110th Junior Boys’ Championship: Day One

Young rallies to medal at The Ridge

RINGOES, N.J. – A week ago, Thomas Young made a run to the Round of 16 in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, ultimately falling to Talamore Country Club’s Patrick Sheehan.

| History | Junior Team History | Medalist History | Scoring portal |

The Saucon Valley Country Club youngster may have bowed out before his ultimate goal, but he came to the 110th Junior Boys’ Championship locked in and ready to roll.

“I learned last week at the Philadelphia Amateur that I could do it and play with the best amateurs in the area,” Young, 18, of Center Valley, Pa., said. “My goal is to play professional golf and Patrick is about to turn pro. I went toe to toe with him without having my best version of my driver. That week gave me a lot of confidence and now I am trying to keep that momentum going.

“I was so focused on the outcome of that match and making birdies that I lost track of my process and ended up giving away a couple opportunities. Today I was really focused on my process and not what happens after the shot.”

Young, aided by a back-nine revival and a charged driver, took medalist honors with a round of 69 Monday in the Junior Boys’ Championship at The Ridge at Back Brook (par 71, 6,555 yards).

The cutline for the Top 16 for the Championship Flight stopped at 75. The cutline for the First Flight was 77.

Defending champion John Stevenson of LuLu Country Club carded a round of 73. As the reigning titleholder, Stevenson automatically garners the No. 1 seed. Young will be the No. 2 seed. Stevenson will play Talamore’s Ethan Martin and Young will play North Hills Country Club’s Declan McLane.

“I’ve felt like my game has been firing at around a C grade,” Young, who will attend Methodist University in the fall, said. “I feel like that because my tee shots have been lacking and causing issues. I feel like my tee shots were a lot better today and I gave myself a lot of opportunities. I was able to build off that.”

A strong front nine of 1 under put Young in a good position to hold the medalist crystal. As he went to strike his tee shot on No. 12 (par 3, 163 yards), an untimely “fore” yell hit him on the downswing. His ball sailed right into the water and a double bogey ensued. He could have spiraled at something he couldn’t control. But he remained in his process.

“The fore yell didn’t catch me off guard that much, I just made a bad swing,” Young, who recently graduated from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., said. “Bad shots are going to happen. You just have to learn to move on. I was playing well and knew I would have opportunities coming in. I kept my composure well, which I was proud of.”

He would go on to make three birdies in his last five holes. He began by two-putting for birdie on No. 14 (par 5, 534 yards) after hitting a pitching wedge from 160 yards to 27 feet. He buried a 26-footer on No. 16 (par 4, 410 yards).

His prodigious length served him well on the last (par 5, 518 yards). A tomahawked torpedo off the tee left him 118 yards. For those calculating at home, that equated to a 400-yard drive. A 54-degree to 15 feet helped him close with a two-putt birdie.

Lessons learned at Whitemarsh Valley will serve him well. Young said he enjoyed The Ridge because it requires a strong mental game as much as it does a strong physical game.

“The biggest key for me is to stay focused in my process,” Young said. “I can’t imagine things that go wrong. I need to place my mind on thinking about what can go right. That’s what will help me in this event the rest of the week.” 

NOTE:
Saucon Valley Country Club, represented by Thomas Young, Colin McAskin, David Burmeister and Caleb Walsh captured the Junior Team Championship. It filed an 8-over-par 221 to prevail by three strokes over Overbrook Golf Club. The Junior Team Championship runs concurrently with Junior Boys’ Championship Qualifying. Three of four scores count toward the team total.

Junior Boys’ Championship
The Junior Boys’ Championship is the premier Major in the GAP Junior Division. It is open to members of a GAP Member Club 14-18 years of age who have not started their college education and who hold a handicap index of 14.4 or lower. Sixteen players qualify for match play; an additional 16 advance into the event’s First Flight.

The Junior Boys’ Champion is awarded the Peg Burnett Trophy, named in honor of the Association’s Executive Secretary from 1951-76. Ms. Burnett was an ardent Junior golf supporter who emphasized sportsmanship and respect for the game. “I was very strict about checking the rule book. I didn’t make the rules, but since they are there, you have to abide by them.”

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 345 Member Clubs and 110,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.