Ben Reese recaps Monday’s SOL Tournament. Photos provided by Keith Clemens Photography and Larry Small. CLICK HERE to view an extensive gallery of photos.
By Ben Reese
WARMINSTER -- There is something to be said for being in the first two groups to go out on the course for the Suburban One League boys golf championship.
First of all, it means that you are one of the better golfers in the league. Secondly, it means that you will be playing with players who are also among the best in the league.
That held true on Monday at Five Ponds Golf Club. The top five golfers in the final standings were from the first two foursomes.
Souderton's Thomas Butler, Luca Jezzeny of Central Bucks West and CB East's Patrick Sheehan all tied for medalist honors with 1-over 74s. They were in the first group.
Dylan Gooneratne of Plymouth Whitemarsh and Pennsbury's Patrick Laushell played in the second group and turned in a 75 and a 77 respectively. They finished in fourth and tied for fifth.
Generally, it is the second of those reasons that make it ideal to be in the first two groups. At least, that’s the way Monday's top qualifiers felt.
"I was hovering around Luca and Pat all day and they score pretty well all the time so it was good to be around them," said Butler. "We were just kind of playing off each other, watching the shots the other hit and learning from that."
Jezzeny agreed.
"It's definitely good to play with good players," he said, "to kind of see where you stand at all times."
Well, they all stood pretty well. But it wasn't like last year's SOL championships where Sheehan shot a 67 and Jezzeny a 68. Some of that could be blamed on the course.
"The course was playing pretty challenging," said Jezzeny. "It was a little windy and the pin placements were tough.
"It was doable but I just couldn't make many putts. They (the greens) weren't too slow, just bumpy with all the people walking on them.
"A few times I got some mud ball (golf balls that picked up mud from the ground). I just had to adjust for that."
Butler wasn't real pleased with the pin placements either.
"They were tough," he said. "There were many holes where (the pin) was within 10 feet of the edge of the green. That's very bad if you're in the wrong spot."
And Sheehan wasn't happy with his putting, especially early in the round.
"Nothing was really right today," he said. "My driver was pretty good. I didn't hit any bad drives.
"I didn't really have many full irons in because the yardages are really short here so I had a lot of wedges in. I wasn't able to convert on any of those wedges, which didn't help at all.
"I think on my first six holes I had maybe five birdie putts that were under six feet and missed all of them. I just couldn't figure them out."
Gooneratne, who finished fourth last year, enjoyed his round.
"I was able to keep my ball on the fairway for the most part," he said. "Once I was in the fairway I was able to give myself a couple more wedges or shorter irons so I was able to give myself more opportunities."
For Butler, it was not the most exciting round.
"It was OK," he said. "I didn't make any birdies so I would say it was a pretty boring round.
"I didn't have too many birdie chances. I was just getting in there with par but I was OK with that."
Thirty-six boys qualified to move on to the District One tournament on Monday, Oct. 8, and Tuesday, Oct. 9, at Turtle Creek. However, once all the scores were tallied, there was a large tie for the final three spots.
Eight players had to playoff for those three spots. Josh Cicco of Pennsbury, Dan Fitzgerald and James Zulli of Council Rock North landed the final berths in districts.
Also qualifying for the District One tourney were two golfers from Springfield, which in the lone 2A school in the SOL. They were Ryan Firman and Austin Maggioncalda.
Finally, Souderton earned the wild card team slot for the districts. The Big Red totaled 315 shots for the win. That 315 came from Thomas Butler (74), Stephen Butler (77), Justin Panner (79) and James O'Malley (85).
The SOL championships continue Tuesday with the girls tournament, also at Five Ponds, beginning at 12 noon.
SUBURBAN ONE LEAGUE DISTRICT QUALIFERS
Thomas Butler, Souderton 74
Luca Jezzeny, CB West 74
Patrick Sheehan, CB East 74
Dylan Gooneratne, PW 75
Patrick Laushell, Pennsbury 77
Stepehen Butler, Souderton 77
Brendan Bauer, Pennridge 77
Matt Fleming, CR South 78
Jack Dunsmore, CB East 79
Chris Myers, Pennsbury 79
Justin Panner, Souderton 79
Jack Gerrity, Pennsbury 80
Chris Dull, Pennsbury 81
Stephen Skiba, Wm Tennent 81
Jack Cenci, CB South 82
Christian Matt, Wissahickon 82
Samuel Barsh, Wissahickon 82
Jarrod Matz, Upper Dublin 82
Tyler Schulze, North Penn 82
Will Gerrity, Pennsbury 83
Griffin Foll, Pennsbury 83
Michael Morris, Hatboro-Horsham 83
Nick Taylor, CR North 83
Colin Hoy, North Penn 83
Luke Sermarini, Neshaminy 84
Kevin Lydon, CB West 84
Jon Pinciotti, CR South 84
Ethan Finkelstein, Pennsbury 84
Eashen Jutori, Wissahickon 84
James O'Malley, Souderton 85
Ryan Reardon, Pennsbury 85
Jack Marvin, Hatboro-Horsham 85
Christian Lee, Wissahickon 85
*Josh Cicco, Pennsbury 86
*Dan Fitzgerald, CR North 86
*James Zulli, CR North 86
* Won playoff
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