Adam Filo went to the forefront on Thursday at J.E. Good Park Golf Course in Akron. He sealed the deal on Friday.
Meanwhile, Olivia Swain emerged from a tightly bunched field on the girls side. Both won their Championship Flights by comfortable margins in the 78th annual Good Park Junior Golf Tournament.
Filo, 16, of Doylestown, followed up Thursday’s 70 with a 72 on Friday — tying Maxwell Moldovan for top round of the day — for a 142 total, 7 strokes better than second-place Moldovan to claim the boys 13-18 age group title over the 6,648-yard course.
“I’m very happy with it,” Filo, who will be a junior at Chippewa High School, said. “I couldn’t really ask to go back out and shoot as good as I did [Thursday] but I practically did, if I could have got a few more putts to fall. But I’m very satisfied with my round.”
Filo had a 1-over 36, starting on the back nine, and was even-par 36 finishing on the front nine.
“Getting through the first side 1 over gave me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I was really just trying to go out and shoot even par for the tournament.”
He barely qualified for the Championship Flight after a 79 on Wednesday.
“Winning this tournament means a lot to me, especially that I was the last person in,” Filo said. “I’ve played in this tournament for seven years, and my coach, Don Olney, passed away last year.
“He was my high school coach, my swing coach and my lifelong coach since I was about 7. Winning this one, I know he’d be very proud of me, because he liked this tournament. This was a good win for me, a very emotional win right now.”
Swain, 14, of Uniontown, trailed Meaghan Grant by 1 stroke after an 85 Thursday, but she shot a 78 Friday — best round of the girls tournament — to capture the 13-18 age group by 5 strokes over Hannah Finley and Armani Shepherd.
Starting her round on the front nine, Swain shot a 42 but followed that with an even-par 36 on the back side, including birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, over the 4,926-yard course.
“I knew that I had to do better on the back to shoot anywhere near to try to get first,” said Swain, an incoming freshman at Lake High School this fall. “I just stayed focused.
“After the two birdies, I knew I just had to par the rest.”
Swain said her tee shots are usually the best part of her game.
“My driving was pretty good,” she said. “My long irons were decent. My putting was pretty good. My chipping was the only thing that was a little bit off.”
Moldovan, 14, bounced back from Thursday’s 77 to finish runner-up to Filo.
“I played pretty well today but I didn’t do too well [Thursday]. I missed a lot of putts,” said Moldovan, who will be a freshman at Green High School. “But I played decent today.”
Shepherd, 15, of Copley, shot 87-81 to tie for second. She said “pretty much everything” went well on Friday.
“I just kept my head down, swung through,” Shepherd said. “I kept focusing on one score, and that was 80, and I ended up getting an 81 so I’m actually pretty proud of that.”
Finley, 16, of Kent also tied for second at 85-83.
“I was kind of all over the place today,” she said. “I struggled. I tried to pick it up, give myself a couple pep talks and just tried to keep on going, keep pushing.”
Other top scores
Hunter Rinkus (152) won First Flight and Owen Miklos and Darin Hudak (157) tied for first in Second Flight.
Solomon Petrie shot 71-71— 142 to win the 11-12 age group for the second consecutive year. Nolan Haynes (145) was second and Jacob Ryan (166) was third, shooting his best-ever round of 79 Friday.
Braden Herstich had 44-40 — 84 to win the 10-and-under boys division over nine holes each day.