Gray claims a Philly Junior Tour Nine-Hole Series win at DuPont's Montchanin nine

 

   Kash Gray of Eagleville carded a solid 6-over-par 35 over DuPont Country Club’s Montchanin nine to best the field of boys as the 12-and-under nine-holers had the stage to themselves in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour Nine-Hole Series event July 6^th.

   The Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship, a 36-hole test, was being played simultaneously at DuPont’s Nemours Course. It rained a lot of places that Monday, but the golf gods smiled on suburban Wilmington, Del. and the girls and the nine-holers got their appointed rounds in.

   The Montchanin nine is an executive course, short with a par of 29, but longer than the par-3 layouts that seem to be all the rage these days.

   Gray, who has been popping up on the boys 12-and-under leaderboards all summer, had six pars on his scorecard, including five straight pars from the second through the sixth holes, to capture a Philly Junior Tour victory.

   Ryan Scully of Chesterbrook and Jackson Larrabee, playing not far from his Wilmington, Del. home, shared runnerup honors, each ending up a shot behind Gray with a 9-over 36.

   Scully had four pars on his card, three of them consecutively at the second, third and fourth holes. Larrabee had three pars on his card.

   Ryan Stefanski of Newtown Square took fourth place with a 37 and the trio of Kamran Patel of Moorestown, N.J. and Hudson Avery and Maxwell Avery, both of Wayne and both Class of 2032 competitors, so maybe twins, finished in a tie for fifth, each posting a 38.

   Landon Post, the son of Delaware’s Patty Post, who oversees both the men’s and women’s programs, and Brandon Post, the head of the men’s team for the Blue Hens, and Benjamin He of Chadds Ford finished in a tie for eighth place, each signing for a 40.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division was Luca Saienni, another Wilmington, Del. guy playing a home game at DuPont who finished in 10^th place with a 41.

   Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square opened her round with a par at the first hole as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 10-over 39.

   Vivian Anderson, another Wilmington, Del. entry playing not far from home, and Addison Sabatini of West Chester shared runnerup honors, each ending up a shot behind Chakraborty with a 40.

   Anderson made back-to-back pars at the fourth and fifth holes. Sabatini made pars on the first and fifth holes.

   Rounding out the field in the girls 12-and-under division was Katelyn Cunningham of Havertown, who finished in fourth place with a 52.

 

 

 

Henry sizzles in the heat at Skippack to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Declan Henry, a junior on the Souderton golf team, was nearly as hot as the weather as he carded a sizzling 3-under-par 67 at Skippack Golf Club in Evansburg State Park in northwestern Montgomery County to claim a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division July 1^st.

   It didn’t quite reach an actual temperature of 100 that day, but the junior golfers were certainly dealing with triple-digit real-feels. It was hot.

   None of which seemed to bother Henry, who ripped off birdies at the second, fourth and eighth holes while touring the outgoing nine at Skippack in 2-under 33. Henry added birdies at 12 and 17 on the incoming nine and had 11 pars on his scorecard.

   Joey Bilotta, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Boyertown last fall, made birdies on the fourth and 10^th holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from 11 through 14 as he earned runnerup honors with a 1-over 71.

   Chase Andrews, Henry’s teammate at Souderton, and Harry Traynor, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Great Valley last fall, finished in a tie for third place, each signing for a 3-over 73.

   Andrews, a District One Class AAA qualifier for the Big Red as a junior last fall, made a birdie at the second hole and had 13 pars on his card, including a run of seven straight pars from eight through 14.

   Traynor made birdies at the second, seventh and 11^th holes and had nine pars on his card.

   Onyu Park, a Blue Bell resident and a junior on the Germantown Academy golf team, and Braydon Dolan, a junior on the Springfield golf team, shared fifth place, each tallying a 74, and William Thorkleson, a Bryn Mawr resident and a sophomore on the golf team at The Haverford School, and Trey Barkman of West Chester finished in a tie seventh place, each recording a 75.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Frank Kunze, a junior on the Garnet Valley golf team, and Nicholas Milone of Bryn Mawr as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting a 77.

   Kunze had a nice showing in one of the bigger events on the Philly Junior Tour schedule in June as he lost in a playoff for the overall title in a two-day, Junior Golf Scoreboard tournament at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

   Helmut Dang, a talented 13-year-old from Newtown Square, made birdies at the fourth and 10^th holes and had 13 pars on his scorecard, including six straight pars to finish out his round, as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 1-over 71.

   James Park, a sophomore on the Central Bucks West golf team, Preston Minio of Lansdale and Kaycen Subbio of Blue Bell shared runnerup honors as each finished a shot behind Dang with a 2-over 72.

   Park started each nine with a birdie as he made birdies at the first and 10^th holes and had 12 pars on his card, including six straight pars on his way to the clubhouse.

   Minio had a closing birdie barrage with birdies at the 14^th, 16^th and 17^th holes and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from seven to 10.

   Subbio made birdies at the fourth, eighth and 14^th holes and had 11 pars on his card.

   Sam Nelligan, an incoming freshman at Boyertown, finished alone in fifth place with a 3-over 73. Nelligan had claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory a week earlier at Berkleigh Golf Club.

   Declan Mayo of Chadds Ford and Jonathan Thomas of Landenberg finished in a tie for sixth place, each recording a 79. Thomas had earned a Philly Junior Tour victory eight days earlier at Inniscrone Golf Club.

