Maryland invader Edmonston captures Philly Junior Tour victory at Lebanon

 

   Callen Edmonston of Thurmont, Md. had the best score of the day with a solid 1-over-par 73 at Lebanon Country Club to earn a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division Oct. 19^th.

   Edmonston made birdies at the first, fifth, 10^th and 15^th holes and had 12 pars on his scorecard and was six shots clear of the rest of the division and five shots better than any of the guys who teed it up at Lebanon.

   Gabriel Boone of Camp Hill, coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory a day earlier at Heidelberg Country Club, made a birdie on the seventh hole and had 11 pars on his card, opening his round with four straight pars, as he earned runnerup honors with a 7-over 79.

   Mason Kim, a freshman on the Wissahickon golf team this fall, and William Thorkeson, a freshman on the golf team at The Haverford School, shared third place, each posting an 80.

   Kim made birdies at the seventh and 12^th holes and had eight pars on his card and Thorkelson had 13 pars on his card in a steady round with seven pars on the outgoing nine at Lebanon.

   Kim and Thorkelson had finished three-four, respectively, a day earlier at Heidelberg.

   Jesse Shurman of Villanova took fifth place with an 81, Collin Padovanni, a sophomore on the Northern Lebanon golf team, was sixth with an 82, Landon Chandler, a sophomore on the Hempfield golf team, was seventh with an 85 and Drew Gebhard, a freshman on the Cedar Crest golf team, was eighth with an 87.

   Bryce Moyer of Bryn Mawr took ninth place with an 89 and Steven Musacchio of Glenmoore rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished 10^th with a 95.

   Ayden Wilkinson, a junior on the Wyoming Seminary golf team, made a birdie on the sixth hole and had 11 pars on his scorecard, including a string of four straight pars to open his back nine from the 10^th through the 13^th holes, as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a 6-over 78.

   Chris Parrish, a senior on the Kingsway golf team and the winner of the Delaware Junior Boys’ Championship in the summer, also birdied the sixth hole and had 11 pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Wilkinson in second place with a 79.

   Johnny Lee of Glenside and Paul O’Malley, a junior on the Methacton golf team, shared third place, each tallying an 80.

   Lee made birdies on the seventh and 18^th holes and had 10 pars on his card. After a slow start to his round, O’Malley ripped off three straight birdies at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, added another birdie at 10 and had five pars on his card.

   John McCarthy, who wrapped up his senior season on the Upper Merion golf team this fall, took fifth place with an 81, Jack Ferm, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior at Garnet Valley this fall, was sixth with an 82, Pierce Drake, a junior on the Bishop Shanahan golf team, was seventh and Quinn Marshall, a junior on the Wilmington Friends School golf team, was eighth with an 85.

   Marshall was coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory at day earlier at Heidelberg Country Club.

   Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown took ninth place with an 88 and Blake Shakal of Hershey rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as he finished 10^th with a 90.

   Raegan Young of Middletown made a birdie on the third hole and had six pars on her scorecard, including three straight pars to close out her round, as she earned a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 13-to-15 division with a 91.

   Addison Murphy of Phoenixville rounded out a short field in the 13-to-15 division as she finished up her round with a birdie at the 18^th hole and made a par at seven to earn runnerup honors with a 96.

   Samuel Karas of Blue Bell made birdies at the third and eighth holes and had two pars on his scorecard as he bested a competitive field of 12-and-under boys nine-holers with a 4-over 40.

   Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville made birdies at the fourth and sixth holes and had two pars on his card as he finished a shot behind Karas in second place with a 5-over 41.

   Blake Shurman, another member of Villanova’s Team Shurman, Smith Rawes of Elkins Park and Ryan Kaye of Lansdale finished in a three-way tie for third place, each recording a 42. All three players had four pars on his card.

   Jackson Ehrlich of Berwyn and Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. shared sixth place, each signing for a 43, Connor Michaels of Lancaster was eighth with a 44 and Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished ninth with a 46.

   Such is the balance among the boys nine-holers that only six shots separated the top nine finishers at Lebanon. DElia, last of nine at Lebanon, was coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory a day earlier at Heidelberg.

