Davis Conaway, the winner of the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship as a freshman at Malvern Prep last fall, was the only player to finish under par as he claimed medalist honors in qualifying for match play Tuesday in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 109th Junior Boys’ Championship at LuLu Country Club, the Donald Ross classic in Glenside.
Conaway, playing out of Fieldstone Golf Club, carded a 2-under-par 69 to finish two shots ahead of John Stevenson, playing on his home course at LuLu, and Ian Natale of Sunnybrook Golf Club. Stevenson and Natale are teammates at perennial Catholic League power La Salle.
From a couple of checks on the live scoring, it appeared Conaway started off the eighth tee at LuLu. He quickly got it to 2-under for the round when he drove it on the green at the par-4 ninth hole and dropped an eight-foot putt for an eagle.
Conaway dropped a shot with a bogey at the 15th hole, but bounced back with birdies at 16 and one to get it to 3-under for the round before a bogey at five dropped him back to 2-under.
Conaway, who led Malvern Prep to the Inter-Ac team crown, claimed a dramatic victory in the Bert Linton when he drove the green at the par-4 finishing hole at Llanerch Country Club -- spotting a trend here, the kid can drive it -- and two-putted for a birdie to turn a one-shot deficit into a one-shot victory.
Conaway finished a shot out of a playoff for the final berth in a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at Chambersburg Country Club Monday with an even-par 73.
Conaway’s opponent in the first round of match play Wednesday morning will be Jack Homer, the youngest of Wilmington Country Club’s talented Homer brothers.
Jack Homer survived a playoff among five players for the final three spots in the match-play bracket after his 4-over 75 left him in a tie for 14th place.
One of the two players who failed to survive the playoff was Jack Homer’s older brother Matt, who had reached the semifinals of the GAP Junior Boys in each of the last two years. Matt Homer will be one of the top contenders in the first flight.
Matt’s twin brother Jeffrey was one of three players tied for sixth place as he carded a solid 2-over 73. The Homer brothers were part of the Tatnall School golf team that lost in an aggregate playoff to Tower Hill School for the team title in the Delaware scholastic championships late last month at Baywood Greens in Long Neck, Del.
Matt and Jeffrey Homer recently graduated from Tatnall and Jack Homer will be a junior in the fall. The Homers and Joe Ciconte, a Tatnall teammate (and, pretty sure, a cousin of the Homers) led Wilmington Country Club to a five-shot victory over Overbrook Golf Club in the team competition.
Wilmington had a 10-over 223 total in the four-score-three format.
Representing Overbrook were a couple of Conaway’s teammates on Malvern Prep’s Inter-Ac championship team, Michael Henry and Marshall Kain, Liam McFadden, who plays at The Haverford School, and Radnor High’s Lannon Boyd. Overbrook finished with a 15-over 228 total.
Boyd was in the group along with Jeffrey Homer and Aronimink Golf Club’s Hunter Stetson in the tie for sixth place at 2-over 73 as all three earned spots in the match-play bracket.
Stetson was the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual champion at Bluestone Country Club as a sophomore in the fall of 2021 and finished in third place behind Conaway in defense of his title last fall at Llanerch.
Jaden Minter of Spring Ford Country Club and Michael Lugiano of Huntsville Country Club each recorded a 1-over 72 and finished a shot behind Stevenson and Natale in a tie for fourth place.
Minter was the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s individual champion and helped Spring-Ford capture the PAC team crown for the second straight fall.
Lugiano finished in third place in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State last fall as a junior at Lake Lehman and led Lake Lehman to the PIAA Class AA team championship.
Lugiano was also at the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier at Chambersburg Monday and lost in a playoff for the final berth to the prestigious national event after carding a 1-under 72. Lugiano was the first alternate from Chambersburg, so he’ll be checking his email regularly for the next few weeks, just in case the USGA comes calling.
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