Shah, Maletto head list of 2018-'19 Junior Tour award winners

   The Philadelphia Section PGA’s Junior Tour recently named the winners of the Graham Company Player of the Year and Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader awards for the wraparound 2018-2019 season and in the case of the 13-to-15 age group, the boys and girls honorees swept both categories.

   The Graham Company is the title sponsor of the Junior Tour. The Sam Penecale award honors the memory of the longtime Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro who championed junior golf.

   Eli Shah of Newtown Square and Kayla Maletto of Sinking Spring swept to the Player of the Year and Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader awards in the 13-to-15 boys and girls divisions, respectively. Which means they dominated their age groups.

   Shah had four wins in the wraparound season, capping his campaign by sharing medalist honors in the 13-to-15 division in the Junior Tour Championship at Coatesville Country Club. Shah’s 3-over-par 74 at Coatesville left him in a tie for third in the overall 13-to-18 scoring.

   Shah’s scoring average was 76.40. Players must complete 10 rounds to be eligible for the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader award.

   Maletto was solid every time she teed it up, winning eight times. She was particularly impressive when she claimed top honors in the Junior Tour stop at Laurel Creek Country Club with a 1-under 70. Maletto really got it going that day on the front nine at Laurel Creek, rattling off four birdies in a sizzling 4-under 32.

   It was rounds like that that enabled Maletto to finish with a 79.92 scoring average.

   The Graham Company Player of the Year among the 16-to-18 boys was Spring-Ford junior Luke Watson, who had a pair of wins and was part of the Philadelphia Junior Tour team that battled the New Jersey Section Junior Tour stars to a tie in the annual Jon M. Pritsch Cup at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Weyhill Course, the Jersey guys and gals retaining the Cup with the deadlock.

   Watson also had a solid runnerup finish in the Central Counties Junior Championship with a 2-over 74 at Out Door Country Club.

   During the scholastic season, Watson made it to the second day of the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club, but failed to advance to the Class AAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club. Watson had been a regional qualifier as a sophomore.

   The Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader award in the 16-to-18 division went to Devon Prep junior Ryan McCabe, a Media resident.

   McCabe was also on the Philly Junior Tour team that participated in the Pritsch Cup and was the runnerup to Watson in the Player of the Year race. McCabe’s scoring average was a solid 75.61.

   McCabe claimed a victory in a Precision Pro Golf Open event at Hickory Valley Golf Club, opening with a 2-under 69 at the Ambassador Course and adding a 3-over 74 at the Presidential Course for a 1-over 143 total that gave him a dominant seven-shot edge over the rest of the field.

   McCabe made it to the PIAA Class AA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort for the third straight fall, finishing in a tie for third after getting a share of second place as a sophomore in 2018.

   The Graham Company Player of the Year in the girls 16-to-18 division was Esther Park of Wilmington, Del.

   Park had five wins, highlighted by her victory in the Harry Hammond Invitational at Penn Oaks Golf Club. Park defeated Olivia Strigh of Hammonton, N.J. in a playoff after both carded an 84.

   Park was also the runnerup in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship with a solid even-par 71 at Bellewood Country Club. That finish earned her the Philadelphia Junior Tour’s wild-card ticket into the Girls Junior PGA Championship, one of the premier national junior events which was held at the Keney Park Golf Course in Windsor, Conn.

   Park worked her way into the lineup as a freshman at Georgetown in the fall. Over the years, Park has been listed as attending the Charter School of Wilmington and A.I. DuPont. Her roster entry on the Georgetown website lists both, so maybe it’s all the same school.

   The Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader award among the older girls was earned by Isabella McCloskey of Princeton Junction, N.J.

   McCloskey, the runnerup to Park in the Player of the Year race, finished with a scoring average of 87.08. Highlighting her season was a victory in a Precision Pro Golf Open event at Philmont Country Club as she registered rounds of 88 and 89 for a 177 total.

   The Graham Company Player of the Year award in the coed 12-and-under division – the nine-holers --went to Hunter Probst of Bear Creek.

   Probst had seven wins with a low round of 36 at The Club at Morgan Hill. Probst finished in a tie for fourth place in the Philadelphia Junior PGA 12-and-under Championship with an 89 at Flourtown Country Club.

   The Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader award among the nine-holers went to Hank Kancher of Philadelphia, who was the runnerup to Probst in the Player of the Year race.

   Kancher had five wins, all in the 2019 portion of the wraparound season and was the runnerup in the Philadelphia Junior PGA 12-and-under Championship at Flourtown with an 82. Kancher’s scoring average was 42.58.

   The Graham Company Player of the Year and Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader awards represent the best of the best in the 2018-’19 season, but there were no losers on the Junior Tour.

   Everybody got to tee it up at some great golf courses, some of which might normally be unavailable to a junior player. And everybody was a little, or in some cases a lot, better player by August of 2019 than he or she was in August of 2018. And everybody had fun, even though it is golf, which isn’t meant to be fun all the time.

   But, in the final analysis, it’s getting through those bad days that makes you a better player.