The weather was so miserable Saturday, March 9th, I guessed the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s 2024 season opener at Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster had to be postponed. I guessed wrong.
Got to give the Philly Junior Tour kids credit. They have played in some difficult conditions over the years and with this being, for many of them, their first chance to compete since last fall, they were anxious to tee it up in chilly temperatures and rain showers that got a little more persistent as the day wore on.
The only concession to the weather came for the girls as the 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions only played nine holes. There was a lot of junior golf over this past weekend, but I had to go back and catch up on the Philly Junior Tour season opener.
Not surprisingly, the co-medalists in the 16-to-18 division for the boys were a couple of last fall’s scholastic standouts, Unionville sophomore Charlie Barrickman and Germantown Academy senior Ajeet Bagga, as each carded a 3-over 74 in the difficult conditions.
Barrickman was the Ches-Mont League’s individual champion and helped the Longhorns capture the District One Class AAA team crown at Turtle Creek Golf Course. Barrickman also qualified as an individual for the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s Blue Course and led Unionville to a third-place finish in the team competition.
Barrickman made birdies on the ninth, 14th and 16th holes and had nine pars on his scorecard at Five Ponds.
Bagga was one of the top players in the Inter-Ac League throughout his career at Germantown Academy, leading the Patriots to their first league crown in a generation as a sophomore in 2021 and earning Champion Golfer of the Year honors by finishing atop the Inter-Ac’s regular-season points standings as a junior in 2022.
Bagga capped his career at GA by finishing in a tie for sixth place in the Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac’s individual championship, at Aronimink Golf Club and in fourth in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Championship at Radley Run Country Club last fall.
Bagga was typically steady at Five Ponds, starting fast with birdies at the first, third and fourth holes and finishing with 11 pars on his card.
Connor Breen of Medford, N.J. finished a shot behind Barrickman and Bagga in third place among the older guys with a solid 4-over 75. Breen got it going on the back nine at Five Ponds with a birdie at the 13th hole and seven of the 13 pars he recorded in his round on the incoming nine.
Andrew Rindgen was another five shots behind Breen in fourth place with a 9-over 80. I usually report the players’ home towns, but they weren’t available in the results from Five Ponds. The players I know, especially the ones who have appeared in the blog in past Philly Junior Tour posts, I’ll try to include their home towns or the high school for which they play.
Tower Hill School senior Michael Dignazio, who is gearing up for a spring scholastic season in Delaware, finished a shot behind Rindgen in fifth place with an 81. Dignazio, who was playing some solid golf on the Philly Junior Tour last fall, helped Tower Hill capture the state team title in Delaware last spring.
Carson Deringer of Bryn Mawr finished two shots behind Dignazio in sixth place with an 83.
Bryce Ciochetto and Dante Stridacchio shared seventh place, each signing for an 85 and Gavin Reinert and Christopher Pullano rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for ninth, each registering an 88.
Ty Sheftic of Blue Bell and Landon Finsen of Westampton, N.J. finished in a tie atop the standings in the 13-to-15 division as each carded an 8-over 79.
Sheftic made a birdie on the ninth hole and had nine pars on his scorecard, including a run of five in a row from the 12th through the 16th holes. Finsen made birdies on the sixth, ninth, 13th and 15th holes and had five pars on his card.
Niklas Skjeveland of Jamison finished three shots behind Sheftic and Finsen in third place with an 82 as he made a birdie on the fifth hole and had seven pars on his card.
Gregory Kriz took fourth place with an 83, Jesse Shurman was another shot behind Kriz in fifth with an 84 and Tyler Beritz was sixth with an 87.
Michael Bonczak, John Peyton and William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr finished in a deadlock for seventh place, each posting an 88.
Bennett Newman, Reid Tornetta and Landon Stern rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for 10th place, each carding a 91.
The best score among the girls came out of the younger 13-to-15 division as Noor Mehta of Newtown had five pars on her scorecard on her way to a victory with a 4-over 39.
Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. also had five pars on her card as she finished in a tie for second place with Alaina Carson of Broomall, each recording a 7-over 42. Carson had three pars on her card.
Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Madison Cabot of Langhorne as she took fourth place with a 55.
Agnes Irwin sophomore Makayla Stone had three pars on her scorecard as she finished atop the scoreboard in the 16-to-18 division with a 7-over 42. Stone was gearing up for a spring season for the Inter-Ac League girls. She finished in a tie for 10th place in last spring’s Inter-Ac League Championship at French Creek Golf Club.
Naaz Mehta, another member of Newtown’s Team Mehta, and Julia Hashem of Coatesville finished in a tie for second place, each landing two shots behind Stone with a 44.
Naaz Mehta’s round was highlighted by back-to-back pars on the second and third holes and Hashem had three pars on her card.
Mariana Walker of Richboro rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as she finished in fourth place with a 50.
Patrick Thomas bested the field of nine-holers as he made a birdie on the seventh hole and had four pars on his scorecard on his way to a solid 4-over 39.
Team Revness of Yardley accounted for the next two spots on the leaderboard.
Ben Revness made back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes and had three pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Thomas in second place with a 5-over 40. Adam Revness made a birdie on the third hole and had two pars on his card as he took third place with a 43.
Xunnan Dang of Newtown Square took fourth place with a 46, Steven Musacchio of Glenmoore was a shot behind Dang in fifth with a 47, Kaycen Subbio was sixth with a 49 and Matthew Bowman was a shot behind Subbio in seventh with a 50.
Rounding out the field in the coed 12-and-under division was Quinn Pollard, who finished in eighth place with a 56.
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