The 2018 Erie Sport Store Flagship City Junior Tour Championship Tournament will take place on Tuesday August 7th at The Kahkwa Club.

The top 9 points accumulators from the Boys 13-15 and Boys 16-18 will earn invites to the Championship, as will the top 3 from the Girls 10-14 and 15 to 18 and Boys 10-12 divisions.

Remember, in the Tour Championship, the tour points go out the window and everyone starts at zero, so it’s anyone’s Championship to win.

The Junior Tour season ending banquet will take place that same week at the Bullfrog Bar of Andy’s Pub. All season awards will be distributed at the banquet

There was some great golf played at Beechwood by the juniors of the Erie area. Mercyhurst bound Dave Nichols claimed the Championship flight title over two time defending champ, and future Mercyhurst teammate, Ryan Peters. It sure wasn’t easy for Nichols to get to the finals with Evan Rowane taking him 22 holes in the semi-final match before bowing out. Peters didn’t have a much easier time in his semi-final with the scrappy Zach Henry taking him to the 18th hole with Peters winning 1 up.

In the final, Nichols was stellar, shooting 3 under par thru 16 holes in the finals match conquering the two time champ Peters 4 & 2. Congratulation to David Nichols who not only won the Championship Flight but was also the medalist in the qualifier shooting even par 72.

In the young ladies division, finalist Natalie Brosig and Anna Swan advanced to the final match by winning their semi matches by the same score of 5 & 4 over Kym Henry and Maddie Klinger. Multisport standout, Tara Thomas took her quarter final match with Kymmy Henry to the 18th hole before bowing out just 1 down. The lead switched back and forth a couple times in the finals with the determined and eventual champ Brosig sinking a crucial 4 foot putt on the 18th hole winning the championship match 1 up. This is Natalie’s 2nd Match Play Title, winning the title in 2016.

The Boy’s B flight also had its moments of excitement. It took 21 holes for Joe Fugagli to advance to the quarter finals over Phillip Pedano. And Penn State main campus bound Greg Westfall made a birdie 2 on the 19th hole to advance over Akron bound Andrew Wagner. This win would allow Westfall to meet his younger brother Kyle in a quarter final match where the lead would bounce back and forth with Greg being victorious 3 & 2. Ft. Leboeuf senior Anthony Worley advanced to the finals by defeating Westfall 3&2 and Prep senior David Estes advanced to the final match with the same 3 & 2 total over John Pulice. Worley was 5 up after 12 in the final match but the competitive Estes won holes 13 & 15 and was mounting a comeback. Worley was able to hold off the charging Estes and tie hole 16 to win the match 3 & 2.

The Junior regular season comes to a close Monday July 30th as the final Tour event gets underway at The Country Club of Meadville. The top points accumulators then will advance to The Kahkwa Club for the Tour Championship on Tuesday August 7th. Current junior tour standings will be posted later today.

Cory Smith and Mike Wolfe playing in the first group of the day shot a 4 under par 67 on a tough but fair Corry North Hills layout. Still in the lead watching the field finish, the second to last group of defending champs Troy Hassenplug and Sal Vella made an eagle 2 on the 294 yard uphill par four to nudge Smith/Wolfe by a shot shooting 66. Playing with the Hassenplug/Vella team were Brian Boyce and current E.D.G.A. Amateur Champ Tyler Cozad who also scored an eagle 2 on the short 18th hole that gave them the Better Ball title by one shot shooting a 6 under par 65. This year’s Low Net Champs are Gannon’s Billy Colbert and Behrend’s Mark Peters coming in with an 8 under net 63. Second Low Net was a tie between Beechwood Boys Jonathan and Matt Arrigo and the team of Mike Machuga and Duke Gartrell both shooting a net score of 65. Some really good golf and great finish was witness by the participants.

With the Junior Match Play set to start with Tuesday morning’s qualifier at Beechwood, we felt it would be a good time to answer some questions about the event and how it plays into the Tour standings.

how do the age groups work?

There are three age groups for match play qualifying: Boys 10-12, Boys 13-18, and the Girls division.

The number of players who make match play will be determined after we get a final number of participants in each age group. For the older boys division, the top 15 players will earn a spot in the Championship flight (last year’s winner is the one seed) and the next 16 earn spots in the B flight.

HOWEVER!! While you are playing for spots in match play, you are also competing against the players in your Junior Tour age groups.

While it won’t affect match play seedings, we will review results for players in their Tour group. Therefore, a player might finish 15th overall in match play qualifying but be the highest finisher of all boys aged 13 to 15 thus earning the coveted 15pt bonus.

do my matches count towards tour PTS?
No. After the qualifier, nothing that happens in matches effects your standings. So, yes, it is possible that you could beat a player who is ranked higher than you in the tour standings, but it will not move you ahead of that player once the results come out.

when are matches?
Those who qualify for match play will play their first match on Wednesday morning starting at 8am unless otherwise instructed. Winners advance to play Wednesday afternoon. Winners Wednesday afternoon play Thursday morning, championship matches are Thursday afternoon. This schedule will be adjusted for the boys 10-12 and girls divisions as the fields are smaller so not as many matches will be necessary.

do last year’s winners play in the qualifier?
Yes, they should, even though it won’t effect their top seeding. Because the qualifier is used for tour pts, it would be wise not to miss this opportunity to add to point totals.

The big boy’s tour division is a little closer after today’s round at Erie G.C. Jake McCollough shot a 1 over 73 playing from the champion blue tees Dave Nichols and Evan Rowane finishing close behind with 75. Jared Franc had a rare eagle 2 on the difficult 370 yd. par four #10 hitting his second shot sand wedge in the
hole. Zach Henry shooting 78 wins boys 13 – 15 division for the second week in a row. Anna Marie Zinram takes top honors in girls 14 and under division with a 96 and Chandler MacArthur win the 15 and over with 104. Colton Oljeski tightens up the boys 12 and under division with his 121. The tour moves on to Beechwood
next Tuesday July 24th playing the tour match play tournament with the qualifying round starting at 8:30 and the matches beginning in the afternoon (depending on course availability, otherwise two matches will be completed on Wednesday and Thursday).

Reminder that final standings in Tuesday’s qualifier are used as an event towards the Tour Championship.

current tour standings are included below.

Standings 7-16-18