Peters Township Sophomore Hunter Bruce Wins WPIAL Boys AAA Golf

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, October 8, 2015 | 7:26 PM

On a golf team full of excellent golfers, the youngest of the group, Peters Township’s Hunter Bruce stunned the field to win the WPIAL Boys AAA Individual Gold Championships at Southpoint Golf Club. Bruce, only a sophomore, fired a 1-over 73 to edge teammate Alec Stopperich by one shot and became the first Peters Township Indian to win WPIAL individual gold in golf. 

This championship was characterized by golfers faltering down the stretch on a very difficult final few finishing holes at Southpoint but Bruce flourished when it mattered the most.  Bruce drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16^th hole to draw himself into a tie at the time with Stopperich and then was able to calmly make pars on both the short, but tricky, par-4 17^th and the 18^th hole, the longest par-4 on the course.  Stopperich made a bogey down the stretch to fall out of a share of the lead.  Latrobe’s Brady Pevarnik and Peters Township’s Tanner Johnson finished two strokes off the pace with round of 75.

Bruce had been struggling with his game, especially with his putting, as recently as Tuesday but had made some necessary adjustments with his golf coach, Dave Kuhn, which helped him gain the needed confidence to surge to the low score in the championship. 

Last year’s champion, Anthony Cordaro of Fox Chapel, carded a championship score of 7-over 79 to finish in a tie for 11^th place, garnering him a spot in the PIAA Western Regional to be held at Tom’s Run Golf Course on Monday, October 19^th.

Here are the final totals with the PIAA Western Regional qualifiers in bold:

*Qualified for PIAA Western Regional Qualifier in a playoff

**Qualified as the first alternate for the PIAA Western Regional Qualifier in a playoff