Hurchalla's game warms up at the Shore in Junior Tour victory at Avalon

   Archbishop Carroll senior Matthew Hurchalla had his second strong performance on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s fall schedule as he finished atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a sparkling 1-under-par 70 at Avalon Golf Club at the Jersey Shore Saturday.

   It was one last day of warm fall weather in Avalon Saturday and a large contingent of local junior golfers took full advantage. None more so than Hurchalla, a Wallingford resident, as he made a birdie at the fifth hole and then went back-to-back with birdies at 12 and 13.

   Hurchalla had 13 pars on his scorecard, finishing up his round with five straight pars as he toured the incoming nine at Avalon in 1-under 34. Hurchalla had claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory last month with a 1-over 71 at Heidelberg Country Club.

   The runnerup at Heidelberg was Hurchalla’s Archbishop Carroll teammate, junior Jake Johnson, and Johnson of Wayne again earned a runnerup finish at Avalon as he shared second place with Justin Forman of Sewell, N.J., each recording a 7-over 78.

   Johnson’s steady round featured 12 pars while Forman made birdies on the 12^th and 14^th holes and had eight pars on his card.

   Springfield senior Ben Pintof, coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory last Sunday at Pitman Golf Course, finished alone in fourth place with a 79.

   Pintof’s Springfield teammate, senior Jack Morrissey, finished in a tie for fifth place with Brian Cotter of Cherry Hill, N.J., each signing for an 80.

   Peter Lafon of Audubon, N.J. took seventh place with an 83, Owen Wise of Downingtown was eighth with an 84, Zachary Freed of Linwood, N.J. was ninth with an 85 and Alex Topping of Philadelphia rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as he finished alone in 10^th place with an 86.

   Keller Tannehill took a ride down the South Jersey coast from Margate to claim top honors in the 13-to-15 division with an 8-over 79. Tannhehill made birdies on the third and ninth holes and had eight pars on his scorecard.

   Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. made a birdie on the ninth hole and had eight pars on his card as he finished two shots behind Tannehill in second place with an 80. Carson Deringer of Bryn Mawr had nine pars on his card, including a run of five in a row from the eighth through the 12^th holes, as he finished in third place with an 82.

   Luke Tappeiner of Northfield, N.J. took fourth place with an 85 and Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J. and Eddie Gebhardt of Swarthmore shared fifth, each posting an 86.

   Drake Brogan of Ocean View, N.J. took seventh place with a 90, Will Pendse of Wyndmoor was eighth with a 94, Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown was ninth with a 97 and Patrick Hiltner of Northfield, N.J. rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished in 10^th place with a 99.

   Sophia DeSantis of Glen Mills made a birdie on the 11^th hole and had eight pars on her scorecard as she claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with an 82.

   Isabella Magno of Delran, N.J. had seven pars on her card as she rounded out a short field in the division by finishing in second place with an 89.

   Katherine Liu of Moorestown, N.J. matched the low score in the girls divisions with an 82 as her steady round featured 11 pars and left her atop the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division.

   Sarah Stumacher of Gladwyne made birdies at the fifth and 18^th holes and had five pars on her scorecard as she was the runnerup with an 85. Mina Benedetto of West Chester had eight pars on her card as she finished in third place with an 86.

   Makayla Stone of Garnet Valley took fourth place with a 92, Kasey O’Brien of Linwood, N.J. was fifth with a 108 and Allison Brown of Audubon rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished sixth with a 127.

   Benjamin Allwein of Annville made birdies at the second and sixth holes and had four pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of nine-holers with a solid 1-over 37.

   Logan Stoney of Hillsborough, N.J. had five pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 4-over 40. Trebor Melendez of Vineland, N.J., coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory last weekend at Deerfield Golf Club, also had five pars on his card as he finished in third place with a 41.

   David Padgett of Barnegat, N.J. took fourth place with a 43, Jameson Foreman of Somers Point, N.J. was fifth with a 47 and Jefferson Allwein, another member of Annville’s Team Allwein, was sixth with a 49.

   Reid Tornetta of Collegeville and Jaxson Refold of Bryn Mawr shared seventh place, each carding a 54, Bradan Boal of Woodbine, N.J. was ninth with a 57 and Gabriella Magno, another member of Team Magno from Delran, N.J., rounded out the field in the coed 12-and-under division as she finished in 10^th place with a 59.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the fall of his freshman season, Ryan was the hottest Flame in Liberty's last two events

    It took a little time for Josh Ryan, the District One Class AAA champion in 2019, to get settled in his freshman season at Liberty, a program that has reached the NCAA Championship in each of the last three playings of the event. It was like a month or so.

   Once Ryan, who won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship for a third straight time in the summer at Bala Golf Club, started finding his comfort zone, he was a Flame on fire.

