Another strong showing for McCabe as he earns a Junior Tour win with 73 at Cedarbrook

   Building off a solid freshman campaign in high school during which he won the District One Class AA individual title and led Devon Prep to the Class AA team crown, Ryan McCabe of Media has had a very strong summer on the links.

   McCabe’s latest success came at the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s stop Monday at Cedarbrook Country Club in Blue Bell where he captured top honors in the 13-to-15 division with the best round of the day with a 1-over-par 73.

   McCabe birdied the 13^th hole while going even-par on the back nine of the 6,557-yard, par-72 Cedarbrook layout. Kyle Resuta of Phoenixville was the runnerup, finishing a shot behind McCabe with a 2-over 74.

   Christopher Buysse, a Malvern Prep sophomore from Paoli, finished third with a 75 and the trio of Scott Hughes of Ambler, Darren Nolan of Glenside and Luke Kelly of Wayne shared fourth place, each posting a 77.

   Rounding out the top 10 were four players tied for seventh at 78, including Corey Haydu of Doylestown, Christian Matt of Springhouse, Mario Ventresca III of Blue Bell and Jack Davis of Newtown Square.

   Ryan Firman of Glenside opened his round with four straight pars on his way to a 3-over 75 that gave him top honors in the 16-to-18 division. Damon Spatacco of West Chester and Jack Cooley of Chadds Ford shared second place, each posting a 76 to finish a shot behind Firman.

   Daniel Wei of Hockessin, Del., Ryan D’Ariano of West Chester and Tyler Teague of Paoli finished tied for fourth as each carded a 78.

   Rounding out the top 10 were four players tied for seventh at 79, including Joshua Smith of Harleysville, Haverford School sophomore Edward Trumphour, Nick Martin of Audubon and Jerry Haftmann of Springfield.

   The low round of the day on the girls side also came out of the 13-to-15 division as Olivia Strigh of Hammonton, N.J. carded an 80 to claim the victory. Clare Gimpel, who was a PIAA Class AAA East Regional qualifier as a freshman at Mount St. Joseph last fall, and Stefanie Bonini of Bryn Mawr finished tied for second, each carding an 83.

   Julia Li of Hockessin, Del. and Abigail Lynn of Furlong finished tied for fourth, each posting an 84, Stefania Fedun of Glenmoore was sixth with an 86 and Serena Bagga of Blue Bell was seventh with an 87.

   Emma Schotsch, a sophomore at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, took eighth with an 89 and Caroline Gola of North Wales and Niosha Parvizi of Gladwyne rounded out the top 10 as they finished tied for ninth at 91.

   Isabella McCloskey of Princeton Junction, N.J. topped the 16-to-18 division with an 87. Liv Juliana of Malvern was the runnerup with an 88 and Josie Genuardi of Kulpsville took third with a 92.

Michael Maslanka of Taylor finished up with four straight pars as he bested the field of nine-holers with a solid 2-over 38. Daniel Shin of Horsham was the runnerup with a 40.

   George Deming of Philadelphia and Ethan Martin of North Wales finished tied for third with a 41, another member of Blue Bell’s Team Bagga, Ajeet Bagga, was fifth with a 44, and Rhianna Gooneratne of Plymouth Meeting was sixth with a 46.

   Kayley Roberts of Phoenixville finished seventh with a 47, Brendan Burke of Churchville was eighth with a 51, another member of Blue Bell’s Team Bagga, Kiran Bagga, was ninth with a 53 and another member of Phoenixville’s Team Roberts, Kate Roberts, rounded out the top 10, taking 10^th with a 54.

Mulhern takes road trip to Scotland Run and claims Junior Tour victory

   With two Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour options to choose from Monday, most of the South Jersey youngsters stayed home and played at Scotland Run Golf Club.

   Keller Mulhern of Exton, though, took the ride across the bridge to Williamstown, N.J. and ended up with the best round of the day. His 4-over-par 75 over the 6,315-yard, par-71 Scotland Run layout earned him the top spot in the 13-to-15 division.

   Mulhern had birdies at the first and 15^th holes that helped him edge Jack Tarzy of Medford, N.J. by a shot. Tarzy posted a solid 5-over 76 to earn runnerup honors.

   Jack Ross of Medford Lakes, N.J. finished third with an 81, Ryan Garvey of Media was fourth with an 83, Kristof Kopecky of Garnet Valley was fifth with an 85 and Rishi Khanna of Bryn Mawr placed sixth with an 87.

   Jackson Reid, another Bryn Mawr entry, finished seventh with an 89, Drew Clark of Kennett Square was eighth with a 94, Chase Cristella of Mt. Laurel, N.J. was ninth with a 95 and James DiDomenico of Downingtown rounded out the top 10, taking 10^th with a 96.

   A couple of Williamstown guys playing close to home finished 1-2 in the 16-to-18 division as Liam Caspar claimed the victory with a solid 6-over 77 and Tyler Geatens was the runnerup with an 81, his career low round.

   Caspar had birdies on the sixth and 18^th holes in posting just one of three sub-80 scores recorded on the tough Scotland Run layout.

   Simon Miller of Cherry Hill, N.J. and Benjamin Griffaton of Pottstown finished tied for third, each carding an 83 and the trio of Noah Petracci of Atco, N.J., Carl Michael Lim of Franklinville, N.J. and Noah Greenspun of Cherry Hill, N.J. shared fifth place, each signing for an 84.

