State champions win again at Rehoboth Junior Open
June 16, 2006
The best boy and girl golfers in the 2006 state high school golf championship won again at the Rehoboth Beach Junior Open, held June 12 at Rehoboth Beach Country Club.
Nearly 80 juniors from all over the Delmarva Peninsula competed in the long-running event. Winners and runners-up were awarded plaques in four categories: Girls, Boys 16-18, Boys 14-15, and Boys 11-13.
Katy Heskett of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania had the best girls’ score at the recent state tournament, and her 78 in the Junior Open was seven strokes better than Andrea Daly.
Heskett just finished her junior year at Sanford Prep in Hockessin, and plays at Delcastle Golf Club. This was her first time playing Rehoboth Beach, and she obviously liked it.
“The course is really nice. After the rain stopped and the sun came out, it was really pretty.”
Later this summer Heskett plans to compete in several tournaments aimed at high school golfers, to be held in Virginia, New Jersey, and Boston, Massachusetts.
Eric Onesi won the high school championship at Back Creek Golf Course fairly handily. The 16-18 Junior Open was even easier, as Onesi shot a 4-under par 68 on the rain-dampened course. Colin Smith took second place with a 74.
“I started on the first hole, and bogeyed the second and third holes. Then I birdied numbers 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 17. There was a steady drizzle when we started, but it stopped while I was on the fifth hole, and there wasn’t any wind.”
Onesi is looking forward to his freshman year at Old Dominion University.
“I’m pretty psyched. The coach is the main reason I chose to go there. He’s going to make me better.”
The fact that ODU sent some serious scholarship money his way probably didn’t hurt, either.
Onesi also received this year’s top $4,000 award by the Delaware State Golf Association Scholarship Fund. If he keeps up his grades, the scholarship is renewable. As in prior years, a significant portion of the scholarship funds were provided by Toyota Motors USA and the Bob McCurry National Invitation Golf Tournament, which benefits junior golf programs in California and Delaware.
Onesi plans to play in several summer tournaments, including the Delaware Open, the Delaware Amateur, and the Delaware Junior Open. He will also try to qualify for the United States Golf Association’s Amateur Championship, held this year in Minnesota in late August.
Patrick McCahan of Queenstown Harbor in Maryland won the 14-15 boys’ event with a 73. Mark DiEleuterio of Cavalier Country Club near Stanton won second place in a playoff with Will Wiseman of Harbourtowne, Maryland.
Tyler Carpenter of Wild Quail near Wyoming won the 11-13 boys’ bracket with his 77. Andrew Mlynarski of Harbourtowne was one stroke back for second place.
Jason Hastings scored best among Cape Region juniors in this year’s event with a 78. Hastings also won a DSGA scholarship, for $1,500. He will attend Methodist College in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with the help of a significant academic scholarship, and plans to attend the college’s golf management school.
Alex Hatter felt he “played okay” with his 89. He will major in biology at the University of Delaware, with college expenses offset by an MBNA academic scholarship and a few additional awards.
Travis Parker will be one of the seniors on Cape Henlopen’s golf team next spring. He scored an 83, with a nine on a par-five. For once, he didn’t birdie the par-3 fifth hole, a result that made him grin and say simply, “Sad.”
Samantha Purple, a likely co-captain with Parker on next year’s Viking squad, was none too pleased with her 93. “Absolutely horrible,” she muttered. “It was painful.” The only bright spot was a birdie on the second hole.
It probably didn’t help that on the morning of the Junior Open, Purple completed her final examinations in Honors Chemistry and Honors History, and had no time to warm up.
For most of the competitors, however, schoolwork clearly wasn’t foremost in their minds, on what turned out to be a beautiful afternoon on the golf course.