2025 Junior Boys’ Championship: Day One

Springhaven’s Kleinschmidt medals at Merion

HAVERFORD, Pa. — It seems like golf is beginning to work out for Luca Kleinschmidt. 

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A long-time baseball kid, Kleinschmidt picked up a golf club for the first time three years ago at the advice of friend and caddie Tyler Debusschere. His decision to invest in his golf game was validated Monday with medalist honors in Stroke-Play Qualifying for the 111th Junior Boys’ Championship at Merion Golf Club (West) (par 70, 5,856 yards).

“It means a lot to see the hard work pay off,” Kleinschmidt, a member of The Springhaven Club, 17, of Wallingford, Pa., said. “Coming into a field like this, nobody else will have more confidence in themselves than I do. I go into everything thinking I’m the best. It doesn’t always pay off, but today it did.” 

 The field of 144 players engaged in Stroke-Play Qualifying to secure one of 16 available Championship Flight match play positions. An additional 16 match play positions are reserved for the tournament’s First Flight. 

The day’s cutline stopped at 73. An 8-for-6 sudden-death playoff occurred for the final qualifying positions in the Championship Flight. As medalist, Kleinschmidt assumes the No. 1 seed.

He will face clubmate Jason DiRita, the last playoff survivor as darkness descended Monday, in the Round of 16 at 7:30 a.m.  

A Columbus, Ohio native, Kleinschmidt relocated to Wallingford for his mother’s job. Kleinschmidt’s family quickly became members at The Springhaven Club to enjoy the establishment’s non-golf amenities. The aforementioned Debusschere, who plays on the men’s golf team at Cornell University, urged Kleinschmidt to give golf a try. 

“[Tyler] asked why I didn’t play any golf. I’m like, ‘I don’t know. Golf is kind of lame.’ He said, ‘You should play, you live right here,’” Kleinschmidt, a rising senior at Strath Haven High School,  said. “Thank God he did, because I was gonna go play football and I think I would’ve been miserable.”

His competitive spirit from baseball has translated to the golf course. Last year, he finished runner-up in the South Jersey Junior Open, a Hurricane Tour event. Last week, he carded rounds of 72 and 74 at Turtle Creek Golf Course during a Notah Begay, III Junior Golf National Championships qualifier. 

“I feel like I’ve worked really hard. My game is there,” Kleinschmidt said. “I haven’t been around the game that long, and it’s nice to be up there with guys that have already made a name for themselves.” 

Last year marked  Kleinschmidt’s first Junior Boys’ appearance at The Ridge at Back Brook. He shot 81 and failed to qualify for match play. Since then, he’s worked hard on his game in hopes to continue playing competitively in college.

The returns at Merion showed. 

Starting on No. 12 (par 4, 333 yards) for logistical purposes, Kleinschmidt’s medalist bid opened ominously: 2 over through three holes. He knocked a wedge 50 yards to 20 feet on No. 12. Relying on speeds gauged on Merion’s practice green, Kleinschmidt anticipated a turbo downhiller. More like a tortoise downhiller. Kleinschmidt left his birdie putt 12 feet short and missed the next one. Another three-putt bogey arose on No. 14 (par 4, 437 yards).  

“I’m like, ‘I hope this isn’t the kind of day I’m going to have. Thankfully it wasn’t,” Kleinschmidt said. “Two-over through three was just not a great start at all.”

Kleinschmidt, a burly ball-striker, reclaimed a stroke on the par 5, 550-yard 16th hole. Facing a flyer lie in the left rough, he poked a 6-iron from 215 yards downwind to short of the green. A pitch to three feet meant a 4. 

The typically affable Kleinschmidt widened his smile when he set eyes upon Merion’s front nine. 

Strath Haven competes against Haverford High School at Merion (West). Matches occur on the course’s opening sector. Kleinschmidt knew scoring chances awaited. He capitalized by completing that stretch in 31 (4 under). 

On No. 1 (par 4, 317 yards), Kleinschmidt hit a 60-degree wedge — “probably the worst wedge shot in three years” — to 20 feet. He escaped with a birdie in tow despite the regretful setup. Kleinschmidt, however, did swell with pride over an eagle on No. 3 (No. 3 (par 5, 521 yards), where he strung a 5-wood 240 yards to two feet. Kleinschmidt knows No. 5 (par 4, 396 yards) can be problematic: a blind tee shot that crucifies any uncertainty. 

“I said before teeing off that bogey is fine,” Kleinschmidt, who walked away with bogey after missing a 15-footer, said. “It’s 100 percent 4-iron off that tee. You cannot hit anything else there. I don’t hit the ball high enough or far enough to get driver far enough down to be in the fairway. So you lay back with 4-iron, you take your medicine. If you make par, it’s a good score.” 

Kleinschmidt scored red on Nos. 8 (par 4, 243 yards) and 9 (par 4, 431 yards). On the former, he executed a 15-yard pitch to three feet. As Kleinschmidt and Debusschere traversed No. 16, they noted the hole location on the adjacent No. 9. 

“You can actually go long of the pin and you’re on the [No. 10 tee-box] because it’s connected. So we knew that being short of that pin was a lot worse than being long,” Kleinschmidt said. He then hit a “perfect” 6-iron from 187 yards to 15 feet for birdie. 

An amped Kleinschmidt, playing in the day’s first group, became the Energizer Bunny. Hit shot, return club to Debusschere, walk briskly to golf ball, talk, hit, repeat. Perhaps the adrenaline overflowed on No. 11 (par 4, 373 yards), his final hole. Kleinschmidt cut a drive exactly as planned, leaving a yardage of 135 in the fairway.  

“I had that shot like four times today, and I hit a 48-degree wedge all those times. And then of course, I don’t know why, but I changed my process and I decided to hit a pitching wedge instead and kind of got under it a little bit. Open clubface but inside path, and it just double crossed,” Kleinschmidt said. 

Long of the green with little room to maneuver, Kleinschmidt played for bogey. He attempted to land a tedious chip on the green’s upper shelf, only to see it scuttle off the slope and into the fairway. A 30-yard pitch and two putts translated into a deflating 6. 

“Anytime you can have a double on the scorecard, but still shoot under par is a really good round,” Kleinschmidt said. 

The day’s lone subpar round, that is. The field scoring average at Merion (West) Monday: 79. 

NOTES
DuPont Country Club’s Quinn Marshall aced the 15th hole (par 3, 217 yards) with a 4-iron. It marked his first career hole-in-one. Marshall, 16, of Wilmington, Del., is a rising junior at Wilmington Friends School … Merion, represented by Sean Curran, Nicky Nemo, William Forman and Mac Traynor, won the Junior Team Championship with a score of 8-over-par 218. 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. Originally known as the Junior Golf Championship of Philadelphia, the event was conceived by Robert Lesley, the longest tenured president in GAP history (1906-24). 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 organization’s beloved Executive Secretary from 1951-76. 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.” Dalton Balthaser profiled Burnett in the Summer 2024 edition of GAP Magazine.

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 organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.