A-C Valley/Union golf’s Joe Rapp captures District 9 Class 2A title in convincing fashion
A year ago, Joe Rapp sought redemption and got it. On Saturday, Joe Rapp sought confirmation.
He earned that, too.
The A-C Valley/Union junior won the District 2 Class 2A Boys Golf Individual Championship on Saturday, a year after he finished fifth to make his first PIAA championships appearance.
He’s heading back to Penn State Golf Course on Oct. 20-21 as a district champion with bigger goals for the PIAA Class 2A Boys Golf Individual Championship. The 2A tournament is held on Penn State’s White Course.
“I just really wanted to prove to myself I had the capability of winning,” Rapp said on the phone Sunday.
“It felt really nice. It would’ve felt a lot nicer if I didn’t three-putt the last hole, but nothing can be perfect in golf.”
Rapp shot a two-day total of 147, beating Keystone’s Sean Karg by three strokes. Rapp was consistent both days, carding rounds of 73 and 74.
Karns City’s Joey O’Donnell finished tied for eighth at 164, four shots away from joining a sixth-place tiebreaker to make states. Moniteau’s Isaac Book shot a 178 over two days to finish 15th.
Rapp said he “struck the ball so well” Saturday after entering the day with a five-stroke lead on Karg. But a couple “blow ups” turned that big lead into just a one-stroke advantage after he went 1-over on the front nine against Karg’s 3-under. Adrenaline got the better of him, he felt, on a couple holes in which he overshot the green by 50 yards to double-bogey.
But Rapp overcame those mistakes and Karg could not keep up in the end.
Round 1 was steadier, Rapp said. But because of some of those second-round missed chances, it was mere hours after donning a gold medal around his neck — and after a celebratory dinner with his family — that Rapp went back out on his home course and worked on his chipping and putting.
“All my family was trying to tell me ... ‘It’s whatever, you had it wrapped up, you didn’t need to two-putt it,’” Rapp said.
Rapp wants to soak up the environment after getting a taste of it last year, but the key to that top-10 goal will be “Keeping the ball in play,” he said. “For me, whenever I get a wedge in my hands I feel really good about my game.”
Before the season, he set a goal of finishing Top 10 in the state tournament. Secondary was winning the district title. Now he has a chance to accomplish both.
