennett sophomore Kasim Narinesingh-Smith shared fifth place among the older guys and finished in a tie for seventh in the overall scoring as each posted a 78.

   Lewisburg senior Sean P. Kelly, a PIAA Class AA qualifier last fall, was a shot behind Brennan and Narinesingh-Smith in seventh place in the 16-to-18 division and finished in a tie for ninth place in the overall scoring with West Chester Rustin freshman Sam Feeney from the 13-to-15 division with a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were four players who finished in a tie for eighth place at 9-over 80 headed by Upper Dublin senior Charlie Kerprich, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall. Kerprich punched his ticket to the state championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort last fall with a third-place finish in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

   Joining Kerprich in the tie for eighth place were West Chester Henderson sophomore Josh Baker, Zachary Freed of Linwood, N.J. and Connor Matteo of Drums. The foursome finished in a tie for 11^th place in the overall scoring, which should earn them a spot in the field at Bellewood next month.

   La Salle sophomore and North Wales resident Ethan Martin, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, was the runnerup to Ekstrom in the 13-to-15 division and was alone in sixth place in the overall scoring with a 5-over 76.

   Martin made birdies at the 12^th and 15^th holes and six of his 10 pars came on the incoming nine at Coatesville as he toured the back in even-par 36.

   Henderson’s Feeney, who capped a strong freshman season last fall with a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship, was three shots behind Martin in third place in the 13-to-15 division and shared ninth place in the overall scoring with Lewisburg’s Kelly with a 79. Feeney birdied the first hole and had 10 pars on his scorecard.

   Liam McFadden of Bryn Mawr and Ian Larsen of Glenmoore finished in a tie for fourth place among the younger guys, each registering an 82.

   Michael Keller of Chadds Ford took sixth place with an 83, Lawson Leeper of York was seventh with an 84 and Cameron Peffel of Fleetwood was eighth with an 85.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were three players tied for ninth place at 87, including Boyertown freshman Chase Dillman, Mac Traynor of Villanova and Owen Grimes of Malvern.

   Jake Julian of Malvern and Rayan Shah of Newtown headed a small field of nine-holers as each made three pars on his way to a 10-over 45 as they finished in a tie for the top spot.

   Carter Hippauf of Quakertown rounded out the coed 12-and-under division field as he finished a shot behind Julian and Shah in third place with a 46 that featured four pars.