Golf: DelFranco, Colvin, Walker go low at Centrals

LIMERICK — Joey DelFranco didn’t start playing golf until he was 13.

So it’s a measure of just quickly the Marple Newtown junior picked up the game that he was able to shoot a 1-over par 73 at Turtle Creek Golf Club Monday to finish in a tie for second in the Central League Tournament and, more importantly, qualify for next week’s District One Tournament for the second straight year.

Penncrest senior Griffin Colvin matched DelFranco’s 73 to qualify for districts back at the Turtle for a third time.

Neither could catch Harriton’s Eric Reisner, who matched par with a 72 over the 6,375-yard, par 72 Turtle Creek layout to win the Central title for the second year in a row.

And nobody’s even surprised anymore when Radnor junior All-Delco Brynn Walker puts together the kind of magnificent round she posted Monday to top the girls field. Walker, who qualified for the U.S. Girls Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur this summer, fashioned a ho-hum, 5-under 67 that featured five birdies and an eagle and probably could have been two shots better.

DelFranco’s dad got him playing at McCall Golf & Country Club a few short years ago and DelFranco’s game keeps getting better.

“The game just sort of got a hold of me,’ DelFranco said after a round that included three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. “You want to keep playing because you keep thinking you can always play a little better. ”

It was a shotgun start and DelFranco started off right by making a birdie on the par-4 10th. After giving a couple of shots back with a double bogey at the 11th, he chipped in from just off the green for a birdie on the par-5 13th. He got one more birdie on the front nine when he stopped a gap wedge six feet from the hole at the par-3 third and made the putt.

DelFranco knows how this postseason thing works. Centrals is just the first step on a road he hopes to travel a little further along than he did last year when he failed to make the cut after the first round of districts.

“I think I have a shot to at least make regionals,’ DelFranco said. “States is my goal. We’ll see how it goes.’

Colvin looked like he was going to be playing in the second round of districts a year ago when a storm halted play. He returned the next day with six holes to play, ran into trouble and ended up missing the cut by a shot. After another strong showing at Centrals — he finished tied for second two shots back of Reisner a year ago — it will be a determined Colvin returning to the Turtle next week.

Colvin, a member at Concord Country Club, started on the 11th and patiently overcame a bogey-bogey start. He didn’t have a birdie on his card until he drained a couple of long birdie putts — “like 25- to 35-foot range,’ he said — at the seventh and eighth holes.

“I drove it decently and hit my irons solid,’ Colvin said. “My short game just wasn’t really that good.’

Conestoga’s Mike Cook and Harriton’s Will Daly matched the 73s shot by DelFranco and Colvin to get a share of second place.

Radnor sophomore Jacob Liberman carded a 3-over 75 to lead a group of six Raiders who qualified for the District One Tournament. That group included Michael Sydnes and Paul Yun, both of whom had 76s, and Tom Hamilton, Kevin Seits and Jack Staples, all of whom had 79s. Like Colvin, Yun, a senior, qualified for districts for a third time. He reached the East Regional as a sophomore two years ago.

Also earning trips to districts were Colvin’s Penncrest teammate Cace Strother (77), Ridley’s Greg Myers (79) and Springfield’s Derrick Baun (80).

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