Henry beats Malvern Prep teammate Conaway in a playoff to claim title in Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship

 

   Watched the Malvern Prep pair of Michael Henry and Davis Conaway in the Bert Linton Invitational, the Inter-Ac League’s individual championship, last fall at Aronimink Golf Club.

   While neither won, Henry, who will be a senior this fall, and Conaway, who will be a junior and was defending the Bert Linton title he had won as a freshman at Llanerch Country Club that day at Aronimink, battled to the finish.

   Henry finished in second place and Conaway finished in a tie for third on the Donald Ross gem at Aronimink that was set up tough for the Inter-Ac’s top players.

   The two Friars were the two best players in a talented field Monday in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry Township just across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown.

   Both ended up with 3-under-par 139 totals in the grueling, one-day 36-hole test with Henry making a par on the first playoff hole, Bellewood’s par-5 10^th, to defeat his Malvern Prep teammate and capture the title.

   Looks like both achieved the ultimate goal for the day: Earning a trip to the Boys Junior PGA Championship, one of the premier national junior events run by the PGA of America which tees off July 30 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

   The winner of the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship is guaranteed a spot in the Boys Junior PGA Championship and each PGA Section gets at least a wild card or two.

   With a trip to a national junior event on the line, the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship always draws a top-notch field after several qualifiers staged by the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour during the spring.

   The overall scoring was for ages 13-to-18, but the Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions, so I’ll wrap up those divisions while referencing the overall scoring.

   Henry and Conaway both matched par in the morning with 71s and shared the lead.

   Conaway made a birdie at the second hole, a bogey at four, birdies at seven and 10, bogeys at 12 and 13, a birdie at 16 and a bogey at 17.

   Henry got off to a fast start in the morning with birdies at the third, fifth and seventh holes. He cooled off with bogeys at the eighth, ninth, 13^th and 17^th holes that dropped him back to 1-over for his round. A birdie at the par-5 finishing hole enabled Henry to draw even with Conaway.

   Conaway opened his afternoon round with a birdie at the first hole before giving shots back with bogeys at three and six. But then he got it going in the middle of the round with birdies at the seventh, 10^th, 14^th and 15^th holes. Conaway gave a shot back with a bogey at the 16^th hole, but a birdie at the finishing hole gave him a 3-under 68 that left him at 3-under for the day.

   Conaway posted 3-under at least an hour before Henry finished, so Henry probably knew what he was shooting for.

   Henry again started fast with birdies at the first, third, seventh and 10^th holes. Back-to-back bogeys at the 13^th and 14^th holes dropped him back to 2-under for the round and the championship, a shot behind Conaway.

   But Henry made a birdie at Bellewood’s par-5 finishing hole to join Conaway at 3-under.

   Both Henry and Conaway played well a couple of weeks ago in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship at The Ridge at Back Brook, Henry reaching the quarterfinals and Conaway winning the first flight title after coming up just short of the championship flight in qualifying for match play.

   Their 3-under totals left Henry and Conaway at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   I’ve often suggested that the Inter-Ac is the best scholastic golf league in Pennsylvania and the results of the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship would seem to bear that out, at least for this year.

   Recent Episcopal Academy graduate Hunter Stetson and Haverford School junior Nicky Nemo completed a sweep of the top four spots at Bellewood for the Inter-Ac.

   Stetson was the Inter-Ac’s champion golfer of the year last fall as he piled up the most points during the six Inter-Ac mini-tournaments that comprise its regular season. He shared third place in the Bert Linton with Conaway on Stetson’s home course at Aronimink. Stetson won the Bert Linton as a sophomore in 2021 at Bluestone Country Club.

   Stetson, who will join the program at North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference later this summer, registered a 1-under 70 Monday afternoon at Bellewood after opening with a 1-over 72 as he finished in third place among the older guys and in the overall scoring with an even-par 142 total that left him three shots behind Henry and Conaway.

   Stetson made birdies at the fifth, seventh and 17^th holes in his second-round 70. He had 13 pars on his scorecard, seven of them on the outgoing nine at Bellewood, which he toured in 2-under 34. In the morning, Stetson made birdies at the seventh and 10^th holes and had 13 pars on his card.

   Stetson might be a candidate for a wild card to the Boys Junior PGA Championship. He was the runnerup in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship a year ago and teed it up in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark.

   Although he failed to make the cut at Hot Springs, that trip was part of a really strong summer of junior golf for Stetson in 2023, including a run to the round of 16 in match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Course in Charleston, S.C.

