RDGA Juniors Shine in Competitions From Webster, to Livingston – and Delaware – Throughout the 2024 Season
By DAVE EATON
In 2024, Rochester District Golf Association junior golfers had plenty to be excited about. Not only did RDGA Junior Memberships surpass the previous season’s record total for the fourth consecutive year – reaching more than 1600 members in 2024 – but those Junior Members got to play at 16 local golf courses for $5 per round, thanks to the RDGA’s partnership with the national Youth On Course program (which includes more than 2400 courses nationwide).
And when they weren’t sampling local golf courses, RDGA Juniors were competing in RDGA Tournament offerings for golfers of all ages on the 2024 RDGA schedule.
This season, RDGA Juniors participated in a two person junior tournament, the prestigious Williamson Cup Matches, a few RDGA Championship events – including the RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial – and, of course, the annual RDGA Junior Championships. All this, in addition to local high school matches, Statewide tournaments and individual club events.
Next year, RDGA Junior Members will again have all those opportunities and more – including the return of the New York State High School Championships for both boys and girls – as the local community will host those Championships for the first time since 2019.
The 2024 RDGA Junior Season Began With a Two Person Scramble at Webster
The 2024 RDGA Junior Tournament schedule opened on Saturday, May 11, with the second annual RDGA Two Person Junior Scramble, hosted by Webster Golf Club.
Patterned after the popular RDGA Two Person events for men and women of all ages, the 2024 RDGA Junior Scramble featured 32 players – competing as 16 two-player teams – in Boys and Girls Divisions, as well as an overall competition.
In the Girls Division, Destiny Jodoin and two-time defending RDGA Junior Champion Harper Dittman teamed up to post a score of 2-under-par 71 to win the division by four shots over Tatiana Tutko and Emily Zigrossi. In the Boys Division, there was a tie for first place at 12-under-par 60 between the team of Tyler Allen and Aiden Hoy and the team of Alex Hill and Owen Corby.
In the overall competition, Allen and Hoy won the tiebreaker by virtue of matching cards for the back nine, with a 9-hole score of 30, compared to 31 for Hill and Corby.
CLICK HERE for complete results from the 2024 RDGA Two Person Junior Scramble
Livingston Hosts the 2024 RDGA Junior Championships
The premier local championship for Rochester-area junior golfers – the 2024 RDGA Junior Championships – got under way on August 1 and 2, hosted by the scenic Livingston Country Club in Geneseo.
As with past years, the RDGA Junior Championships featured competition in three age groups – Juniors (ages 15-18), Sub Juniors (ages 12-14) and Pee Wees (ages 7-11) – for both Boys and Girls. This year, there were no entries for the Girls Sub Junior (9 hole) Championship, so there were five separate Championships decided between August 1 and 2.
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In the 2024 RDGA Boys Junior Championship, the opening round on August 1 picked up right where the 2023 Championship left off – with defending champion Brody Burgess of Cobblestone Creek Country Club taking the first round lead with a 1-under-par 71.
Burgess led fellow Cobblestone golfer Alex Hill and RDGA Junior Member Drew Mancini at the halfway point of the Junior Championship, leading the biggest individual field of the competition, featuring 47 competitors.
Round 2 – on Friday, August 2 – saw the script flipped from last year’s Boys Junior Championship, which saw Burgess finish one shot ahead of Hill to win the title.
This year, Hill roared back from his opening round of 72 to post a final round score of 5-under-par 67 – tying for the low round of the Championship – and winning the title by five shots, finishing at 5-under 139 for the 36-hole competition. Burgess was among a three-way tie at even-par 144 for second place behind Hill, after posting a 1-over 73 in the second round. Mancini matched his first round 72 with another 72 to also tie for second – and RDGA Junior Member Ryan Thompson matched Hill’s second round score of 67 to pull into the tie for second place.
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The 2024 RDGA Girls Junior Championship saw a field of 10 players competing for this year’s 15-18-year-old title. In the opening round on August 1, 2018 RDGA Girls Sub Junior champion Sophia Cellura of Oak Hill Country Club took a 2-shot lead in the halfway point of the Championship, posting a score of 3-over-par 75 to take a two-shot lead over two-time defending champion Harper Dittman.
