Declan Mayo of Chadds Ford and Preston Minio of Lansdale each matched par on the front nine at McCall Golf & Country Club in Upper Darby with a 33 to share the top spot in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s 12-and-under Championship July 31st.
The last day of a wet and hot July eventually became stormy, although the guys all completed their nine-hole rounds at McCall. The girls were forced off the golf course after playing just six holes.
Looks like a regular Philly Junior Tour stop at Meadia Heights Golf Club in the Lancaster area that same day never got going as the storms hit a little earlier in the day on the western end of the Philadelphia Section.
But Mayo and Minio got their rounds in and topped a field of what has been a very competitive group of boys 12-and-under nine-holers this summer.
Mayo made a birdie on the seventh hole and had seven pars on his scorecard, including four straight pars to open his round. Minio made birdies on the sixth and eighth holes and had five pars on his card.
Baylor Keim of Blue Bell ripped off birdies at the fourth, fifth, seventh and ninth holes and had a par at eight as he finished a shot behind Mayo and Minio in third place with a 1-over 34. The kid’s a 10-year-old and he birdied four holes in a nine-hole round. Sheesh.
A couple of Newtown Square guys who have been solid all summer, Helmut Dang and Bobby Stefanski, headed a group of four players tied for fifth place at 4-over 37.
I jumped ahead and posted on the Aug. 11th Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club, where Dang captured the title in the boys 12-and-under division and Stefanski finished among a trio of players that included Minio who were tied for sixth place.
Joining Dang and Stefanski in the tie for fifth place at 4-over at McCall were Smith Rawes of Elkins Park and Carter Bove of Kennett Square.
James Wilson of Wilmington, Del. and Joe Bowers of Lewisburg rounded out the top 10 among the boys as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting a 5-over 38.
Once again, it is a testament to the competitive balance among these younger guys that only five shots separated the top-10 finishers.
The girls only played six holes and Trisha Lobo of Collegeville, another talented 10-year-old, parred all six of them to finish atop the leaderboard with an even-par 22.
Lobo, who finished in third place in the Girls 7-9 Division in the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at the Augusta National Golf Club in April of 2024, came back with a fourth-place finish in the girls 12-and-under division in the Junior Tour Championship 11 days later at Chester Valley.
Mia DeCarlo of Glen Mills, the winner of the girls 12-and-under division in the Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley, made a birdie on the sixth hole at McCall and had two pars on her card as she settled for runnerup honors with a 3-over 25 that left her three shots behind Lobo for six holes.
Emilie Davoli of Ambler, the runnerup to DeCarlo in the Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley, made two pars at McCall on her way to a 37 that left her two shots behind DeCarlo in third place.
DeCarlo is a 12-year-old and Davoli is just 11. It looks like those two and the 10-year-old Lobo are going to be running into each other on the golf course for years to come.
Team Brillman of Elkins Park was prominent on the leaderboard in the 12-and-under Championship at McCall as Evelyn Brilllman finished alone in fourth place with a 30, three shots behind Davoli, and Eleanor Brillman was part of a trio of players tied for fifth at 32.
Joining Eleanor Brillman in the tie for fifth place were Alexa Mcelwain of Schnecksville and Skylar Crutchfield, another Elkins Park entry.
Sophia Kim of Chester Springs took eighth place with a 35, Lillian Fry of Pennsburg was ninth with a 36 and Aaashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square finished 10th with a 37.
Rounding out the girls field in the 12-and-under Championship was Avery Jaffe of Richboro as she finished in 11th place with a 43.
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