   Nemo, who helped the Fords capture the Inter-Ac title last fall, got it going in the afternoon at Bellewood as he signed for a sparkling 2-under 69 after opening with a 3-over 74. Nemo’s 1-over 143 total left him a shot behind Stetson in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   York Suburban junior Callahan Harrell, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, matched Nemo’s 2-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 5-over 76 as he finished in fifth place in the 16-to-18 division and fifth overall with a 3-over 145 total.

   Daniel Boone junior Chase Yenser, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Tommy Marshall of Marlton, N.J. finished in a tie for sixth place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for seventh in the overall standings as each landed on 5-over 147.

   Yenser was just a shot out of the lead after opening with a 1-over 72 before adding a 4-over 75 in the afternoon. After struggling a little in the opening round with a 6-over 77, Marshall carded a solid 1-under 70 in Monday afternoon’s second round.

   Unionville senior Charlie Barrickman, who helped the Longhorns capture the District One Class AAA team crown and finish third in the team chase at the PIAA Class AAA Championship, and Abington Heights senior Cade Kelleher, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each ending up with a 6-over 148 total. The duo was tied for eighth place in the 16-to-18 division.

   Barrickman registered a pair of 3-over 74s at Bellewood. Like Yenser, Kelleher was just a shot out of the lead after opening with a 1-over 72 before finishing up with a 5-over 76 in the afternoon.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Devon Prep senior John Curran, a member of the Tide’s PIAA Class AA championship team last fall, and Southern Lehigh junior Caleb Walsh as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each ending up with a 7-over 149 total.

   Curran added a 4-over 75 in the afternoon to his opening-round 74 while Walsh had the opposite splits, adding a 3-over 74 in the afternoon to his opening-round 75.

   Only one player in the 13-to-15 division managed to crack the top 10 and that would be South Williamsport phenom Logan McGinn, who finished atop the division and was sixth in the overall scoring with a 4-over 146 total.

   The kid’s 12, still more than two years away from playing high school golf, and he makes birdies at the second and 11^th holes and has 15 pars on his scorecard, including eight straight pars from the third through the 10^th holes, on his way to a 1-under 70 in the afternoon. Two words: Look out.

   McGinn made only one birdie in the opening round at the second hole and had 13 pars on his card on his way to a 5-over 76.

   Salesianum sophomore Luke LaScala added a solid 1-over 72 in the second round to his opening-round 77 to finish three shots behind McGinn in second place in the 13-to-15 division with a 7-over 149 total. LaScala made birdies at the sixth and 14^th holes and had 13 pars on his card in the second round. In the morning, LaScala made a birdie at the first hole and had 11 pars on his card, eight of them in a 1-under 35 tour of the front nine.

   Quin Zuegner, a sophomore at The Hill School, Episcopal Academy sophomore Liam Crowley and Judd Fletcher of Moorestown, N.J. shared third place among the younger guys, each landing on 9-over 151.

   Zuegner, a New Hope resident, made birdies at the fourth, 14^th and 18^th holes and had nine pars on his card in an opening round of 3-over 74. He made birdies at the seventh, 10^th and 18^th holes and had seven pars on his card in a second-round 77 in the afternoon.

   Crowley made birdies at the second and 18^th holes and had 11 pars on his card in an opening round of 4-over 75. He got off to a fast start in the afternoon with birdies at the second, fourth and fifth holes and ended up with nine pars on his card while recording a 76.

   Fletcher made birdies at the second, third and 17^th holes and had nine pars on his card as he finished up with a solid 3-over 74 in the afternoon. He had 12 pars on his card on his way to an opening-round 77.

   Trevor Sieben of Medford, N.J., the Philly Junior Tour’s Player of the Year in the 13-to-15 division in 2023, finished in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division as he carded a pair of 5-over 76s for a 152 total.

   Malvern Prep sophomore Colby Komancheck was four shots behind Sieben in the 13-to-15 division as he added a 79 in the afternoon to his opening-round 77 for a 156 total.

   Komancheck capped a solid freshman season for the Friars by finishing in fifth place in the Bert Linton at Aronimink. With Henry, Conaway and Komancheck returning this fall, Malvern Prep head coach Gary Duda has a solid trio at the top of his lineup.

   Komancheck competed in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club in April and finished in third place in the Boys 14-15 division, topping the field in the driving portion of the competition.

   Dover junior Lawson Leeper, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, finished a shot behind Komancheck in eighth place in the division with a 157 total as he added a 77 in the afternoon to his opening-round 80.

   Ian Rotto of Kennett Square finished two shots behind Leeper in ninth place among the younger guys with a 159 total as he bounced back from an opening-round 83 with a solid 5-over 76 in the afternoon.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Quinn Gallagher of Bryn Mawr as he finished a shot behind Rotto in 10^th place with a 160 total, adding an 83 in the afternoon to his opening-round 77.