Unlike the Boys Championship, the final round of the Girls Junior Championship saw very little movement at the top of the leaderboard. Instead, Cellura took charge of the competition, posting a 1-under-par 71 for the low round of the Championship and finishing with a seven-shot victory over Dittman. Cellura finished with a 36-hole score of 2-over-par 146.
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The 2024 RDGA Boys Sub Junior Championship saw a turnover of sorts this year, with several first-time competitors entering the age bracket. Among those players new to the Sub junior competition were two Monroe Golf Club rivals, John Paddock and Robbie Lamb.
In Round 1 of the Sub Junior Championship, Paddock and Lamb kept the lead pace together, as both finished the day at 7-over-par 79. In Round 2, Paddock bested Lamb, 74 to 78, as he finished the Championship at 9-over 153 to win his first RDGA title by four shots.
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In the 2024 RDGA Boys Pee Wee Championships, players competed in 18 holes over the two-day competition. In the Boys Pee Wee Championship, RDGA Junior Member Luke Witmer got off to a fast start, posting an opening 9-hole score of 1-under-par 35. In Round 2, Witmer shot 38 to finish at 1-over-par 73 for the 18-hole championship, winning the title by 2 shots over Finnegan Monaghan.
In the Girls Pee Wee Championship, RDGA Junior Member Gabrielle Ivy emerged as the clear champion, posting 9-hole scores of 45-46 for an 18-hole total of 91. Ivy finished ahead of runner-up Tenley Shea of Oak Hill Country Club.
CLICK HERE for complete results from the 2024 RDGA Junior Championships
CLICK HERE for the list of past RDGA Junior Champions
RDGA Juniors Travel to Delaware to Defend Williamson Cup Title
Alex Hill of the RDGA launches a drive on No. 18 (par 4, 397 yards) during the first round of the 2024 Williamson Cup at Rehoboth Beach Country Club in Delaware. Hill finished in fourth place individually for the third place RDGA team in this year’s Williamson Cup.
In mid-August, the team of Junior Boys who would comprise the 2024 RDGA Williamson Cup team began to take shape. This year’s team would ultimately have large shoes to fill – following in the footsteps of the 2023 team of Alex Hill, Brody Burgess, Owen Corby and Connor Kiel, who won the Williamson Cup title for just the third time in the 60-year history of the competition.
The Williamson Cup, which originated in 1964, annually features four-player teams of Boys, ages 15 to 18, representing 10 regions of the northeastern U.S. and Canada. Past competitors have gone on to have very successful careers in both amateur and professional golf. Last year, the RDGA team won the title for the third time – following successful title runs in 2009 and 1978.
Each year, the RDGA Williamson Cup team is assembled based on a system of points earned in select events over the course of the current season. This year’s RDGA team consisted of three returning players from the 2023 title winning team – Hill, Burgess and Kiel – along with Tyler Stark. The team would travel to Rehoboth Beach Golf Club in Delaware to defend their title on August 13.
In the competition – which features 36 holes played in one day – the Rochester team held close to the first round lead pace set by the Washington (D.C.) Metropolitan Association and the Syracuse District Golf Association. Washington and Syracuse finished the opening round with team scores of 208 – consisting of the top three of four scores turned in by the four-player rosters. The RDGA team finished Round 1 with a 211 team total, with Hill (67), Kiel (70) and Stark (74) providing the scoring.
In the second round that afternoon, Rochester posted a consistent team score of 213 – for a very competitive 8-under-par 424 total over 36 holes – based on scoring from Kiel (70), Hill (71) and Burgess (72). This year, however, that total was not enough to catch the leaders, as Washington finished with a 212 for a 420 total – just four shots ahead of Rochester. Syracuse finished in second place, at 422 in the highly competitive team contest.
Individually, Washington’s Jack Hartman led the way with a 36 hole total of 12-under-par 132. Hill – fresh from his victory in the RDGA Boys Junior Championship – posted an impressive fourth place finish individually, with scores of 67-71 for a 6-under-par 138 to lead the RDGA golfers.
CLICK HERE for the complete results from the 2024 Williamson Cup Matches
The Rochester District Golf Association is led by Executive Director Tim Vangellow and is a proud Allied Golf Association of the USGA, serving Rochester area golfers since 1929.