Chris Parrish, a senior at Kingsway, and Henry Sokol, a freshman at Harriton, headlined a group of six Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour players who earned Player of the Year honors in their respective divisions for the 2025 season.
Parrish, with four wins in 21 starts, piled up 1,555.66 points to capture Player of the Year honors in the 16-to-18 division.
Henry Sokol, with eight wins in 28 starts, had 2,149.5 points to claim Player of the Year honors in the 13-to-15 division for the second straight year.
The winners of Player of the Year honors and the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award were honored in the Philly Junior Tour’s end-of-year awards banquet earlier this week at Fairways and Dreams Indoor Golf in Conshohocken.
Parrish mostly targeted the Philly Junior Tour events in South Jersey and Delaware and had bookend wins in March at The Shore Club and in November at Cape May National Golf Club. In between, he was at or near the top of the leaderboard nearly every time he teed it up.
The high school season in New Jersey is still to come in the spring, so Parrish still has more scholastic season left. He was one of the state’s top high school players in the spring of 2025.
Parrish also picked up a big win in the summer when he defeated Unionville’s Charlie Barrickman in a playoff to capture the title in the Delaware Junior Boys’ Championship.
The tournament proper was conducted at Kings Creek Country Club, but severe weather made it impossible to crown a champion at the end of the day. It was nine days later when Parrish drained a 10-foot par putt at the 10th hole at DuPont Country Club’s Nemours Course to claim the title.
Jack Ferm, a junior at Garnet Valley, was the runnerup in the 16-to-18 division Player of the Year race as he had two wins in 27 starts for 875.5 points. Ferm qualified for the District One Class AAA Championship this fall by finishing in a tie for 10th place in the always competitive Central League Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course.
Thomas Carpenter, a junior on the Holy Ghost golf team in the fall and a Bristol resident, had three wins in 11 starts as he finished in third place in the 16-to-18 division with 840.5 points. Carpenter was a District One Class AAA qualifier for the Firebirds this fall.
Andrew Brendlinger, who capped his scholastic career at Perkiomen Valley this fall by earning a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State, finished in fourth place in the 16-to-18 Player of the Year standings as he had four wins in just seven starts, piling up 801.5 points.
David Burmeister of Coopersburg rounded out the top five in the 16-to-18 division as he had one win in seven starts for 747 points.
Burmeister played at Southern Lehigh as a junior in 2024, but didn’t see him on the roster this fall. Looks like he will join the program at New Haven at the end of next summer.
Burmeister was the winner of the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award for the 16-to-18 division with a solid 75.0 average.
The Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award is named for the long-time Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro who was a big supporter of junior golf.
Henry Sokol had eight wins in 28 starts and had 2,149.25 points to repeat as the Player of the Year in the 13-to-15 division.
One of those wins he shared with his twin brother Jack Sokol at the Olde Homestead Golf Club in New Tripoli. That was Jack Sokol’s only win in 28 starts and he finished in eighth place in the Player of the Year standings with 846.25 points.
Henry Sokol earned a trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship by finishing in a tie for 15th place at the District One Tournament at Turtle Creek. It is not easy to make it to states as a freshman.
Jack Sokol survived a playoff at the Central League Championship to punch his ticket to the District One Class AAA Championship.
The runnerup to Henry Sokol in the Player of the Year standings in the 13-to-15 division was Trebor Melendez, a talented Class of 2030 competitor from Vineland, N.J.
Sticking mostly to the South Jersey events, Melendez teed it up in 12 Philly Junior Tour tournaments and won half of those starts, six victories, for 1,333.5 points.
William Thorkelson, a freshman on The Haverford School roster this fall and a Bryn Mawr resident, had five wins in 26 starts as he finished in third place among the younger guys with 1,253.5 points.
Logan Turner, a PIAA Class AA qualifier as a freshman at Devon Prep this fall and a Berwyn resident, had 11 starts and won six times as he finished in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division with1,228.5 points.
