Liam Crowley was one of the top players in the always competitive Inter-Ac League as a sophomore at Episcopal Academy last fall.
Crowley finished in sixth place in the individual points race compiled during the six invitationals that make up the Inter-Ac’s regular season and then finished in a tie for sixth in the Bert Linton Invitational for the Inter-Ac’s individual championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club.
Crowley finished at the top of a big field as the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s 2025 season teed off with a two-day event at Seaview Golf Club across the bay from Atlantic City, N.J. in Galloway Township.
It being March, the weather wasn’t as bad as it could be, but it wasn’t great.
Crowley opened with a 2-under-par 69 in chilly weather for Saturday’s opening round. It was warmer for Sunday’s second round, but the wind, as it often does along the Jersey Shore, kicked up and Crowley’s 3-over 74 gave him a two-shot victory in the overall scoring with a 1-over 143 total.
The Philly Junior Tour’s Seaview stop was a Junior Golf Scoreboard event with top finishers earning points that can give them status on some of the more high-profile junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association.
Overall scoring for the boys and girls was for the 13-to-18 age group. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions, so I will wrap up those age groups while referring to the overall scoring.
The top finishers among the girls all came out of the 13-to-15 division, led by Chloe Donohue of Moorestown, N.J. as she ran away with the overall title by 12 shots with an 11-over 153 total.
The winner of the 13-to-15 division among the boys was Trebor Melendez of Vineland, N.J., a Class of 2030 competitor, which makes him a seventh-grader. Melendez was the runnerup to Crowley in the overall scoring with a 3-over 145 total.
A field of nearly 70 guys teed it up at Seaview as the region’s junior golfers were clearly anxious to get out and compete after what has been a long, cold winter.
And none of them were better than Crowley, who is a product of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club.
Crowley made birdies on the third, ninth, 12th, 13th and 17th holes and had 11 pars on his scorecard in his opening-round 69 that left him two shots behind Brayden Tritsch of Medford, N.J.
In tougher conditions in the final round, Crowley made birdies on the third, ninth and 12th holes and grinded out 11 pars for a 74 that left him atop the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring at 1-over.
Tritsch struggled to an 8-over 79 in the final round and ended up in a tie for second place among the older guys and in a tie for third in the overall scoring with Christopher Parrish of Woolwich Township, N.J., each landing on 4-over 146, three shots behind Crowley.
Tritsch really got it going in the opening round as he made birdies at the fourth, seventh, eighth, 10th, 17th and 18th holes and had 10 pars on his card in a sparkling 4-under 67. He had 10 pars on his card in his final-round 79.
Parrish was one of the most consistent players on the Philly Junior Tour in 2025, particularly in the second half of the season. He closed with a solid 1-over 72, one of the best rounds of the day, after opening with a 3-over 74.
Parrish’s steady final round included birdies at the ninth and 18th holes and 13 pars. In the opening round, Parrish made birdies at the third and 18th holes and had 11 pars on his card.
Lower Merion junior Seiji Sako, who has qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of the last two falls, Southern Lehigh junior Caleb Walsh, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Enzo Allain of Basking Ridge, N.J. finished in a tie for fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and in a group of five players tied for fifth overall that included Ryan Sun of Morganville, N.J. from the 13-to-15 division at 5-over 147.
Sako and Walsh had identical splits, each opening with a solid 1-over 72 before adding a 4-over 75 in the final round. Allain matched par with a 71 in the opening round before finishing up with a 5-over 76.
Strath Haven junior Eddie Gebhardt finished alone in seventh place in the 16-to-18 division and was the last of the older guys to earn a spot in the top 10 in the overall standings as he joined Logan Turner of Berwyn from the 13-to-15 division in a tie for ninth at 7-over 149.
Gebhardt added a 3-over 74 in the final round to his opening round of 4-over 75.
Gebhardt’s classmate at Strath Haven, Luca Kleinschmidt, and Landon Finsen of Westampton, N.J. finished in a tie for eighth place among the older guys, each ending up with an 8-over 150 total.
After opening with an 80, Kleinschmidt bounced with a 1-under 70 in the final round, the best round of the day in the tough conditions. Finsen opened with a 2-over 73 and added a 6-over 77 in the final round.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Daniel Herzchel of Linwood, N.J. as he finished in 10th place, a shot behind Kleinschmidt and Finsen with a 9-over 151 total. Herzchel added a 4-over 75 in the final round to his opening-round 76.
Melendez is a talented kid, a point he drove home once again at Seaview as he matched par in the opening round with a 71 that included birdies at third, seventh and 17th holes as well as 12 pars on his scorecard. After stumbling briefly with three bogeys in his first four holes, Melendez went 2-under the rest of the way.
Melendez was steady in the final round with birdies at the third and eighth holes and 11 pars as he closed with a 3-over 74 that gave him a 3-over 145 total that topped the 13-to-15 division and left him two shots behind Crowley in second place in the overall scoring.
Sun got it going in the opening round as he made birdies on the third, fourth, seventh, 12th, 15th and 17th holes and had eight pars on his card on his way to an even-par 71.
Sun made birdies at the first and seventh holes and had nine pars on his card on his way to a 5-over 76 that left him in second place among the younger guys and in a tie for fifth with a trio of players from the 16-to-18 division in the overall scoring with a 5-over 147 total.
