VIENNA — A summer’s worth of events came to their annual conclusion on Saturday, as Greatest Golfer crowned its four junior champions.
The golfers battled a myriad of difficult conditions over the two-day final tournament. In the first round on Friday at Avalon Lakes, the Canadian wildfire smoke took its toll on the U17 players. Then all four divisions faced gusty winds throughout the day on Saturday at Squaw Creek, before heavy rain and thunderstorms cut short the final few holes.
But in the end, Poland’s Matthew Morrone took home the title in the U17 boys division, while Canfield’s Aubree Philibin won the U17 girls division. Then in the U14 boys group, Canfield’s Preston Tolnar emerged from the pack, as Grove City (Pa.)’s Katelyn Plummer pulled out the victory in the U14 girls division.
“It definitely means a lot. I’m very happy with where the game finished going into the high school season. I’m just happy I could get it done,” Morrone said. “I had my friend on the bag, which definitely helped. Definitely just having someone to talk to [helped] because otherwise I’d be on my own.”
The U17 boys were the only division to have every group finish before the storms began. Morrone shot 3-under 69 on Friday at Avalon Lakes and then scrapped together a 1-under 71 on Saturday to finish 4-under and fend off his close friend, Springfield’s Jackson Ensley, who finished at 9-over.
“We were definitely rushing the final holes. We were definitely rushing, which sucked. But we got through it,” Morrone said. “Our big goal was just to finish. But yeah, it was definitely hard rushing through every shot.”
After setting the pace with a 74 on Friday, Philibin had to hold off Boardman’s Gianna Ross in the U17 girls division. The pair were tight on the leaderboard for several holes on both Friday and Saturday, but Philibin pulled away down the stretch and finished with a 16-over total compared to Ross’ 24-over.
“It just shows how all of your hard work comes out in the end,” Philibin said. “[Friday] everything was going pretty smooth. I had a lot of good putts and a lot of good swings. [Saturday] was kind of the same. I just had to focus a little bit more and try to make pars instead of birdies.”
In addition to the weather conditions, the greens’ complexes posed their own challenge to each of the golfers. So making sure to put approach shots in the right spots and minimizing three-putts was key to keeping scores low.
“I was definitely just trying to make some two-putts because the greens here at Squaw are super hard,” Philibin said. “So I was just trying to make two-putts and eliminate three-putts.”
Despite not finishing before the storms rolled in, Tolnar, who is also one of the more promising young, up-and-coming junior golfers in the area, put together a comfortable win in the U14 boys division.
He shot 3-over to beat out New Wilmington (Pa.)’s Landon Maxwell and Warren JFK’s Carter Altobelli, who each shot 12-over.
“It’s a good feeling. Tried to do the best I could, and it worked out,” Tolnar said. “It’s getting there. I’m getting better as time goes on. Played a pretty good round today. Three-over, was 1-under at one point, but stayed steady the whole round.”
The U14 girls had the smallest division, with just three players reaching the finals, but Plummer still had a tough fight to come out on top.
With a handful of holes left before the storms shortened the round, she shot 4-over to beat out Howland’s Hallie Carkhuff, who shot 7-over.
“It was very exciting. I’ve played in this tournament for a while, and I feel like I worked hard for it. So it feels good,” Plummer said. “My short game was helpful today. My irons were a little bit off.”
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