Henbest rides a fast start to a Philly Junior Tour victory with a 72 at Pennsauken

 

   Alex Henbest of Manahawkin, N.J. got off to a fast start at Pennsauken Country Club on his way to a solid 2-over-par 72 July 17^th that gave him a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division.

   Henbest made birdies at the fourth and 16^th holes and had 14 pars on his scorecard in his steady round. Eight of those pars, along with the birdie at the fourth hole, came on the outgoing nine at Pennsauken, which Henbest toured in 1-under 34.

   Ryan Gibson of Cinnaminson, N.J. made a birdie at the sixth hole and had eight pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the older guys with an 81.

   Michael Acchione of Sewell, N.J. and Tyler Kulick of Mount Royal, N.J. finished in a tie for third place, each landing on 83.

   Acchione had seven pars on his card while Kulick made a birdie on the 11^th hole and eight pars on his card.

   Michael Reardon of Springfield took fifth place with an 84, Noah Taylor of Columbus, N.J. was sixth with an 84, Timothy Hueber of Westmont, N.J. was seventh with an 87, Chase Adamaitis of Egg Harbor Township, N.J. was eighth with an 89 and Sean Murphy of Cherry Hill, N.J. was ninth with a 95.

   Cole Dopke of Woolwich Township, N.J. took 10^th place with a 101 and Andre Callison of Mount Laurel, N.J. rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as he finished 11^th with a 107.

   Avon Grove sophomore Gus Stoltzfus matched Henbest for the low round of the day in claiming the top spot in the 13-to-15 division as he also posted a 2-over 72.

   Stoltzfus made birdies on the 11^th and 16^th holes and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including a run of eight pars in a row from the third through the 10^th holes.

   Jake Smaron of Philadelphia got it going in the middle of the back nine with birdies at the 13^th, 14^th and 16^th holes and had seven pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 4-over 74 that left him two shots behind Stoltzfus.

   Jaxon Piccoli of Berlin, N.J. made birdies at the eighth and 14^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Smaron in third place with a 75.

   Quinn Gallagher of Bryn Mawr took fourth place with a 76, Landon Finsen of Westampton, N.J. was fifth with a 77, Thomas Carpenter of Bristol was sixth with a 78 and Judd Fletcher of Moorestown, N.J. and Tyler Whitney of Cherry Hill, N.J. finished in a tie for seventh, each signing for a 79.

   Andrew Bradshaw, another Moorestown, N.J. guy, took ninth place with an 86 and Jacob Shachar of Sewell, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished 10^th with an 88.

   Annalise Capoli of Medford, N.J. had three pars on her scorecard as she captured a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with a solid 87.

   Isabella Magno of Delran, N.J. finished up her round with a birdie at the 18^th hole and had three pars on her scorecard, all on the incoming nine at Pennsauken, as she earned runnerup honors with a 91.

   Emily M. Renouf of Cinnaminson, N.J. made a par on the 11^th hole as she took third place with a 111.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Sophia Stultz of Monroeville, N.J. as she finished in fourth place with a 119.

   Adriana Seravalli of Philadelphia had seven pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 92.

   Masey Heenan of Ocean City, N.J. made pars on the 10^th and 13^th holes as she earned runnerup honors among the younger girls with a 101.

   Gabriella Magno, another member of Team Magno out of Delran, N.J., made a par on the eighth hole as she took third place with a 113.

   Francesca O’Neil of Haddonfield, N.J. rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished in fourth place with a 121.

   Gavin Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. had five pars on his scorecard, closing out his round with four consecutive pars, as he bested the field of nine-holes with a 6-over 41.

   Bobby Stefanski of Newtown Square made a par on the third hole as he took second place, four shots behind Lane with a 45.

   Edmond Speitel of Haddonfield, N.J. also made a par at the third hole as he finished in third place with a 47.

   Mallie Heenan, another member of Team Heenan out of Ocean City, N.J., took fourth place with a 50 and Aiden Jose of Brick, N.J. was fifth with a 51.

   Rounding out the field in the coed 12-and-under division was Rylan Foust of Exton as he finished in sixth place with a 53.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolentino edges Kiel by a shot to capture title in Pennsylvania Women's Amateur at Waynesborough

 

   Angelina Tolentino was a scholastic standout at Lenape High in South Jersey, but she cut her teeth in golf competing in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour.

