Golden Scores at Cedarbrook Gold
College Prep Series @ Cal U (PA)
Belle Vernon, PA, September 13th, 2021 — BJGT was back at Cedarbrook’s Gold Course for the 3rd year in a row. The rolling hills of Belle Vernon make for a typical Pittsburgh course with major elevation changes and large fairways. Tough bunkers lay around the greens while long drives and precision into the greens are needed for good scores. Let’s check below on who was able to play some good gold golf in this weekend’s press release.
Round 1 – Saturday, September 11th — An important day in US history. We hope that our junior golfers on tour read up on this important day in US History and how important our first responders are to this country. It was a hot and humid day typical of September nowadays in the Midwest.
Hole-16 the 2nd-hardest hole out at Cedarbrook Gold stayed true to its handicap and played the toughest in Round 1 for our Boys 15-19. Sitting at over 550-yards with a slight dog-leg the main defense is the sheer distance of this hole. A couple of bunkers sit around the green if you go short. If you go long you are going to end up in a plethora of trees. The hole only featured 2 Pars from the Boys 15-19, one from hometown hero Patrick Bush and another from David Chen who made the trip all the way from Gaithersburg, MD. The Boys did get things going early in the round playing the 3rd-hole the best in Round 1. This is the 3rd-easiest hole on the course and was offering up almost no defense. Play the dog-leg right and avoid the bunkers on your drive. Play your shot into the green to the right side and you should end up just fine. Blake Bertolo 2-time winner in the 2021 Season and Patrick Bush both picked up Birdies on this breezy hole. Matthew Karpeal from Smithfield, PA led the Division with +5 (77). Blake Bertolo continued his strong string of performances to shot a +6 (78) to be right on Matthew’s heels to start Round 2.
The Boys 10-14 also found Hole-6 to be playing the toughest in Round 1. In an extremely surprising move, the Boys 10-14 played the hardest hole on the course to be playing the easiest in Round 1. Sitting at 386-yards but with a gigantic dog-leg adding an extra 30-40 yards to the hole the 16th-hole for some reason could not defend itself in Round 1. Even with its 6 greenside bunkers. The entire field parred the hole! Alexander Eckstein making the trip all the way from Poland, OH led the Division with an 83. Alexander was followed closely behind by 2-time 2021 Runner-Up Jackson Baxter.
Hole-10 was playing the toughest for our Girls in Round 1. Sitting at 535-yards this hole was the longest by quite a wide margin from our Buckeye-Red Tees. The distance is not only extremely far but the second part of the hole makes you fight up adding extra distance. Once you get to the top the hole gets much easier and the green is relatively flat and large. Yuki Yurun Zhu all the way from Shanghai, China led the division with a Bogey. The Girls were dominating the Par-3’s in Round 1. Hole-11 was being played the best of the Par-3’s by the Girls. A huge green sits in front of you but don’t land short as a large creek sits in front of the green. Lily Manalo a local from Pittsburgh and Grace Rygelski from Aspinwall, PA led the division with their Pars. Yuki led the division shooting a miraculous +3 (75).
Round 2 – Sunday, September 12th – NFL Sunday has finally arrived football fans! We had early morning tee times so all you Steelers fans could get home and watch the game.
Cedarbrook Gold was playing extremely true to it’s handicaps all weekend. The hardest hole for the Boys 15-19 in Round 2 was the hardest hole on the course, Hole-16. A tough way to end if you are fighting for your spot a top the leaderboard. The Boys 15-19 should have talked to the Boys 10-14 after Round 1 to see how they played this tough hole so well. Only about 40% of the field were able to pick up Pars on this tough hole. The Boys finished the front-9 strong playing the 9th-hole the best in Round 2. This hole has a really winding fairway with trees running into the corners of the fairway at some parts. An extremely hard shot into the green is needed to score well. There are 2 huge bunkers sitting at the front of the green and back of the green. Ethan Dai from Sewickley, PA and Northeast Ohio Junior Golf Championship Champion Ethan Rice from Connellsville, PA led the division with Birdies. In the end it was Blake Bertolo picking up his 3rd Champion flag of the season winning the division with a 78-80. Blake now officially moves into 1st place on the Player of the Year Points Leaderboard with his Win! Blake had that great winning recipe of playing the Par-4’s the best and having the Most Pars. Great job on another win Blake! Matthew Karpeal picks up his first trophy flag of the season earning Runner-Up honors. Matthew led the division with 4 Birdies. His Birdie streak on Holes-8 & 9 in Round 1 was a great start to the tournament and enough to catapult him into 2nd place for the tournament. Great job on another tournament Matthew!
