Sung matches par at Bala to roll to a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Chris Sung, a junior on the Conestoga golf team, matched par with a 68 on the short, but testy Bala Golf Club layout on the Philadelphia side of City Line Avenue to cruise to an eight-shot victory in the 16-to-18 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Sept. 15.

   On a gorgeous late summer Sunday, Sung made birdies at the fifth, 10^th, 12^th, 13^th and 17^th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard. With four of his five birdies on the incoming nine at Bala, Sung lit up the back to the tune of a 3-under 32.

   Sung probably was thinking that was a perfect tuneup for the Central League Championship, which was scheduled to tee off three days later at Turtle Creek Golf Course in Limerick, which will be the site of next month’s District One Championship.

   Turned out, a threat of wet weather prompted Central League officials to postpone the championship until Sept. 30. I didn’t find out that bit of information until I had run up to the Turtle to live-blog the Centrals, as I usually do.

   But the trip wasn’t a total waste as I picked up a significant bit of news from Sandy Waltz, part of Team Waltz that owns and operates the Turtle and who doubles as the girls golf coach at Phoenixville, where she taught for many years before retiring.

   I had heard that Kate Roberts, who graduated from Phoenixville in the spring after capturing the District One Class AAA Championship last fall at the Turtle and leading the Phantoms to a PIAA Class AAA team crown in the fall of 2022, was planning to take a gap year.

   But when Roberts captured the title in the American Junior Golf Association’s Babygrande D.C. Classic at the East Potomac Golf Links’ Blue Course in Washington, D.C. in July, things changed quickly.

   Some prominent Division I programs started calling and Roberts accepted an offer to continue her academic pursuits and play college golf at San Jose State, a perennial Mountain West power and an absolute player on the national stage. When the Spartans advanced to the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. last spring, it marked the program’s 24^th appearance on the biggest stage in women’s college golf.

   Meanwhile, back at Bala, Noah Brand, a junior on the Malvern Prep golf team, had 11 pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with an 8-over 76.

   Chase Kuech, a junior on the Upper Moreland golf team, made a birdie on the eighth hole and had 10 pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Brand in third place with a 77.

   Another Malvern Prep junior, Will Shuford, was another shot behind Kuech in fourth place with a 77.

   A couple of Mickleton, N.J. guys, Logan Hensel and Sebastian Furfaro, were the next two players on the leaderboard as Hensel took fifth place with a 79 that left him a shot behind Shuford and Furfaro was sixth with an 88.

   A pair of Wilmington, Del. entries, Gavin McCloskey and Kie Shaw, finished in a tie for seventh place, each signing for an 89.

   Ronnie Dutton of Narberth rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as he ended up in 10^th place with a 105.

   Henry Sokol of Villanova made a birdie on the 10^th hole and had 11 pars on his scorecard, including a string of four straight pars from the 12^th through the 15^th holes, to give him a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with a 5-over 73.

   Ty Sheftic of Blue Bell and Rayan Shah of Newtown finished a shot behind Henry Sokol in a tie for second place, each posting a 76.

   Sheftic made birdies at the eighth and 10^th holes and had nine pars on his card, including five straight pars from the 11^th through the 15^th holes. Shah made a birdie on the seventh hole and had nine pars on his card, seven of them on the incoming nine at Bala.

   Tyler Whitney of Cherry Hill, N.J. and Will Simonson of Haddonfield, N.J. shared fourth place, each signing for an 80.

   Jack Sokol, the twin brother of Henry Sokol, headed a group of four players tied for sixth place at 83. The Sokol twins are products of the junior program at Green Valley Country Club.

   Joining Jack Sokol in the quartet tied for sixth place were Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J., Braydon Dolan of Springfield and Rithvik Nimma of Newtown.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was Jack Luterman, an Ardmore resident and a sophomore on the golf team at The Haverford School, as he finished in 10^th place with an 84.

   Anna Firko, a junior at Mt. Pleasant High, just over the state line in Delaware, made a birdie on the sixth hole and had five pars on her scorecard, four of them on Bala’s back nine, as she registered a solid 83 to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 13-to-15 division.

   Megan Choi of Penn Valley had four pars on her card as she finished five shots behind Firko in second place with an 88.

   Christina St. Pierre, a junior on the Pennsbury girls golf team, rounded out a short field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished in third place with a 107.

   Taimoor Naseem of Sinking Spring wrapped up a weekend sweep of the nine-holers as he had five pars on his scorecard on his way to a 4-over 37 on the outgoing nine at Bala for a four-shot victory.

   Naseem was even more dominant a day earlier in rolling to a seven-shot victory in the coed 12-and-under division in a Philly Junior Tour stop at Spring Hollow Golf Club outside of Spring City.

   Grayson McCann of Downingtown and Xunnan Dang of Newtown Square shared runnerup honors as each posted an 8-over 41. McCann made a birdie on the seventh hole while Dang had three pars on his card.

   Connor Masulis of Pottstown took fourth place with a 43, Preston Minio of Lansdale was fifth with a 45 and the trio of Emilie Davoli of Ambler, Carson McNamee of Harleysville and Joseph (Joey) Charpentier of Schwenksville finished in a tie for sixth place, each tallying a 46.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division were Charlie Sears of Wilmington, Del. and Ryan Kaye of Lansdale as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each carding a 47.