Trebor Melendez, the talented 12-year-old from Vineland, N.J., is at it again.
Melendez was the only player in the field to finish under par in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop Sept. 28th at Running Deer Golf Club in Pittsgrove, N.J. as he carded a sparkling 1-under-par 71 to claim the top spot in the 13-to-15 division.
Looks like it was a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) event, awarding points that can earn players status on some of the more high-profile junior circuits, including the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA). The Philly Junior Tour broke out the scoring in its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions, so I’ll wrap them up while also referring to the overall 13-to-18 JGS scoring.
Melendez’s 2024 got off to a strong start on the hallowed grounds of Augusta National Golf Club, where he finished in third place in the Boys 10-11 division in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals to kick off Masters week in April. Melendez won the putting competition to cap his performance.
Nearly six months later, Melendez was still playing at a high level at Running Deer. He made birdies at the fifth, ninth, 14th and 17th holes and had 11 pars on his scorecard to finish at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring.
Wil Simonson of Haddonfield, N.J. and Torrin Denton of Mullica Hill, N.J. finished eight shots behind Melendez in the 13-to-15 division in a tie for second place, each landing on 7-over 79. Simonson and Denton finished in a tie for fourth place in the overall scoring, joining Ethan Barroway of Cherry Hill, N.J. from the 16-to-18 division.
Simonson made birdies at the 14th and 17th holes and had eight pars on his card, including five straight pars from the third through the seventh holes. Denton made a birdie at the seventh hole and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of six straight pars from the 11th through the 16th holes.
Carter Johnson of Berwyn was the only other player from the 13-to-15 division to crack the top 10 in the overall scoring as he finished in fourth place in the division and in a tie for 10th in the overall scoring with Joshua Kriegel of Lawrenceville, N.J. from the 16-to-18 division, both ending up with an 81.
Lucas Solano, another Vineland, N.J. entry, took fifth place among the younger guys with an 83, Parker Alivernini of Wilmington, Del. was sixth with an 89, Jin Yan of Malvern was seventh with a 90 and Bradford Bergstrom of Moorestown, N.J. was eighth with a 94.
Jack Kessler of Mickleton, N.J. took ninth place with a 95, Mason Kim of Blue Bell was 10th with a 100 and Andrew Bradshaw, another Mickleton, N.J. guy, rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as he finished 11th with a 102.
Christopher Parrish of Woolwich Township, N.J. has been on a roll since late summer, a stretch that included earning co-medalist honors in the Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club in August.
Parrish had an up-and-down round while matching par with a 72 as he captured a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division and was the runnerup to Melendez in the overall scoring.
Parrish made birdies at the first, ninth, 12th, 14th and 15th holes before really finishing with a flourish, an eagle at the par-5 17th and a birdie at the last, his sixth birdie of the day. Parrish’s only five pars on his scorecard came all in a row from the third through the seventh holes.
Matthew Duphorn of Erial, N.J. had 12 pars on his scorecard, including a stretch of sixth straight pars from the fifth through the 10th holes, as he was the runnerup to Parrish in the 16-to-18 division and finished in third place in the overall standings with a 6-over 78.
Barroway of Cherry Hill made birdies at the third, 14th and 17th holes and had nine pars on his card as he finished in third place among the older guys and shared fourth place in the overall scoring with Simonson and Denton from the 13-to-15 division with a 7-over 79.
A couple more Mickleton, N.J. entries, Sebastian Furfaro and Logan Hensel, and Chase Adomaitis of Egg Harbor Township, N.J. finished a shot behind Barroway in a tie for fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in tie for seventh in the overall scoring, each tallying an 80.
Kriegel of Lawrenceville, N.J. was the last player out of 16-to-18 division to earn a top-10 finish in the overall scoring as he finished in a tie for 10th place overall with Johnson of the 13-to-15 division and was seventh among the older guys with an 81.
Riley Byrne of Medford Lakes, N.J. took eighth place with an 82, Andrew Squire of Galloway, N.J. was ninth with an 83 and Michael Links of Swedesboro, N.J. and Eric Coombs of North Cape May, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for 10th, each recording an 84.
Only one girl teed it up at Running Deer as Fortress Chryst of Wescosville made a par on the 14th hole to take a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with a 110.
Aiden Jose of Brick, N.J. made birdies on the fourth and sixth holes and had four pars on his card as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 2-over 38.
Preston Minio of Lansdale made a birdie on the fourth hole and then finished his round with five straight pars from the fifth through the ninth holes as he earned runnerup honors with a 5-over 41.
James Wilson of Wilmington, Del. made a birdie on the seventh hole and rattled off three straight pars at two, three and four to finish a shot behind Minio in third place with a 42.
Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. and Charlie Sears, another Wilmington, Del. entry, shared fourth place, each signing for a 43 and Michael Antolino III of Richboro finished sixth with a 45.
Matthew Bowman of Newtown and Alex Cheng of Wilmington, Del. ended up in a tie for seventh place, each registering a 49, Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. was ninth with a 51, Zheng Yan, another member of Malvern’s Team Yan, was 10th with a 56 and Jasper Zhang of West Chester rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division as he finished 11th with a 67.
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