 

 

Boone finishes strong to capture a Philly Junior Tour victory at Heidelberg

 

   Gabriel Boone of Camp Hill had a strong closing burst on his way to a 1-over-par 71 that was the best score of the day and earned him a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division Oct. 18^th at Heidelberg Country Club in Bernville, Berks County.

   Boone made an early birdie at the fifth hole and then got hot down the stretch with birdies at 15, 17 and 18 as he went 3-under over his last six holes. Boone had nine pars on his scorecard.

   Ben Nowland, a sophomore on the Avon Grove golf team, made a birdie on the 14^th hole and had nine pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors among the young guys with a 7-over 77.

   Mason Kim, a freshman on the Wissahickon golf team, got off to a great start with a birdie at the first hole and had a hole-in-one at two, and also had birdies at nine and 14 as he finished a shot behind Nowland in third place with a 78.

   William Thorkelson, a freshman on the golf team at The Haverford School, took fourth place with a 79, Drew Gebhard, a freshman on the Cedar Crest golf team, and Jack Shea of Harleysville shared fifth, each posting an 89, and Sean Nelligan of Gilbertsville was seventh with a 97.

   Rohand Goradia of Newtown Square took eighth place with a 100, Pushkar Vatsavayi of Marlton, N.J. was ninth with a 106 and Ethan Lerner of Blue Bell rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished 10^th with a 107.

   Quinn Marshall, a junior on the Wilmington Friends School golf team, made birdies on the third and 12^th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a 6-over 76.

   Johnny Lee of Glenside made birdies on the seventh and ninth holes went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and added a fifth birdie at 18 and had six pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 78.

   Nolan Murray Jr. of Ambler went back-to-back with birdies at the seventh and eighth holes, added a third birdie at 15 and had eight pars on his card as he finished in third place with a 79.

   Zach Raihill, who finished up his senior season on the West Chester Rustin golf team this fall, took fourth place with an 83, Luke Farnese, who wrapped up his senior season on the Plymouth-Whitemarsh golf team, was fifth with an 84 and Joseph Gangemi Jr. of Downingtown was sixth with an 85.

   Shane Cornell, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior on the Avon Grove golf team this fall, and Braydon Dolan, a junior on the Springfield golf team, shared seventh place, each tallying an 86 and Brady Morris, a junior on the Governor Mifflin golf team, rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as he finished ninth with an 87.

   The best score among the girls also emerged from the 13-to-15 division as Regan Miller of Lancaster started her round with a par at the first hole on her way to a 105 that gave her a Philly Junior Tour victory.

   Finley Campbell of West Chester finished in second place in a short field in the 13-to-15 division as she made a par on the sixth hole on her way to a 149.

   Fortress Chryst of Wescosville was the lone entry in the 16-to-18 division and she had three pars on her scorecard while recording a 114.

   Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit made an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole and had five pars on his scorecard to best the always competitive field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a 2-over 37.

   Connor Michaels of Lancaster matched DElia’s eagle at the sixth hole and had four pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with a 3-over 38.

   Baylor Keim of Blue Bell settled for a birdie at the sixth hole and had six pars on his card, including five straight pars to open his round, and finished a shot behind Michaels in third place with a 4-over 39.

   Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. signed for a 40 to finish in fourth place, Blake Shurman of Villanova and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville shared fifth, each posting a 41, Grayson Wright of Philadelphia was seventh with a 42, Kayaan Patel of Mullica Hill, N.J. was eighth with a 43 and Jaxson Freeborn of Reading was ninth with a 49.

   Kash Gray of Eagleville took 10^th place with a 52 and Josiah Zimmerman of Camp Hill rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he was 11^th with a 59.

   Trisha Lobo, the talented 10-year-old from Collegeville, was the lone entry in the girls 12-and-under division, and she made a birdie on the sixth hole and had three pars on her scorecard as she carded a solid 4-over 39.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gooneratne's runnerup finish powers Delaware to the team title in Lady Blue Hen Invitational at Rehoboth Beach

 

   Getting strong showings from its trio of recent District One standouts, Delaware captured the title in the Lady Blue Hen Invitational, which wrapped up Oct. 19^th at Rehoboth Beach Country Club in Rehoboth Beach, Del., for the second year in a row.

