Ethan Martin has had a busy schedule of summer golf while trying to build on a sophomore season at La Salle that saw him earn a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall.
Martin of North Wales capped that summer with a sparkling 1-over-par 71 at Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County that gave him the overall title in the 44th Junior Tour Championship Aug. 15th.
Martin has been competing in the younger 13-to-15 division all summer and was a dominant seven-shot winner in that division.
But even in the overall 13-to-18 scoring – which awards Junior Golf Scoreboard points that can give players status at some of the higher levels of junior golf, like the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) – Martin had a three-shot margin of victory over the top two finishers in the 16-to-18 division, Justin Forman of Sewell, N.J. and Pennridge senior Jeffrey Seiler.
Martin rattled off three straight birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th holes as he toured the incoming nine at Chester Valley in 1-under 34. Martin had 12 pars on his scorecard on a Chester Valley layout that once played host to a stop on the PGA Tour Champions back when we just called it to the Senior PGA Tour.
Andrew Ekstrom of York made a birdie at the second hole and had 10 pars on his card as he was the runnerup to Martin in the 13-to-15 division and finished in a tie for seventh place in the overall scoring with an 8-over 78.
Boyertown sophomore Chase Dillman had 11 pars on his card on his way to a 79 and then beat Lawson Leeper of York and Cole Berry of West Chester on the second hole of a playoff to claim third place in the 13-to-15 division. Dillman, Leeper and Berry were part of a five-player logjam that rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring as they finished in a tie for ninth place.
Leeper had 10 pars on his card and Berry made a birdie at the second hole and had nine pars on his card as they matched Dillman’s 79.
Nolan Corcoran took sixth place among the younger guys with an 81 and Ben Mayer was seventh with an 82.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Seiji Sako of Wynnewood, Haverford School sophomore J.P. Hoban and Anthony Proud of Stroudsburg as they finished in a tie for eighth place, each landing on 83.
Forman, coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory in the stop at Indian Spring Golf Course, bested Seiler on the first hole of a playoff to take top honors in the 16-to-18 division as each posted a solid 4-over 74. That left them in a tie for second place in the overall scoring, three shots behind Martin.
Forman made birdies at the first and 12th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard to get it in at 4-over. Seiler only had one birdie, at the ninth hole, but had a steady round with 13 pars, including seven straight on the outgoing nine at Chester Valley from the second through the eighth holes on his way to an even-par 35 on the front side.
Lucas Steinmetz, a senior at The Hill School, got off to a fast start with birdies at the first, second and fourth holes. He added a fourth birdie at the 11th hole and had seven pars on his card as he finished in third place among the older guys and in fourth overall with a 5-over 75.
Upper Dublin’s Charlie Kerprich, who finished third in last fall’s District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course and qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior, was a shot behind Steinmetz in fourth place with a 6-over 76. Kerprich will be joining the program at Muhlenberg this month.
Joseph Fargnoli of Mickleton, N.J. was another shot behind Kerprich in fifth place in the 16-to-18 division and finished sixth overall with a 77.
Strath Haven senior Tyler Debusschere was a shot behind Fargnoli in sixth place in the 16-to-18 division and shared seventh place with Ekstrom in the overall scoring with a 78.
Debusschere was coming off a tie for 27th place in the AJGA Junior at DuPont, presented by Weatherman, at the beginning of August at DuPont Country Club near Wilmington, Del. I’m still determined to get to a roundup of that tournament because so many local players tee it up for the event on the AJGA schedule each year that is closest to the Philadelphia region.
Kennett senior Kasim Narinesingh-Smith and Tommy Marshall finished in a tie for seventh place in the 16-to-18 division, each signing for a 79. That left them tied with Dillman, Leeper and Berry from the 13-to-15 division as that quintet finished in a tie for ninth place to round out the top 10 in the overall scoring.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was the trio of Downingtown West senior Brady Manning, Sean P. Kelly, a PIAA Class AA qualifier as a senior at Lewisburg last fall, and John Stevenson as they each signed for an 80 to finish in a tie for ninth place.
Kayley Roberts, whose scholastic career at Phoenixville is about to take off, emerged from the 13-to-15 division to capture the overall girls crown with a 5-over 75.
Kayley Roberts made birdies at the third and 18th holes at Chester Valley and had 10 pars on her scorecard. Kayley Roberts had a solid showing in the AJGA Junior at DuPont, finishing in 16th place.
A couple of girls who are still a year away from debuting at the scholastic level, West Chester’s Kiersten Bodge and Paoli’s Jillian Burks, finished second and third, respectively, in the 13-to-15 division and were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the overall scoring.
Bodge had a steady round with 10 pars on her way to an 80 that left her five shots behind Kayley Roberts. Burks made a birdie on the fourth hole and had seven pars on her card as she recorded an 81.
Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J., coming off a couple of recent Philly Junior Tour victories, took fourth place among the younger girls and was sixth overall with an 84.
Mina Benedetto took fifth place in the 13-to-15 division and was seventh overall with an 86 and Alexandra Ergart was sixth in the division and eighth overall with an 87.
Upper Dublin junior Talia Hoffner was a shot behind Ergart in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division and got into the top 10 in the overall scoring as she shared ninth place with Kayley Roberts’ older sister, Kate Roberts, with an 88.
Giulia Weisser took eighth place among the younger girls with a 91 and Sarah Cohen and Kyla Quimby rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 94.
Spring-Ford senior Nicole Yun birdied the eighth hole and had 11 pars on her scorecard as she finished atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and in second place in the overall scoring, two shots behind Kayley Roberts, with a 7-over 77.
North Penn senior Hayley Ekert made a birdie at the 13th hole and had 11 pars on her card as she was runnerup to Yun in the 16-to-18 division and finished in third place overall with a solid 79.
Kate Roberts, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore last fall, made birdies at the 14th and 17th holes and had four pars on her card as she finished in third place among the older girls and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring by ending up in a tie for ninth with Hoffner with an 88.
The combination of Kate Roberts and Kayley Roberts is going to give Phoenixville girls golf coach Sandy Waltz a solid 1-2 punch at the top of her lineup this season.
Conestoga junior Brynne Mushlin and Central Bucks East senior Nina Harris finished in a tie for fourth place in the 16-to-18 division as each signed for a 95.
Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Sabrina Swope as she finished in sixth place with a 101.
Quinten Joiner of Millington, Md. was the winner of the coed 12-and-under Championship earlier this month at Pennsauken Country Club. Not sure if that was different than the Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley, but just to make sure, Joiner won this one, too.
Joiner made a birdie at the fifth hole and had five pars on his scorecard as he carded a solid 2-over 37 that was matched by Ian Rotto of Kennett Square. Joiner then defeated Rotto on the first hole of a playoff to capture the title.
Rotto made birdies at the second and fifth holes and had three pars on his card as he settled for runnerup honors.
Dane Mohap of Nazareth, who has dominated the nine-holers at times this summer, made a birdie at the seventh hole and had four pars on his card as he finished in third place with a 4-over 39.
Jackson Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J., Anthony Primo of Marlton, N.J. and Winston Chew of Exton finished in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 5-over 40.
Holden Sparks took seventh place with a 41, Sebastian Park was eighth with a 42 and Judd Fletcher was ninth with a 43.
Alex DiGiacinto rounded out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division as he finished alone in 10th place with a 45.
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