   Ryan was home-schooled and represented Norristown as a scholastic player. He was only a junior when he claimed the district title in 2019 and went on to finish in a tie for third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County behind Central York standout Carson Bacha, who is a fixture in the starting lineup for Auburn, the No. 1 team in the latest Golfstat rankings.

   Norristown shut down its athletic programs in response to the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020 and Ryan was unable to compete as a senior. He most certainly would have been a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier and would have contended for a state title.

   Since he was still eligible to compete as a junior player this past summer, Ryan took a gap year and didn’t begin his college career until this fall.

   But all along there were hints that this kid’s game would translate to the next level. He beat some of the best amateur players in Pennsylvania in winning the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship in 2020 at the Country Club of York.

   It was a little lost in the excitement over the hole-out for eagle at the iconic 18^th hole at Merion Golf Club’s East Course that won Carlisle’s John Peters the Pennsylvania Amateur crown in the summer of 2021, but Ryan was really tough that week, finishing two shots behind Peters in a tie for fourth place with a 2-over 212 total.

   Ryan didn’t compete at the national level while still eligible to compete as a junior this past summer, choosing to play the GAP junior circuit. It’s easy to forget that when many national events shut it down in the coronavirus summer of 2020, GAP played its full schedule of events. I think that played a role in Ryan’s loyalty to GAP events in the summer of 2022.

   Ryan gave a gracious acceptance speed via audio tape at the recent GAP Awards dinner, where he was honored as Junior Player of the Year, the second time in the last three years that Ryan has won that award. The other was in that aforementioned coronavirus pandemic summer of 2020.

   That acceptance speech was delivered a few days before Ryan and Liberty completed the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season with a trip to Hawaii for the Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate at the Royal Ka’anapali Course in Lahaina, which wrapped up Oct. 30^th.

   Ryan had opened some eyes a couple of weeks earlier by finishing in a tie for seventh place in his second appearance in the Liberty starting lineup in the Quail Valley Collegiate Invitational at Quail Valley Golf Club in Vero Beach, Fla.

   Ryan had closed out his performance there with a sizzling 6-under-par 66 over the 7,460-yard, par-72 Quail Valley layout that helped Liberty finish in a tie for second place behind perennially underrated North Florida with a 36-under 828 total.

   If anybody thought that was some kind of fluke, Ryan backed it up at in Hawaii, opening up with another 6-under round, this time a 65 over the 6,700-yard, par-71 Royal Ka’anapali layout. Ryan followed that up with a back-to-back 3-under 68s in the final two rounds as he finished in fourth place in the individual standings with a 12-under 201 total, matching the best individual score in program history in a team event.

   Ryan’s final-round 68 was part of a team round of 13-under 271, matching the third-lowest score in program history at Liberty. It was a bit of a birdie-fest at Royal Ka’anapali and the Flames’ 26-under 826 total was only good enough for third place as the title went to Big 12 power Oklahoma, which took the No.-1 ranking into the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. last spring and fell to Arizona State in the quarterfinals after earning a spot in the match-play bracket.

   Oklahoma posted a 41-under 811 total with Atlantic Coast Conference power Clemson 12 shots behind the Sooners with a 29-under 823 total. Oklahoma heads into college golf’s midseason pause at No. 15 in the latest Golfstat rankings. Clemson is ranked 41^st, a notch behind Liberty, which stood at No. 40 following its strong showing at Royal Ka’anapali.

   Ryan had made his debut in the Liberty starting lineup in the inaugural playing of the Fields of Honor Collegiate in late September at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich.

   It was a bit of a tentative start for Ryan as he sandwiched an 80 in the second round with a pair of 75s over the 7,216 -yard, par-72 American Dunes layout and finished among a group tied for 49^th place with a 14-over 230 total.

   The Flames got an outstanding showing in the Fields of Honor Collegiate from Jonathan Yaun, a senior from Minneola, Fla. who claimed his second collegiate victory with a 5-under 211 total. Yaun led Liberty to a fifth-place finish in the team standings with a 15-over 879 total.

   A couple of weeks later in the Quail Valley Collegiate it turned into a coming-out party for Ryan. He got off to a solid start with a 4-under 68 before matching par with a 72 in the second round. Then came the third round as Ryan established a career best with his 6-under 66 that left him in a tie for seventh place with a 10-under 206 total.

   The addition of Ryan to the lineup gives the Flames three of the last four winners of the GAP Junior Player of the Year award. Before Ryan earned the honor this year and in 2020, Austin Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., was the 2019 GAP Junior Player of the Year with a spectacular summer of junior golf that included a victory in the Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   After beginning his college career at Maryland, Austin Barbin followed older brother Zach, winner of both the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup in 2020, to Liberty. A senior, Austin Barbin was in the starting lineup for all four of the Flames’ fall tournaments.

