BETHLEHEM, Pa. – To say golf for the Homers is competitive would be an understatement.
Between brothers Jeff, Matt and Jack, who call Wilmington Country Club home, every trophy is tallied and every missed opportunity is magnified.
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On Monday at a cool and cloudy Saucon Valley Country Club (Grace) (par 72, 6,749 yards), Jack, playing in his final junior event, joined his brothers on the Christman Cup trophy as the event’s 26th champion. Matt’s title came in 2022 with Jeff’s a year prior.
Homer prevailed with a par on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff against William Johnson of White Manor Country Club and Cole Berry of Overbrook Golf Club. The playoff rotation was No. 1 (par 5, 562 yards) and No. 18 (par 4, 444 yards). The trio finished regulation deadlocked at 4-under-par 140.
“It means the world to me. Growing up playing GAP my whole life, [and] playing golf my whole life, I had a lot of success as a junior junior…I won the [Junior-Junior Division] of the Jock [MacKenzie Memorial] and the Junior-Junior [Boys’ Championship]. Honestly, [those are] probably the last tournaments I’ve won,” Homer, 18, of Wilmington, Del. said. “It’s really special to be able to join [Jeff and Matt] at the top.”
This year’s Christman Cup, originally set for July 15 on Saucon Valley’s Old Course, was postponed due to heavy rains. The Christman Cup is a one-day, 36-hole event.
Saucon Valley stuck to its championship-hosting form during the day’s first round allowing only three players to finish in red figures. Homer and Berry shot 2 under 70s. Reigning Junior Boys’ Champion Sean Curran of Merion Golf Club stood a shot back at 71. Homer’s card featured a trio of birdies on Saucon’s second side. On No. 12 (par 4, 338 yards), he lifted a 60-degree wedge from 74 yards to 40 feet and canned the lengthy try for a three. On No. 13 (par 4, 326 yards), he jarred another long putt after steering a pitching wedge from 120 yards to 55 feet. On No. 14 (par 3, 155 yards), he spun a pitching wedge to eight feet.
Berry, who won the Francis X. Hussey Memorial last month, found some morning magic with an eagle on No. 15. There, he hit a 6-iron from 215 yards to five feet.
In the afternoon, Christman calamity ensued. Bogeys and double bogeys in Curran’s first nine pulled him down the leaderboard. Conversely, Johnson climbed the ladder with the day’s low round at 66. His efforts earned him a share of the lead with Homer who matched his first round score. Homer helped himself with an eagle on No. 4 (par 5, 495 yards). Berry held his position with another 2 under round as well. On No. 14 (par 3, 155 yards), he stuffed a pitching wedge to 40 feet. On No. 16 (par 4, 443 yards) he put the same pitching wedge to 20 feet.
Signed scorecards and several hours later, Homer, Johnson and Berry headed to No. 1 for the playoff.
Things got underway with three drives in three different playing areas. Berry landed comfortably in the fairway after Homer found the left rough. Johnson settled in the left fairway bunker. Berry laid up to 56 yards before attacking the flag with 58-degree setting up a six-footer for birdie. After escaping the rough, Homer was left with 80 yards. He too went at the flag stopping his ball just four feet away. Johnson’s third landed in the left greenside bunker. With his opponents in tight, he had a must make to keep his Christman dreams alive. He failed to hole the ensuing bunker shot and shook hands with Berry and Homer who halved with birdies.
Homer, with tee honors, sent his drive down the left side of the fairway on No. 18. Berry’s ball bounced into the left rough near some trees with low-hanging branches. He attempted to hit a punch 6-iron from 132 yards which settled 10 yards short of the green. From a similar distance, Homer hit a pitching wedge that landed on the front edge of the green leaving a 25-foot birdie look. Berry hit a “mediocre” chip to 10 feet and failed to hole his putt for par. Homer, who claimed to have had his same putt earlier in the day, confidently two-putted for par and the victory.
“It was a great tournament. It felt good. I only had two bad holes on the card,” Berry, 16, of West Chester, Pa., and a rising senior at Rustin High School, said. “I’m just happy with how I’m playing right now and [I’m] excited to get into the next tournament.”
“At that point of the playoff, you see your opponent is in the rough and he’s got some trees to navigate. You’re 138 from the fairway you’re thinking birdie, but at that point I was just like, ‘Let’s keep this simple,’” Homer, who leaves Thursday for his freshman year at the University of Virginia, said.