   Tolentino was always one of those junior players that just seemed to get a little better every year, so it wasn’t all that surprising to see her come out on top in the 88^th Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship conducted by the Pennsylvania Golf Association at Waynesborough Country Club in Easttown Township. The Pennsylvania Women’s Am is sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods.

   Tolentino, who will join the program at Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference next month, came roaring out of the gate in the final round July 24^th with four straight birdies and then held on to edge Purdue senior Natasha Kiel, who was playing out of Jericho National Golf Club, by a shot in a tense stretch duel.

   Tolentino, playing out of The 1912 Club, trailed Kiel, a New Hope native who was a scholastic standout at George School, by two shots going into the final round.

   But that opening birdie burst enabled Tolentino to close with a sparkling 5-under-par 68 that gave her an 8-under 211 total.

   Capturing the title in the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur came with an added benefit for Tolentino as it earned her a spot in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, which tees off Monday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

   Kiel, who spent the first two years of her college career at Vanderbilt before transferring to Purdue, had matched par in the opening round with a 73, then erupted with a sparkling 5-under 68 in the second round that gave her a two-shot lead over Tolentino and former Penn State standout Jackie Rogowicz, who has joined Merion Golf Club, going into the final round.

   Kiel made birdies at the first, third, fifth and 10^th holes to get it to 4-under for her second round. She stumbled briefly with a bogey at the 11^th hole, but closed out her round with birdies at 16 and 18.

   Tolentino quickly wiped out her two-shot deficit with those four straight birdies to start her final round. When Kiel made back-to-back birdies at the ninth and 10^th holes, she drew even with Tolentino at 8-under for the championship.

   Kiel made a bogey at the 16^th hole to enable Tolentino to take a one-shot edge. Tolentino’s birdie try at the 18^th hole lipped out, giving Kiel one last chance to force a playoff, but Kiel’s eight-footer for birdie also lipped out and Tolentino had the victory.

   It was the second straight runnerup finish in the Pennsylvania Women’s Am for Kiel as she fell in a playoff to Duke senior Rylie Heflin a year ago at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown.

   “The last time I played in the U.S. Women’s Amateur was in 2021 up in New York and I’ve been trying to get back into the tournament ever since,” Tolentino told the PAGA website. “Even this year, I went down to Maryland to play, but never had my ‘A’ game in those one-day qualifiers.

   “So to come out and get a win today at this tournament feels good and I am really proud of myself.”

   Tolentino had opened with a solid 3-under 70 before matching par with a 73 in the second round that left her two shots behind Kiel heading into the final round.

   Rogowicz, who was one of two mid-amateurs to earn a spot in the match-play bracket in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, had opened with a 2-under 71 and added a 1-under 72 in the second round that also left her two shots behind Kiel going into the final round.

   Rogowicz, a two-time Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion, matched par in the final round with a 73 that left her in third place, four shots behind Kiel with a 3-under 216 total.

   Rogowicz, who reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship last summer at Stonewall’s North Course, had already punched her ticket for a return trip to the U.S. Women’s Amateur with a runnerup finish in the qualifier at Kenwood Golf & Country Club in Bethesda, Md. with a 1-over 71 earlier this month.

   The medalist in that qualifier was Penn State senior Michelle Cox, who starred scholastically at Emmaus. Cox carded a solid 3-under 67 at Kenwood.

   At Waynesborough, Cox, playing out of Lehigh Country Club, finished in fifth place with an even-par 219 total. After struggling to a 3-over 76 in the opening round, Cox bounced back with a 3-under 70 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 73.

   The only other player to finish under par for three rounds was another Jericho National entry in Megan Meng, another Jersey girl who finished in fourth place, two shots behind Rogowicz and a shot ahead of Cox with a 1-under 218 total.

   Meng, a scholastic standout at Hopewell Valley High, sandwiched a 1-over 74 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 72s.

   Meng, who will join the program at Big Ten power Northwestern later this month, arrived at Waynesborough after earning a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at El Cabellero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. before falling to Brynn Kort of Henderson, Nev., 1-up, in the opening round.

   In defense of the title she won a year ago at Sunnehanna, Heflin, playing out of Bidermann Golf Club, closed with a solid 4-under 69 to climb to a sixth-place finish, four shots behind Cox with a 4-over 223 total. Heflin, an Avondale, Chester County native who starred scholastically at the Tower Hill School, had struggled to a pair of 4-over 77s in the first two rounds.

