Benjamin Pochet ‘18 Recruiting Profile

Personal Statement

My name is Benjamin Pochet; I am 17 years old and I am a Senior at Spring-Ford High School for the 2017-2018 school year. I live in Royersford, Pennsylvania with my parents and older sister. I have been playing competitive golf since I was 6 years old through the Philadelphia U.S Kids Golf Program, several of the U.S. Kids Golf Regional Tournaments, and more recently with the AJGA, the Philadelphia Junior PGA program, IJGT Tour, Golf Association of Philadelphia, and Hurricane Tour.  My home course is Spring Ford Country Club which is one of the toughest courses in our area (72.6/134 – 6706 yds).

The Summer and Fall of 2017 has been very exciting for me.  After starting the Spring season a little slow, I managed to win a Hurricane Tour event at Worthington Manor to get my year started.  After qualifying for the GAP BMW Amateur Championship which was held in June, I also qualified for the USGA US Junior Amateur at Flint Hills National in Andover, KS, with a 2-under performance at Makefield Highlands.  Although I didn't play as well as I would have hoped in KS, it was an amazing experience that showed me the weakness of my game that I must improve upon to play at the highest level.  I plan to take those experiences with me to the US Kids Golf Teen World Championship in July and the 42nd Junior PGA Championship in St. Louis in early August.  I also received The Philadelphia Golf Association Junior Player of the Year award.

This Fall, I lead my High School Team to its first Patriot Athletic Conference (PAC) Team Championship in several years.  I also captured the PAC Individual Championship for the first time, and repeated as Champion of the PIAA District 1 Championship in dramatic fashion with a closing round 65 (7-under) to win the tournament by 2 strokes.  I finished in second place with a 1-under 70, and finished Tied for 10th with a 74-75=149 at the PIAA State Championships.

I had a great Fall 2016 High School season, leading my team with a 9 hole scoring average of 35.0 (0.7 under par per match) and to an undefeated regular season (10-0) in conference play.  I finished 3rd in our individual conference championship with an even par 71 to earn a spot at the PIAA District One Championship.  I then won both the PIAA District 1 Championship (72-69 ) and the PIAA East Regional Championship where I finished with a career low score of 5 under (67), clearing the field by 3 strokes.

During the summer of 2016, I had 3 first place finishes and 6 top five finishes.  I also competed in 3 USGA qualifiers (US Open, US Jr. Am, and US Am,) playing well in all events with the highlight being a finish as a second alternate at a Local Qualifier (Moselem Springs) for the USGA US OPEN, shooting even par on my round.  At the end of July, I returned to the USKG Teen World Championship where I finished T-28th and had the opportunity to play on the historic Pinehurst #2 course on the final day (which was by far the most challenging round of golf I have ever played).  Not counting the High School season, I'll have completed over 35 rounds of tournament golf during 2016.

I had a great 2015 season playing over 30 competitive rounds of golf, with the highlights being a trip to the 2015 U.S Kids Golf Teen World Championship at Pinehurst #4 in late July, where I competed in the 15-18 year old division, and a trip to the PIAA Class AAA State High School Championship.  For the Fall 2015 High School Golf season, I played in the number 1 spot on the SF HS Varsity Golf. I led my team with the low average score (36.9) for the season which included 7 matches of par or better (5 under par matches).  In the post-season, I finished tied for 2nd in the PAC-10 Individual Championship with a score of 74 (par 71), tied for 5th at the PIAA District 1 Championship with a two-day total score of 146 (72-74 - par 72).  At the PIAA Eastern Regional, I finished tied for 21^st with a score of 78, and successfully survived a 6 man for 3 spot sudden death playoff to move on to the PIAA State Championship.  At the State Championship, I finished tied for 21^st in the Class AAA division with a two-day score of 161 (79-82).  At the end of the season, I was named as to the PAC-10 All Conference First Team.

I plan to continue to play for the Spring-Ford Varsity Golf Team for my Senior year in 2017 and in competitive golf tournaments with the Philadelphia Junior PGA program, AJGA, IJGT, HJGT, USGA, and other local and regional amateur qualifying tournaments.  My goal for 2017 was to qualify for one of the USGA Championships.