CB West’s Chase Feraco captured the SOL Golf Championship on Wednesday. Ben Reese was there. Photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of the SOL championship match. All SOS photo galleries for GOLF can be viewed by clicking HERE.
By Ben Reese
WARMINSTER — Chase Feraco had a telephone call to make when he got home on Wednesday evening.
He had shot a 1-under 70 to win the Suburban One League boys’ championship at Five Ponds Golf Club in Warminster, finishing two shots ahead of Aidan Scott of Souderton.
The phone call was going to be to his brother, Alex. And it was going to be to collect bragging rights in the family.
Alex, who graduated from Central Bucks West this past spring, finished fourth in his final try at winning the SOL title, shooting a 74. Chase shot a 76 last fall and finished tied for tenth.
But now Chase is the reigning champion of the league, and that entitles him to bragging rights in the family.
“He’s in Florida right now in college (Florida Gulf Coast) but I’ll give him a call tonight,” Chase said. “He’s in the hurricane, but hopefully I’ll get through to him.”
Feraco had his game going on the slightly cool, windy day. Starting on No. 1 in the shotgun format, he bogeyed the third hole, a par-3, but birdied the fifth, a par-5, before bogeying par-4 eighth.
However, he came back on the back nine. He birdied both the par-5 12th and the par-4 14th to finish the back nine in 2-under 34.
“A lot of things were going good, but my driver was definitely the best thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of tight holes out there so I was comfortable to set up along the right side and know it was going to come back for me.
“Chipping was really good. I felt that anywhere I was around the green I could get down.
“(The putting was) not bad. I made a couple outside 10 feet. That definitely didn’t carry the round; there were a lot of other things.”
Scott started his day on the fifth hole, a 545-yard par 5, and began it with a bogey. He also double bogeyed No. 8, a par 4.
But he rallied with a pair of birdies and a pair of bogeys on the back nine before getting a birdie on No. 2, his 16th hole of the day.
“I was rattled by the first couple holes,” Scott said. “I doubled a hole.
“After that I came back for two birdies. I had two birdies on the back and then shot even on the back and 2-over on the front.”
Scott’s round turned around in a slightly different way than Feraco’s round. While Feraco’s driver was the difference, for Scott it was his three wood.
So what changed things after the bad start?
“Honestly, just not using the driver,” he said. “I’ve been taking three wood, and that’s been working for me so that’s what worked today. I’m pretty happy about it.”
Didn’t you lose some distance dropping down from the driver to the three wood?
“No, I did not honestly,” Scott said. “I was hitting it just as far as I normally hit my driver. I was really straight and really far, and that’s what mattered today.”
Will Dunsmore of CB East held a share of the lead through his first seven holes after starting his round on No. 4. He bogeyed the fourth hole but came back and birdied No. 6 to go with five pars to be at even par.
But then the bottom dropped out for him. He bogeyed five of his last 11 holes to finish at 5-over 76, good enough for sixth.
For Dunsmore, it was a big improvement over last year’s SOL Championship even if it was a far from perfect round. Last year, he didn’t advance to districts, this year he did.
“(Last year did) not (go) well,” he said. “I played well freshman year and then had a little fall-back sophomore year, but it feels really good to come back junior year and play well.
“It was a tough round out there. The greens were fast, really windy and I’m really happy with it.”
What was the highlight of your round?
“I was making the putts that mattered,” Dunsmore said. “If I had a 6-footer for par, I was knocking it in.
“If I had to get one up and down to save par, I was getting them up and down. I’m really feeling good and striking the ball well.”
Between Scott and Dunsmore were CB South’s Noah Moelter and Nick Riscica of Council Rock North tied for third at 74 and Adam Fluehr of Springfield in fifth at 75.
Hatboro-Horsham’s Brent Glah followed Dunsmore at 77 with Al Eby of Upper Dublin, CB East’s John Hoderny, Max May of Springfield and Logan Wrigley of North Penn tied at 78.
In all, 39 AAA golfers advanced to the District One tournament on Oct. 10 and 11 at Turtle Creek. One golfer, New Hope-Solebury’s Nate Wiseman, advanced in the AA.
District AAA Qualifiers
Chase Feraco CB West 70
Aidan Scott Souderton 73
Noah Moelter CB South 74
Nick Riscica CR North 74
Adam Fluehr Springfield 75
Will Dunsmore CB East 76
Brent Glah Hatboro-Horsham 77
Al Eby Upper Dublin 78
John Hoderny CB East 78
Max May Springfield 78
Logan Wrigley North Penn 78
Andrew Azaoff CR North 79
Marr Kilner Bensalem 79
Brendan Reilly CR South 80
Jeremy Segal PW 80
Nick Waskey CB West 80
Anthony Heisse Bensalem 80
Jack Wineberg Bensalem 80
Brady Gallagher Quakertown 81
Jackson Freeman Pennsbury 81
Joe Carr Wissahickon 81
John Cridland Pennsbury 81
Jacob Reibstein Abington 82
Evan Rosenstein PW 82
Ethan Cho Hatboro-Horsham 82
AJ Molnar CB East 82
Alec Kreiser Souderton 82
Zac DeVos Bensalem 82
Jacob Dommel Souderton 83
Ryan Quinn CB West 83
Daniel Steinmetz North Penn 83
Zach Holmlund Upper Dublin 83
Trevor Dendler Pennsbury 83
Ty Wilkin Quakertown 83
Chandler Wood CB East 83
Mark Rodoff North Penn 83
Kyle Watson CB South 83
Grayson Gozum Pennsbury 83
*Charlie Arobone Souderton 84
*Won playoff
District AA Qualifier
Nate Wiseman New Hope-Solebury 83
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