Turner really got it going on the Philly Junior Tour in late July, ripping off three straight wins at The Bucks Club in Jamison, the Rancocas Golf Club in Willingboro, N.J. and Berkleigh Golf Club in Kutztown, getting it in in red figures in all three rounds.
Turner finished in a tie for 15th place in his debut in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State’s Blue Course and helped the Tide finish in third place in the state Class AA team chase.
Turner was the winner of the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award with a sparkling average of 73.38. Looks like it was the lowest scoring average in the 13-to-15 division since the 72.83 put up 10 years ago by Austin Barbin of Elkton, Md., winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur in 2024 at Whitemarsh Valley.
Owen Ciesielka, a freshman at Malvern Prep and a West Chester resident, rounded out the top five in the Player of the Year standings in the 13-to-15 division as he had three wins in 21 starts for 1,032 points.
There was no more competitive division on the Philly Junior Tour in 2025 than the boys 12-and-under nine-holers.
And Damien Dollard, a Class of ’32 entry from Cinnaminson, N.J., claimed a hard-earned Player of the Year honor.
And he won it mostly by just playing more than anybody else. Dollard teed it up a whopping 51 times in Philly Junior Tour events, winning 16 times while piling up 2,162.42 points.
Perhaps sensing that the Player of the Year race was tight, Dollard made a furious closing kick, playing a lot and playing well when the fall schedule shifted to the weekends.
Helmut Dang, a Class of ’31 guy from Newtown Square, had 31 starts and won 12 times as he was the runnerup among the nine-holers with 1,909.84 points.
A couple of Bryn Mawr guys, Niko Muego, a Class of ’32 competitor, and Jack Gilbert, a Class of ’31 entry, finished in third and fourth place, respectively, in the 12-and-under Player of the Year race.
Muego made 35 starts and won nine times while piling up 1,381.5 points. Gilbert, the son of Gulph Mills Golf Club head pro Tom Gilbert, made 26 starts and won eight times for 1,322.17 points.
Jonathan Thomas, a Class of ’31 entry from Landenberg, rounded out the top five in the Player of the Year standings as he teed it up 30 times in Philly Junior Tour events and won five times for 896.5 points.
Preston Minio of Lansdale played in 11 events and won seven times for 852.83 points as he finished in sixth place in the Player of the Year standings.
And it was Minio who claimed the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award for the boys 12-and-under division with a sparkling 37.2 average, the lowest average ever for a 12-and-under nine-holer.
Exeter junior Giulia Weisser, who made her third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship at Penn State’s Whie Course this fall, was the Player of the Year in the girls 16-to-18 division.
Weisser made five Philly Junior Tour starts and won once while piling up 317 points.
Weisser finished in a tie for eighth place in her third trip to the state tournament at Penn State in October.
Weisser also claimed the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award in the 16-to-18 division with a 75.86 average. It was the lowest scoring average among the older girls since the 75.2 put up by Morgan Frazier a decade ago. Frazier went on to star on the golf team at Navy.
Nicole Tarquinio of Bridgeton, N.J. was the runnerup in the 16-to-18 division as she made 21 starts and had 10 wins to finish close behind Weisser with 313 points.
Anna Firko, a senior at Concord High and a Wilmington, Del. resident, finished in third place in the 16-to-18 division as she teed it up seven times on the Philly Junior Tour and won twice while ending up with 284 points.
Like New Jersey, Delaware’s scholastic golf season is in the spring and Firko’s senior season still has to play out. She finished in eighth place in last spring’s Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association (DIAA) Championship at St. Anne’s Golf Links in Middletown, Del.
Kayley Roberts, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Phoenixville this fall, only teed it up twice on the Philly Junior Tour in 2025, but in keeping with the bustout year she had, she won both.
One of those wins came in the Junior Tour Championship at Chester Valley Golf Club.
Roberts finished in fourth place in the Player of the Year standings in the 16-to-18 division with 253 points.
Roberts’ victory at Chester Valley came on the heels of a couple of forays on the national stage as she teed it up in both the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club and in the Girls Junior PGA Championship at Purdue’s Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind.
