LIMERICK – Ridley senior Declan Conner got a chance to perform on two of the biggest stages in junior golf over the summer.
There is nothing quite like getting a chance to tee it up in a U.S. Junior Amateur Championship or a Boys Junior PGA Championship and Conner did both by surviving tough qualifiers.
The experience Conner gained at those events in the summer were readily apparent Wednesday as he carded a bogey-free 3-under-par 69 at Turtle Creek Golf Course to get a share of medalist honors with Conestoga sophomore Matt Riuli in the Central League Championship.
Conner got to experience all three of Saucon Valley Country Club’s great golf courses as he punched his ticket to the U.S. Junior Amateur with a sparkling 2-under 70 at the Weyhill Course and then played the Old Course and the Grace Course in two rounds of qualifying for match play in the main event.
“It certainly helps, I got a lot of confidence from playing in those events,” Conner said after taming the 6,375-yard, par-72 Turtle Creek layout. “The (USGA and the PGA of America) take such good care of you in those tournaments.
“The Weyhill course at Saucon Valley was awesome. All three courses there were great.”
The top finisher among the girls was Conestoga senior Corinne McReynolds, who rallied after a slow start to post a solid 2-over 74 that gave her a two-shot victory over Harriton junior Megan Choi.
Conner works with Lou Guzzi, one of the region’s top instructors whose base of operation is Talamore Country Club. Conner certainly looked to be totally in command of his game Wednesday at the Turtle.
Conner was 1-under following a birdie at the sixth hole when I caught up to him at eight. Turtle Creek was pretty soggy as a result of last weekend’s relentless rains and players were allowed to lift, clean and place everywhere on the golf course except the bunkers.
There wasn’t much in the way of wind, either, so the Turtle was pretty vulnerable.
Conner laid up in the fairway at the short, par-4 10th hole, knocked his approach to 15 feet left of the hole and buried his birdie putt to get it to 2-under.
After driving it in the fairway at the gettable par-5 13th hole, Conner easily reached the green in two and had a look at eagle from 20 feet. He couldn’t quite get the putt to fall, but walked away with a stress-free two-putt birdie that got him to 3-under.
Conner had a couple of really good looks at birdie at the 16th and 17th holes only to see his putts lip out cruelly.
“Back-to-back lipouts,” Conner said.
The main goal at the Central League Championship is to be among the top 21 finishers who advance to next week’s District One Class AAA Championship.
Conner got through Centrals a year ago with a 4-over 76, but failed to advance out of the District One Championship to the state tournament. This, however, is a different Declan Conner.
“I just wanted to come out here and play solid golf,” said Conner, who is playing out of Rolling Green Golf Club. “I didn’t play well here in districts last year. I’d like to get through this year and make it to states.”
District One has flipped the script a little when it comes to next week’s championship. In recent years, the girls would play their first round up Ridge Pike a few miles at Raven’s Claw Golf Club with the survivors of the 18-hole cut playing the second round at the Turtle while the boys played both rounds at Turtle.
This year, the boys will play their first round at Raven’s Claw Monday and finish up at Turtle following a cut. The girls will play two rounds at Turtle Creek.
The girls team champion will be crowned following the opening round at Turtle Creek Monday while the boys team championship will be contested at Turtle Creek Tuesday.
Being a Central League medalist was the furthest thing from Riuli’s mind when he teed off Wednesday at Turtle Creek.
Starting off the third tee, Riuli, who works on his game with Shane Macgraw of GOLFTEC in Malvern, made a bogey at the third hole.
But then Riuli, who plays out of White Manor Country Club, really got it going. He rattled off birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth, 10th, 13th and 14th holes to get it to 5-under for his round.
“Obviously, the putter was working,” Riuli said. “But I wasn’t looking at any scoreboards. I was just trying to get to districts.”
Riuli finally cooled off a little with bogeys at the 17th and 18th holes, but made pars on his final two holes at one and two to get his share of medalist honors at 3-under.
Riuli and the Pioneers edged Radnor by a shot on their home course at Waynesborough Country Club to claim the Central League crown.
But both teams will be in the mix for team honors when the District One Class AAA team champion is crowned next week.
A year ago, Radnor was the runnerup by five shots behind Unionville in the District One Championship and then finished in a tie for second place, just a shot behind Unionville, in the PIAA Class AAA team chase at Penn State.
Conestoga’s Johnson brothers, Carter and Will, both of whom are White Manor clubmates of Riuli’s, also had strong showings Wednesday.
Carter Johnson was the only other player besides Conner and Riuli to finish in red figures as he finished in third place with a solid 1-under 71. A year ago, Carter Johnson was one of the casualties in a playoff for the final four berths to districts out of the Central League.
