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By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
LOWER OXFORD >> The winners at the 2023 Ches-Mont Golf Championship on Monday were Unionville’s Charlie Barrickman and Downingtown East’s Mia Pace. But it could have been so much more for so many more if the league hadn’t devalued the team aspect of the competition several years ago.
It did nothing, of course, to diminish the dominance of Barrickman, a rising sophomore standout, or the determination of Pace, who topped 30 other competitors in the girls’ division despite feeling under the weather.
With the Ches-Mont Golf Championship contested for the first time at Wyncote Golf Club, the 15-year-old Barrickman fired a 6-under-par 66 to better the next closest contender, West Chester Rustin’s Anesti Kalderemtzis, by four strokes.
“Charlie just had one of those magical days where he put it all together,” said Longhorns’ head coach Jimmy O’Rourke.
A senior for the Cougars, Pace weathered some early woes and finished strong over the course of her final nine holes to card a 6-over 78 and grab medalist honors by two shots over Rustin’s Sophia DeSantis. It was her fourth top-four finish at Ches-Monts, but her first individual victory.
“It’s pretty exciting, especially since I’ve been close all four years,” said Pace, who lives in Uwchlan. “It’s nice to finally close one out. It is satisfying to win in my last try.”
The team winner of the Ches-Mont Championship used to earn 10 points in a system that rewarded two points for a dual meet win. The highest point getter at the end would win either the American or National Division crowns, but that system is no longer used.
“It changed years ago when the divisions didn’t have the same number of teams,” O’Rourke explained. “Maybe we can get back to that at some point.
“It has definitely taken away from the way it used to be. There is some scuttlebutt among the coaches about how to get it back to the way we used to do it.”
As it is, the only team result that mattered Monday was that the Rustin boys (second in the American) finished higher than Avon Grove (second in the National), thus earning the third and final team spot in the upcoming PIAA District 1 Tournament, to be held on Oct. 9-10 at Turtle Creek Golf Club. Unionville and West Chester Henderson had already clinched the other two spots by winning the regular season title in the American and National divisions, respectively.
“We used to play when the Ches-Monts was a big deal,” said Rustin head coach Joe Paris. “It was worth 10 points for first place, eight for second and so on. You could split with a team during the regular season, so the deciding factor was Ches-Monts.
“Between (Rustin) and Unionville – two powerhouse teams – the Ches-Mont American champ was decided by two strokes in the regular season. Unionville beat us by three and we beat them by one. The tiebreaker is the stroke difference in those two matches – which I think is a shame.
“This event should mean more than just individual results.”
Under the current system, the team scores are an afterthought. How exciting would it have been if Monday’s outcome determined something, especially after Unionville and Rustin each shot 362 as teams, which is 2-over-par? It was 24 strokes ahead of third place Avon Grove.
“It seems like everything is team-based up until we get to Ches-Monts. I think it would be more fun if it was more team oriented,” Barrickman said.
“I would be in favor of going back to it, and you’re talking to a guy that probably benefited from it (this season),” O’Rourke added. “I would like this to be more than just an individual tournament.”
For Barrickman, who hails from Pocopson, it was his best score ever in tournament play, and just one stroke off the best round of his life. He birdied all four of Wyncote’s par-5s, and added three more birdies as well, and just a single bogey.
“It was really exciting,” he said. “I’d say it was a steady round. I really didn’t do anything too crazy.
“I hit most of my approach shots within 10 feet.”
Barrickman’s longest birdie putt was a nine-footer on the ninth hole. On the other par-5s – Nos. 1, 10 and 18 — he knocked it on in two and 2-putted.
“I saw him a couple times on the course and it looked like he was having a decent day,” O’Rourke said. “As he was coming up 18, I asked how he was doing. He said, ‘OK, I’m 5-under.’
“That’s a little bit better than OK. He was like No. 7 or 8 on our team last season. The difference between that and what he’s doing this year has been a drastic change.”
In all, Barrickman hit 15 greens in regulation.