A Christman Cup win is perhaps the perfect end to his junior golf career.
“It’s funny because as my last event as a junior, when you get a three-shot lead in the [Harry] Hammond and you’ve got to play well to get that and this, it was the perfect opportunity to not necessarily redeem myself, but to kind of turn a new page heading into my adult amateur life,” Homer, who lost Jock MacKenzie Memorial in a playoff earlier this summer, said. “It’s a tough tournament to win; 36-holes, one day, you only get one try a year and you only get four tries in your life pretty much, so it means the world. I’m super happy.”
The Christman Cup is named in honor of J. Fred Christman, former GAP Executive Committee member (1980-89) and Director of Competitions (1989-99). He chaired the organization’s Junior Committee and thereby oversaw the administration of its Junior schedule annually. “Fred has been part of the glue that has held this organization together, making things work and handling many tough situations. Certainly, with the exception of Jim Sykes, no other individual has been as closely identified with GAP activities and players as Fred regardless of their status on the Executive Committee or staff,” former GAP President Ray Cross (1997-99) wrote in a letter published in the October 1999 edition of Philadelphia Golfer. Christman died on Sept. 14, 2019 at the age of 86.
Harry Hammond Award
Following the Jock MacKenzie Memorial, the second leg of the Harry Hammond Award, Homer held a three-shot lead over The Springhaven Club’s Luca Kleinschmidt. His Christman Cup performance solidified his victory in the Harry Hammond. Homer finished at 282 shots. Charlie Barrickman of Radley Run Country Club was his closest pursuer at 288.
“My victory in the Harry Hammond is a testament to the golf I’ve played…I’ve been playing super consistent golf. I’ve been hovering around 70, 71, 72 and those will always get you great finishes in these events,” Homer said. “There’s no slipping up in the Harry Hammond. You can’t have one bad round. There’s only four of them.”
There are family ties to the Harry Hammond as well. Jeff has two (2023, 2021).
The Harry Hammond award is emblematic of the qualifying round of the Junior Boys’ Championship, the Jock MacKenzie Memorial and the Christman Cup.
Harry Hammond
Harry Hammond, an ardent supporter of Junior golf both locally and nationally, served as the Philadelphia PGA Section’s Junior Golf Chairman for 29 years. He is the Director of Golf at Penn Oaks Golf Club. A 55-year member of the PGA of America, Hammond received the organization’s Bill Strausbaugh Award for leadership and service to the game of golf in 2012.
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.
| Results | |
| Name, club | R1-R2—Total |
| *Jack Homer, Wilmington Country Club | 70–70 — 140 |
| *William Johnson, White Manor Country Club | 74–66 — 140 |
| *Cole Berry, Overbrook Golf Club | 70–70 — 140 |
| Declan McLane, North Hills Country Club | 73–69 — 142 |
| Charlie Barrickman, Radley Run Country Club | 72–70 — 142 |
| Grant Burkhart, Kennett Square Golf & Country Club | 73–72 — 145 |
| Cody Sutcliffe, The 1912 Club | 75–70 — 145 |
| Chris Vahey, North Hills Country Club | 77–69 — 146 |
| Keller Tannehill, Atlantic City Country Club | 78–69 — 147 |
| Liam Crowley, Aronimink Golf Club | 75–72 — 147 |
| Harrison Brown, Philadelphia Country Club | 74–73 — 147 |
| Colby Komancheck, RiverCrest GC & Preserve | 73–74 — 147 |
| Cade Kelleher, Country Club of Scranton | 75–73 — 148 |
| Jackson Lane, Riverton Country Club | 77–71 — 148 |
