Sylak, Benson qualify as Greatest continues

By GREG GULAS

sports@vindy.com

POLAND

The rain that has wreaked havoc on most of the area this spring paused long enough Thursday, allowing the Greatest Golfer of the Valley Juniors an opportunity to qualify a second group at Reserve Run Golf Course.

Jake Sylak of Mineral Ridge fashioned the best round of the day and event thus far, carding 73 (37-36) to join last week’s initial qualifier, Christopher Loychik from Pine Lakes Golf Course as the first two 17U boys in this year’s field.

Leah Benson, a junior at Hickory High School and two-time 14U GGOV Junior champion, carded 79 to take top honors in the girls 17U division as she outdistanced Sierra Richard of Black Hawk Golf Course by a stroke.

Last week, Benson tied for fifth place.

Richard finished runner-up for the second consecutive week.

Madison Murphy of Pine Lakes Golf Course shot an 83, a stroke better than McKenzie Gustas of Tam O’Shanter to punch her ticket in the girls 14U division.

Murphy joins Gustas — last week’s initial qualifier — as the two qualifiers thus far in their division.

“Last week, I shot an 83 and was disappointed with my round,” Sylak said. “With 13 pars and a birdie today, I think I made up for that. In the first qualifier I felt like I had to shoot the lowest number and was overcompensating.

“I changed my mindset today. If I could find the green consistently in regulation, I was confident in my putting and the result was my best round ever.”

Dom Kapics of Austintown Fitch shot 75 (40-35) and finished runner-up while Kaiden Sykes (37-39) of South Range and Justin Atkinson (38-38) tied for third-place at 76.

A four-way tie for fifth had the Lake Club’s Luke Nord (38-39), Jake Shingledecker (42-35) of Yankee Run, Tyler Andersen (38-39) of the Links at Firestone Farms and Jacob Buttar (40-37) all card 77.

“On the front nine I missed some putts and had to settle for a 40,” Kapics said. “I refocused on the on the back nine and the result was par. A 75 is my best round ever while 35 on the back nine is my second best nine-hole score.”

Sykes carded a 79 during last week’s initial qualifier to finish runner-up.

“The course was in great shape for all the rain we’ve had, but there were puddles in areas and it was soggy in spots so that made it harder to hit long drives,” Sykes said. “I hit my irons well and capitalized on the shorter holes, but three-putted twice and that hurt me. I’ll need to eliminate that in future qualifiers.”

Atkinson’s round included birdies on holes No. 10 and 12.

“I struggled with my putting and chipping, never really getting into sync,” Atkinson said. “I took advantage of the shorter holes with two birdies but gave it right back.”

Shingledecker joined Kapics as the two players to card 35 on the back nine.

“A 35 is my best nine-hole round,” Shingledecker said. “I had five pars, two birdies and my driver started working for me. My chipping also fell into place.”

Benson carded a 37 on the back-nine, noting that moving up a division can be both difficult and easy.

“A lot of the 14U girls have moved up with me and we are familiar with one another,” Benson said. “I was pleased with my driver and approach shots, yet still have some work to do on my putting.”

Playing Reserve Run earlier helped Richard in her second qualifying attempt.

“It was dry when I played here a month ago and while it was wet and damp today, I felt like I had a nice round,” Richard said. “I was pleased with my driver but wasn’t pleased with my putting. I hit solid shots all day and was happy with my round, but still feel like I can do better.”

Cardinal Mooney’s Alyssa Rapp (41-40) was two strokes off the lead at 81 while Madison Horvath (39-43) of Springfield High School finished fourth, three strokes off the pace.

“If you hit the ball cleanly today then you were fine,” Rapp said. “Toward the end of my round my putting was what I had hoped it would be. I was too inconsistent with my driver.”

Horvath fared better on the front nine.

“I didn’t make many mistakes on the front nine and was pleased with my putting and driving,” she said. “I struggled on the back nine and had a triple bogey, then refocused on getting the ball to the green.”

Todd Franko, Vindicator editor, said it was fun to return to Reserve Run.

“This is one of my favorite places to be and it’s great to be back here,” he said. “This is one of the best golf operations in the Mahoning Valley and it’s great that our juniors have an opportunity to experience such a great place.”

Scott MacDonald, Reserve Run co-owner, is hoping to do more with the GGOV in the future.

“Along with our pro Mike Ferranti, Todd and Ted [Suffolk] run an excellent tournament and are fun to work with,” MacDonald said. “The conditions the last few days have been challenging, to say the least, so you have to credit our staff for having everything ready to go today.

“Everyone had a great time. We look forward to hosting in the future and remaining involved with both The Vindicator and Greatest Golfer of the Valley. Golf in the area is definitely back.”

The third junior qualifier is set for Tuesday at Mill Creek Metroparks’ North Course. Tee-off is 8 a.m.