2026 DIAA State Championships Day Two: Baywood Greens

Kelly, Finger, Salesianum take hardware

MILLSBORO, Del. – Joseph Kelly needed to make a move. He thought his moment was slipping through his fingertips.

| Scoring portal | Day One Recap |

After a double bogey-bogey stretch on Nos. 14 (par 4, 345 yards) and 15 (par 3, 177 yards), Kelly, of Salesianum School, was sitting one shot behind defending champion Jake Hollerback of Sussex Central High School. 

On No. 16 (par 5, 515 yards), Kelly lashed a drive leaving him 152 yards and a pitching wedge. A pelt and a 25-foot putt put him three shots clear of Hollerback after he made a double bogey. 

Kelly, a junior, held off his teammate Grant Burkhart by a shot to claim the DIAA Boys’ Championship with a 36-hole total of even-par 144 and a final-round 74 at Baywood Greens (par 72, 6,397 yards) Wednesday.

Salesianum dominated the Team Championship by 23 shots over Archmere Academy with a 36-hole team total of 17-over-par 521. In Round One, the four best scores of the six team members counted toward the team total. In Round Two, the three best of six scores counted. 

“It feels really great to be the DIAA State Champion,” Kelly, 17, of Wilmington, Del., said. “I am just so happy for everyone on our team. To have Grant Burkhart and Brendan Schott finish in the Top 5 was awesome. This season was great. Being able to win individually is cool but as a team means a lot.”

Kelly started the final round one shot behind Hollerback, an inaugural team member of the United States National Development Program (USNDP) in Delaware, and a Baywood Greens member.

“I knew trying to beat Jake on his home course was going to be a challenge,” Kelly said. “I wanted to remain calm and focus on my game plan of keeping the ball in play and not making too many mistakes. When the errors came, I wanted to just bounce back and not let them weigh on me. You needed to place your ball well off the tee.”

Kelly’s other highlight came on the other par 5 on the back nine. He clanked in a 22-footer on No. 13 (501 yards). After pitching out from behind a tree he shoveled a 7-iron from 185 yards to his birdie range.

Now Kelly can call himself a DIAA Champion.

“This does give me some confidence in myself and where my game fits in this area,” Kelly, a DuPont Country Club member, said. “I took a break from tournament golf because I didn’t feel like my results were what they needed to be. I took a step back for a couple of months and worked really hard to get comfortable again. My hard work played off. There are just so many good players who have won the DIAA Championship. I am happy to put myself in their company. It feels amazing.”

Finger ends high school journey with a win

Archmere Academy senior Meredith Finger remembers her first DIAA Championship. 

A runner-up finish to Avery McCrery as a freshman in 2023 at Baywood Greens motivated her to one day reach the mountaintop for herself.

Wednesday at Baywood Greens (par 72, 5,633 yards) Finger closed out her full-circle moment with a victory. She is the DIAA Girls’ Champion with a 36-hole total of 2-over-par 146.

“When I learned that the DIAA’s were coming back here I made it a point of emphasis to put myself in the best position to win,” Finger, 18, of Wilmington, Del., said. “On the first day, I was really nervous but I hit a great first tee shot, which helped me settle in. Shooting 1 under Tuesday gave me a cushion and playing with two good friends today helped me relax.”

Finger’s final round 75 gave her a 12-shot victory over teammate Hannah Webb, last year’s champion. Statement made.

Archmere was coming into this year’s edition looking for a three-peat in the team division. While it wasn’t able to finish the job as a team, Finger keeps a piece of gold in its hands.

“A big goal coming into my high school career was to win DIAA’s as a team,” Finger, a DuPont member, said. “We had such a stacked group in my sophomore and junior years, which helped us go back-to-back. A big goal of mine was to win this tournament for myself. Not to be selfish but because it would be cool to end your high school career on the top of the mountain.”

Finger said Baywood Greens fits her eye off the tee. She said her strategy of playing short of the greens helped her avoid bunkers all week. Her final round highlight came in the tune of a savvy pitch and putt on No. 7 (par 5, 408 yards).

A tidy flop-chip as Finger calls it, to six feet put down her lone red figure of the day. She said her goal was to make a ton of pars and to make the rounds stress-free.

Finger heads 850 miles away to Bradley University in Illinois this fall to play on the Women’s Golf team. She said an adjustment is coming for sure but she’s excited about the opportunity.

 “I am going to miss my parents the most but going away from home and figuring things out for myself is what I am most excited about,” Finger said. “I am eager to play for an emerging program. Being able to walk in as a state champion will be such a good feeling.”

Winning the Girls’ DIAA Championship includes being listed with the strong girls’ pipeline in Delaware. Phoebe Brinker, Esther Park, Sarah Lydic and McCrery are a few of the names who went on to play Division I golf at a high level.

“Putting my name on a trophy isn’t what’s most important to me,” Finger said. “For me, it is more learning that I can compete with the best of the best. Playing with Sarah in the BMW GAP Women’s Championship last year taught me a lot. Having her out here following my group today was really cool. This is a huge confidence boost for me as I embark on my next journey.”

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 140,000 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.