Gross' third-place finish at Cog Hill was just a tuneup for U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood

    Managed to get in a post a couple of weeks ago when Downingtown junior Nick Gross, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, made a run to the second round of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon.

   What I didn’t know at the time was that Gross had preceded his trip to Bandon Dunes with a quick run to Summit, N.J. and punched his ticket to the U.S. Amateur Championship with a runnerup finish at Canoe Brook Country Club’s North Course, a site the United States Golf Association often uses for U.S. Open sectional qualifying.

   It was a well-attended U.S. Amateur qualifier because this will be a home-state U.S. Amateur for the Garden State at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., another favorite site for the USGA. Gross fired a sizzling 7-under 65 in the opening round and added a patient even-par 72 in the afternoon for a 7-under 137 total.

   By the time I get this posted, Gross will be on the golf course at Ridgewood, the second youngest player in the field, in the opening round of qualifying for match play in the 122^nd U.S. Amateur. Gross will turn 16 next week, but when he teed off Monday at 7:41 a.m., he was still just 15.

   There was just too much going on to do daily posts a couple of weeks ago when Gross finished third in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Ill. I settled for sending out some late-night tweets, updating Gross’ progress after he was tied for the lead following each of the first two rounds.

   And I wanted to get back to both the Boys and Girls Junior PGA Championships because Gross was joined by several of our region’s top junior players at Cog Hill. So, this will largely be a recap of the Junior PGA Championships combined with a look at the U.S. Amateur as it is teeing off at Ridgewood and the other qualifying site at Arcola Country Club.

   The common denominator among all those subjects, of course, is Gross. It would be a fairly bustout of a summer for a 15-year-old kid to qualify for the both the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   But to get a starting time in the U.S. Amateur the week before your 16^th birthday, well that is really special.

   Gross was really good at Cog Hill. The Dubsdread Course there was one of the rotating sites of the old Western Open and it was a course that the PGA Tour stars always seemed to look forward to playing. That Tiger Woods fella won three Western Open titles there.

   Gross came out of the gate with a 5-under 67 on the Dubsdread Course, a flawless round that included five birdies, three straight at the eighth, ninth and 10^th holes, and no bogeys to get a share of the lead following the opening round.

   There were weather delays in the second round at the Ravines Course and Gross, with a late starting time, just got his second round completed before darkness fell and again it was five-birdie, no-bogey masterpiece. A second straight 5-under 67 gave Gross a share of the lead after 36 holes.

   Gross really only had one bad nine at Cog Hill and that was on the Dubsdread’s outgoing nine in the third round. After not making a bogey for 36 holes, Gross opened his third round with a double bogey at the first hole.

   Gross made bogeys at third and fourth holes, got a birdie at five, and then made another bogey at seven. It added up to a front-nine 40.

   But Gross settled down, making a birdie at the 12^th hole before stumbling again with a double bogey at 15 as he signed for a 5-over 77.

   The eventual winner, Max Herendeen of Bellvue, Wash., carded a 2-under 70 in the third round that enabled him to separate himself from the field.

   Gross had one more 5-under 67 left in him at the Dubsdread Course in the final round Aug. 5^th that enabled him to finish in third place with a 10-under 278 total.

   There aren’t a lot of 72-hole events for juniors and the Boys Junior PGA Championship is one of them. Gross could be forgiven if he didn’t have a whole left in the tank by the back nine of the final round. But he closed with a rush with an eagle at the par-5 15^th hole and birdies at 16 and 17 to get it to 10-under.

   Herendeen, who plans to join the program at perennial Big Ten power Illinois in the summer of 2023, closed with a 4-under 68 that left him with a 16-under 272 total and an impressive five-shot victory.

   Herendeen had finished a shot out of a playoff for the final berths in match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes.

   Ethan Gao of Alpharetta, Ga. closed with a 2-under 70 to earn runnerup honors with an 11-under 277 total. Gao, who will join the program at Pac-12 power Stanford next summer, had surged up the leaderboard on the strength of a sparkling 7-under 65 on the Dubsdread Course in the third round.

   Gross wasn’t the only Pennsylvanian to finish in the top 10 at Cog Hill. Pittsburgh Central Catholic senior Rocco Salvitti, who has finished in the top 10 in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his first three scholastic seasons, matched par in the final round with a 72 on the Dubsdread Course to finish in a tie for seventh place with a 3-under 285 total.

   Salvitti had added a 3-under 69 in the second round at the Ravines Course to his opening round of 1-over 73 at Dubsdread. He carded a solid 1-under 71 in the third round at Dubsdread.

   Like Gross, Salvitti had earned a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes before falling in the opening round to China’s Wenyi Ding, the eventual champion.

