Dunigan repeats as winner of Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at Spring Ford

 

   Recent Unionville graduate Mary Grace Dunigan is wrapping up her career as a junior player in fine fashion.

   Dunigan birdied the final two holes at Spring Ford Country Club Thursday to finish a 36-hole marathon day in hot and humid conditions with a 5-under-par 139 total that gave her the title in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship for the second straight summer.

   More importantly, the victory means Dunigan, who will join the program at William & Mary later this summer, is headed for the Girls Junior PGA Championship, one of the top national junior events which tees off Aug. 1^st at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark.

   Dunigan, the daughter of Golf Digest Top 50 instructor John Dunigan, also birdied the final two holes to cap her opening round of 3-under 69. The birdie-birdie finish in the afternoon gave her a 2-under 70 and enabled her to hold off a furious afternoon charge by runnerup Brooke Oberparleiter of Laurel Springs, N.J.

   Dunigan opened her afternoon round with a bogey at the first hole. A birdie at the third hole and a bogey at four left her at 2-under for the day. She ripped off birdies at the sixth, seventh and ninth holes to get it to 5-under for the tournament before dropping shots with back-to-back bogeys at 15 and 16.

   The birdies at the last two holes gave Dunigan a two-shot margin of victory over Oberparleiter.

   Dunigan captured the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship a year ago at Laurel Creek Country Club. She survived the 36-hole cut in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in suburban Chicago, but her 7-over 223 total was not good enough to make the 54-hole cut.

   Dunigan capped a brilliant scholastic career at Unionville by finishing in third place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s White Course last fall. As a sophomore, Dunigan led the Longhorns to the PIAA Class AAA team crown at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.

   The top two finishers are guaranteed a spot in the field at Hot Springs, so Oberparleiter is also making travel plans for Arkansas.

   Obertparleiter, who is headed for Kentucky and the Southeastern Conference later this summer, spends her summers in South Jersey and most of the school year in Jupiter, Fla. She has played well at the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) stop at DuPont Country Club the last two summers, winning the Imperial Headwear Junior Classic two years ago and finishing third in the AJGA Junior at DuPont last summer.

   Oberparleiter made birdies at the second, third, 17^th and 18^th holes and had 11 pars on her scorecard in her opening round of 1-over 73 at Spring Ford that left her four shots behind Dunigan.

   But after opening her second round with a bogey at the first hole, Oberparleiter got hot, rattling off birdies at the second, third and fourth holes before making an eagle at the par-5 fifth. All of a sudden, she was 4-under for her round and 3-under for the tournament.

   After briefly stumbling with a bogey at the seventh hole, Oberparleiter made birdies at nine and 15 to get it to 4-under for the tournament. A bogey at the 17^th hole left Oberleiter with a sparkling 4-under 68 in the afternoon, the day’s best round, and a 3-under 141 total.

   The qualifier was for players 13 to 18, but the Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions. I’ll break down the divisions and refer to the overall scoring. Dunigan and Oberparleiter finished 1-2, respectively, in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   Clarissa Leung, who led Episcopal Academy to the Inter-Ac League crown as a sophomore in the spring, shared third place among the older girls and in the overall scoring with Meijin Song of China, each landing on even-par 144, three shots behind Oberparleiter.

   Song, who closed with a sparkling 3-under 69 after opening with a 3-over 75, took third place in a playoff with Leung. Pretty sure the third-place finisher has a very good chance of earning a wild-card invitation to the Girls Junior PGA Championship.

   Pretty strong showing by Leung, who only trailed Dunigan by a shot after opening with a solid 2-under 70. Leung made birdies at the second, fifth, ninth, 12^th and 18^th holes in her solid opening round. Leung closed with a 2-over 74 to join Song at even-par for the day.

   Nicole Yun, a recent Spring-Ford graduate who was a standout for the Rams during her scholastic career, added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon to her opening-round 76 as she finished in fifth place in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall standings with a 5-over 149 total.

   It was another nine shots back in the 16-to-18 division to Wilson senior Kayla Maletto, who finished in sixth place in the division and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring with a 158 total. Maletto bounced back from an opening-round 84 with a solid 2-over 74 in the afternoon.

   Maletto added a District Three Class AAA individual crown at Briarwood Golf Club to the Berks County title she won at Willow Hollow Golf Course last fall. It was Maletto’s second Berks County individual title.

   Downingtown East senior Mia Pace, who helped the Cougars capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown in the fall of 2021, finished alone in seventh place among the older girls with a 160 total. Pace struggled in the second round with an 86 after opening with a solid 2-over 74.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were three players tied for eighth place at 165, including recent Central Bucks West graduate Abby Lynn, Souderton junior Alli Engart and former Mount St. Joseph standout Caroline Gola.

   Lynn, a two-time Suburban One League individual champion, added an 81 in the afternoon to her opening-round 84. Engart opened with an 80 before adding an 85 in the second round. Gola, a member of the Mount’s 2019 PIAA Class AAA championship team who is coming off her freshman season at Holy Cross, added an 83 in the afternoon to her opening-round 82.

   It was a really strong showing by Notre Dame freshman Kiersten Bodge, who landed atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and was sixth in the overall scoring with a 6-over 150 total.

   Bodge, who was the runnerup in the Inter-Ac individual championship at French Creek Golf Club for the second straight spring, was very much in the hunt for the individual title at Spring Ford after matching par in the opening round with a 72.

   Bodge made birdies at the second, third, 12^th and 17^th holes and had 11 pars on her scorecard in the opening round. Seven of those pars came on the incoming nine at Spring Ford as Bodge toured the back nine in 2-under 34.

   Bodge had 12 pars on her card on her way to a 6-over 78 in the afternoon.

   Plymouth-Whitemarsh junior Rhianna Gooneratne, who has been a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of her first two seasons with the Colonials, was just a shot behind Bodge in second place among the younger girls and in seventh place in the overall standings with a 7-over 151 total.

   Gooneratne had 13 pars on her card on her way to a 6-over 78 in the afternoon.

   Phoenixville sophomore Kayley Roberts, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup at Penn State to cap a strong freshman campaign with the Phantoms last fall, finished in third place in the 13-to-15 division and eighth in the overall scoring with a 155 total.

   Roberts made a birdie at the 12^th hole, had an eagle at the par-5 15^th and had nine pars on her card in an opening-round 80. Roberts made birdies on the sixth and 12^th holes and nine pars on her card in a solid 3-over 75 in the afternoon.

   Naaz Mehta of Newtown finished two shots behind Roberts in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division and ninth overall with a 157 total. Mehta added an 80 in the afternoon to his opening-round 77.

   Jillian Burks finished in fifth place among the younger girls as she registered a pair of 81s for a 162 total. Burks will join the high school ranks this summer and I’m hearing she’ll play at Conestoga.

   Sarah Stumacher of Gladwyne posted a pair of 83s to finish in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 166 total.

   Makayla Stone, coming off a solid freshman season in the spring with Agnes Irwin, finished two shots behind Shumacher in seventh place with a 168 total as she added an 83 in the afternoon to her opening-round 85.

   Corinne McReynolds of Wayne shaved seven shots off her opening-round 94 with an 87 in the afternoon as she finished in eighth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 181 total.

   Malaina Druffner of Downingtown added a 95 in the afternoon to her opening-round 92 to take ninth place in the division with a 187 total.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Saloni Patel of Collegeville as she added a 94 in the afternoon to her opening-round 96 for a 190 total that left her alone in 10^th place.