   Brooke Oberparleiter, a Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association entry, and Bucknell Golf Club’s Hannah Rabb finished a shot behind Heflin in a tie for seventh place, each landing on 5-over 224.

   Oberparleiter, a sophomore at Kentucky who has often spent her summers in South Jersey, matched par in the opening round with a 73 and added a 2-over 75 in the second round before closing with a 76.

   Rabb was a four-time PIAA Class AA qualifier, winning a state championship in 2022, during an outstanding scholastic career at Warrior Run. She will join the program at James Madison next month. After opening with a solid 1-under 72, Rabb added a 4-over 77 in the second round before finishing up with a 75.

   Really strong showing at Waynesborough for Notre Dame Academy sophomore Kiersten Bodge, a product of the junior program at neighboring Overbrook Golf Club along Route 320.

   The kid was at the top of the leaderboard among all those college players with an opening round of 4-under 69. Bodge struggled a little after that with a 4-over 77 in the second round and a final-round 80, but she still finished alone in ninth place with a 7-over 226 total.

   I’ve seen Bodge play in the Inter-Ac League individual championship at French Creek Golf Club the last two springs. She was a frustrated runnerup both times and was also the runnerup as a seventh-grader in 2022. She’s got game and she’s clearly not intimidated when she’s playing up against older competitors.

   Ava O’Sullivan, a junior at Bowling Green playing out of Applecross Country Club, rounded out the top 10 as she closed with a solid 1-under 72 to finish a shot behind Bodge in 10^th place with an 8-over 227 total.

   O’Sullivan, who starred scholastically at Downingtown East, was coming off a runnerup finish to North Carolina senior Riley Quartermain in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship at Riverton Country Club. O’Sullivan had opened with a 79 at Waynesborough before adding a 3-over 76 in the second round.

   Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior Rhianna Gooneratne, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, former Strath Haven standout Grace Smith and Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Mary Grace Dunigan, who starred scholastically at Unionville, landed in a three-way tie for 11^th place, each ending up with a 10-over 229 total.

   Gooneratne, another entry out of The 1912 Club, closed with a solid 2-under 71 after struggling to an opening-round 82 and adding a 3-over 76 in the second round.

   Smith, a junior at Stetson in South Florida, added a 77 in the second round to her opening-round 78 before finishing up with a solid 1-over 74.

   Dunigan, coming off a solid freshman season at William & Mary, added a 3-over 76 in the second round to her opening-round 75 before closing with a 78. Not seeing Dunigan on the roster for the 2024-2025 season at William & Mary, so she has likely moved on to a more high-powered Division I program.

   The Mid-Amateur, Senior and Super-Senior divisions were conducted concurrently at Waynesborough, but were just 36 holes and wrapped up July 23^rd.

   There is little doubt as to the identity of the top women’s mid-amateur in Pennsylvania as Katie Miller Gee, playing out of Green Lakes Country Club, rolled to a six-shot victory over Katrin Wolfe of Northampton Country Club for Miller-Gee’s fourth state Mid-Am crown.

   Miller Gee, the wife of Oakmont Country Club head pro Dylan Gee, made two birdies in an opening round of 4-over 77 that gave her a one-shot lead over Wolfe.

   Miller Gee made three straight bogeys early in her final round, but righted the ship with a birdie at the seventh hole on her way to a 2-over 74 that gave her a 6-over 152 total.

   Miller Gee reached the second round of match play in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Stonewall’s North Course.

   After her opening round of 5-over 78, Wolfe struggled a little in the second round with an 80, but still held second place, finishing six shots behind Miller Gee with a 158 total.

   After surviving a playoff among eight players for the final three spots in match play in the U.S. Mid-Am at Stonewall’s North Course last summer, Wolfe, a field staff representative for the Mid-Atlantic region of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, made a spectacular run to the round of 16, including a stunning upset of one of the three co-medalists in qualifying, Jessica Spicer, in the opening round of match play.

   Allison Wix, playing out of the Country Club of Harrisburg and a former scholastic standout at Central Dauphin, finished two shots behind Wolfe with a 160 total after posting a pair of 80s at Waynesborough.