| Adam Cifra, Sunnybrook Golf Club | 75–73 — 148 |
| Ian Natale, Sunnybrook Golf Club | 79–69 — 148 |
| Liam Littleton, Sunnybrook Golf Club | 77–71 — 148 |
| Sean Curran, Merion Golf Club | 71–78 — 149 |
| John Diamond, John F. Byrne Golf Club | 76–73 — 149 |
| J.P. Hoban, The 1912 Club | 74–75 — 149 |
| P.J. Foley, Linwood Country Club | 76–73 — 149 |
| Freddy Hartmann, Overbrook Golf Club | 74–75 — 149 |
| Lannon Boyd, Overbrook Golf Club | 75–75 — 150 |
| Timothy Burns, RiverCrest GC & Preserve | 75–75 — 150 |
| Seiji Sako, McCall Golf Club | 78–72 — 150 |
| Hank Kancher, Trump National Golf Club – Philadelphia | 79–71 — 150 |
| Colin McAskin, Saucon Valley Country Club | 76–75 — 151 |
| Brendan Bell Jr., Country Club of Scranton | 74–77 — 151 |
| Brody Bell, Spring Ford Country Club | 72–79 — 151 |
| Ian Larsen, Honeybrook Golf Club | 75–76 — 151 |
| Jax Puskar, Kennett Square Golf & Country Club | 77–75 — 152 |
| Luca Kleinschmidt, The Springhaven Club | 82–71 — 153 |
| Declan Conner, Rolling Green Golf Club | 80–73 — 153 |
| Luke LaScala, DuPont Country Club | 76–77 — 153 |
| Beckett Chipman, Wilmington Country Club | 76–78 — 154 |
| Keegan Redmond, USGA/GAP GC | 77–77 — 154 |
| Jake Hollerback, Baywood Greens | 81–74 — 155 |
| Wushouyi Sun, USGA/GAP GC | 82–73 — 155 |
| Eddie Gebhardt, Rolling Green Golf Club | 73–82 — 155 |
| Anestis Kalderemtzis, Penn Oaks Golf Club | 83–72 — 155 |
| Quin Zuegner, Lookaway Golf Club | 78–78 — 156 |
| Ryan Quinn, Commonwealth National Golf Club | 78–78 — 156 |
| Christopher Sung, Waynesborough Country Club | 80–76 — 156 |
| Andrew Carroccio, White Manor Country Club | 81–75 — 156 |
| Ian Rotto, Kennett Square Golf & Country Club | 78–78 — 156 |
| Christopher Parrish, Running Deer Golf Club | 78–79 — 157 |
| Tristan Smith, Cedarbrook Country Club | 79–78 — 157 |
| Paul Reilly, Galloway National Golf Club | 84–73 — 157 |
| Patrick Duda, Bellewood Country Club | 82–75 — 157 |
| John Gavaghan, Cedarbrook Country Club | 81–77 — 158 |
| Nicky Nemo, Merion Golf Club | 79–79 — 158 |
| Calvin Pace, Whitford Country Club | 82–76 — 158 |
| Luke McGraw, USGA/GAP GC | 79–80 — 159 |
| Liam McFadden, Overbrook Golf Club | 81–78 — 159 |
| Nicolas Gaughan, Concord Country Club | 82–77 — 159 |
| Trevor Sieben, Little Mill Country Club | 79–80 — 159 |
| Wyatt Underwood, GAP Youth on Course | 87–72 — 159 |
| Jason DiRita, The Springhaven Club | 75–84 — 159 |
| Quinn Marshall, DuPont Country Club | 77–82 — 159 |
| Gregory Kriz, Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club | 79–81 — 160 |
| Ian McEwen, North Hills Country Club | 79–81 — 160 |
| Kie Shaw, Rock Manor Golf Club | 79–81 — 160 |
| Logan Turner, White Manor Country Club | 83–77 — 160 |
| David Burmeister, Saucon Valley Country Club | 81–80 — 161 |
| John Moyer, Greate Bay Country Club | 83–78 — 161 |
| Benjamin Boyanoski, Country Club of Scranton | 85–76 — 161 |
| William Simonson, Tavistock Country Club | 83–79 — 162 |
| Zac Devos, Bensalem Country Club | 79–84 — 163 |
| Judd Fletcher, Riverton Country Club | 83–81 — 164 |
| Zach Miller, Northampton Country Club | 81–87 — 168 |
| Logan Cassidy, Union League Golf Club at Torresdale | 79–89 — 168 |
| Carson Will, Carlisle Country Club | 93–77 — 170 |
| Andrew Walker, Tavistock Country Club | 85–85 — 170 |
| Alexander Hall, Blue Bell Country Club | WD |
| Jonathan Breinich, Bent Creek Country Club | DQ |
| Andrew Rindgen, USGA/GAP GC | NS |
| Lucas Kilgore, Chesapeake Bay Golf Club | NS |
| DQ – disqualified | |
| NS – no show | |
| WD – withdraw | |
| * – determined in a playoff |
