Round 2
Bryan Kim, just 14 years old, bolted out of the pack with a 5-under-par 66, good for a 36-hole total of 137, and, eventually, the Maryland State Junior championship at his home course, Argyle Country Club, in Silver Spring, June 25.
When Kim signed his card, there were still nine players out who had scored the same or better than his 71 in the first round, but one by one, they fell by the wayside. In one group, the best was Caleb Taylor’s 73; in another, Trent Geritz’ 68-138, and, finally, it came down to the early leaders — Bach Ngo, Lou Baker, and Austin Barbin — all proven winners.
At the finish, Baker and Barbin each put up a 70 to tie Geritz at 138, while Ngo dropped back to 147. Since Kim took home the overall championship bowl and the 14-15 title, it remained for the three closest challengers to play off for the 16-18 championship. At the first hole, Barbin won with a two-putt par after Baker reached the green in regulation at the 408-yard opener, but had to chip from off the green for his third and failed to save par, while Geritz drove into the right trees and had to pitch out, also leading to a bogey.
As for Kim, a Brookeville resident who will be a freshman at Sherwood High School in the fall, he birdied the par-5 third, but gave no indication of what was to come until he finished the nine birdie-birdie-birdie. That moved him into serious contention and he finished off his bogey-free round with what turned out to be the winning birdie from two feet at the 17th.
The closest he came to a bogey was at the 466-yard sixth, facing what he called his toughest shot after missing the green. He pitched to 10 feet and made the putt. The youngster was especially pleased with the round because, “I’ve been on the verge of breaking through [and this certainly helped].” He missed by only a stroke of matching his low round for the 6,500-yard course.
Barbin, 18, from Elkton and the Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, and Baker, 18, from Timonium and Baltimore CC, had nearly identical efforts. Barbin bogeyed the first and birdied the eighth for par-36 going out, while Baker also bogeyed the first, but bounced back with birdies at the two par 5’s (Nos. 2-3) for 35. Coming back, both birdied the 11th, but Baker dropped back into a tie with a bogey at the 12th. Both made par on the last five holes.
Geritz, 18, from Towson and a recent Loyola Blakefield graduate (he’ll attend Loyola University Maryland in the fall) birdied the first three holes and went on to put up five birdies in his 34-34–68 round. He opened with a 20-foot putt, went on to reach most of the greens in regulation, and birdied all three of the par 5’s.
Carlo Pizzano, 18, from College Park and Glenn Dale GC, matched Kim’s bogey-free 66 to claim fifth place with 139. He hit 14 greens and had five birdies. In the fall, he’ll be a teammate of Geritz’ at Loyola.
The three rounds in the 60’s were followed by three at 70 — Barbin, Baker, and Pieter DeGroot, from Potomac and TPC Potomac at Avenel. DeGroot birdied Nos. 2-3-4 on his way to a total of six (they included the three par-5’s) and a 36-hole total of 74-70–144.
Bryan Kim (Left), Austin Barbin (Right), pictured with MSGA OIC Diane HerndonRound 1
The last of Bach Ngo’s eight birdies pushed him past Lou Baker and Austin Barbin and into the first-day lead of the 98th Junior championship at Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring, June 24.
Ngo, 15, from Urbana, finished 33-34-67 in the afternoon, to edge Baker, the champion from Timonium, who had returned 34-34–68 with a morning start. Barbin, from Elkton carded 33-35–68 in the afternoon.
Four bogeys kept Ngo, 15, a student at Urbana High School, from overwhelming the field, but he still dipped 4 under par on a 6,500-yard course that played to a par of 36-35. Included in his tour were birdies on all four par-3’s, which ranged in length from 171 yards to 191 yards. This marked his second start in the event, as he had opened with an 80 two years ago.
“Most of my birdie putts [today] were from inside 15 feet, ” he reported, “and I think that was due in part to the confidence I got from last week.” Then, playing in the annual Frank Emmet Schoolboy event at Worthington Manor GC, he finished third in the 54-hole test with a score of 220.
Baker, a recent St. Paul’s School graduate, who will attend the University of Richmond in the fall, produced a bogey-free card, highlighted by birdies at two of the first three holes and at the 12th. The round turned out to be a scrambling one, as the 18-year-old cited getting up-and-down for pars at least six times. He played in the Western Junior championship last week, but failed to make match play.
Barbin, 18, who plays from Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, has had a solid summer of successful competition in the Middle Atlantic and Philadelphia areas, as he was a co-medalist in a MSGA Amateur/Open qualifier at Mountain Branch GC, earned one of three available places in qualifying for the U.S. Open Sectional at Woodmont CC, and last week won a Junior tournament in Philadelphia.
Barbin, a Red Lion (Pa.) Christian Academy graduate who is headed for the University of Maryland in the fall, had a string of pars on the back, then turned the corner to end with four birdies, one bogey, reaching 16 greens in regulation. This follows a third-place finish a year ago when he shot 69-72.
Four at 70 followed: Marshall Meisel, Chevy Chase Club; Elliott Haas, Four Streams; Trent Geritz, CC Maryland, and Caleb Taylor, Cattail Creek CC. Meisel (three birdies and a “double”} was runner-up to Baker last year, and last week shot 70 to win the medal in U.S. Junior qualifying at Lakewood CC; Geritz is a former U.S. Junior qualifying medalist; Haas, fifth in last week’s Schoolboy, also said that effort helped his confidence as well as his putting, while Taylor had four birdies, three bogeys in his round.
The cut (24 and ties plus those within eight strokes of the lead) fell at 75 and 34 players will return for the final round.
The 12-13 division (only four entries, down from eight last year) was won by Jack Stamato, 13, an eighth grader at Severn Middle School, who had 76. Playing from Chartwell CC, this was his first appearance in the tournament. It was a 12-foot birdie putt on the 17th that won it, as this put him just clear of Min Le, who registered from YOC Maryland State, and had 77.
12-13 Division Champion Jack Stamato
Reported by John Stewart
