Rehoboth Junior Open brings crowd to Cape Region
June 22, 2012
This year’s edition of the Rehoboth Beach Junior Open golf tournament featured a nearly full crowd of young golfers at the daylong event, held June 18 at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. 104 junior golfers signed up, filling all available spots.
After a couple kids dropped out, one of the alternates was able to come, leaving only one spot open among the foursomes spread around the course for the shotgun start.
At the Open’s lunch just before the round began, the Delaware State Golf Association Scholarship Fund announced the winners of its annual college tuition awards.
Aaron Burton of Wilmington, Delaware won first place, the Robert McCurry Award, worth $3,500 per year depending on continued academic eligibility. Madeline Silverman of Greenville won the Mike Tobiason Sr. Award, worth $2,500 per year on the same condition.
Dylan Gray of Hockessin won third place, worth $2,000 per year, while Blaise Giroso won the fourth place award of $1,000.
Braden Shattuck won this year’s Open in the overall category, for the third time in the five years he has played it, with a one-under par 71. The Aston, Pennsylvania resident recently graduated from Sun Valley High School. He will attend the University of Delaware this fall, and plans to play for the Blue Hen golf team.
“This course is just beautiful,” Shattuck said. “It’s so nice that they let us come down and play this.”
Silverman won the girls’ championship for the second straight year, shooting a 77. She graduated from Tower Hill, and played on the Hiller’s golf team. She will be attending Boston University this fall, and plans to major in pre-med. Silverman has also been accepted to play on the BU women’s golf team.
Annika Vadayar took second place among the girls in a playoff against Indian River’s Taylor Lewis, after both scored 85. The 14-year old will be in tenth grade this fall at Garnet Valley High School. She plays at Penn Oaks regularly, sporting a 7 handicap.
Chris Chizauskie won the boys’ 16-18 category, with an even-par 72. A resident of Thornton, Pennsylvania, the 16-year-old plays at Concord Country Club, and will attend the Rustin School in West Chester.
Jack Fosselman won second place among the 16-18 year-olds with a 75.
The boys’ 14-15 year category featured a three-way playoff for the first two spots, among Ryan Rucinski, Reilly Erhardt, and Davis Mitchell, who tied with 74s. The three had also played together for the first 18 holes, along with Regan Erhardt.
Reilly Erhardt won the category on the second playoff hole, with an 8-foot putt for birdie on the par 5 ninth. He is a student at Holy Ghost Prep, in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, and plays at Yardley Country Club. Mitchell finished in second place, edging out Rucinski by a stroke on the ninth hole. He is going into the ninth grade this fall at The Tatnall School near Wilmington, and plays at Wilmington Country Club.
R. J. Wren won the 12-13 year-old category with a three-under par 69, playing from the green tees. He is a student at Twin Valley, in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, and plays at Apple Cross Country Club. Joe Parrini of York, Pennsylvania took second place with a 78. He will be going into seventh grade at Central York Middle School this fall, and his regular golf hangout is Outdoor Country Club in York.
Many of the juniors were to continue their stay in the Cape Region, for the Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour Cleveland/Srixon series. This week’s 54-hole tournament began with a June 19 round at Cripple Creek Country Club. The second round came back to Kings Creek CC on June 20. The last round took place June 21 at the Bayside Resort course near Selbyville.
Local Club Competition Results
The Kings Creek Ladies 9-hole group played a Stableford team format June 18, in which players used their own ball, but earned points based on their team’s net score.
Evelyn Diggs, Judi Pezone, and Chris Sullivan won first place. Kathy Nave put her approach five feet three inches from the 16th hole to win the closest to the pin contest.