Liberty’s Vitale, Emmaus’ Cox stellar in Pa. junior golf championships
Bethlehem’s Matthew Vitale finished fourth at the Pennsylvania Junior Boys Championship earlier this week at Hershey Country Club, which earns the Liberty High rising junior fully exempt status on the American Junior Golf Association Tour in 2022.
Vitale shots rounds of 71-70 to finish four shots back of Phoenixville Country Club’s Morgan Lofland. He had birdies in Tuesday’s second round on Nos. 9, 12, and 15. He bogeyed Nos. 4 and 18.
In the spring, Vitale matched Sam Snead’s course record with a 62 at Reading Country Club to win a Philadelphia Junior
Tour event.
Also Tuesday, Emmaus graduate Michelle Cox won the Pennsylvania Junior Girls Championship by sinking a 40-foot par putt on the second playoff hole at Lebanon Country Club.
The Penn State recruit trailed Yardley Country Club’s Jade Gu by three shots after Monday’s first round and still trailed on the back nine Tuesday. But the 18-year-old Lehigh Country Club member made birdie on No. 18 from nine feet while Gu finished a back-nine 40 with a bogey.
Cox, who was second the last time the event was contested in 2019, then made a lengthy par putt on the second extra hole to secure the title. She also birdied Nos. 12 and 15 in the final round to help close the gap.
Cox and Gu parred the first playoff hole.
Locally, the Lehigh Valley Open Junior Qualifying Tournament is Monday at Northampton Country Club.
The event features the summer’s strongest field in local junior golf. Many of the region’s top junior golfers will be competing for the three available qualifying spots.
Those three will earn an exemption to the 2021 Lehigh Valley Open, which is July 19-20, 2021 at Northampton CC.
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