   Wix, who was defending the state Mid-Amateur division title she won a year ago at Sunnehanna, has made it to the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am each of the last two summers, although she failed to earn a spot in the match-play bracket last summer at Stonewall.

   Jocelyn Abel of Regents’ Glen Country Club and Barbora Millichip of Honeybrook Golf Club finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up three shots behind Wix at 163.

   Abel and Millichip had identical splits as each added an 82 in the second round after opening with an 81.

   Millichip, a native of the Czech Republic, lost to Quartermain, the eventual champion, in the semifinals of the WGAP Match Play Championship at Riverton earlier this month.

   Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Lisa McGill was even more dominant in rolling to the Senior division title than Miller-Gee was in the Mid-Amateur division as McGill captured the crown for the third time in the last four years by a whopping 13 shots.

   McGill got off to a tremendous start as she made birdies at the second, third, sixth, seventh and 10^th holes on her way to a sparkling opening round of 2-under 71. She made birdies on the seventh, 12^th and 15^th holes in a second-round 79 for a 4-over 150 total.

   Merion’s Loraine Connolly was McGill’s closest pursuer. After opening with a solid 5-over 78, Connolly struggled to an 85 in the second round, but still earned runnerup honors with a 163 total.

   Louise Gebhart of Hanover Country Club finished a shot behind Jones in third place with a 164 total as she added an 81 in the second round to her opening-round 83.

   Steph Urban of Lawrence Park Golf Club was another three shots behind Gebhart in fourth place with a 167 total as she added an 83 in the second round to her opening-round 84.

   Barb Pagana of Huntsville Golf Club held on for a two-shot victory over Northampton Country Club’s Noreen Mohler, a legend in Lehigh Valley golfing circles, to capture the state Super Senior division title for a third time.

   Pagana took a three-shot lead over Mohler, captain of the winning U.S. side in the Curtis Cup Match in 2010, with an opening-round 81.

   Mohler got it going on the outgoing nine in the second round at Waynesborough, but Pagana made three pars on the final four holes for an 85 that gave her a 166 total.

   Mohler ended up with a second straight 84 to claim runnerup honors with a 168 total.

   Cynthia Moore of Meadia Heights Golf Club added an 87 in the second round to her opening-round 83 to finish two shots behind Mohler in third place with a 170 total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Haverford School's Brown prevails in playoff to capture title in Jock Mackenzie Memorial at Sandy Run

 

   It’s starting to look like The Haverford School is going to have a very good chance to repeat as the Inter-Ac League champion this fall.

   Members of last fall’s Inter-Ac champions have been popping up on Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP), Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour and Pennsylvania Golf Association leaderboards all summer.

   In GAP’s 40^th Jock Mackenzie Memorial July 15^th, one of those Fords, senior Harrison Brown, playing out of Philadelphia Country Club, finished at the top of the leaderboard in the Junior Boys division, capturing the title in a playoff with the hottest GAP junior player of the summer, recent La Salle graduate John Stevenson, playing  out of Sunnybrook Golf Club, and recent Wilmington Friends School graduate Robbie Lohkamp, playing out of DuPont Country Club, after each carded a 2-under-par 70 at Sandy Run Country Club in Oreland.

   Brown’s fellow Ford, junior Sean Curran, playing out of Merion Golf Club, finished among a group of six players that matched par with 72s over the 6,547-yard, par-72 Sandy Run layout and finished in a tie for fifth place in the Jock Mackenzie.

   Another Haverford School senior, J.P. Hoban, playing out of The 1912 Club, finished among the group tied for 49^th place with a 7-over 79.

   Senior Gregor Weissenberger, who captured the Bert Linton Memorial for the Inter-Ac’s individual crown last fall on his home course at Aronimink Golf Club, and sophomore Nicky Nemo, another Merion guy, have also been playing solid golf this summer.

   When Brown teed it up in the Jock Mackenzie three summers ago, it marked the first competitive junior event in which he competed. This summer, Brown was good enough to finish atop a field of nearly 100 of the best junior golfers in the Philadelphia area who gathered at Sandy Run.

   Brown got it to 3-under for his round with back-to-back birdies at the 16^th and 17^th holes before giving a shot back on the final hole when an errant drive led to a bogey.

   Brown’s 2-under 70 left him in a tie with Stevenson, winner of GAP’s other two major championships for juniors this summer, the Junior Boys’ Championship at The Ridge at Back Brook last month and the Christman Cup at Huntingdon Valley Country Club earlier this month, and Lohkamp.

