DiRita finishes atop a tightly bunched leaderboard to claim a Junior Tour victory at Pennsauken

    Christopher DiRita of Drexel Hill carded a solid 5-over-par 75 to hold off a slew of challengers and finish atop the leaderboard in 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop on a beautiful final day of June Thursday at Pennsauken Country Club in Pennsauken Township, N.J.

   DiRita was really steady with 14 pars on his scorecard over the par-70 Pennsauken layout, including eight straight to finish out his round, to edge Danny DiLella of Wayne by a shot with four other players tied for third place, two shots behind DiRita at 7-over 77.

   DiLella, a junior at Radnor, made birdies at the eighth and 14^th holes, but couldn’t quite catch DiRita as he settled for runnerup honors with a 6-over 76.

   Luke Morgan of Clarks Summit, Matthew Normand of Lumberton, N.J., Jeremiah Brown of Audubon and Tommy Marshall of Marlton, N.J. finished in a four-way logjam tied for third place, each landing on 77.

   Morgan made birdies at the 12^th and 17^th holes and had nine pars on his card, Normand got it going on the incoming nine at Pennsauken with birdies at the 12^th, 14^th and 17^th holes in addition to six pars overall, Brown made birdies on the first, 11^th and 15^th holes and had five pars on his card, and Marshall made birdies at the eighth and 17^th holes and had nine pars on his card.

   Three more players, Joseph Fargnoli of Mickleton, N.J., Sean Walker of Haddonfield, N.J. and Liam Gamble of Line Lexington, were another shot behind the logjam at 7-over as they finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 8-over 78. Walker was coming off earning co-medalist honors in the Philly Junior Tour stop a day earlier at Rancocas Golf Club.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division field was Justin Forman of Sewell, N.J. as he finished alone in 10^th place with a 79. Only four shots separated DiRita at the top of the leaderboard and Forman in 10^th place in a remarkably tightly bunched group.

   Dylan Rothenberg of Moorestown, N.J. matched DiRita’s 5-over 75 to take the top spot in the 13-to-15 division. Rothenberg made birdies at the sixth and 14^th holes and had 11 pars on his scorecard.

   La Salle junior Ethan Martin, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, heated up on the incoming nine as he made birdies at the 10^th, 12^th and 14^th holes in an even-par 35 that gave him a 6-over 76 and left him in second place, a shot behind Rothenberg. Martin, who has been solid all spring on the Philly Junior Tour, also had eight pars on his card.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J. and Luke Tappeiner of Northfield, N.J. shared third place, each signing for an 81. Sieben had nine pars on his card while Tappeiner recorded 10 pars.

   Seiji Sako of Wynnewood and Jax Puskar of Kennett Square finished in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 82.

   Benjamin Mayer of Garnet Valley took seventh place with an 83, Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. was eighth with an 84 and Devin Carpenter of Philadelphia was ninth with an 87.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division field were Trevor Dendler of Yardley and Chase Gallie of Newtown as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each ending up with an 88.

   It was the second straight Philly Junior Tour victory for Hannah Puc of Marlton, N.J. as she finished atop the leaderboard in the girls 16-to-18 division with a 10-over 80. Puc had 10 pars on her scorecard, including four straight to close out her round.

   Puc claimed a win in a Philly Junior Tour stop a day earlier at Rancocas.

   Curstan Bunch of Wilmington, Del., who had finished a shot behind Puc in a tie for second place at Rancocas, had six pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors with an 85. Alessia DeMatteo of Gladwyne made a par on the eighth hole to finish in third place with a 94.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Maggie Hawkins of Berwyn as she finished alone in fourth place with a 97.

   Like Puc, Savannah Laverty of Moorestown, N.J. repeated her victory at Rancocas as she took top honors in the 13-to-15 division with an 81. Laverty made a birdie on the 13^th hole and had eight pars on her scorecard.

   Isabella Migno of Delran, N.J. made a par on the 12^th hole as she earned runnerup honors with a 97.

   Carly Kuminka of Mickleton, N.J. also made a par on the 12^th hole as she finished in a tie for third place with Sophia Blair of Williamstown, N.J., each landing on 105.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division were Allison Brown of Audubon’s Team Brown and Macai Klein of Moorestown, N.J. as they finished in a tie for fifth place, each signing for a 118.

   Jackson Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. had six pars on his scorecard as he held off four pursuers by a shot to best the field of nine-holers with a 4-over 39.

   Ian Rotto of Kennett Square, Onyu Park of Blue Bell, Henry Sokol of Villanova and Dane Mohap of Nazareth finished in a four-way tie for second place, each registering a 41.

   Rotto had five pars on his card, Park made a birdie at the eighth hole and recorded four pars, Sokol had five pars on his card and Mohap, coming off a victory a day earlier at Rancocas, made a birdie at five and had three pars on his card.

   Chloe Donohue of Moorestown, N.J. finished alone in sixth place with a 42, only three shots behind Lane, the winner.

   Jack Sokol of Villanova’s Team Sokol and Justin Stickel of Churchville shared seventh place, each carding a 45, and Raylan Shah of Newtown was ninth with a 46.

   Rounding out the coed 12-and-under division were three players, Rithvik Nimma of Newtown, Judd Fletcher of Moorestown, N.J. and Maya Kaminka of Team Kaminka of Mickleton, N.J., tied for 10^th place, each ending up with a 47.