Kleinschmidt, Lane each win two matches to reach final of GAP Junior Boys' Championship at Chester Valley

 

   Luca Kleinschmidt, a recent Strath Haven graduate, will carry the Central League banner into the final of the 112^th Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship.

   Kleinschmidt, playing out of The Springhaven Club, capped an impressive three days at Chester Valley Golf Club in East Whiteland, Chester County with a surgical 3 and 2 victory over Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Liam Littleton, a senior on the golf team for Catholic League power La Salle, in a semifinal match Wednesday afternoon.

   Kleinschmidt’s opponent in the final will be Riverton Country Club’s Jackson Lane, a junior at Collingswood High who took down the defending champion, Merion Golf Club’s Sean Curran, a recent graduate of The Haverford School, with a 2 and 1 victory in the other semifinal.

   The final, as well as the First Flight final between Union League Golf Club at Torresdale’s Logan Cassidy, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, and Mountain View Country Club’s Luke McGraw, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a junior at State College last fall, will have to wait.

   Golf course availability being what it is at this time of the year, the two finals will be played at a later date.

   It dates back to the nasty summer storm that rolled through Cheser Valley during Monday’s stroke-play qualifying.

   The 18-year-old Kleinschmidt, who arrived relatively late to competitive golf, beat the storm Monday, carding a 1-over 71 over the 6,631-yard, par-70 Chester Valley layout, which held up for a share of medalist honors.

   Kleinschmidt, who will join the program at PSAC power Millersville later this summer, had been the medalist in the GAP Junior Boys a year ago before falling in the quarterfinals.

   But Kleinschmidt was a man on a mission this year.

   After rolling to an 8 and 6 victory over Nathan Goblirsch, a GAP Youth on Course entry, in Tuesday’s round of 16, Kleinschmidt cruised into the semifinals with a 6 and 5 victory in Wednesday morning’s quarterfinals over Galloway National Golf Club’s Paul Reilly.

   Kleinschmidt stayed patient in his semifinal showdown with Littleton, who grabbed a 1-up lead when he won the fifth hole.

   Kleinschmidt evened the match by taking the 10^th hole and then quickly grabbed a 1-up lead by winning the 11^th.

   Littleton battled back to even the match by winning the 12^th hole.

   But Kleinschmidt rattled off three straight wins at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to take command of the match, finishing off the burst with a majestic 6-iron from 185 yards away to 16 feet at 15 that led to a third straight win.

   “I’m really grateful for this opportunity,” Kleinschmidt told the GAP website. “I have a strong group of people that are supporting me and it feels really good to prove them right. It’s less about proving people wrong. I felt like that was my mentality originally. I had a tough time getting recruited.

   “I felt I was missing out on opportunities I was good enough for. Originally, I was like, ‘Let’s go prove all these people wrong.’ Hindsight, it’s less about proving people wrong and more about proving to the people that supported you, right. And I think that’s what I’m doing this week.”

   The 16-year-old Lane seems to get a little better every year, dating back to his days competing with the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour nine-holers.

   Lane jumped out to a 4-up lead over Curran, one of the Inter-Ac League’s best players with the Fords the last two falls who will take his talents to the Ivy League when he joins the program at Penn later this summer.

   Curran got a win at the ninth hole to cut his deficit to 3-down, but Lane quickly restored his 4-up lead with a win at 10.

   But Curran wasn’t going away. He ripped off wins at the 11^th, 12^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to get the match back to even, highlighting that run with an eagle at the par-5 14^th.

   You’d think Lane would be rattled, but he calmly got back in front by sticking a 52-degree wedge from 120 yards away at the 430-yard, par-4 16^th hole to eight feet, leading to a win.

   At the 387-yard, par-4 17^th hole, Lane’s tee shot clipped a tree and he was forced to punch the ball out. He hit a sand wedge to 20 feet.

   Curran, who had driven it in the fairway, saw his approach trickle off the back. After a poor chip, Curran three-putted, missing a four-footer for bogey.

   Lane cozied his par putt to three feet and dropped that one for a winning bogey.

   Lane reached the semifinals with a 6 and 4 victory over McCall Golf Club’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, in a quarterfinal match Wednesday morning.

   Curran reached the semifinals with a 1-up victory over his Merion clubmate and Haverford School teammate Nicky Nemo in a highly-anticipated quarterfinal match that was a rematch of last year’s final won by Curran at Merion’s West Course.

   Curran charged out to a 5-up lead through 10 holes only to see his friend and rival cut the deficit to 1-down going to the 18^th hole.

   After a poor drive forced Curran to punch out of the trees, he lifted a 9-iron from 160 yards away to five feet for a winning par that enabled him to hold off Nemo.

   A third Central League standout and a third Merion member among the final eight, Brad McDermott, who capped his senior season at Radnor by reaching the Class AAA state tournament for a second time, suffered a 3 and 1 setback at the hands of Littleton in the other quarterfinal.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Lannon Boyd, the medalist in the Central League Championship for a second time as a senior at Radnor last fall, dropped a 3 and 2 decision to Cassidy in the First Flight semifinals.

   Boyd, who earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, will join the program at Saint Joseph’s later this summer. Boyd and McDermott led the Raptors to a tie for second place with McGraw and State College in the PIAA Class AAA team competition, a shot behind state champion Unionville.

   McGraw, one of the top returning scholastic players in Pennsylvania this year, reached the First Flight final with a 2 and 1 victory over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart in the semifinals.

   Burkhart was coming off a runnerup finish behind Salesianum teammate Joseph Kelly in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship last month at Baywood Greens Golf Course.

   Burkhart and fellow junior Kelly led the Sallies to a runaway victory in the team chase at Baywood Greens.