Hole-2 was playing the toughest for the Boys 10-14 in Round 2. This tough mid-range Par-3 has bunkers all over the place to defend it. The hardest one being the bunker placed strategically right in front of the hole. It’s a deep bunker too so going in there can spell disaster for even the best players out of the sand. Alexander Eckstein’s Bogey led the division. Another Par-3 the 11th-hole was playing the easiest for the Boys. Jackson Baxter was able to put in a Birdie to lead the Division. In the end it was Alexander Eckstein who just could not be caught in this one. Alexander led the division in one of the most important stats, Most Pars. Alexander also led his division on the Par-3’s, Par-4’s and Par-5’s. It was an extremely impressive tournament for the newcomer, congratulations on your first tour win Alexander! Jackson Baxter was the division Runner-Up. Jackson is now 3/3 on tournaments earning the Runner-Up spot. Jackson started off the tournament hot going on a Bogey Free Streak of 3-Holes in Round 1 from Holes-1 to 3. Congratulations on another fantastic finish Jackson!
Hole-8 was playing the toughest for the Girls in Round 2. A huge dog-leg adds 20 extra yards and makes this hole much more difficult than what it reads on the scorecard. Bogeys from Yuki Yurun Zhu, Grace Rygelski and Olivia DeGori from Moon Township, PA led the pack. Hole-3 was playing be far the easiest in Round 2 for our Girls. They went Under-Par as a field on it in Round 2! Just like the Boys in Round 1 they absolutely dominated this easy Par-4. Yuki Yurun Zhu had an Eagle on the hole! Yuki led the Girls for the Champion flag and breaking some BJGT Scoring Records in the process. Yuki now claims the Girl’s scoring records in the BJGT record books for the following things Best 18-Hole Score (72), Best 36-Hole Score (147), Best 9-Hole Relative to Par (-1), Best 18-Hole Relative to Par (Even) and Best 36-Hole Relative to Par (+3). Great tournament Yuki and welcome to the tour! Pearl Lundgren from Moon Township, PA was our other Top Finisher. Pearl led her division on the Par-4’s and with the Most Pars. Pearl is learning early the keys to success in tournament golf. Great tournament Pearl!
The Buckeye-White tees were playing funky all weekend. The Boys 10-14 were having the most trouble with the easiest hole on the course in Round 2. Hole-13 plays at 168-yards and is surrounded on all 4 corners by bunkers. Patrick Carl’s Par saved the Division from a disastrous hole average. Once again, it was Hole-6 playing the easiest for the Boys 10-14 in Round 2. Birdies from JP Radwanski and Patrick Carl led the Division. Jesse Shue picks up his 2nd win of the year and his 4th Win on Tour. Jesse led his division with 6 Birdies. He was also extremely consistent and had the driver working playing the Par-4’s and Par-5’s the best. He further solidified his lead in Round 2 by Birdieing Holes 14 and 15. Congratulations on another trophy flag Jesse! JP Radwanski continues his strong form earning himself a Runner-Up finish by just 1 stroke over Patrick Carl. That makes 3 trophy flags in the 2021 season for JP and back-to-back Runner-Up finishes. Great finish Jamesson!
Another great year out at Cedarbrook! The staff out at Cedarbrook really support junior golf in the area and we really want to thank them for their continued support of BJGT. We want to thank all the players and participants for some great golf this weekend and hope that you can all come out to GlenGarry in October or hopefully you make one of the prestigious Buckeye Cup Teams! We are now in our final first team selections for the Buckeye Cup. After this weekend point leaders will be sent an official invite, if you have not gotten one already, to play in the Buckeye Cup and represent your Region. If someone declines their invitation we will move down the points list until we have full teams set. This tournament will be Ryder Cup style with Singles Match Play, Fourball and Foursomes. The tournament will be at the prestigious OgleBay Resort in Wheeling, West Virginia a perfect location from all of our regions. We hope all of you who make the team can come out!
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