Two years ago as a freshman, Will Johnson was the Central League medalist, the runnerup in the District One Class AAA Championship and finished in a tie for ninth in the PIAA Class AAA Championship, the highest finish by a District One player.
Will Johnson was in the lead group Wednesday along with Conner, Haverford sophomore Will Quartermain and Radnor sophomore Sebastian Leone.
Will Johnson made the turn at even-par, but got a little sloppy down the stretch and his 4-over 76 left him among a group of nine players who finished in a tie for 13th place, advancing to districts on the number.
It was the first time there wasn’t a playoff for the final berths in districts at the end of the day among the guys that anyone could remember.
Garnet Valley senior Jack Ferm and Harriton sophomore Jack Sokol booked return trips to the district tournament as they finished in a tie for fourth place, each tallying a 1-over 73.
Sokol headed a group of five Rams headed for districts as Thomas Airoldi finished in a tie for eighth place with a 3-over 75 and Zach Daniels, Henry Belcher and Bryce Moyer were all in the group tied for 13th at 4-over.
Haverford’s Quartermain, a sophomore who plays out of Llanerch Country Club, shared sixth place with Garnet Valley’s Frank Kunze as each recorded a 2-over 74. It will be Quartermain’s second straight trip to the district tournament.
I caught up with Quartermain in time to see him make a birdie at the par-5 eighth hole after he nearly chipped in for eagle from just off the green to get it to 2-under for his round. But he struggled down the stretch with bogeys at the ninth, 11th, 14th and 18th holes, although the bogey at 14 was a good one after he couldn’t locate his drive in the patch of fescue on the right side of the hole.
Leone and fellow Radnor sophomore Gavin Reger were part of a group of five players that included Harriton’s Airoldi tied for eighth place at 3-over.
Leone, who teamed with Radnor head coach Andy Achenbach to capture the Junior Boys division in The Deeg Sezna, an event that celebrates mentorship, at Radley Run Country Club in the summer (“First GAP win for me,” Achenbach bragged), and Reger were both in the lineup for the Raptors in the PIAA Class AAA Championship a year ago.
Birdies at the third and fifth holes got Leone to 1-under for his round, but a bogey at 12, a double bogey at 15 and a bogey at 18 dropped him back to 3-over.
Like Harriton, Radnor had three players in the nine-player logjam at 4-over, including Drew Reardon, Xander Liu and Thomas Manzi.
Rounding out the fivesome tied for eighth place at 3-over was Penncrest’s Keane Naugle, who booked a return trip to the District One Class AAA Championship, and Springfield’s Mike O’Kane.
Rounding out the group at 4-over that nailed down the final berths to districts were Springfield’s Demetri Orloff and Haverford’s Patrick Sheridan.
Conestoga’s McReynolds, who works on her game with John Dunigan, who was named the Philadelphia Section PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year for a fifth time in 2025, wasn’t thinking about winning medalist honors after she made bogeys at four of her first six holes.
“Jill (Burks) and Megan (Choi) are such good players, I didn’t think I had a chance after starting off with four bogeys,” said McReynolds, who plays out of Whitford Country Club. “Maybe that turned out to be relaxing for me.”
McReynolds started off the 17th tee and made bogeys at 17, 18, one and four. But she heated up in the middle of her round, taking advantage of two of Turtle’s par-5s with birdies at eight and 13 as well as a birdie at the short, par-4 12th.
A bogey at the 14th hole dropped McReynolds to 2-over, but her 74 over a Turtle Creek layout that played 5,131 yards for the girls, was two shots better than Harriton’s Choi, a junior who will be bidding for a third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at next week’s district tournament.
McReynolds’ teammate, Burks, a senior, was another two shots behind Choi in third place with a 6-over 78.
Burks has been one of the Central League’s top players throughout her career at Conestoga and she’ll be bidding to be a four-time state qualifier in next week’s district tournament.
Burks and McReynolds led the way a year ago as the Pioneers rolled to the District One Class AAA crown and then captured a state team championship a week later at Penn State.
Conestoga’s Kat Shrum took fourth place with a solid 79, Springfield’s Delany Kearney was fifth with an 86, Radnor’s Sara Fanelli was sixth with an 83, Radnor’s Bea Mackenzie was seventh with an 85, Conestoga’s Journey Holt was eighth with an 87, Conestoga’s Lanna Chanthakad was ninth with a 93, Conestoga’s Annika Johnson was 10th with a 97 and Conestoga’s Sophia Kortes was 11th with a 99.
Shrum, Kearney, Fanelli, Mackenzie and Chanthakul will all be making return trips to the district tournament.
