Ridley's Conner cruises to 10-shot victory in HJGT's Philadelphia Spring Kickoff at Talamore

 

   Declan Conner, coming off a solid freshman season at Ridley last fall, rolled to a 10-shot victory in the Boys 14-15 division in the Philadelphia Spring Kickoff at Talamore, a Hurricane Junior Golf Tour (HJGT) stop last weekend.

   Talamore Country Club in Ambler proved to be a tough puzzle to solve for the junior golfers, both guys and girls, although the field drew some decent weather for St. Patty’s Day weekend since March has been largely cold or wet up to this point. Not one boy broke 80 and only the two girls finishers got it in in under 80 over the par-71 layout.

   There was some wind to contend with in Sunday’s final round, but Conner made birdies on the 14^th and 18^th holes and had six pars on his scorecard as he pulled away from the field with an 80 that gave him a 19-over 161 total.

   Conner earned a spot in the District One Class AAA Championship last fall by surviving a playoff for the final four berths to districts at the Central League Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

   Conner finished his opening round Saturday by making birdies at the 17^th and 18^th holes to record an 81 that left him tied for the lead. Conner also had eight pars on his card.

   Luke Fallon of Reading and Harry Traynor, coming off a decent sophomore season at Malvern Prep, finished in a tie for second place, each landing on 171, 10 shots behind Conner.

   Fallon had a share of the lead with Conner after he opened with a steady 81 that included a birdie at the 13^th hole and 10 pars, but he struggled a little in Sunday’s final round with a 90. Fallon made a birdie at the ninth hole and had six pars on his card in the final round.

   Traynor had six pars on his card as he closed with an 87 in Sunday’s final round. Traynor made a birdie on the seventh hole and had six pars on his card on his way to an opening-round 84.

   Will Johnson of Berwyn added an 84 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 89 to finish two shots behind Fallon and Traynor in fourth place with a 173 total.

   Ty Sheftic, coming off a solid freshman season at Wissahickon, added an 89 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 87 to finish three shots behind Johnson in fifth place with a 176 total. Sheftic is the son of Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Sunnybrook Golf Club and one of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top teachers.

   Alex Ornstein of Massapequa, N.Y. finished four shots behind Sheftic in sixth place with a 180 total as he opened with an 86, but struggled to a 94 in Sunday’s final round.

   Sebastian Park of Lansdale bounced back from an opening-round 85 with an 89 in the second round to finish four shots behind Ornstein in seventh place with a 184 total.

   Alex Rosen of New York City finished a shot behind Park in eighth place with a 185 total as he struggled in the final round with a 98 after opening with an 87.

   Zach Emmers of Andover, Mass. was a shot behind Rosen in ninth place with a 186 total as he carded back-to-back 93s.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Boys 14-15 division was Ryan Davis of Mechanicsburg as he added a 106 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 102 to finish in 10^th place with a 208 total.

   The Boys 16-to-18 division came down to a playoff between Scranton Prep sophomore Ben Boyanoski and Hatboro-Horsham junior Brent Glah with Boyanoski finally pulling out the victory on the third hole of sudden death.

   Boyanoski, who helped Scranton Prep finish in third place in the PIAA Class AA team chase last fall at Penn State, made a birdie at the third hole and had seven pars on his scorecard in a final-round 81 that left him with a 19-over 161 total.

   Boyanoski had opened with an 80 that included a birdie at the 16^th hole and eight pars.

   Glah earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall by finishing in a tie for fifth place in the District One Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

   Glah was right with Boyanoski the whole weekend as he had a steady opening round that featured 12 pars to match Boyanoski’s 80. Glah had nine pars on his card as he grinded out an 81 in Sunday’s final round to force a playoff with Boyanoski.

   Mechanicsburg junior Zach Rengen, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, registered a pair of 82s to finish three shots behind Boyanoski and Glah in third place with a 164 total.

   Rengen made birdies on the first and 15^th holes and had six pars on his card in Sunday’s final round. He had nine pars in the opening round, including seven straight to finish out the round.

   Unionville sophomore Nick Gaughan finished a shot behind Rengen in fourth place with a 165 total. Gaughan was just a shot behind Boyanoski and Glah going into Sunday’s final round after he opened with an 81. Gaughan closed with an 84.

   Checking up on Gaughan in the increasingly large data base this T Mac Tees Off blog has accumulated revealed a couple of flaws from my coverage of the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek last fall when I mistakenly had Gaughan playing for West Chester Rustin. I was able to fix those mistakes. Hey, better late than never.

   I did credit Gaughan with being a member of Unionville’s District One Class AAA championship team in the same post. In my defense, there's a lot going on on the second day of the District One Championship at the Turtle.

   Gaughan also qualified for the state tournament individually and helped the Longhorns finish in third place in the team standings in the PIAA Class AAA Championship. Gaughan finished in a tie for 49^th place in the PIAA Class AAA individual standings, part of a trio of players that also included Hatboro-Horsham’s Glah.

   Pleasant Valley junior Lydon Patascher, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Pope John Paul II junior Ryan McQuarrie Jr. finished in a tie for fifth place, each ending up a shot behind Gaughan at 166. Patascher added an 82 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 84 while McQuarrie posted a pair of 83s.

   Matthew Kolbjornsen of Middletown, Del. and Miles Watson of Hershey finished in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 167. Kolbjornsen added an 84 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 83. Watson was just a shot out of the lead following an opening-round 81 before falling back with an 86 in the final round.

