Round 1 (Monday, June 25)
Lou Baker, from Baltimore Country Club, the early leader with a 3-under-par 68, later was joined at the top of the scoreboard by Will Mullally, from Columbia CC, who posted his best score of the year on the first day for the 94th Junior Amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at the Elkridge Club in Baltimore.
They were followed at 69 by Jack Halleron, Baltimore CC, and Austin Barbin, Chesapeake Bay GC, while three others shared 70, and there were six at par-71 from a starting field of 112.
Normally, the group is cut to the low 24 and ties for the final round, but officials had to use the “within eight shots of the lead” clause, which expanded the second round to 43 players at 76 and better. The par 36-35–71 course on Charles Street, was played at 6,382 yards (5,754 yards for the 12-13 division).
Baker, 17, a senior at St. Paul’s School, had four birdies, one bogey. He reached the 480-yard seventh in two and two-putted for one birdie, while the other three were short putts set up by solid wedge play. In this event two years ago, Baker opened with a 69 and ended tied for second overall, first in the 14-15 age group.
Mullally, 16, used four successive birdies in the middle of his round (Nos. 7-10) as a springboard to tie for the lead. Three of the birds were from inside 10 feet and the other was a tap-in, while a missed green at the 13th led to his only bogey.
Halloran, a Boys Latin School junior, turned even, then birdied the 11th and 13th holes. Overall, he missed four fairways and two greens. Barbin, 17, a senior at Red Lion Christian School, used fine wedge play to set up an eagle-2 at No. 10, his first hole, then rolled home four successive birdie putts at Nos. 18-1-2-3. At the 353-yard 10th, he struck a 56-degree wedge shot from 60 yards and the ball hit the green, checked up, and rolled into the cup.
Among the three at 70, Connor McGarrity, from Kenwood CC, and Esteban Knorr, from the CC at Woodmore, tied for the lead in the 14-15 division. Last week, Esteban won the Pre-Schoolboy division, a group in the Frank Emmet Schoolboy championship at Worthington Manor limited to those who had not started high school.
Bennett Espenshade, 13, an Elkridge member, returned a 76 to win the 12-13 division, trailed by Alexander Maloy, Congressional CC, at 78. Last week at Worthington Manor, he was runner-up to Esteban, 155 to 156. Third in the field of eight was Peter Barros, Congressional CC, with 79.
Round 2 (Tuesday, June 26)
Lou Baker, 17, from Baltimore Country Cub, kept his game together while everyone else among the top seven first-round leaders was struggling in the second round of the 94th Junior Amateur championship of the Maryland State Golf Association at the Elkridge Club, June 26. About an hour in front of this group, Marshall Meisel, 15, from the Chevy Chase Club, was making his own statement.
At the finish, Baker, a St. Paul’s School senior, posted a 4-under-par 67 for a tournament-record 36-hole total of 68-67–135. Although he did not know how he stood against the field, this wound up thwarting Meisel, a Gonzaga College High School sophomore, who used a record-tying 66 to end 71-66–137 for second place. The next closest challenger was Austin Barbin, from Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, 69-72–141. The Baltimore course was played at 6,383 yards to a par of 36-35–71.
The last day heroics also helped Baker win the 16-18 age-group, while Meisel took the 14-15 prize.
Baker helped his confidence when he made two 20-foot birdie putts in the first three holes and he went on to wrap it up with three birdies on each nine, none longer than the first two. He drove into trees at No. 6 that led to one bogey and his other was a three-putt at the 17th. Overall, he hit 17 greens for a second straight day and totaled 32 putts. His last birdie came at the 18th green when he stroked his 15-foot putt and watched it roll along and turn over into the cup on a final revolution.
Meisel gained recognition when he eliminated former MSGA Amateur champion Michael Mulieri and former Middle Atlantic Amateur champion (and a MSGA Amateur finalist) Chris Baloga, before losing to Chevy Chase clubmate Morgan Egloff, the eventual champion, in the recent MSGA Amateur. Meisel also had three birdies on each nine and one bogey when he missed the green at No. 12. All of his birds were from inside 10 feet.
This event came in the midst of a busy stretch for him, as he tied for seventh in an AJGA event in Arkansas last week and later this week, he will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Juniors at a sectional in New Jersey.
Aside from the top two, Patrick McCarthy, from Columbia CC, had the day’s only other round in the 60’s, a 69. He, too, had three birdies on each side, but gave back four shots with two bogeys and a double-bogey.
A field of 43 played the final round.
Overall Champion: Lou Baker
16-18 Division Champion: Lou Bakeer
14-15 Division Champion: Marshall Meisel
12-13 Division Champion: Bennett Espenshade