Turner put together a breathtaking stretch at the end of his front nine in Saturday’s opening round as he made birdies at the fifth, seventh and eighth holes and an eagle on the par-5 ninth. He added another birdie at the 12th hole and had seven pars on his card on his way to a 2-over 73.
Turner made birdies on the third, seventh, eighth and 17th holes and had seven pars on his card as he registered a 5-over 76 in the final round that left him two shots behind Sun in third place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for ninth with Gebhardt from the 16-to-18 division with a 7-over 149 total.
Malvern Prep sophomore Colby Komancheck and Germantown Academy freshman Onyu Park finished in a tie for fourth place in the 13-to-15 division as each ended up with a 152 total.
Komancheck, who finished in a tie for third place in the Inter-Ac’s Bert Linton Invitational at Whitemarsh Valley last fall, signed for a pair of 5-over 76s. Park added a solid 3-over 74 in the tough conditions of the final round to his opening round of 7-over 78.
Evan Smith of Elkton, Md. was another shot behind Komancheck and Park in sixth place among the younger guys with a 153 total as Smith added a 4-over 75 in the final round to his opening-round 78.
Souderton sophomore Wyatt Underwood added a 5-over 76 in the final round to his opening-round 79 to finish in seventh place in the 13-to-15 division with a 155 total that left him two shots behind Smith.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division was the trio of St. Joseph’s Prep freshman Gregory Kriz, Torrin Denton of Mullica Hill, N.J. and Sebastian Park of Lansdale, all of whom finished in a tie for eighth place with a 158 total, three shots behind Underwood.
Kriz opened with a solid 4-over 75 before closing with an 83, Denton posted a pair of 8-over 79s and Park added an 80 in the final round to his opening-round 78.
On the girls side, Donohue ripped off three straight birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth holes and had nine pars on her scorecard, including four straight pars to finish out her round, in an impressive final round of 4-over 75 as she topped the field in the 13-to-15 division and in the overall scoring with an 11-over 153 total.
Donohue made birdies at the fourth and seventh holes and had 11 pars on her card in an opening-round 78.
Donohue’s closest pursuers were Carolina Lim of Livingston, N.J. and Isha Garg of Berlin, Md. as they finished 2-3, respectively, among the younger girls and in the overall scoring.
Lim made birdies on the third and 18th holes and had seven pars on her card in a final-round 81 as she finished 12 shots behind Donohue with a 165 total. Lim closed out her opening-round 84 with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th holes and had seven pars on her card.
Garg made a birdie on the 13th hole and had nine pars on her card in a final-round 80 that left her a shot behind Lim with a 166 total. Garg made a birdie on the third hole and had seven pars on her card in an opening-round 86.
Gabrielle Hamstead of Milton, Del. added an 86 in the second round to her opening-round 87 to finish six shots behind Garg as she rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division by taking fourth place with a 173 total that was also good for fourth in the overall scoring.
Emma Liu of Moorestown, N.J. captured the top spot in the 16-to-18 division and finished fifth in the overall scoring with a 181 total.
Liu had 10 pars on her scorecard, including five straight from the fourth through the eighth holes, in an opening-round 83. She had six pars in a final-round 98.
Emily M. Renouf of Cinnaminson, N.J. rounded out a short field in the 16-to-18 division as she added a 99 in the final round to her opening-round 97 for a 196 total to finish in second place in the division and sixth in the overall scoring. Renouf had two pars on her card in both rounds.
The 12-and-under nine-hole division has historically been coed, but it was split into boys and girls divisions for the Philly Junior Tour stop at Seaview.
Brody Rollins of Milton, Del. captured the title in boys 12-and-under division with a 10-over 84 total that gave him a two-shot victory over Jonathan Thomas of Landenberg.
Rollins had four pars on his scorecard in his final round of 5-over 42 after also recorded four pars in an opening-round 42.
Thomas made birdies at the fourth and fifth holes and had a par on the seventh hole as he matched Rollins’ opening round of 5-over 42. Thomas had four pars in a final-round 44 that left him two shots behind Rollins in second place with an 86 total.
Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. had the lead following the opening round as he had five pars on his card on his way to a 4-over 41. Dollard made back-to-back pars on the second and third holes in a final-round 46 that left him a shot behind Thomas in third place with an 87 total.
Aiden Jose of Brick, N.J. opened with a solid 43, but struggled a little in the final round with a 51 that left him seven shots behind Dollard in fourth place with a 94 total.
Smith Rawls of Elkins Park was another two shots behind Jose in fifth place with a 96 total as he added a 47 in the final round to his opening-round 49. Benjamin Adkins of Lewes, Del. was a shot behind Rawls in sixth place with a 97 total after adding a 47 in the final round to his opening-round 50.
Jamie Cahn of Penn Valley took seventh place as he added a 52 in the final round to his opening-round 53 for a 105 total. Reed Starzecki of Bryn Mawr rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he shaved six shots off an opening-round 58 with a 52 in the final round to finish in eighth place for a 110 total.
Evelyn Brillman of Elkins Park was the lone entry in the girls 12-and-under division and she added a 49 in the final round to her opening-round 53 for a 102 total. Brillman’s opening round was highlighted by a par on the third hole.
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