Benson, Bishop in 2nd place after first day at PIAA golf
Observer-Reporter
STATE COLLEGE – Two local golfers are tied for second place, and three others are among the top dozen in their respective tournaments, after the first round of the PIAA Individual Championships held Monday at the Penn State Golf Courses.
South Fayette’s Sam Bishop is tied for second place in the Class 3A boys tournament, while Peters Township’s Ellie Benson sits in a second-place tie in Class 3A girls.
Bishop is one stroke ahead of his South Fayette teammate, Brady Newman, who is tied for fourth place.
In Class 2A girls, Chartiers-Houston’s JoJo Jaskulski, is tied for eighth place, while Betty Glyptis of Peters Township will start today’s final round tied for 12th in Class 3A girls.
Bishop carded a 2-under round of 70 on the Blue Course. He trails leader Chase Yeager of Daniel Boone by two strokes. Yeager shot 68. Bishop is in a tie for second place along with WPIAL champion Carson Kittsley of Fox Chapel.
On the front nine, Bishop shot 34, which included four birdies. He had two birdies on the back side.
Newman’s round included four birdies. Both he and Bishop each birdied the par-5 No. 12.
Benson shot 2-over 74 on the Blue Course. She was 2-over on the front nine and then birdied Nos. 11 and 12 but gave those strokes back with bogeys later in the round. She trails defending champion and current WPIAL champion Mya Morgan by five strokes. Morgan shot 69, which included an eagle and four birdies.
WPIAL runner-up Betty Glyptis of Peters Township shot 78. She had three birdies in her round.
Jaskulski, the WPIAL runner-up, was high on the leaderboard until late in her round. She birdied two of the first three holes but played the final four in 3-over, leaving her with a round of 6-over 78 on the White Course.
WPIAL champion Alyssa Zhang of Shady Side Academy is part of a three-way tie for first place in Class 2A girls after shooting 68. Tied with Zhang are Madison Koshko of St. Joseph and Kate Sowers of West Middlesex.
The start of the first round for all tournaments was delayed because of high winds.
The second round will be held Tuesday with the team championships, which includes the South Fayette boys and Peters Township girls, will be played Wednesday.