In one of the most important events of the high school golf season, the last thing a player wants to have are bad holes early in the round.

But that didn't bother Northampton's Kevin Kunkle. The junior took double bogeys on two of his first seven holes. But he didn't let those two holes ruin his round at Monday's District 11 Golf Championship Qualifier.

Kunkle carded a six-over par 78 Monday at Woodstone Golf Club in Danielsville after playing the final five holes at one-under par.

"I played all right," said Kunkle. "I just had a couple mistakes here and there, otherwise I played pretty well.

"I made a bunch of four- and five-footers to save par. I made a birdie on an eight-footer."

Kunkle was one of five Northampton players to make it through the district qualifier. All five will compete in next Monday's District 11 Class AAA Golf Championship Tournament at Shawnee Golf Course.

Leading the Northampton contingent Monday was 2010 district champ Evan Notaro, who shot the lowest round of the 53-player Class AAA field. He brought in a 3-over par 75.

Konkrete Kid teammates Tyler Smith (81), Derek Kressler (84) and Carter Test (84) also made the cut, which was 85 for Class AAA.

Eamon Marone of Notre Dame (Green Pond) shot the lowest round of the day, firing a 73 to beat the other 32 Class AA golfers at the event.

This marked the first year that high school golf's postseason is split into two classes. In the past all players competed in the same field.

This year 20 Class AAA players and 18 Class AA golfers advance to districts. Six in each class will move on to regionals, held the following week at Golden Oaks Golf Course in Fleetwood.

Kunkle heads to his third straight district tournament. He's been close to qualifying each year and has finished in the top 16.

He came three strokes from making regionals as a freshman, shooting 121 over 27 holes when the cut was 118. He tied for 15th place.

Last year, as a sophomore, Kunkle was three shots out of the top 10, which all earned berths into regional. Kunkle shot 123 last year and tied for 16th place.

He plans to draw on those experiences when he tees it up at Shawnee next Monday.

"I have a lot more experience now," said Kunkle. "I know not to get ahead of myself and just keep playing my game."

District 11 Golf Championship

Qualifier Results

Class AAA

75 - Evan Notaro (Northampton)

76 - Mike Lessl (Emmaus)

77- Nick Haddad (Southern Lehigh), Bret Howey (Nazareth), Mike Perkins (Parkland)

78 - Kevin Kunkle (Northampton)

79 - Chad Hess (Parkland),

81 - Nick Maff (Bethlehem Catholic), Tyler Smith (Northampton)

82 - Carlos Fullerton (Emmaus)

84 - Derek Kressler (Northampton), Bailey Roos (Pottsville), Mike Schultz (Allen), Carter Test (Northampton), Kyle Wambold (Emmaus)

85 - Eric Balcik (Stroudsburg), Sam Diacont (Nazareth), Adam Sutovich (Parkland), Nicholas Tanacredi (Pocono Mt. West), John Yocum (Freedom)