Holt heats up on back nine at Blackwood to capture a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Thomas Holt IV of Haddonfield, N.J. torched the incoming nine at Blackwood Country Club in Blackwood, N.J. with a 3-under-par 33 on his way to a 1-under 71 that gave him a victory in the 13-to-15 division in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stop June 10^th.

   Holt made birdies at the third and ninth holes to get his round going, but then really heated up on Blackwood’s back nine, going back-to-back with birdies 11 and 12 and adding another birdie at 17.

   Holt had nine pars on his scorecard, six of them on the back nine, including a run of four straight pars from 13 through 16.

   Rayan Shah, who helped George School capture the Friends Schools League championship as a sophomore this spring, punctuated his round with an eagle at the par-5 17^th hole as he finished three shots behind Holt in second place with a 2-over 74.

   Shah also made a birdie on the fourth hole and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from five through eight.

   Jack Ferry of Port Deposit, N.J. finished up his round with a birdie at the 18^th hole and had 11 pars on his card, including a run of five straight pars from eight through 12, as he ended up in third place with a 5-over 77.

   The trio of Brody Campell, a Plymouth Meeting resident and a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, Sam Whitehouse of Pottstown and Helmut Dang of Newtown Square finished in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 78.

   Jack Gilbert of Bryn Mawr and Jackson Roy of Medford, N.J. finished in a tie for seventh place, each tallying a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Ethan Moran, a sophomore on the Spring-Ford golf team, and Thayer Boyd of Kennett Square as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each recording an 80.

   Trey Barkman of West Chester matched Holt’s 1-under 71 for the low round overall among the guys as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division.

   Barkman made birdies at the second and sixth holes on Blackwood’s outgoing nine, went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and had 11 pars on his scorecard, including a string of five straight pars from seven through 11. Barkman toured the incoming nine at Blackwood in 1-under 35.

   A.J. Sundstrom, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Parkland last fall, Nicholas Fargnoli of Mickleton, N.J. and Ryan Bechtel of Cherry Hill, N.J. finished in a tie for second place, each posting a 79.

   Sundstrom made birdies at the fourth and 10^th holes and had eight pars on his card. Fargnoli made a birdie at the 13^th hole and had 10 pars on his card. Bechtel made birdies at the seventh and 16^th holes and had nine pars on his card, opening his round with four straight pars.

   Justin Wheeler of Warminster took fifth place with an 80 and Everett Harrold, a senior on the Central York golf team, and Bradford Bergstrom of Moorestown, N.J. shared sixth, each landing on 81.

   Benjamin Perticari of West Deptford, N.J. took eighth place with an 83 and Cole Kelly of Philadelphia was a shot behind Perticari in ninth with an 84.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Carter Hemminger, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Upper Moreland last fall, and Anderson Tineo of Mount Royal, N.J. as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each registering an 88.

   The best score among the girls at Blackwood came from Morgan Tyhanic of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., who was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division. Tyhanic had seven pars on her scorecard, finishing up her round with back-to-back pars at the 17^th and 18^th holes to card an 88.

   Hailey Cousins of Port Republic, N.J. had three pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 90.

   Elkins Park’s Team Brillman, Evelyn Brillman and older sister Eleanor Brillman, rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as they finished 2-3, respectively.

   Evelyn Brillman had three pars on her card, all of them on the outgoing nine at Blackwood, as she claimed low-Brillman honors with a 94.

   Eleanor Brillman had four pars on her card, three of them on the incoming nine at Blackwood, as she finished a shot behind her younger sister with a 95.

   Sid Joshi of Coopersburg made pars on the second and eighth holes as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 7-over 43.

   Cameron Persons of Collegeville and Kash Gray of Eagleville shared runnerup honors as each ended up a shot behind Joshi with a 44.

   Persons made back-to-back pars at the second and third holes and went back-to-back again with pars at six and seven. Gray opened his round with three straight pars at the first, second and third holes.

   Aidan Herbert of New Hope took fourth place with a 45, Andrew Herman of Telford was fifth with a 46 and the trio of Charlie Weaver of West Chester, Ryan Stefanski of Newtown Square and Caleb Solano of Vineland, N.J. finished in a tie for sixth, each signing for a 47.

   Jordan Chase of Philadelphia took ninth place with a 48 and Jaxon Bucci of Marlton, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished 10^th with a 52.

   Claire Melbacho of Haverford made back-to-back pars at the third and fourth holes and added another par at eight as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 45.

   Olivia Konieczki of Sewell, N.J. rounded out a short field in the girls 12-and-under division as she made consecutive pars at the second, third and fourth holes to finish in second place with a 50.