Deng takes it deep to capture title in WGAP Junior Girls' Championship at Moorestown Field Club

 

   Seems like there’s always another phenom right around the corner.

   Went looking on the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s website, sensing correctly that it was Match Play Championship week. And I’ll get to the 10^th career WGAP Match Play Championship for Tavistock Country Club’s Meghan Stasi, the U.S. team captain for next year’s Curtis Cup Match in a couple of days.

   But I also noticed that the WGAP staged its Junior Girls’ Championship last week at the Moorestown Field Club in South Jersey. Moorestown Field Club is only nine holes, but I’ve always heard good things about it.

   Well, a 13-year-old from Short Hills, N.J. by the name of Aphrodite Deng lit up Moorestown Field Club to the tune of a 14-under-par 130 total to beat Archmere Academy sophomore Meredith Finger by a whopping 12 shots. And Finger was 13 shots ahead of the rest of the field.

   Did a little snooping around and found that Deng was the medalist in a U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship qualifier last month at Teugega Country Club in Rome, N.Y., grabbing the only spot available with a 1-under 70 at the Donald Ross gem.

   Deng will tee it up in the opening round of qualifying for match in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Monday at the U.S. Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course in Colorado Springs, Colo.

   Based on what she did last week at the Moorestown Field Club, I like the kid’s chances of earning a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Girls’ Junior.

   Deng opened the WGAP Junior Girls’ Championship July 5^th with an eye-opening 9-under 63.

   After making birdies at the second, fifth and sixth holes, Deng concluded her first tour of Moorestown Field Club’s nine-hole layout with an eagle 2 at the par-4 ninth hole for a 5-under 31.

   Deng then made birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes (looks like it’s the same nine, but with different tee boxes) before stumbling with a bogey at 14. Yeah, a 63 with a bogey.

   Deng bounced right back with an eagle – her second of the day – at the 15^th hole and a birdie at 16. Just to review: That’s six birdies, two eagles and a bogey. She’s 13.

   In the second round the following day, Deng made birdies at the second and sixth holes before making an eagle at the par-5 seventh. A birdie at the 11^th hole got her to 5-under for the round and she proceeded to grind out pars on the last seven holes for a 67.

   Finger, coming off a runnerup finish in the Delaware scholastic championship at Baywood Greens in Long Neck, Del. as an Archmere freshman in the spring, was pretty strong herself in an opening round of 6-under 66.

   After opening with a birdie at the first hole, Finger stumbled briefly with a bogey at five. Finger bounced right back with an eagle at the par-5 sixth hole that really got her going. Finger rattled off birdies at the seventh, 10^th, 11^th,  12^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to get it to 8-under for the round.

   Finger made bogeys at the 16^th and 17^th holes, but still only trailed Deng by three shots going into the final round.

   Finger cooled off in the second round. She had birdies at the sixth, seventh and 15^th holes, but five bogeys and a double bogey at 18 left her with a 4-over 76. Finger’s 2-under 142 total left her with a solid runnerup finish.

   Pretty sure Finger is the daughter of Matthew Finger, who was one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s top mid-amateur players before turning pro. Meredith Finger often shows up on Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour leaderboards and has shown consistent improvement.

   Another Jersey girl, Aditi Lakhawala, added a 79 to her opening-round 76 as she claimed third place with a 155 total that was 13 shots behind Finger. A Class of 2029 competitor, Lakhawala is a year younger than Deng, who is a Class of ’28 competitor.

   Recent Germantown Academy graduate Serena Bagga was a shot behind Lakhawala in fourth place as she carded a pair of 78s for a 156 total. Playing on the boys team, Bagga helped the Patriots capture the Inter-Ac League crown in the fall of 2021.

   Bryn Krosse of York and Tsai Yan Chiang finished in a tie for fifth place, two shots behind Bagga at 158.

   Krosse added a 78 in the second round to her opening-round 80. Looks like Yan Chiang is from the same Holmdel, N.J. community that produced Stanford sophomore and U.S. Curtis Cup team member Megha Ganne. She opened with a solid even-par 72, but struggled a little in the second round with an 86.

   Savannah Laverty, playing not far from her Moorestown, N.J. home, added a 5-over 77 to her opening-round 83 to finish alone in seventh place with a 160. Just from keeping track of the Philly Junior Tour and junior golf in general, somebody (or more than a few somebodies) is doing something right in the Moorestown golf community when it comes to developing junior players.

   Kylie Yiengst, a junior at Polytech in Delaware, was a shot behind Laverty in eighth place with a 161 total. Hannah Webb of Woolwich, N.J. was another shot behind Yiengst in ninth place at 162 as she added an 82 in the second round to her opening-round 80.

   Audrey Reese, a recent Council Rock South graduate, rounded out the top 10 in the Junior division as she finished in 10^th place, a shot behind Webb with a 163 total. Reese opened with a solid 5-over 77, but struggled a little in the second round with an 86.

   Katelyn Bodge captured the Junior-Junior crown as she got the jump on the field with a sparkling 2-under 34 in the opening round. She then added a 4-over 40 in the second round for a 2-over 74 total.

   Bodge made back-to-back birdies on Moorestown Field Club’s par-5s, the sixth and seventh holes, in the opening round. After a birdie at the first hole to open her second round, Bodge made double bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes and a bogey at eight.

   I’m guessing Bodge is the younger sister of Kiersten Bodge, who was the runnerup in the Inter-Ac League Championship at French Creek Golf Club for the second year in a row as just an eighth-grader at Notre Dame in the spring. Team Bodge plays out of Overbrook Golf Club.

   Bodge finished nine shots ahead of runnerup Joslen Bannon, who added a 4-over 40 in the second round to her opening-round 43 for an 83 total.

   Evelyn Hadley finished in third place with a 108 as she struggled to a 60 in the second round after opening with a 48.

   Rounding out the field in the Junior-Junior division was Madelyn Robinson, who shaved 14 shots off her opening-round 76 with a 62 in the second round for a 138 total.