Maddaloni, Gimpel are winners in Harry Hammond Invitational at Penn Oaks

    Jake Maddaloni has been one of the top players in the Inter-Ac League the last two seasons, playing a  big role in the second and third of three straight league championships for The Haverford School.

   It being 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s not entirely clear if there will be a high school golf season this fall. Or maybe it will be in the spring. Who knows?

   If there is a fall season, though, it appears Maddaloni, a Newtown Square resident, will be ready. He fired a 3-under-par 68 Monday at Penn Oaks Golf Club, located where Chester County meets Delaware County along Route 202 south of West Chester, to claim a victory in the 16-to-18 division in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Harry Hammond Invitational.

   Maddaloni, who had the third best total in the Inter-Ac’s individual standings during last fall’s six regular-season invitationals, came out of the gate firing, making a birdie on the first hole and adding four more birdies during a strong showing over the challenging par-71 Penn Oaks layout.

   He beat a really strong field of players who came out in the older age group to compete in an event named for the Penn Oaks director of golf Harry Hammond, as strong an advocate that junior golf has had in this area for decades.

   Devon Prep senior Ryan McCabe, who has finished among the top three in the last two playings of the PIAA Class AA Championship, was the runnerup with a solid 1-over 72. McCabe had four birdies on his scorecard, twice going back-to-back during his round.

   Devon Prep is a member of the Philadelphia Catholic League, which announced Monday that it will not conduct sports this fall, leaving open the hope that some sports will be played in the spring.

   Golf will be a likely candidate for a spring season. The rush to cancel fall sports seems to be focused on football, but the Philly Junior Tour has safely conducted tournaments for nearly three months since many of the strictest pandemic restrictions were lifted in early June.

   There is also no guarantee that the PIAA will be able to pull off a spring championship. The high school sports calendar is typically a rush job just with the spring sports. It is always a busy time for seniors and hopefully the Class of 2021 won’t have a repeat of this past spring when the Class of 2020 saw all of the rituals that accompany a senior year disappear one by one.

   I mentioned this when the Philly Junior Tour resumed its tournament schedule in June, but it bears repeating. At least the Philly Junior Tour gave youngsters some competitive opportunities this summer. I’ve had one parent in recent days comment to me that the golf course seems to be one of the safest places you can be in this pandemic.

   Two of the top seven finishers in last fall’s District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club, Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior Dylan Gooneratne, who finished in a tie for second place, and West Chester Rustin junior Ryan D’Ariano, who finished alone in seventh, headed a group of five players who finished in a tie for third in the Harry Hammond at 3-over 74.

   Joining Gooneratne and D’Ariano in the group at 3-over were Evan Barbin, the youngest of the golfing Barbins of Elkton, Md., Jack Davis of Newtown Square and Jake Shmonov of Harrisburg.

   Maddaloni’s Haverford School teammate Kevin Deng, a junior on the Main Line, finished alone in eighth place with a 4-over 75 and Berks Catholic senior Michael Fioravante, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, was a shot behind Deng in ninth with a 76.

   Central Bucks West junior Kevin Lydon, who finished in a tie for fourth place in the district championship at the Turtle last fall, Spring-Ford senior Luke Watson and Kristof Kopecky of Garnet Valley rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they finished in a tie for 10^th, each signing for a 77.

   Sean Surowiec of West Chester topped a short field of two in the 13-to-15 division with an 81 that included 11 pars. Jake Micewski of Broomall was the runnerup with an 89, as he got it going on the back nine with a 6-over 42.

   Mount St. Joseph senior Clare Gimpel, a key contributor to the Mount’s PIAA Class AAA championship team last fall, carded a solid 8-over 79 to cruise to a victory in the girls 16-to-18 division. There was nothing higher than a bogey on Gimpel’s scorecard and her back-nine 39 included just three bogeys.

   Olivia Strigh of Hammonton, N.J. was the runnerup with an 88 and Nimah Narinesingh-Smith of Kennett Square was a shot behind Strigh in third place with an 89.

   Episcopal Academy senior Kathleen Mark, a Media resident, was a shot behind Narinesingh-Smith in fourth place with a 90. The Inter-Ac girls never stopped playing a spring schedule, so maybe Mark, who lost her junior season to the pandemic this past spring, will get a chance to play her senior season next spring.

   Ashley Ea of Perkasie took fifth place with a 93 and Katrina Cabinian of Egg Harbor Township, N.J. rounded out the 16-to-18 field as she finished sixth with a 101.