75th Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship

Gulph Mills’ Gilbert birdies No. 18, wins at St. Martins

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Before he left the house to compete in the 75^th Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship Tuesday, Jack Gilbert asked his father Tom about an old Titleist commercial.

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Seeing his dad on TV featured in a golf ad inspired Jack to play. He wanted to bottle motivation and pour it into his performance at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s St. Martins Course (par 70, 5,352 yards).

“[My dad] said he can’t find [the Titleist commercial] right now. I was talking about it because he was talking about how dirty my Titleist hat was, too,” Jack, 12, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., “I couldn’t find any other hats. I think I’m probably going to order a new one.”

The grime on his hat fit the grind in his game. Gilbert carded a 5-over-par 75 to capture the Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship. He bested the trio of Xunnan Dang of White Manor Country Club, Gavin Lane of Riverton Country Club and Bobby Stefanski of Overbrook Golf Club by a stroke.

“I did my best to keep at it,” Gilbert, an incoming seventh grader at St. Aloysius Academy, said. “After the double bogey on the 17^th hole, I was like, ‘I’ve just got to stick in there.’”

The aforementioned 17^th hole is when Gilbert’s championship status hung in the balance. He moved to 4 over following a birdie on No. 16 (par 4, 368 yards), where Gilbert spun a 54-degree wedge from 100 yards to 10 feet. He now stood two shots clear of the clubhouse lead. But Gilbert pushed his drive right into the fescue on No. 17 (par 4, 325 yards). A search ensued. It yielded a pair of Titleist golf balls; neither belonged to Gilbert. Fortunately for the Gulph Mills Golf Club member, his provisional set up a manageable 30-yard pitch. Unfortunately, Gilbert missed a 12-footer to save bogey.

An already stained Titleist hat absorbed significant sweat on this 95-degree day. The nerves swirling in Gilbert’s stomach made his palms all the more slippery on the 18^th tee (par 4, 306 yards).

“I knew I needed to make a birdie. I had some nerves,” Gilbert said. “As soon as it came off the face, I knew it was a great shot.”

Sure was. Gilbert drove the 18^th green and faced a 22-footer up the hill for eagle. He missed the ensuing try on the low side. But Gilbert didn’t overthink his next move. He confidently sunk a three-footer for birdie. The conversion marked his sixth circle on the card Tuesday.

Gilbert opened his Junior-Junior Boys’ quest with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 (par 4, 323 yards) and 2 (par 4, 255 yards). He stuck a 58-degree wedge from 30 yards to a foot on the former. Gilbert reached No. 2 green with a 5-wood and lipped a 25-footer for eagle. He also posted back-to-back five-footers for birdies on Nos. 11 (par 4, 255 yards) and 12 (par 4, 355 yards). Credit the 5-wood again on No. 11. A 48-degree wedge from 111 yards made the difference on No. 12.

The Gilbert grind is evident: two triple bogeys and a title to show for it. After hooking his 3-wood into the tree line on No. 4 (par 4, 287 yards), Gilbert went from difficult lie to difficult lie. He flailed a drive out-of-bounds on No. 10 (par 4, 323 yards) and never reset for an attainable bogey.

Gilbert held the strip that included such geometric variety in the scoring area. “I can keep this, right?” he asked. A memento. Same for that Titleist hat. And the Gilbert family photo taken with Jack holding the Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship trophy.

Tom is the head golf professional at Gulph Mills. His Titleist commercial opened Jack’s golf door. His continued education keeps Jack warm and cozy inside the house.

“I’ve had a lot of help from the assistant [golf professionals at Gulph Mills] and my dad. He’s helped a lot with putting: feeling the greens, reading the greens,” Jack said. “We get out to play probably about 10 times. He has to work a lot.”

Finding that Titleist commercial is the next task.

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.