“It was definitely the best I’ve ever done in competition,” he said.
“I think I stayed patient and didn’t try to force things. I wasn’t hitting my driver too well, and there were some holes out there that are drivable par-4s. But I just didn’t think it was worth it.”
Teammate, and fellow sophomore Nicolas Gaughan, fired an even-par 72 to tie for fourth place. And Unionville’s Michael Keller and Jax Puskar tied for seventh at 74.
“He’s been on fire,” O’Rourke said of Gaughan. “He started the year 10th on our depth chart. He’s moved up the ranks to eighth, got into the lineup and took every advantage of it today. He’s a guy that hits the ball straight, controls his shot and has a good short game.”
The Golden Knights were equally impressive, taking four of the top six places, with Kalderemtzis (second, 70), Nick Linkchorst (third, 71), Colin Keiser (tie for fourth, 72) and Coe Berry (sixth, 73).
In all, 23 individuals qualified for Districts, with Unionville’s Tre Lesperance grabbing the final spot on the second playoff hole.
“We’ve had years where we’ve had good players but we played so aggressively that we brought stuff on ourselves,” O’Rourke explained. “From the onset this year it was, let’s play boring golf – fairways, greens and two-putts. Our mantra for the first half of the season was let’s not seek our birdies, let them come and find you.
“Then we got onto a roll, so we adjusted. We started to say to go for it if the reward is worth the risk. Somebody said we should put on a shirt: ‘Play aggressive but not stupid.’”
There would have also been some fireworks on the girls side if not for the devaluing of the team aspect of the championship. Downingtown West and Downingtown East were 1-2 in the regular season standings and earned the two team berths for Districts, to be held Oct. 9 at Raven’s Claw Golf Course and Oct. 10 at Turtle Creek. And even though the Whippets had the lowest team score (371), Unionville edged the Cougars by a single stroke (390-391), but it wasn’t taken into consideration.
Pace – who is planning to play golf next season at Utah Valley University – had birdies on three of her last nine holes. She started on No. 13 and hit a hybrid to about 20 feet on the long par-4 fourth and made the putt; drove the green on the par-4 eighth and 2-putted; and hit a wedge to within five feet on No. 9.
“Mia’s been putting a lot of work into her game, especially the last year, so it’s good to see it pay off,” said her coach Matt Grinwis.
“She is steady. She doesn’t get herself into too much trouble. She hits it pretty straight, keeps it in play and gets it on the green.”
Pace finished third as a junior at Ches-Monts, fourth as a sophomore and second as a freshman.
“I think I have a cold or a stomach bug,” she said. “So I didn’t get off to the best start. But I was proud of the way I was able to turn it around and finish strong.”
Ches-Mont Championship
Par-36 at Wyncote GC
Boys
1. Barrickman (U) 66; 2. Kalderemtzis (WCR) 70; 3. Linkchorst (WCR) 71; 4. Gaughan (U) 72; 4. Keiser (WCR) 72; 6. Berry (WCR) 73; 7. Keller (U) 74; 7. Baker (WCH) 74; 7. Narinesingh-Smith 74; 7. Puskar (U) 74; 7. Larsen (DW) 74. 7. Tr. Sikorski (AG) 74; 13. Ty. Sikorski (AG) 75; 14. Feeney (WCR) 76; 14. Opdahl (U) 76; 14. Holmes (C) 76; 14. Filidore (76); 14. Neil (AG) 76; 14. Birch (BS) 76; 21. Snyder (WCH) 77; Fediukov (DW) 77; 23. Lesperance (U) 78.
Girls
1. Pace (DE) 78; 2. DeSantis (WCR) 80; 3. Lewis (DW) 86; 3. Benedetto (WCR) 86; 5. Wilson (U) 87; 6. Druffner (DW) 90; 6. Patel (U) 90; 8. Mathew (WCE) 92; Barnes (WCH) 93; Giuliano (DE) 95; 11. McGruther (DW) 96; Schuda (DW) 99; 12. Leshko (DW) 99.
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