OLEAN — Bartlett Country Club ate up most of the area’s top junior golfers Monday. But not Branson Morrison.
“I like this course a lot,” the Randolph senior-to-be said.
Morrison, who calls Cardinal Hills home, was the only boy to break 80 in the Penn York tour’s 50th season finale. His 5-over-par 75 topped the Division I (ages 16-18) field, giving him his first win of the summer.
“It was a good day out there,” said Morrison, who came in with an 84.67 scoring average. “The course played beautiful. It’s kind of shorter, but you’ve got to hit greens and your short game has got to be pretty good. And that’s about what I did. I probably had 23 putts out there, and I got up and down probably 13 out of 18 times.”
Smethport’s Connor Alfieri repeated as the winner of the John Forrest Memorial Trophy, presented to the league’s most outstanding golfer. He entered with a league-best 73.67 average, which wasn’t affected by an uncharacteristic 89 Monday. Only the best four out of five scores are used to determine Penn-York averages.
“I was just hoping to improve on my (77.25) average from last year because my swing overall felt better,” Alfieri said.
The rising senior posted top-three finishes at the tour’s previous four stops, including wins at Cardinal Hills and Pine Acres. He was battling sickness while playing at Bartlett.
“I worked on my swing a lot in the offseason this year,” he said. “I didn’t really have it that well today, obviously. If you miss it in one wrong place on this golf course, you can go from par to double really quick.”
In girls Division I (ages 14-18), Elyse Godding of Pine Acres won for the fourth time in as many stops played this summer. Moreover, her round of 78 pushed her into qualification for the 83rd annual Southwestern New York-Northwestern Pennsylvania Men’s Amateur, which begins with a medal qualifying round Wednesday at Bartlett.
“That’s an accomplishment,” said Godding, entering her senior year at Bradford. “I definitely could’ve played better last week (87 at Pine Acres), but getting in with the scores I had is quite remarkable — because everyone else shoots really good in this.”
At least the top 13 Penn-York scorers received Men’s Am invites. Joining Alfieri and Godding (82 season average) will be Spencer Cornelius (75.67), Sam Hyman (77), Zach Zameroski (79.25), Thomas Anderson (81.25), Michael Davis (82), Morrison (82.25), Caden Salvaggio (82.75), Bryce Burton (83), Sean Campbell (83.25), Matthew Lonto (83.5) and Jarrett Pond (84).
Also in girls Division I, Josephine Corey (Moonbrook) finished as the division’s overall point leader for the summer. She took second Monday with a 93.
Kamdyn McClain captured his first boys Division II (ages 14-15) title this year, shooting an 82 to prevail by seven strokes on his home course. Pond (Elkdale) was the overall