   Tower Hill senior Michael Dignazio was a shot behind Kolbjornsen and Watson in ninth place with a 168 total as he added an 83 in Sunday’s second round to his opening-round 85. Dignazio is gearing up for Delaware’s spring scholastic season. He helped Tower Hill claim the state team crown last spring.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Boys 16-to-18 division was Nazareth junior Zach Miller, who finished in 10^th place with a 172 total. Miller, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, was just a shot out of the lead following an opening-round 81, but struggled in Sunday’s final round with a 91.

   Taimoor Naseem of Sinking Spring earned a three-shot victory in the Boys 11-to-13 division with a 171 total.

   Naseem played some outstanding golf while competing with the nine-holers on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour last year.

   He picked up right where he left off last year as he had nine pars on his scorecard on his way to an 85 in Sunday’s final round. Naseem had grabbed the lead in Saturday’s opening round as he made a birdie on the 18^th hole to along with eight pars in an opening-round 86.

   Logan Turner of Berwyn trailed Naseem by five shots following an opening-round 91 that featured six pars. Turner had 10 pars on his card in an 83 in Sunday’s final round that was the low round of the weekend in the division, but he couldn’t catch Naseem, finishing with a 174 total.

   Brady Campbell of Plymouth Meeting was 11 shots behind Turner in third place with a 185 total. Campbell made a birdie on the second hole and had four pars on his card on his way to a 90 in Sunday’s final round. He made birdies at the ninth and 12^th holes and had four pars on his card in an opening-round 95.

   Eli Singer of New York City took fourth place with a 197 total as he added a 99 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 98.

   William Thorkelson of Bryn Mawr and Christos Bottos of Berwyn finished three shots behind Singer in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 200.

   Thorkelson, another member of a competitive group of nine-holers on the Philly Junior Tour last year, added a 103 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 97. Bottos bounced back from an opening-round 107 with a 93 in Sunday’s final round.

   Julian Ossorio of Basking Ridge, N.J. took seventh place with a 206 total, rebounding from an opening-round 107 with a 99 in Sunday’s final round.

   Owen Ciesielki of West Chester struggled in the opening round with a 118, but improved by 19 shots in Sunday’s final round with a 99 as he finished in eighth place with s 217 total.

   Rounding out the field in the Boys 11-to-13 division field was Connor Masulis of Pottstown as he added a 107 in Sunday’s final round to his opening-round 113 for a 220 total that left him in ninth place.

   A couple of Blue Bell guys, Baylor Keim and Anthony Woodson, battled it out in the Boys 10-and-under division with Keim capturing the title by 15 shots.

   Keim had two pars on his scorecard on his way to a 99 in Sunday’s final round that gave him a 200 total. His opening-round 101 featured a birdie at the fourth hole and five pars.

   Woodson made a birdie on the ninth hole and had two pars on his card as he closed with a 108 that gave him a 215 total. His opening-round 107 was highlighted by a par on the 11^th hole.

   It came down to a playoff in the Girls 14-to-18 division with Danielle Higbee of Mickleton, N.J. prevailing on the second hole of sudden death over Inha A. Jun of Edgewater, N.J. after they finished tied atop the leaderboard at 9-over 151.

   Higbee, who frequently appeared on Philly Junior Tour leaderboards last year, made birdies at the ninth and 18^th holes and had eight pars on her scorecard in a final-round 77. Higbee made an eagle on the par-5 13^th hole and had 11 pars on her card in a solid 3-over 74 in the opening round.

   Yun had the exact same splits as she made birdies at the fourth, 15^th, 17^th and 18^th holes and had seven pars on her card as she matched Higbee’s solid opening round of 3-over 74. I’m sure the girls were playing less yardage than most of the boys, but the 74s by Higbee and Yun were the best rounds of the weekend.

   Yun also matched Higbee’s final-round 77 with Yun making birdies at the ninth and 18^th holes and with nine pars on her card, seven of them on the incoming nine at Talamore.

   Three players, Archmere Academy sophomore Meredith Finger, Emily Renoff of Glen Ridge, N.J., and Hannah Webb of Woolwich, N.J., finished in a tie for third place, each landing 18 shots behind Higbee and Yun at 169.

   Finger, the runnerup at the Delaware scholastic championship as a freshman last spring, had 10 pars on her card on her way to a solid 81 in Sunday’s final round. She made a birdie at the 15^th hole and had two pars on her card in an opening-round 88.

   Renoff had seven pars on her card as she finished up with an 85 in the second round. She had nine pars on her card in an opening-round 84.

   Webb matched Finger’s splits as she had nine pars on her card in a solid 81 in Sunday’s final round. She had five pars on her card in an opening-round 88.

   Charlotte Reid of Cream Ridge, N.J. was a shot behind the trio tied for third place as she finished sixth with a 170 total. Reid closed with an 84 in Sunday’s final round after opening with an 86.

   Grace Luckner of Summit, N.J. finished 11 shots behind Reid in seventh place with a 181 total as she bounced back from an opening-round 97 with an 84 in Sunday’s final round.

   Elizabeth Holden of Clinton, Maine finished two shots behind Luckner in eighth place with a 183 total as she, too, struggled in the opening round with a 98, but improved by 13 shots with a final-round 85.

   Giulia Weisser, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a freshman at Exeter last fall, finished three shots behind Holden in ninth place with a 186 total. Weisser struggled in the opening round with a 102, but closed with a solid 84 in Sunday’s final round.

   Rounding out the top 10 were two players -- Jewel Schaefer of Jamison and Gabrielle Hamstead of Milton, Del. -- who finished in a tie for 10^th place, each landing on 188, two shots behind Weisser.

   Schaefer got off to a nice start with an opening-round 87, but struggled in Sunday’s final round with a 101. Hamstead struggled in the opening round with a 100, but improved by 12 shots with a final-round 88.