   Delaware, in its first season as a member of Conference USA, was locked in a tight three-way battle for the team title following a double round Oct. 18^th with the Blue Hens in third place, three shots behind the leader, Harvard, and a shot behind Georgetown, which held down second.

   But Delaware matched par in the final round with a 288 total over the 6,169-yard, par-72 Rehoboth Beach layout to cruise to an eight-shot victory over the Hoyas, who play out of the Big East.

   Delaware opened with a 5-over 293 and added a 6-over 294 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round. The Blue Hens’ even-par effort in the final round, the low team round of the weekend, gave them an 11-over 875 total.

   Delaware was led by freshman Rhianna Gooneratne, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Plymouth-Whitemarsh in 2023 who earned runnerup honors in the individual standings with a 1-over 217 total.

   The weather was pretty nice last weekend, but Rehoboth Beach seemed to play tough in the opening round and Gooneratne struggled to a 5-over 77. But she bounced back with a sparkling 3-under 69 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round and closed with a 1-under 71.

   Rehoboth Beach played tough in the opening round for everybody not named Vanessa Zhang, a sophomore at Harvard from Canada who opened with a 5-under 67.

   Zhang, the Ivy League champion as a freshman last spring, matched par in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round with a 72 before closing with a 1-under 71 to roll to the individual title in the Lady Blue Hen with a 6-under 210 total, seven shots clear of Gooneratne, her closest pursuer.

   Zhang represented Harvard in the NCAA’s Columbus Regional last spring at The Ohio State University’s challenging Scarlet Course.

   Georgetown had posted a pair of 5-over 293s in the opening day’s double round. The Hoyas closed with a 9-over 297 which left them eight shots behind Delaware in second place with a 19-over 883 total.

   Georgetown was led by Sunny Wang, a freshman from Thousand Oaks, Calif. who finished in a tie for fifth place with Quinipiac’s Samantha Galantini, a junior from West Orange, N.J., as they landed on 3-over 219.

   Wang bounced back from an opening round of 5-over 77 with a pair of 1-under 71s in the final two rounds.

   Harvard, behind Zhang, finished four shots behind Georgetown in a tie for third place with Ivy League rival Dartmouth with a 23-over 887 total.

   The Crimson added a 4-over 291 in the afternoon of the opening-day double round to their opening round of 5-over 293 to take a two-shot lead over Georgetown into the final round. Harvard struggled to a 303 in the final round.

   The Big Green bounced back from an opening-round 298 with a 5-over 293 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round. Dartmouth then closed with an 8-over 296 to join Harvard in the tie for third place.

   Youngstown State, a Horizon League representative, and Yale, another Ivy entry, finished in a tie for fifth place, each ending up with a 26-over 890 total.

   The Penguins added a 6-over 294 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to their opening-round 296 before closing with a 300.

   Youngstown State was led by reigning Horizon League individual champion Neeranuch Prajunpanich, a junior from Thailand who finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings with Yale’s Lydia Portlock, a freshman from San Antonio, Texas, each ending up with a 2-over 218 total that left them a shot behind Delaware’s Gooneratne.

   Prajunpanich, who joined Harvard’s Zhang competing as an individual in last spring’s Columbus Regional, added a sparkling 4-under 68 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening round of 1-over 73 before closing with a 77.

   Yale bounced back from an opening-round 301 with a 5-over 293 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round before finishing up with a 296.

   Portlock matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 1-under 71 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round before closing with a 3-over 75.

   Penn, another Ivy League entry, finished in eighth place in the 12-team field as the Quakers tallied a 32-over 296 total. After opening with a 301, Penn posted an 8-over 296 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round before struggling to a 306 in the final round.

   The Quakers were led by Maggie Ni, a junior from Cypress, Texas who finished among a group of four players tied for seventh place in the individual standings with a 4-over 220 total. Ni added a solid 2-under 70 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening round of 1-over 73 before closing with a 77.

   Also in that group at 4-over was another of Delaware director of golf operations Patty Post’s District One all-stars, sophomore Kate Roberts, who starred at Phoenixville.

   Roberts spent her freshman year at Mountain West Conference power San Jose State, but came home to join the Blue Hens.

   The always steady Roberts got a little better with each round at Rehoboth Beach, adding a 2-over 74 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening-round 76 before closing with a solid 2-under 70.

