LOCAL GOLF: Junior tournament has different feel

• Matt Bricker had the day's top score at Briarwood West with a 72.
• Taylor Pratte took the girls' bracket in a playoff over Ella Moores.
• The George Barton Match Play Championship will crown champions on Tuesday afternoon.

THOMASVILLE — The final regular-season event of the York County Junior Golf Association Tour had a different feel to it.

In years past, Monday’s event would have been the final chance for players to score points toward the top-16 George Barton Match Play Tournament draw.

To change things up a little, however, the tour decided to move the match-play tournament up a week, which coincided with the final tournament of the regular season. That gave an opportunity to those who didn’t qualify for the match-play event to have their day in the sun at the final regular-season tournament.

Only two players competed in the Boys' 15-18 Blue Division at Briarwood West on a scorching hot day. Matt Bricker shot a 2-over-par 72, while his high school teammate, Brady St. Pierre, won the Boys' 15-18 White Division with a 3-over 73. Both Bricker and St. Pierre will be juniors at Central York this fall.

Dallastown’s Brady Williams, who will be a senior, and William Gekas each finished a stroke behind St. Pierre with 74s. Spring Grove’s Brandon Simmons, a sophomore, finished fourth after shooting a 76.

“It was pretty hot out there,” Williams said. “But I played pretty good. You just have to stay hydrated.”

Williams, St. Pierre and Simmons all shot 35s to begin the 18-hole tournament. Simmons, in particular, got off to a great start. The Rocket sophomore recorded an early eagle in his round.

“I holed out on No. 11 from about 50 feet for eagle,” Simmons said. “Then I birdied No. 16, which got me a little excited too."

In the girls' bracket, Taylor Pratte won a three-hole playoff against Ella Moores to capture the title. Both Pratte and Moores finished with identical scores of 86 after 18 holes.

Max Kile won the Boys' 14-and-Under Green Division with an 81, while Nicholas Fowler cruised to the Nine-hole Division title by six strokes after shooting a 37.

Match Play: Andrew Davis and Zach Dixon, the bracket’s top two seeds, claimed a pair of wins Monday at the Hanover Country Club to make it to Tuesday’s semifinals at Barton Match Play event.

Davis, a recent Eastern York graduate, earned a bye into the second round after his opponent, Jake McIntyre, fell ill. Davis then defeated Mason Staub, 6&5. Dixon, a senior at Eastern, downed Ian Schaeffer, 5&3, in the first round before defeating Connor Bacha, 2-up, in the second round.

The semifinals and finals for both the boys and girls will take place starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Davis will face Andrew Forjan in one semifinal while Dixon will square off against Luke Hoffnagle in the other. Forjan, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 13 seed Michael Robinson in the first round, 4 up, and then downed No. 5 seed Logan Snyder in the quarterfinals, 2 up. Hoffnagle, the No. 3 seed, won by forfeit in the first round, before downing No. 6 seed Kevin Crumbling in the quarterfinals, 1 up.

On the girls' side, Cailey Roman, the top seed, will face Alex Lowder in one semifinal pairing, while Jessica Tushingham will face Kendel Abrams in the other semifinal. There were no girls' matches on Tuesday.

Awards banquet: The YCJGA will be hold its 2016 awards dinner on Aug. 20 at Hickory Heights Golf Club.

Instead of having just a banquet to give out awards for the season, the tour decided to make another change. This year there will be a four-person scramble tournament with a 1 p.m. shotgun start before the dinner at 6:30 p.m at the Spring Grove VFW.

Adults and parents can participate in the event and banquet for a $50 fee. More information can be found at www.YCJGATour.com.

Junior War of the Roses: The York team will square off against Lancaster on Aug 9 at Conestoga Valley Country Club in Lancaster in the Junior War of the Roses. In total, there will be 14 YCJGA players participating.

Those entered are: 16-18 Boys, Dixon, Hoffnagle, Snyder, Forjan, Staub, Robinson, Gekas and Caleb Sevick; 13-15 Boys, Justin Gruver, Jun Lee, Russell McPaul and Matthew Minkin; and Girls, Roman and Abrams.

OTHER GOLF

Henry wins South Hills club championship: Matt Henry, fresh off his third career York County Amateur Golf Association championship, recently won the club championship at his home course, South Hills.

Henry fired a two-day total of 148 to finish four shots clear of second-place Caleb Bryant.

John Gallagher was the first-flight champion with a 155, edging runner-up John O'Brien by one stroke.

Chris Loss was the second-flight winner with a 167 and Joe Rineer was second at 172.

Briarwood West holds couples tournament: The team of Shane and Tiffany Henry was victorious at the Briarwood West Couples Tournament recently.

Finishing in second were Nate and Alyssa Elliot.

Reach Ryan Vandersloot at sports@yorkdispatch.com.