   All three players were long with their approach shots on the first hole of the playoff, the 335-yard, par-4 18^th at Sandy Run, but Brown, to the right of the green, had the best angle at the pin and chipped to four feet. Stevenson couldn’t get a 23-footer for par to fall and Lohkamp couldn’t convert his 15-foot par putt. Brown then buried his four-footer for par to claim the title.

   “I feel like this tournament has shown my progression well over the years from it being my first-ever golf tournament to winning today,” Brown told the GAP website. “I think this course fits my game well. I hit it pretty far off the tee, I know where to miss and I putted well today, so that was helpful.”

   Stevenson did not leave Sandy Run empty-handed as he prepares to join the program at Drexel next month.

   Stevenson won the Harry Hammond Award, which included his scores from qualifying for match play in the GAP Junior Boys (73), the two rounds of the Christman Cup (a pair of 72s) and the 70 he recorded in the Jock Mackenzie. It added up to a 4-over 287 total that was nine shots clear of runnerup Jack Homer, a senior at The Tatnall School who plays out of Wilmington Country Club.

   It capped a couple of remarkable summers on the GAP Junior circuit for Stevenson as he became the first player to repeat as the winner of both the GAP Junior Boys and Christman Cup. And he very nearly completed a sweep of all three of GAP’s major junior championships this summer, coming up just a shot short of that feat with his playoff loss in the Jock Mackenzie.

   La Salle junior John Gavaghan, playing on his home course at Sandy Run, came up just a shot short of joining the playoff as he finished in fourth place with a 1-under 71.

   Homer was one of the five players who joined Merion’s Curran in the tie for fifth place at even-par 72.

   Turned out the Jock Mackenzie was just a tuneup for the Philadelphia Open the next two days at Applebrook Golf Club for Homer and he displayed just how talented the junior players in this region are. Homer was just two shots out of the lead after opening with a 2-under 68 at Applebrook before adding a 4-over 74 in the second round to finish in a tie for 24^th place with a 2-over 142 total.

   Rounding out the group at even-par were Jackson Lane of Riverton Country Club, Ridley High sophomore Declan Conner, who was representing The Skramble House of Golf, Moorestown Field Club’s Brady Crow, and Overbrook Golf Club’s Cole Berry, a junior at West Chester Rustin who was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall.

   A couple more of the top returning players in the Inter-Ac, Episcopal Academy sophomore Liam Crowley, playing out of Aronimink, and Malvern Prep senior Michael Henry, another Overbrook entry, headed a trio of players tied for 11^th place at 1-over 73.

   They were joined at 1-over by Cedarbrook Country Club’s Nolan Corcoran, Stevenson’s teammate on the La Salle team that was the PIAA Class AAA runnerup last fall. Corcoran has another year left with the Explorers.

   Recent Wilson graduate Kayla Maletto, playing out of Berkshire Country Club, captured the top spot in the Junior Girls division as she carded a solid 9-over 81.

   Maletto, who will join the program at Creighton next month, made birdies on the ninth and 17^th holes and had eight pars on her scorecard. Maletto capped an outstanding scholastic career at Wilson with a sixth-place finish in last fall’s PIAA Class AAA in her third appearance at the state tournament.

   Conestoga sophomore Corinne McReynolds, playing out of Whitford Country Club, was the only other competitor in the Junior Girls division and she finished five shots behind Maletto in second place with an 86. McReynolds was a member of the Pioneers’ District One Class AAA championship team last fall.

   Boosted by an eagle at the 368-yard, par-5 15^th hole, Llanerch Country Club’s William Quartermain claimed top honors in the Junior-Junior Boys division with a 2-over 38.

   Quartermain needed just a 7-iron to cover the 164 yards he had into the 15^th green and he converted his eagle try from 25 feet. He also had five pars on his scorecard, finishing up with three straight pars.

   Henry Sokol of Green Valley Country Club and Jack Metroka of Huntingdon Valley finished in a tie for second place, a shot behind Quartermain, as each posted a 3-over 39.

   Gavin Lane, another member of Riverton’s Team Lane, took fourth place with a 42 and Jack Sokol, the other half of Green Valley’s Sokol twins, and Llanerch’s Ryan Comly finished in a tie for fifth place, each signing for a 43.