Shah goes low with sizzling 67 at Pine Meadows to head group of Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship qualifiers

   Eli Shah was one of the best players in the Central League and in District One during his last two seasons at Penncrest, twice earning top-10 finishes in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at two different venues.

   Shah finished in a tie for eighth place as a junior in 2021 in the final year of the state championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County. He then landed in a tie for 10^th place as a senior last fall as the state tournament returned to Penn State for the first time in more than two decades.

   Shah put his talent on display Sunday as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour kicked of the summer portion of its schedule with a Boys Junior PGA Championship qualifier at the Pine Meadows Golf Complex in cool, windy weather.

   Shah dominated the outgoing nine at Pine Meadows, making birdies at the second, fourth, fifth and eighth holes on his way to a 4-under 32 on the front side. Shah closed with back-to-back birdies at the 17^th and 18^th holes and his scorecard was littered with 11 pars as he carded a sizzling 5-under 67 that was four shots clear of a talented field.

   More importantly, Shah took the first step toward a possible berth in one of the most prestigious events in junior golf, the Boys Junior PGA Championship, which tees off Aug. 1^st at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark.

   Shah’s strong showing earned him a spot in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship, which will be played July 10^th at the Toftrees Golf Resort outside of State College. The top finishers at Toftrees will earn a trip to the national event in Hot Springs.

   Shah headed a group of 21 boys who advanced to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship in the overall 13-to-18 age group. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 age groups, so I’ll reference those two age groups and the overall scoring in this post.

   Shah finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division as well as in the overall scoring with his outstanding round.

   One of Shah’s Central League rivals, Radnor junior Shaun Mazzalupi, was the only other player to finish under par at Pine Meadows as his 1-under 71 earned him runnerup honors among the older guys and in the overall scoring.

   Like Shah, Mazzalupi has represented Radnor in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of the last two falls and he still has another year of high school golf remaining.

   Mazzalupi got off to fast start at Pine Meadows with a birdie at the first hole and then made an eagle at the par-5 fifth. He added a birdie at the eighth hole and had 12 pars on his card.

   Another one of District One’s top players, West Chester Rustin sophomore Sam Feeney, and York Suburban sophomore Andrew Ekstrom finished in a tie for third place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for fourth overall as each recorded a 3-over 75.

   Ekstrom’s York Suburban teammate, freshman Callahan Harrell, finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division and was third in the overall scoring with a solid 2-over 74. Ekstrom and Harrell were both PIAA Class AAA Championship qualifiers last fall. More on Harrell a little later.

   Feeney, who finished in the group along with Shah in a tie for 10^th place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, also got hot on the front nine at Pine Meadows, making birdies at the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth holes. He had eight pars on his card.

   Ekstrom made birdies at the fifth, seventh and 10^th holes and had nine pars on his card on his way to a 3-over finish.

   Liam Shearn of Ardmore was another shot behind Feeney and Ekstrom in fifth place in the 16-to-18 division and in a tie for sixth in the overall scoring with a 4-over 76.

   Haverford School sophomore J.P. Hoban, a Havertown resident, and Matthew Hurchalla of Wallingford finished in a tie for sixth place among the older guys and were part of a three-way tie for eighth in the overall scoring as each registered a 5-over 77.

   J.T. Krynock of Reading and Jeremiah Brown of Audubon shared eighth place in the 16-to-18 division and were part of a three-way tie for 11^th as each carded a 6-over 78.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was John Rouse of Villanova as he posted a 79 that left him alone in 10^th place in the division and in a tie for 14^th overall.

   Another Villanova guy, Harrison Brown, finished a shot behind Rouse in 11^th place among the older guys and in a tie for 16^th overall with an 80.

   Bishop Shanahan junior Thomas Baschoff and Landry Rohrbaugh of Harrisburg each registered an 82 as they finished in a tie for 12^th place in the 16-to-18 division and were two of the three players in the overall standings to earn a ticket to Toftrees on the number in a tie for 19^th.

   York Suburban’s Harrell had an eagle on his scorecard at the par-5 sixth hole. He also made birdies at the eighth and 18^th holes and had 10 pars on his card on his way to a 2-over 74 that gave him the top spot in the 13-to-15 division and left him in third place overall, three shots behind Mazzalupi.

   The runnerup among the younger guys was Davis Conaway, winner of the Bert Linton Inter-Ac League individual championship as a freshman at Malvern Prep last fall. Conaway’s steady round featured birdies at the eighth, 10^th and 14^th holes and 10 pars as he carded a 4-over 76 that left him two shots behind Harrell and in a tie for sixth in the overall scoring with Shearn.

   Unionville freshman Charlie Barrickman was a shot behind Conaway in third place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for eighth overall with Hoban and Hurchalla with a 5-over 77. Barrickman made birdies on the 14^th and 18^th holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a stretch of 11 straight pars from the third through the 13^th holes.

   Anestis Kalderemtzis of Glen Mills was a shot behind Barrickman in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie with Kraynock and Brown for 11^th in the overall scoring with a 78.

   Lawson Leeper of York was a shot behind Kalderemtzis in fifth place among the younger guys and in a tie for 14^th overall with Rouse with a 79.

   Justin Marcus of Glenmoore recorded an 80 that left him alone in sixth place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for 16^th in the overall standings with Brown.

   Quin Zeigner of New Hope carded an 81 as he finished in seventh place in the 13-to-15 division and alone in 18^th in the overall scoring.

   Michael Liu of Garnet Valley joined Baschoff and Rohrbaugh from the 16-to-18 division in grabbing the last remaining berths to the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship at Toftrees with an 82. That left Liu in eighth place among the younger guys.

   Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J. took ninth place with an 83 and Nicky Nemo, a Haverford School freshman from Bryn Mawr, and Keegan Redmond of Hummelstown rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each posting an 84.

   The best score among the girls at Pine Meadows belonged to Emily Rensch, a PIAA Class AAA Championship qualifier as a sophomore at Chambersburg last fall who carded a solid 10-over 82 to earn a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division.

   Rensch made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had nine pars on her scorecard.

   It was not a qualifier for the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship, which is an open tournament for girls ages 13 to 18 and will be staged July 6^th at Spring Ford Country Club. The top finishers from Spring Ford will earn a spot in the Girls Junior PGA Championship, which, it appears, will run side by side with the Boys Junior PGA Championship beginning Aug. 1^st in Hot Springs, Ark.

   Allie Tarreto of Nazareth had three pars as she earned runnerup honors behind Rensch with a 94. Hannah Kopac of State College had six pars as she finished in third place with a 106.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Shayla Adams, who finished in fourth place with a 108.

   Jack Sokol of Villanova bested the field of nine-holers as he made birdies on the 16^th and 18^th holes and had five pars on his scorecard on his way to an even-par 36 on the incoming nine at Pine Meadows.

   William Quartermain of Bryn Mawr and Taimoor Naseem of Sinking Spring finished in a tie for second place as each landed three shots behind Jack Sokol with a 3-over 39. Quartermain had seven pars on his card while Naseem made birdies on the 10^th and 12^th holes and had two pars on his card.

   Michael Lee of Center Valley took fourth place with a 40, Preston Minio of Lansdale was fifth with a 41 and Bryce Bussom of Lewisburg and Samuel Karas of Blue Bell finished in a tie for sixth place, each registering a 46.

    Henry Sokol, another member of Villanova’s Team Sokol, ended up in eighth place with a 48 and Levi Haas of Carlisle and Jia Yan of Malvern rounded out the top 10 in the coed 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 52.