   Devon Prep junior Nick Ciocca and Norristown’s Josh Ryan, were the 1-2 finishers in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at Bellewood Country Club, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s qualifier for the national event at Cog Hill, missed the 36-hole cut as they finished one shot apart in the Boys Junior PGA Championship.

   Ciocca, who led Devon Prep to the PIAA Class AA team crown last fall, matched par in the second round at the Ravines Course with a 72 after opening with a 79 at Dubsdread for a 7-over 151 total. It was the second straight appearance in the Boys Junior PGA Championship for Ciocca, a product of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club.

   Ryan, who captured the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship for a third straight time this summer, had opened with a solid 1-over 73 at Dubsdread, but struggled to a 79 at the Ravines Course for an 8-over 152 total.

   The 36-hole cut fell at 5-over 149.

   Back home last week, Ryan, representing The 1912 Club, added the Harry Hammond Award to his GAP Junior Boys’ crown by beating Wilmington Country Club’s Matt Homer in a playoff at Sandy Run Country Club.

   Ryan fired a sparkling 5-under 67 at Sandy Run to edge Homer, who won titles in two of GAP’s major championships for juniors, the Christman Cup and the Jock MacKenzie Memorial, by two shots. Homer will begin his senior year at the Tatnall School in a few weeks.

   The playoff victory was the last junior hurrah for Ryan, who will join the program at Division I power Liberty later this month. The playoff victory for the Harry Hammond Award also gave Ryan his second GAP Junior Player of the Year award, adding it to the one he won in the pandemic summer of 2020.

   A couple other western Pennsylvania juniors also missed the cut at Cog Hill.

   Nolan Nicklas, who graduated from Seneca Valley in the spring, added a 2-over 74 in the second round at the Ravines Course after struggling to an 83 in the opening round at Dubsdread. Plum sophomore Wes Lorish also struggled in the opening round at Dubsdread with an 81 before adding a 77 in the second round at the Ravines Course.

   Lower Merion senior Sydney Yermish, who won the PIAA Class AAA crown last fall at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County, and Elizabeth Beek, the Class AAA state champion as a freshman at Wissahickon in 2019, were among a group of local junior girls who teed it up in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill.

   Not sure if it was new this year to have the boys and girls championships simultaneously at the same site, but it certainly made sense.

   It’s been a fairly quiet summer for Yermish, but she got off to a good start in the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a 1-under 71 at the Ravines Course. She struggled to a 79 in the second round at the Dubsdread Course, although her 6-over 150 total was good enough to survive the 36-hole cut.

   Yermish, who will join the program at Big Ten power Michigan next summer, again struggled a little at the tough Dubsdread Course, carding an 81 in the third round and failed to survive the 54-hole cut with her 231 total. The 54-hole cut fell at 4-over 220.

   Beek, who has been doing her school work while working on her golf game at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., just missed the 54-hole cut in the Girls Junior PGA Championship.

   After opening with a 2-over 74 at the Ravines Course, Beek carded a 1-over 73 at Dubsdread. A 2-over 74 at Dubsdread in the third round left Beek a shot off the 54-hole cutline with a 5-over 221 total. Beek will join the program at Illinois of the Big Ten next summer.

   The Girls Junior PGA Championship crown went to Kaitlyn Schroeder of Jacksonville, Fla. as she closed with a sparkling 6-under 66 at the Dubsdread Course – she had also dominated the tough Dubsdread layout with a 66 in the second round – for a 14-under 274 total.

   Schroeder, who has been one of the top players on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit, will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama next summer.

   Schroeder reached the second round of match play in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. a couple of weeks earlier before falling in 20 holes to Reese McCauley of Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

   Rianne Mikhaela Malixi of the Philippines finished up with a 3-under 69 at Dubsdread to earn runnerup honors with a 12-under 276 total, two shots behind Schroeder. Malixi got the jump on the field when she fired a 7-under 65 in the opening round at the Ravines Course.

   Kiara Romero of San Jose, Calif. was another shot behind Malixi in third place with an 11-under 277 total after closing with a 1-under 71 at the Dubsdread Course. Romero plans to join the program at emerging Pac-12 power Oregon next summer.

   Romero’s 1-up victory over Japan’s Saki Babi in the second round of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Olde Stone is looking pretty strong in light of Babi’s rampaging 11 and 9 victory over Michigan junior Monet Chun, the Big Ten individual champion in the spring, in Sunday’s U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

   Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J. had a very strong showing at Cog Hill as she closed with a 3-under 69 at Dubsdread to finish among a trio of players tied for fourth place with an 8-under 280 total.