   Kate Roberts will be joined at Delaware next season by her younger sister Kayley, who just completed a senior season at Phoenixville which saw her roll to a nine-shot victory in the District One Class AAA Championship before earning a runnerup finish at this week’s PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State.

   Backing up Gooneratne and Kate Roberts for Delaware was yet another District One standout of recent vintage, junior Mary Grace Dunigan, who starred at Unionville.

   Dunigan matched par in the opening round at Rehoboth Beach with a 72 before adding a pair of 3-over 75s to finish among the group tied for 12^th place with a 6-over 222 total.

   In addition to Gooneratne’s individual state championship, the Roberts sisters and Dunigan each have a PIAA Class AAA team title to their credit, the Roberts sisters leading the way for the Phantoms in their run to the state crown in 2022 and Dunigan leading the Longhorns to a state team title in the pandemic year of 2020.

   Joining Dunigan in the group tied for 12^th place at 6-over was her teammate Hyunji Kim, a sophomore from England who matched par in the final round with a 72 to help Delaware nail down the team crown. Kim had opened with a 2-over 74 before adding a 76 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round.

   Rounding out the Delaware lineup was Anushka Sawant, a sophomore from South Brunswick, N.J. who finished among the group tied for 18^th place with a 7-over 223 total as the Blue Hens’ first five all were inside the top 20 in the individual standings.

   Sawant contributed a solid 1-under 71 for the Blue Hens in the opening round before adding a pair of 4-over 76s in the final two rounds.

   Post used the occasion of Delaware’s home tournament to have a couple of players compete as individuals.

   Junior Marissa Malosh, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at South Fayette, finished among a trio of players tied for 45^th place with a 231 total. Malosh recorded a pair of 4-over 76s in the opening day’s double round before closing with a 79.

   Rounding out the Delaware contingent was Victoria Ramirez, a freshman from Puerto Rico who finished in a tie for 63^rd place with a 245 total. After struggling to an 84 in the opening round, Ramirez added a 7-over 79 in the afternoon of the opening-day double round before closing with a 82.

   Quinpiac’s Galantin struggled to an opening-round 77, but matched par in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round with a 72 before closing with a 2-under 70 to join Georgetown’s Wang in the tie for fifth place at 3-over.

   Yale’s Mia Sessa, a senior from Augusta, Ga., gave the Bulldogs a second player inside the top seven as she joined Delaware’s Roberts and Penn’s Ni in the foursome tied for seventh place at 4-over.

   Sessa added a 2-over 74 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening-round 76 before closing with a solid 2-under 70.

   Rounding out the quartet tied for seventh place at 4-over was Wang’s Georgetown teammate, Mimi Burton, a junior from Austin, Texas who opened with a solid 1-under 71 and added a 3-over 75 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round before closing with 74.

   Backing up Ni for Penn was Adrienne Ahn-Upton, a freshman from Dallas, Texas who finished in the group tied for 21^st place with an 8-over 224 total. After opening with a 2-over 74, Ahn-Upton tallied a pair of 75s in the final two rounds.

   Mi Li, a freshman from Orlando, Fla, finished among the group tied for 26^th place for the Quakers with a 9-over 225 total as Li rattled off three consecutive 3-over 75s.

   Madeline Zang, a junior from Princeton, N.J., finished in a trio tied for 39^th place at 229 as she added a 5-over 77 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening-round 79 before closing with a solid 1-over 73.

   Rounding out the Penn lineup was Julie Shin, a senior from Brambleton, Va. who finished alone in 49^th place with a 234 total. Shin added a 3-over 75 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round to her opening-round 79 before closing with an 80.

   Penn’s Claire Lu, a sophomore from Edison, N.J., competed as an individual and made a case for a spot in the starting lineup as she finished among a trio of players tied for 18^th place at 7-over 223. After opening with a 3-over 75, Lu matched par in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round with a 72 before closing with a 76.

   Bridget O’Keefe, a senior from Palo Alto, Calif., competed as individual for Penn and finished in a trio tied for 42^nd place with a 230 total. O’Keefe opened with a solid 1-over 73 and added a 79 in the afternoon of the opening day’s double round before closing with a 78.