   Austin Barbin shared medalist honors for the Liberty contingent with Yaun in the Flames’ season opener, the Rod Myers Invitational at the Duke University Golf Club in Durham, N.C., finishing in the group tied for 17^th place with a 1-over 217 total. Barbin’s effort included a 3-under 69 in the second round.

   Barbin finished in the group tied for 42^nd place in the Fields of Honor Collegiate with a 12-over 228 total, ended up among the group tied for 49^th place at Quail Valley with a 2-under 214 total and landed in the group tied for 22^nd place at Royal Ka’anapali with a 5-under 208 total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At college golf's midseason pause, Zhang and Stanford are still the best

    Somehow, reigning NCAA champion Stanford and its top player, Rose Zhang, the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Ranking (WAGR), are even better this time around.

   Zhang, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., wrapped up her seventh college tournament victory Nov. 2^nd, capturing the top spot in Pac-12 Preview at Nanea Golf Club in Kailua Kona, Hawaii by three shots and leading the Cardinal to their fourth team crown in four tries in the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 son.

   It’s hard to imagine that Zhang could have a better year than she’s had in 2022. She won the NCAA individual crown by three shots at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. and led the way as the Cardinal defeated Pac-12 rival Oregon, 3-2, in the Final Match.

   She was named the winner of the Annika Award that goes to the top player in women’s college golf.

   Got a chance to watch Zhang in action when the Curtis Cup Match came to the historic East Course at Merion Golf Club in June. She and Stanford teammate Rachel Heck were nothing short of masterful in a 4 and 2 victory over Florida State teammates Charlotte Heath and Amelia Williamson in a foursome match on the opening day.

   The U.S. went on to register a convincing 14.5-5.5 victory over a very strong Great Britain & Ireland team.

   Zhang made the cut in two of women’s professional golf’s major championships, the U.S. Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. and the AIG Women’s Open Championship at Muirfield. She received the McCormack Medal that goes to the player who finishes the summer ranked No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR for the third year in a row.

   The victory in the Pac-12 Preview completed a sweep of the four events Stanford entered this fall. The Cardinal won the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach, the Stephens Cup at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. and the Stanford Intercollegiate on their home course.

   By being one of the semifinalists in the NCAA Championship last spring at Grayhawk, Stanford had earned an invitation to compete in the East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The proximity on their schedule of the East Lake Cup between their own tournament and the Pac-12 Preview prompted the Cardinal to pass on the East Lake Cup with UCLA, which made the match-play bracket at Grayhawk last spring, standing in for Stanford.

   It was a typical Zhang performance in Hawaii as she opened with a 6-under-par 67 in the opening round over the 6,449-yard, par-73 Nanea layout, added a 3-under 70 in the second round and closed with a 2-under 71 for an 11-under 208 total.

   Zhang’s showing helped Stanford roll to the team title as the Cardinal opened with a sparkling 13-under 279, added a 1-under 291 in the second round and finished up with a 4-under 288 for an 18-under 858 total.

   Zhang’s closest pursuer in the individual chase was Oregon’s Ashleigh Park, a junior from Zhang’s hometown of Irvine, Calif. I suspect they have been friends and rivals for a long time. Park opened with a 3-under 70, added a 4-under 69 in the second round and closed with a 2-under 72 to finish three shots behind Zhang in second place with a solid 8-under 211 total.

   As dominant as Stanford was last spring, Oregon was clearly the best of the rest in the Division I women’s golf, even denying the Cardinal the Pac-12 Championship title with the Ducks capturing the conference crown for the first time in program history on their home course at Eugene Country Club.

   And Oregon is still there, nipping on Stanford’s heels. The Ducks arrived in Hawaii at No. 6 in the Golfstat rankings and moved up to No. 5 with a runnerup finish to the Cardinal.

   Behind Park, Oregon opened with a 4-under 288 and added a 1-under 291 in the second round to stay within nine shots of Stanford heading into the final round. The Ducks closed with a 3-under 289 to finish 10 shots behind Stanford in second place with an 8-under 868 total.

   Arizona remained at No. 13 in the aftermath of the Pac-12 Preview as the Wildcats, behind Gile Bite Starkute, their veteran senior from Lithuania who finished a shot behind Park in third place in the individual standings, finished a shot behind Oregon in third place with a 7-under 869 total.

   The Wildcats opened with a solid 12-under 280, but struggled in the second round with an 8-over 300 before finishing up with a 3-under 289.

   It was Bite Starkute, then a sophomore, who drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the 19^th hole that beat Stanford’s Angelina Ye and gave Arizona a stunning upset of the top-seeded Cardinal in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2021 at Grayhawk.