   Bryce Moyer of Bryn Mawr took eighth place with an 80 and Charlie Murray of Berwyn and another Souderton standout in Daniel Ross, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier for the Big Red as a freshman last fall, rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division, each registering an 81.

   Corinne McReynolds, who helped Conestoga capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown as a junior last fall, had the best score among the girls as she carded a solid 7-over 77 to finish in first place in the 16-to-18 division.

   McReynolds made back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes and had eight pars on her scorecard, including three straight pars to close out her round.

   McReynolds, playing out of Whitford Country Club, was coming off a tie for 26^th place in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship, a 54-hole test that wrapped up at Lebanon Country Club a day before the Philly Junior Tour stop at Skippack.

   Kallista Spence of Phoenixville finished up her round with a birdie at Skippack’s par-3 18^th hole and made a par at five as she earned runnerup honors with a 99.

   Faridah Ismaila, a junior on the Great Valley golf team, made pars on the fourth and 18^th holes as she took third place with a 108 and Erin Urbanski, a West Chester resident and a junior on the Villa Maria Academy golf team, rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as she finished fourth with a 114.

   Stella Varano of Schwenksville had four pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 90.

   Molly Wagner, a Newark, Del. resident and a junior on the St. Mark’s golf team, and Lila Collingwood, a Collegeville resident and a sophomore on the Villa Maria Academy golf team, shared runnerup honors as each tallied a 93.

   Wagner had five pars on her card, putting together three straight pars at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes.

   Kate Benson, a sophomore on the Great Valley golf team, took fourth place with a 97, Hridya Shah of Downingtown was fifth with a 101, Natalie Soporowski of Nazareth was sixth with a 102 and Gian Patel of Malvern, Texas was seventh with a 108.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Benson’s Great Valley teammate Olivia Rosen, a junior, as she finished in eighth place with a 128.

   It was still three days before the Fourth of July, but there were some serious fireworks among the boys 12-and-under nine-holers.

   Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. bested the field with a 1-under 34 on the strength of a spectacular double eagle, an albatross, on the 432-yard, par-5 fourth hole. He also had six pars on his scorecard, finishing out his round with five straight pars.

   Samuel Karas of Blue Bell and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for second place, two shots behind Wang at 1-over 36.

   Karas made an eagle on the 484-yard, par-5 second hole, added a birdie at the par-5 fourth and had three pars on his card.

   Muego was 3-under through five holes as he made birdies at the first, second and fourth holes and pars at three and five before cooling off to get a share of second place with Karas.

   Ryan Kaye of Lansdale, coming off a victory in a Nine-Hole Series event two days earlier at Phoenixville Country Club, took fourth place with a 40.

   Nolan English of Villanova and Jack Kolmer of Wayne shared fifth place, each recording a 41 and Andrew Herman of Telford and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville finished in a tie for seventh, each signing for a 42.

   Kash Gray of Eagleville took ninth place with a 43, Bennett Cho of Chesterbrook was 10^th with a 46 and Aidan Herbert of New Hope rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished 11^th with a 50.

   Skylar Crutchfield, a 9-year-old from Elkins Park, edged Arianna Testaiuti, an 11-year-old from Newtown Square, by a shot with a 48 in the girls 12-and-under division.

   Crutchfield made a par on the seventh hole and Testaiuti made a par on four to round out a short field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 49.

   A 9-year-old and an 11-year-old breaking 50 on a day when the real-feels were heading for 100 degrees? Pretty strong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaye has a steady round at Phoenixville to earn a Philly Junior Tour victory in a Nine-Hole Series event

 

   Ryan Kaye of Lansdale bested a tough field with a solid 3-over-par 38 as the 12-and-under nine-holers had the stage to themselves in a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour Nine-Hole Series stop at Phoenixville Country Club June 29^th.

   Phoenixville, designed by the same Hugh Wilson whose credits included the iconic East Course at Merion Golf Club, is as tough a nine-hole layout as you can find.

   Kaye had six pars on his scorecard, rattling off three straight pars at the third, fourth and fifth holes to edge Ryan Stefanski of Newtown Square and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr, both of whom finished a shot behind Kaye in a tie for second place with a 4-over 39.

   Stefanski, a 10-year-old, birdied the first hole and had five pars on his card. Muego, who has frequently appeared on the leaderboard in the boys 12-and-under division in 2026, also made a birdie at the first hole and had three pars on his card.

   Hudson Avery of Wayne took fourth place with a 42, Samuel Karas of Blue Bell and Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit shared seventh, each posting a 42, and Nolan English of Villanova and Baylor Keim, another Blue Bell guy, finished in a tie for seventh, each signing for a 43.

   Kash Gray of Eagleville, coming off a share of medalist honors in a Nine-Hole Series event the previous week at Manor Golf Club, finished in ninth place with a 44.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division was Jack Kolmer of Wayne as he finished in 10^th place with a 45.

   Only six shots separated one through 10, a fairly typical outcome among a very competitive group of boys 12-and-under nine-holers.

   Trisha Lobo, the talented 11-year-old from Collegeville, made pars at the first and fifth holes as she finished at the top of the leaderboard among the girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 45.

   Addison Sabatini of West Chester earned runnerup honors with a 50 and Katelyn Cunningham of Havertown made a par on the first hole as she finished in third place with a 53.

   Skylar Crutchfield of Elkins Park took fourth place with a 57 and Sophia Kim of Chester Springs rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as she finished fifth with a 65.

 

 

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