Rehoboth Beach CC hosts first AJGA tournament

The first American Junior Golf Association tournament held in the Cape Region appeared to be highly successful. 

The event took place April 26-28 at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. A qualifying round Friday brought six boys and three girls into the field. The actual competition included two 18-hole rounds on the weekend.

“It’s been awesome,” said Pat Mastrian, RBCC director of golf.

One qualifier, Ryan Hoffner of Parkton, Md., won the boys’ category with a 72-69, 141 total, to shoot three-under par. Henry Bolster of Madison, N.J., tied George Williamson of Sykesville, Md., for second place at even par.

Andie Greenberg of Bethesda, Md., won the girls’ category with a 78-70, 148 total, for a four-over finish in her first AJGA event. Lila Becker of Woodstock, Md., took second place with a seven-over total. 

The Georgia-based AJGA runs more than 140 tournaments annually for talented scholastic golfers. The Rehoboth tournament was a preview event, the first AJGA tourney for most of the golfers competing in it.

AJGA Tournament Director Adam Stover said, “For some, this is also their first-ever tournament on a national level. It’s important for them to get that exposure to be able to compete at the highest level. That’s what’s different about what they might see at the state level.”

A total of 78 golfers began the tournament. Most came from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with others from states farther west, as well as Toronto and Quebec, Canada. 

“This week, it’s 54 boys and 24 girls,” Stover said. He called that gender ratio pretty standard for their events. “For our invitational events, there’s a 96-player field, it’s often 60 and 36. It’s basically the same as our membership.

“Everybody has absolutely loved it here this week. The course allowed us to use their facilities, opened up a lot of them, opened up the upstairs ballroom at the clubhouse for our parents’ meeting. That view up there is sensational. For a lot of these kids from the Northeast, this is one of the premier courses. I know these kids are really enjoying the opportunity.”

The parents’ meeting is a feature of preview tournaments.

“Most of that is for these first-time AJGA players to get a better understanding of our performance-based entries,” Stover said of the organization’s system of ranking events sponsored by AJGA or other groups.

“We also go over with them our values and our mission, how we try to meet them out on the course every day,” he said. “We want to develop golf’s next generation. Our big values are player code of conduct on the course, making sure parents understand we’re not going to let players do whatever they want.”

He cited a strike system for misbehavior that could lead to penalty strokes. 

“It also includes our Care for the Course standards,” Stover said.

Penalty strokes can be imposed for failure to replace divots. Each golfer has a sand bottle for meeting that responsibility. Sand receptacles are kept at each tee box. 

Stover said the meeting included a presentation from Rich Brazeau, an AJGA-approved college golf advisor.

“Once you start playing AJGA events, you’ll start seeing coaches come around,” he said. “He helps them pick out events that will help them get recruited, and then also gets them prepared for what happens when they are recruited.” 

Stover emphasized the goal is not solely to provide a track for collegiate or professional golf success.

“We’re not just trying to develop great golfers, we’re also trying to develop the next generation of people who golf, even if that doesn’t mean as a competitor. We want to teach the right values,” he said. 

Rudy Blancke, a past RBCC club president, oversaw dozens of tournament volunteers.

“We had 67 total, including 22 members and 45 others. I understand that was far more than normal,” he said. 

Blancke said AJGA timing stations every three holes helped maintain pace of play. Each threesome is expected to complete each hole in 14 minutes. 

Other volunteers helped with ball-spotting at troublesome locations, while others filled in as needed.

Volunteer Barry Covington said, “This is a pretty cool tournament. It’s amazing how good these kids can play.”

After the Saturday round, I chatted with the two youngest girls in the tournament: Brynn Krosse, 12, of York, Pa., and Rose Hall, 13, of Yorktown, Va. They loved the greens, but the thick rough was challenging.

Both girls carry low single-digit handicaps and were a bit miffed at how they both finished seven-over par for the first round. Krosse finished Sunday T-8 at 11-over, while Hall finished T-17 at 18-over.

Those are great starts for their first AJGA experience.

Local high school results 

The Sussex Academy golf team edged Delmar 169-171 April 25 at Hooper’s Landing Golf Club in Seaford. The Seahawks’ Quentin Bowman and Dominic Piperno joined Delmar’s Caleb Ritchey as the low scorers of the day, each shooting 40. Rounding out Sussex Academy’s scores were Austin Dostal with a 43 and McKenna Danahy with a 46.

Sussex Academy notched two more wins April 30, defeating Lake Forest 160-164 and Woodbridge 160-229. Dostal and Piperno led the way with a pair of 38s. They were joined by Lake Forest’s Daniel Baynum. Bowman and Jordan Green rounded out the Seahawks’ scoring, each with rounds of 42.

Sussex Academy suffered just its third loss of the season May 1, falling 140-164 to Caesar Rodney at Kings Creek Country Club in Rehoboth Beach. The Riders had five golfers shoot 38 or under, including medalist Evan Gebhart with a 32. The Seahawks were led by Danahy and Ryan Dostal with a pair of 40s, while Bowman and Austin Dostal rounded out scoring with a 41 and 43, respectively.

Delmarva Christian fell to Salesianum 171-176 in an April 30 match at Baywood Greens in Long Neck. Nicholas Belgrade of Sallies led the way with a 37. The Royals were led by Lance McQuay’s 40, with Avery Brown shooting 43, Edward Higgins recording a 44 and Joel Perry and Giedon Woods logging a pair of 49s.

Demo Days at Rookery

The Rookery Golf Club near Milton is hosting two demo days for those looking to buy a better game.

Representatives from Cobra, Mizuno, Ping, TaylorMade and Callaway Golf will be at the range Friday, May 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call the golf shop to book an appointment at 302-684-3000. Walk-ups spots may be open depending on availability.

Titleist staff will be there Sunday, May 19, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. by appointment only. Go to titleist.com to register.