Thomas, Gross head Junior Tour's season-long award winners

   You want to talk about two youngsters who used the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour as a launching pad to remarkable improvement in their golf games, look no further than a couple of Chester County guys, Upland Country Day School eighth-grader Win Thomas of Unionville and Downingtown’s Nicholas Gross.

   The Junior Tour handed out its awards Saturday for the Graham Company Player of the Year and for the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leaders for the 2017-’18 season in boys and girls age groups.

   Thomas swept both awards in the 13-to-15 division and Gross did the same among the coed 12-and-under nine-holers. The pair capped their outstanding 2018 campaigns by representing the Philadelphia Section PGA as members of the Region 2 champion Delaware 1 team at last month’s 7^th PGA Junior League Championship, presented by National Car Rental, at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Delaware 1 team was based at Hartefeld National Golf Club in New Garden, Chester County.

   The Graham Company is the title sponsor of the Junior Tour, which is doing a terrific job of giving young golfers a chance to test their games at tournaments all over the tri-state region. If you report the results of every event, as I do, you can watch the improvement happen right before your eyes.

   The award to the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leaders is named for the longtime Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro who, like so many of his Philadelphia Section PGA professionals past and present, relentlessly promoted junior golf.

   Thomas won eight times and prevailed in a three-man playoff to capture the overall title in the Junior Tour Championship after carding a 6-over-par 77 at Old York Road Country Club.

   He also was a member of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour team in the Pritsch Cup matches against top players from the New Jersey Section PGA Junior Tour at Essex Falls Country Club. The Jersey kids pulled out a 10-8 victory.

   Thomas was the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader for the 13-to-15 division with a sparkling 76.65 average.

   Gross got his 2018 started at Augusta National Golf Club, where he finished third in the Boys 10-11 age group in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals the Sunday of Masters week.

   He very simply dominated the nine-holers in 2017-’18 with an astounding 20 wins among a coed 12-and-under group that is really competitive. Gross was the Junior Tour Championship winner in the division with an even-par 35 at Old York Road Country Club.

   Gross was the division’s Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader with a 38.04 average.

   The girls 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions also saw two players sweep both the Graham Company Player of the Year honor and the award for the Sam Penecale Scoring Leader.

   Among the older girls it was Christina Carroll of Bear, Del. who piled up six victories. Also a member of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Pritsch Cup entry, Carroll has never finished outside the top 10 in a Junior Tour event.

   Carroll’s solid average of 84.0 earned her the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader award.

   Angelina Tolentino of Mount Laurel, N.J. was even more dominant in the 13-to-15 division. Tolentino won’t graduate high school until 2024, but she won nine times competing mostly among girls older than she is.

   She joined Carroll on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour team competing for the Pritsch Cup. Tolentino finished tied for eighth overall with a 36-hole total of 153 in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at Riverton Country Club.

   Tolentino was also the 13-to-15 Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader with an 81.38 average.

   The Graham Company Player of the Year in the boys 16-to-18 division was Cole Shew, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior at West Chester East this fall.

   Shew won five times and was a member of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour team vying for the Pritsch Cup.

   Shew finished in a three-way tie for second in the Philadelphia Boys Junior PGA Championship with a solid 4-over 144 at The Springhaven Club. Central Bucks West senior Luca Jezzeny and Garrett Engle of Harrisburg matched Jezzeny’s total with the Philadelphia Section PGA’s second and final berth to the Boys Junior PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. on the line.

   Not sure if there was a playoff to break the tie, but the trip to one of the top national junior events in the country went to Jezzeny.

   The Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader for the second straight year among the older guys was Caleb Ryan of Norristown, who had five wins and a 75.80 average, a testament to his consistency.

Ryan is home-schooled by Commonwealth Connections Academy, but represents Norristown High in scholastic competition. He capped his outstanding high school career by reaching the PIAA Class AAA Championship for the third straight year, finishing tied for sixth this fall in his final crack at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.

   During his high school career, Ryan, as his back-to-back Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader awards on the Junior Tour indicate, was a consistently good player. Ryan is also quite capable of going low as he posted three rounds in the 60s with a season low of 68 on the Junior Tour.