   Bite Starkute was steady in Hawaii, carding back-to-back 3-under 70s in the first two rounds before finishing up with a 1-under 72 that left her in third place with a 7-under 212 total.

   Three more of the Pac-12’s perennial powers lined up behind Arizona in the next three spots in the team standings in Hawaii as Arizona State was two shots behind Arizona in fourth place with a 5-under 871 total, UCLA, another seven shots behind the Sun Devils in fifth with a 2-over 878 total, and Southern California six shots behind its cross-town rival in sixth in the 12-team field with an 8-over 884 total.

   Arizona State, which moved from No. 22 to No. 15 in the Golfstat rankings following its showing in Hawaii, actually jumped in front on Day 1 with the best team round of the tournament, a sparkling 17-under 275 in the opening round. The Sun Devils struggled mightily in the second round with a 311 before bouncing back with a 3-under 289 total in the final round.

   UCLA, which moved up from No. 28 to No. 22 in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of the Pac-12 Preview, opened with a solid 7-under 285, struggled to a 305 in the second round and closed with a 4-under 288.

   The Bruins, like Oregon, were making a quick turnaround from the East Lake Cup, where they defeated the Ducks in the third-place match after both teams fell in the semifinals.

   Southern Cal, which dropped two spots in the rankings following its sixth-place finish from No. 19 to No. 21, opened with a 4-over 296 and added a 5-over 297 in the second round before finishing up with its best round of the week, a 1-under 291.

   Stanford won the team crown without Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion as a freshman and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR. The junior from Memphis, Tenn. has other interests, including obligations with the Air Force ROTC at Stanford, although it’s possible she didn’t make the top five in a Stanford in-team qualifier, such is the depth of talent for the Cardinal.

   Heck finished in a tie for 22^nd place in the Stanford Intercollegiate, so it seems like she’s healthy.

   Backing up Zhang for Stanford at Nanea was Megha Ganne, one of the country’s top freshmen from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 41 in the Women’s WAGR who finished in a trio tied for seventh place at 4-under 215.

   Ganne wowed the golf world when she contended into the final round before settling for low-amateur honors in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco in the summer before her senior year in high school. Ganne was steady in Hawaii, opening with a 2-under 71 before adding a pair of 1-under 72s in the final two rounds.

   Brooke Seay, a senior from San Diego and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, gave Stanford a third finisher inside the top 10 as she finished alone in 10^th place with a 3-under 216 total. Seay, who went 3-0 in match play in Stanford’s run to the national championship last spring, opened with a sparkling 4-under 69 before adding a 1-over 74 in the second round and matching par in the final round with a 73.

   Sadie Englemann, a junior from Austin, Texas, was three shots behind Seay in the group tied for 11^th place with an even-par 219 total as she sandwiched a 2-over 75 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 72s.

   Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Caroline Sturdza, a sophomore from Switzerland who finished in a tie for 51^st place with a 234 total. Sturdza struggled to an 81 in the second round after opening with a 77 before finishing up with her best round of the week, a 3-over 76.

   Arizona State’s Ashley Menne, a junior from Surprise, Ariz. and No. 88 in the Women’s WAGR, and UCLA’s Caroline Canales, a sophomore from Calabasas, Calif., finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings, each ending up a shot behind Arizona’s Bite Starkute at 6-under 213.

   Menne finished in fourth place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk as a freshman in 2021. She grabbed the lead following the opening round in the Pac-12 Preview with a sizzling 7-under 66. Menne cooled off in the second round with a 4-over 77 before bouncing back in the final round with a 3-under 70.

   Canales sandwiched an even-par 73 in the second round with a pair of solid 3-under 70s.

   Canales’ teammate, Zoe Antoinette Campos, a sophomore from Valencia, Calif., finished alone in sixth place with a 5-under 214 total. Campos only trailed Zhang, the eventual champion, by three shots going into the final round after she added a 2-under 71 in the second round to her opening round of 4-under 69. Campos finished up with a 1-over 74.

   One of the players joining Stanford’s Ganne in the tie for seventh place at 4-under 215 was Southern California’s Amari Avery, a sophomore from Riverside, Calif. After matching par in the opening round with a 73, Avery struggled a little in the second round with a 2-over 75 before closing with the best individual round of the final day, a sparkling 6-under 67.

   U.S. Curtis Cup team captain Sarah Ingram fearlessly paired her two youngest players, Ganne and Avery, in four-ball matches in the morning session of the first two days in June at Merion and the two kids responded with a pair of victories, smiling and chatting the whole way. Pressure? What pressure?

   Rounding out the trio at 4-under was Oregon’s Briana Chacon, a senior from Whittier, Calif. After starting slowly with a 2-over 75, Chacon put together back-to-back rounds of 3-under 70.