Bishop Shanahan's Drake makes his pars count as he claims a Philly Junior Tour victory at Reading

 

   Pierce Drake, a junior on the Bishop Shanahan golf team, carded a solid 3-over-par 73 at Reading Country Club, the classic layout in Exeter Township along Route 422, to capture a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division Oct. 25^th.

   Drake was a par machine at the tricky Reading layout as he had 15 pars on his scorecard, including a string of eight straight pars from the fifth through the 12^th holes, on his way to the win.

   Luke Farnese, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Plymouth-Whitemarsh this fall, made an early birdie at the fifth hole, went back-to-back with birdies at 13 and 14 and had seven pars on his card as he earned runnerup honors with an 8-over 78.

   Josh Mohn of Wilmington, Del. and Jake Ruppert, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Father Judge this fall, finished in a tie for third place, each posting an 80.

   Mohn made a birdie on the seventh hole, closed out his round with a birdie at Reading’s finishing hole and had seven pars on his card. Ruppert had nine pars on his card.

   Vyom Shukla of Berwyn took fifth place with an 81, Eoin Regan, who wrapped up his scholastic career at North Penn this fall, was sixth with an 82, Shane Cornell, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior on the Avon Grove golf team this fall, was seventh with an 84, Justin Wheeler, a junior on the William Tennant golf team, was eighth with an 87 and Jaden Irvin, a junior on the Hershey High golf team, was ninth with an 88.

   Blake Shakal of Hershey took 10^th place with an 89 and Logan Hyndman of Newtown rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as he finished 11^th with a 90.

   Ben Nowland, a sophomore on the Avon Grove golf team, got it going late with birdies at the 14^th, 16^th and 18^th holes and had seven pars on his scorecard as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with an 8-over 78.

   Casey McGinley of Perkasie made a birdie on the third hole and had five pars on his card as he captured runnerup honors with an 81.

   Anthony Albano, a sophomore on the Saucon Valley golf team, and Owen Fanning of Gap shared third place, each signing for an 83.

   Albano had 10 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from the 11^th through the 14^th holes, and Fanning opened his round with a birdie at the first hole and had five pars on his card.

   Mason Kim, a freshman on the Wissahickon golf team, and Toby Lerner of Philadelphia shared fifth place, each tallying an 84, and Gavin Lane of Cinnaminson, N.J. and Carson McNamee of Harleysville finished in a tie for seventh, each recording an 87.

   Grayson McCann of Downingtown took ninth place with an 88 and John Wenzel of Maple Glen rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as he finished 10^th with a 90.

   Delaney Kearney, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at Springfield this fall, made back-to-back pars on the 15^th and 16^th holes on her way to a 90 as she claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the girls 13-to-15 division.

   Antonella Ferrer of Wynnewood made a par on the 15^th hole as she was the runnerup in a short field in the 13-to-15 division with a 121.

   The most competitive division on the Philly Junior Tour throughout the fall has been the boys 12-and-under nine-holers and it was more of the same at Reading as Helmut Dang of Newtown Square, Jaxson Freeborn, playing not too far from his home in Reading, and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr finished in a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard, each registering a 5-over 39.

   Dang had five pars on his scorecard on his way to his 12^th Philly Junior Tour victory of the season. Freeborn also had five pars on his card. Muego had five pars on his card, including a run of four straight pars from the third through the sixth holes, as he earned his ninth Philly Junior Tour win of 2025.

   Graeme Day of West Chester, Connor Masulis of Pottstown and Dean Matta of West Grove finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up just a shot behind the top three with a 6-over 40 on the outgoing nine at Reading.

   Damien Dollard of Cinnaminson, N.J. took seventh with a 41, Grayson Wright of Philadelphia was eighth with a 43 and Alex Cheng of Wilmington, Del. and Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for ninth, each carding a 44.

   That’s only five shots separating the top-10 finishers as the balance among the young guys remains pretty remarkable.

   Claire Malbacho of Haverford had two pars on her scorecard as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 48.

   Lillian Fry of Pennsburg and Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for second place, each ending up two shots behind Malbacho with a 50.