   Christian Sarian of Malvern finished eighth with an 85, Jeffrey Reilly Jr. of West Creek, N.J. was ninth with an 88 and Sean Caspar, another entry from Team Caspar of Williamstown, N.J., rounded out the top 10, placing 10^th with a 93.

   Hank Kancher of Philadelphia made pars on three of his last four holes to card a 7-over 42 that bested the field of nine-holers. Ethan Legarda of Voorhees, N.J. was the runnerup with a 47.

   Another member of Bryn Mawr’s Team Khanna, Rajan Kahanna, finished third with a 51, Savannah Thompson of  Seaville, N.J. was fourth with a 52, Connor Foley of Riverton, N.J. was fifth with a 55 and Emily Mayo of Boothwyn was sixth with a 60.

Latrobe's Pevarnik finishes with a flourish to grab lead after opening round of Pennsylvania Amateur

   The winner of the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship each of the last two years has been a member of the Penn State golf team.

   Two years ago at Moselem Springs Golf Club it was Cole Miller, the former Northwestern Lehigh standout who went to have one of the great seasons in the history of the Penn State program the following season.

   Last year at White Manor Country Club it was J.D. Hughes of Carlisle Country Club winning the state amateur and then helping the Nittany Lions earn an NCAA Regional berth for the second year in a row in the season that followed.

   The 105^th Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) Amateur Championship, presented by LECOM, teed off Monday at Sunnehanna Country Club, an A.W. Tillinghast classic in Johnstown that is home to the annual Sunnehanna Amateur, one of the premier stops on the national summer circuit for amateur golfers.

   Latrobe senior Brady Pevarnik of Hannastown Golf Club holed out his approach shot on the par-4 18^th hole for an eagle that capped a sparkling 5-under-par 65 and gave him a one-shot lead over Hughes after Monday’s opening round. Pevarnik still has a year of high school left, but he has committed to Penn State, so if he can hold on and win, it would keep the state amateur title in the Penn State family.

   Pevarnik, who finished tied for third in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a sophomore in the fall of 2016, had a steady start to his round Monday, bracketing seven pars on the front nine with birdies at the first and ninth holes.

   Birdies at the 11^th and 15^th holes got him to 4-under for the round before the lone blemish on his card, a bogey at 16, dropped him back to 3-under. But then came the explosive finish, his hole-out for eagle giving him his 5-under total.

   Pevarnik has some talented players breathing down his neck in the 54-hole event. Round 2 tees off Tuesday.

   Chief among them is Hughes, who made six birdies against a pair of bogeys in fashioning a 4-under 66. A successful defense by Hughes at Sunnehanna would, obviously, color the state amateur Nittany Blue for a third straight summer as well. Penn State coach Greg Nye likes what he’s seeing at the top of the leaderboard at the end of Round 1.

   Hughes capped a solid junior season at Penn State with an 18^th-place finish in the Columbus Regional at The Ohio State University’s tough Scarlet Course as the Nittany Lions finished a frustrating five shots short of making a return trip to the NCAA Championship.

   Alone in third place is Nemacolin Country Club’s Connor Schmidt, who has been a fixture in Ben Feld’s Drexel lineup in his first two seasons with the Dragons. Schmidt, a senior on the Peters Township team that was the runnerup to Radnor in the PIAA Class AAA team competition in 2015, carded a solid 3-under 67.

   Joe Parrini, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Central York in a scholastic career that wrapped up last fall, headed a group of four players tied for fourth at 2-under 68. Parrini is headed for Arizona and the powerhouse Pac-12 Conference at the end of the summer.

   Also at 2-under is Andy Butler, who was one of Jim Wilkes’ steadiest players in his final two years at Villanova. Butler wrapped his career on the Main Line this spring. Butler, who plays out of the Pittsburgh Field Club, was part of a powerhouse Manheim Township group earlier this decade. He was a junior on Manheim Township’s 2012 PIAA Class AAA championship team.

   One the few names on the leaderboard from the southeastern part of the state is White Manor’s Cole Berger, a sophomore at Lafayette who is also in the group at 2-under. Rounding out the foursome tied for fourth is Daniel Thompson, playing out of nearby Windber Country Club.

   Lurking in a group of seven players tied for eighth at 1-under 69 are two of the state’s outstanding veteran amateurs, Nathan Smith of Pinecrest Country Club and Sean Knapp, playing as a PAGA individual member.

   Smith won his sixth R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship, presented by LECOM, last month at Schuylkill Country Club. He has won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship four times and represented the United States three times in the Walker Cup Match, two of them wins for the Stars & Stripes, including the 2009 edition at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. He won the Sunnehanna Amateur on this golf course in 2011.

   His buddy Knapp joined Smith as a USGA champion last summer when he captured the U.S. Senior Amateur championship at the Minikahda Club in Minneapolis, crediting his success in the match-play event to all the times he’s butted heads with Smith, the match-play master.

   The remaining five players joining Smith and Knapp at 1-under include veteran western Pennsylvania campaigners Darin Kowalski of South Hills Country Club, Mitch Mercer of Shannopin Country Club, St. Clair Country Club’s David Brown, winner of the 2017 PAGA Senior Amateur Match Play Championship, and Derek Baker of Waynesboro Country Club as well as Tanner Grzegorczyk, a recent Shaler graduate who will join the program at the University of Findlay later this summer.