Kleinschmidt in the clubhouse with a shot at medalist honors in the GAP Junior Boys' Championship for a second straight year

 

   Luca Kleinschmidt, a recent Strath Haven graduate playing out of The Springhaven Club, was taking aim on earning medalist honors in qualifying for match play for the second year in a row in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 112^th Junior Boys’ Championship as he carded a solid 1-over-par 71 Monday at the challenging Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County.

   Colby Komancheck, a senior at Malvern Prep, not far from Chester Valley, was tied at the top of the leaderboard with Kleinschmidt at 1-over, but Komancheck, playing out of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, still had three holes to play when play was suspended for a second time at 7:25 p.m.

   Chester Valley is a classic layout that once hosted a popular stop in the early days of the Senior Tour, now known as the PGA Tour Champions. Got to cover the swinging seniors at Chester Valley quite a few times in my previous life in the newspaper biz.

   Even though the top senior players never made a ton of birdies at Chester Valley, like they did at a lot of the venues they played, they generally enjoyed the challenging green complexes and the typically classic layout the first generation of golf course architects dropped all over the Philadelphia area. Chester Valley turned 100 in 2023.

   Looks like Chester Valley was in the crosshairs of a particularly vigorous weather system that blew through Chester County in the 5 o’clock hour. The guys got back on the course briefly before the threat of more storms halted play for the day at 7:25 p.m.

   Kleinschmidt, who qualified for the District One Class AAA Championship in each of his last two seasons at Strath Haven, got an early birdie on the fourth hole at Chester Valley before giving that shot back with a bogey at five.

   Kleinschmidt got it in red figures again with a birdie at the 11^th hole before bogeys at 13 and 18 left him at 1-over.

   Komancheck, the son of the husband-wife team of PGA professionals Jamie and Kelly who run the pro shop at RiverCrest, has been one of the top players in the Inter-Ac League in his first three seasons at Malvern Prep.

   Komancheck finished in a tie for third place in the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship at The 1912 Club and capturing the individual title in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship at Radley Run Country Club.

   Komancheck was at even-par at the run Monday as he made a birdie at the fifth hole and a bogey at seven.

   After making a double bogey at the 13^th hole, Komancheck made a birdie at 14 that left him at 1-over when play was halted Monday evening.

   Luke McGraw, who capped his junior season at State College by finishing in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State, was 2-over through 15 holes when play was suspended and headed a group of four players tied at that figure.

   McGraw, playing out of Mountain View Golf Club, knocked off Kleinschmidt in the quarterfinals of the GAP Junior Boys a year ago at Merion Golf Club’s West Course before falling in the semifinals.

   Jackson Lane of Riverton Country Club was the only one of the four players tied at 2-over to complete his round as he posted a solid 72 at Chester Valley.

   Also at 2-over were McCall Golf Club’s Quinn Gallagher, a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School who still had eight holes left to play on the front nine at Chester Valley after starting off No. 10, and the Country Club of Scranton’s Bobby Stott, a freshman on Scranton Prep’s PIAA Class AA championship team last fall who also had eight holes to play on Chester Valley’s front nine after starting off the 10^th tee.

   Merion Golf Club’s Nicky Nemo, who wrapped up his scholastic career at The Haverford School last fall, reached the final of the GAP Junior Boys a year ago at Merion’s West Course before falling to Haverford School teammate and Merion clubmate Sean Curran. Nemo defeated McGraw in the semifinals a year ago.

   Nemo was one of nine players tied for seventh place at 3-over, seven of whom, like Nemo, completed their rounds.

   Also among the group who got into the clubhouse with a 3-over 73 was Aronimink Golf Club’s Liam Crowley, the Inter-Ac’s individual champion after capturing the title in the Bert Linton at The 1912 Club who helped Episcopal Academy capture the Inter-Ac team crown.

   Philadelphia Country Club’s Harry Neilly, a junior on The Haverford School team along with Gallagher and Nemo last fall, also signed for a 3-over 73.

   Rounding out the group who completed rounds of 3-over 73 were Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Liam Littleton, a senior on the golf team at Catholic League power La Salle, Galloway National Golf Club’s Paul Reilly, Blue Bell Country Club’s Ty Sheftic, a senior on the Wissahickon golf team, and Fox Hill Country Club’s Liam Gill, a sophomore on the golf team at Holy Redeemer in Wilkes-Barre.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Cole Berry, the winner of the District One Class AAA title at Turtle Creek Golf Course as a senior at West Chester Rustin as a senior last fall, was 3-over through 12 holes.

   Atlantic City Country Club’s Keller Tannehill will also return to the golf course Tuesday morning to try to earn a spot among the top 16 players who qualify for the Championship Flight match-play bracket at 3-over with five holes to play.

   There are six more players tied for 16^th place at 4-over, so there is a likelihood of a playoff for the final spots in the Championship Flight bracket.

   A couple of Central League standouts, McCall’s Seiji Sako, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Lower Merion with a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, and Merion’s Brad McDermott, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Radnor by earning a spot in the Class AAA state tournament for a second time last fall, each completed a 4-over 74 and are still in with a shot at making the Championship Bracket.

   Sako earned a spot in the match-play bracket in last week’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship with a solid showing in qualifying at Sunnybrook Golf Club and The 1912 Club.

   Pretty sure, once the Championship Bracket is established, the plan is for two rounds of match play that will get the field down to four players.

   The semifinals and the final are scheduled to be played Wednesday.