The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Butler wins Montco Junior Championship
Edges Spina by 1 stroke
BLUE BELL » Thomas Butler felt as if he wasn’t having a very good summer. The Souderton High senior-to-be looked to make this his breakout year in golf. He had worked hard. He learned to hit the ball long and straight. He improved his short game. But he had not recorded that big victory. Until Friday. After treading water with a 1-over-par 36 on the front nine at The 1912 Club, Butler put his game into high gear. He fired a 2-underpar 35 on the back nine and his round of 71 gave him a one-shot victory over Spring-Ford Country Club’s JT Spina in the Montgomery County Junior Championship.
The win comes with a college scholarship. Along with the college scholarship won by the Junior Girls’ Champion, that marks the 49th and 50th college scholarships presented by the Montgomery County Amateur Championship.
For Spina, it was the second runnerup finish in two days. On Thursday he lost in a sudden death playoff to Ron Robinson for the Montgomery County Amateur Championship.
For Butler, it was the breakout day that had long been part of his golf dreams.
“There were times I was getting a bit frustrated this year,” said Butler, who plays out of Indian Valley Country Club. “I never really lost my confidence. I felt it would all come together at some point.”
The top half of the Junior Championship field was filled with young golfers who had seen plenty of success this year on the tournament circuit.
Third place went to LaSalle High’s Stephen Lorenzo at 73. One shot farther back was SpringFord’s Ryan Tall, who won the Philadelphia Junior Championship last month.
After finishing ahead of that accomplished group of golfers, Butler no longer feels bad about his summer of golf. GIRLS’ JUNIOR » It was like a practice session for the Mount Saint
Joseph’s Academy girls’ golf team. Brianna Mahon, the senior-to-be and team captain, squared off against promising sophomore-tobe Claire Gimpel.
On this day, youth prevailed as Gimpel edged Mahon by one shot to claim the Junior Girls’ Championship at The 1912 Club.
Gimpel’s round of 82 earned her the first major victory of her golf career. For Mahon, it was a move up from her fourth-place finish last year.
If the names sound familiar, they should. Gimpel’s older sister Emily won two Junior Girls’ Championships in 2008 and 2010 – before moving on to play collegiately at the University of Maryland and, now, professionally on the LPGA Symetra Tour. Mahon’s older sister Caitlin won the Junior Girls’ Championship in 2016 and finished second last year. She is now attending Boston College.
Both of the older sisters also were Mount Saint Joseph Academy graduates. Maybe next year there will be another school reunion, of some sort, in the Montgomery County Amateur Championship.