Nelligan finishes in red figures at Berkleigh to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Sam Nelligan, an incoming freshman at Boyertown, had the best score of the day out of the 13-to-15 division as he claimed a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour with a 2-under-par 70 at Berkleigh Golf Club near Kutztown June 24^th.

   I mentioned I had a chance to caddy for Nelligan at Stonewall’s Old Course a couple of days before he had a runnerup finish in the 13-to-15 division in a Philly Junior Tour stop at Indian Valley Country Club earlier in June. You could tell the kid was starting to figure out this golf thing a little with some help from Stonewall head pro Megan Leineweber.

   Nelligan made birdies at the fifth, eighth and ninth holes while touring the outgoing nine at Berkleigh, home to an LPGA Tour stop hosted by the great Betsy King from 1996 to 2004, in 2-under 33.

   Nelligan added birdies at the 13^th and 16^th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard.

   Carter Robbins of Warrington and Eli Barton, a junior on the Minersville golf team, shared runnerup honors, each ending up seven shots behind Nelligan with a 5-over 77.

   Robbins made birdies on the seventh and 16^th holes and had nine pars on his card. Barton made birdies at the fifth, ninth and 13^th holes before going back-to-back with birdies at 15 and 16 and had six pars on his card.

   Parker Grieve of Plymouth Meeting took fourth place with a 78, Peter Heilman of Mechanicsburg was fifth with a 79, Carson McNamee of Harleysville was sixth with an 80, Lucas Shank of West Chester was seventh with an 83 and James Lang of Haddon Township, N.J. was eighth with an 84.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Cole Jacobson of Phoenixville and Jesse Kanefsky, a Bryn Mawr resident and a sophomore at The Haverford School, as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each signing for an 85.

   Grady Rupe, a senior on the Perkiomen Valley golf team, made a birdie at the seventh hole, went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including a string of five straight pars from eight through 12, as he matched par at Berkleigh with a 72 to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division.

   Justin Marcus, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Downingtown West by qualifying for the District One Class AAA Championship last fall, made birdies at the fifth, seventh and ninth holes and had 11 pars on his card, including a run of four straight pars from 10 through 13, as he earned runnerup honors among the older guys with a 1-over 73.

   Marcus’ three birdies enabled him to tour the outgoing nine at Berkleigh in 1-under 34.

   Mason Matlack of Boyertown and Chris Cipollone, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Haverford High last fall, finished in a tie for third place, each tallying a 2-over 74.

   Matlack made birdies at the first and fifth holes and had 12 pars on his card, including a string of five straight pars from 13 through 17. Cipollone made birdies at the first and 17^th holes and had 13 pars on his card, twice rattling off streaks of six straight pars from four through nine and again from 11 through 16.

   John Thompson, a junior on the Phoenixville golf team, took fifth place with a 77 and Braydon Jakatt, a senior on the Coatesville golf team who was coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory two days earlier at Chapel Hill Golf Course, and Radek Remaley, a senior on the Nazareth golf team, finished in a tie for sixth place, each recording a 79.

   Anderson Tineo of Mount Royal, N.J. took eighth place with an 80, Brady Morris of Reading was ninth with an 81 and Logan Hyndman, a Newtown resident and a senior on the golf team at The Pennington School, rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as he finished 10^th with an 82.

   Molly Wagner, a junior on the St. Mark’s golf team, picked up her second straight Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 13-to-15 division with an 87 at Berkleigh.

   Wagner, who captured a Philly Junior Tour victory a day earlier at Inniscrone Golf Club, made a birdie at the 11^th hole and had six pars on her scorecard, including three straight pars to close out her round.

   Alexa Mcelwain of Schnecksville had four pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors with a 91.

   Two members of Nazareth’s Team Soporowski, Natalie Soporowski and Lindsay Soporowski – both Class of 2030 entries, so maybe twins – finished third and fourth, respectively, to round out the field in the 13-to-15 division.

   Natalie Soporowski had three pars on her card on her way to a 100 and Lindsay Soporowski made back-to-back pars at the ninth and 10^th holes as she recorded a 103.

   Mariana Walker, who wrapped up her scholastic career at Council Rock North last fall, had six pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with an 89.

   Kallista Spence of Phoenixville made pars on the first and eighth holes as she earned runnerup honors with a 105.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Faridah Ismaila, a junior on the Great Valley golf team, as she made pars on the 11^th and 16^th holes to finish in third place with a 109.

   Blake Shurman of Villanova and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville shared the top spot among the boys 12-and-under nine-holers as each carded a 2-over 37.

   Charpentier and Shurman finished 1-2, respectively, two days earlier in the Philly Junior Tour stop at Chapel Hill.

   Shurman had bookend birdies at the first and ninth holes at Berkleigh and had three pars on his scorecard at the sixth, seventh and eighth holes. Charpentier also made a birdie at the ninth hole and had five pars on his card.

   Connor Michaels of Lancaster and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr finished two shots behind Shurman and Charpentier in a tie for third place, each tallying a 4-over 39.

   Michaels made a birdie on the ninth hole and had five pars on his card, including three straight pars at three, four and five. Muego had five pars on his card.

   Andrew Herman of Telford took fifth place with a 40 and the trio of Grayson Wright of Philadelphia, Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit and Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. shared sixth, each registering a 41.

   Ryan Kaye of Lansdale took ninth place with a 43 and Mason Freeborn of Reading and Brady Fry of Pennsburg rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as they each recorded a 45.

   That’s eight shots separating the 11 players in the top 10, typical of the kind of competitive balance in this division.

   Strong showing by Claire Malbacho of Haverford as she made birdies at the second and seventh holes and had three pars on her scorecard to best the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 3-over 38.

   Lillian Fry, another member of Pennsburg’s Team Fry, had three pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors with a 46.

   Addison Sabatini of West Chester made a par on the fifth hole as she rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division by finishing in third place with a 48.