   Li, who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke next summer, backed up that performance in the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a run to the round of 16 in last week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Chambers Bay before falling, 3 and 2, to UCLA senior Annabel Wilson of Ireland.

   Li’s fellow Jersey girl, Megan Meng of Pennington, also closed with a strong 1-under 71 at the Dubsdread Course to finish among the group tied for 21^st place in the Girls Junior PGA Championship with a 3-over 291 total.

   Meng, a junior at Hopewell Valley, used her affiliation with Jericho National Golf Club to capture the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon Country Club in 2020.

   Unionville senior Mary Grace Dunigan, the winner of the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at Laurel Creek Country Club, missed the 54-hole cut at Cog Hill with a 7-over 223 total. Dunigan closed with a 2-over 75 at the Dubsdread Course.

   It’s been a strong summer for Dunigan, who also claimed the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ crown in June at Lebanon Country Club.

   Dunigan was joined at 223 by a familiar name in Kiera Bartholomew of Wake Forest, N.C. Bartholomew, who played out of Indian Valley Country Club when she began her junior career, opened with a solid 3-under 69 at the Ravines Course, but struggled to a 79 in the third round at Dubsdread.

   Bartholomew has committed to join the program at ACC power Virginia next summer.

   Lenape High junior Angelina Tolentino survived the 36-hole cut at Cog Hill, but was unable to advance to the final round. Tolentino struggled to an 84 in the third round at the Dubsdread Course to end up with a 233 total.

   Tolentino was coming off a nice showing in the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Olde Stone as she earned a spot in the match-play bracket before falling, 3 and 1, in the opening round to Ting-Hsuan (Tiffany) Huang of Chinese Taipei.

   Tolentino and Meng teamed up to make the match-play bracket in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at the Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico in April before falling in the opening round.

   Lydia Swan, the 2019 PIAA Class AA champion as a sophomore at North East, missed the 36-hole cut at Cog Hill as she struggled to an 82 in the opening round at the Ravines Course before adding a 77 in the second round at Dubsdread for a 159 total. The 36-hole cut fell at 6-over 150.

   Swan will join the program at Oral Roberts later this month.

   Sawyer Brockstedt, the Rehoboth Beach, Del. phenom, carded a pair of 80s at the Ravines and Dubsdread courses and missed the 36-hole cut with a 160 total.

   Brockstedt, a sophomore at Sussex Academy, was the runnerup to Dunigan in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at Laurel Creek to punch her ticket to Cog Hill.

   Brockstedt and Central Bucks East sophomore Elle Lundquist made a splash in the Women’s Four-Ball in Puerto Rico, the two teens making the match-play bracket before falling in the opening round.

   Lindsey Powanda, who finished in a tie for 10^th place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Mt. Lebanon last fall, added an 82 at Dubsdread to her opening-round 83 at the Ravines Course for a 165 total.

   Paige Scott, who graduated from Butler in the spring, opened with a solid 2-over 74 at the Ravines Course, but couldn’t solve the tough Dubsdread Course as she struggled to a 93 for a 167 total.

   Time to turn the page to this week’s U.S. Amateur, which is under way at Ridgewood and Arcola as I wrap up this post.

   In addition to Gross, there is a ton of familiar names teeing it up in the U.S. Amateur.

   I was able to put together a post on the GAP-administered qualifier at Rolling Green Golf Club, where Drexel men’s golf coach Ben Feld, Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matt Mattare, and Temple fifth-year player Connor McGrath punched their tickets to Ridgewood.

   Penn State senior Pat Sheehan and his former roommate in Happy Valley, Ben Smith, both earned a U.S. Amateur berth in a GAP-administered qualifier at Chambersburg Country Club.

   It was big news in the caddyshack at Stonewall when R.J. Wren, who starred scholastically at Twin Valley and collegiately at Delaware and did some looping at the ’Wall at times in the summers in between, earned a trip to the U.S. Amateur in another GAP-administered qualifier at Applebrook Golf Club.

   The other berth out of Applebrook went to David Kim, one of District One’s top players when he was at Upper Dublin who went on to a solid college career at La Salle.

   Notre Dame senior Palmer Jackson, the 2018 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Franklin Regional, is also in the field at Ridgewood. Jackson made a remarkable run to the quarterfinals of the 2019 U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort before his college career had even begun.

   Jimmy Ellis, a top western Pennsylvania mid-amateur and the winner of the 2020 Pennsylvania Open at storied Oakmont Country Club, also earned a ticket to Ridgewood.

   I’ll try to keep up with the news out of Paramus, N.J. this week, but I’ve got some Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stuff to catch up on.