Roberts was a runaway nine-shot winner in the District One Class AAA Championship at what has become her home course at Turtle Creek before closing out her scholastic career with a fourth top-four finish in four trips to the state tournament.
Kayley Roberts will join her older sister Kate on the Delaware women’s golf team at the end of next summer.
Meredith Finger, a senior at Archmere Academy and a Wilmington, Del. resident, had four starts on the Philly Junior Tour and won twice as she finished in fifth place in the Player of the Year standings with 179 points.
Finger will finish out her scholastic career in the spring. She finished in fourth place among the girls in the DIAA Championship at St. Anne’s last spring and led the Auks to the state team crown.
Finger will join the program at Bradley in the Missouri Valley Conference at the end of next summer.
Maddie Koshko, who capped her outstanding scholastic career at the St. Joseph Catholic Academy by repeating as the PIAA Class AA champion this fall, finished in sixth place in the Player of the Year standings as she had two starts and won one of them while piling up 174 points.
Koshko, a State College resident, is staying home and joining head coach Kristen Simpson’s program at Penn State next summer.
Savannah Laverty, a junior at Moorestown High in South Jersey, only teed it up twice on the Philly Junior Tour and won once, but it was a big one as she captured the title in the Girls Summer Championship at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club.
Laverty finished right behind Koshko in seventh place in the Player of the Year standings with 171 points.
Laverty helped Moorestown capture the team crown in Group B in last spring’s New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship’s Tournament of Champions at Raritan Valley Country Club.
It was a bustout year on the Philly Junior Tour for Madison Cabot a Class of ’29 competitor from Newtown, who was the Player of the Year in the girls 13-to-15 division, and for the runnerup, Valerie Danby, a Class of ’31 phenom from Avondale.
Cabot made 17 Philly Junior Tour starts and won 12 times while compiling 510.5 points.
Danby teed it up in eight Philly Junior Tour events and had six wins for 327 points.
Danby and Chloe Donohue, a freshman at Moorestown High, shared the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award among the younger girls as each finished with an average of 78.0, the lowest ever recorded in the 13-to-15 division.
Danby took a road trip in early November to Kinder, La. to compete in the girls 10-11 division in the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship.
Danby finished in a tie for 11th place, closing with a 2-under-par 70 at the Coushatta Casino Resort’s Kosati Pines Course for a 5-over 221 total in the 54-hole event.
Gabrielle Kim, a Class of ’29 entry from Ambler, finished in third place in the Player of the Year chase among the younger girls as she made 14 starts and had six wins for 265 points.
Vivienne Powers, who finished in 18th place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship to cap her junior season at York Suburban this fall, finished in fourth place in the 13-to-15 division as she made three starts and ended up with 202.5 points.
In addition to getting a share of the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award, Moorestown’s Donohue finished in fifth place in the Player of the Year chase in the 13-to-15 division as she teed it up in three Philly Junior Tour events, winning once and pilling up 177.5 points.
It was a tight race for Player of the Year honors among the girls 12-and-under nine-holers as Trisha Lobo, a Class of ’33 phenom from Collegeville, edged Mia DeCarlo, a Class of ’31 entry from Glen Mills, for the top honor.
Lobo made 17 Philly Junior Tour starts and won 13 times while piling up 399.5 points to earn Player of the Year honors.
DeCarlo was right on Lobo’s heels, teeing it up in 11 events and winning nine times as she finished with 361 points.
DeCarlo won the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award with a 42.67 average. It was the first year that that girls 12-and-under nine-holers had a division of their own – the boys and girls always competed in the coed 12-and-under division – so DeCarlo’s average sets the bar for the girls that follow.
Emilie Davoli, a Class of ’32 entry from Ambler, finished in third place in the Player of the Year race in the 12-and-under division as she made 12 starts and won half of them, six victories, for 311.5 points.
That’s a pretty talented trio of youngsters at the top of the final Player of the Year standings in the girls 12-and-under division.
Evelyn Brillman, another Class of ’32 competitor from Elkins Park, finished in fourth place among the 12-and-under nine-holers as she teed it up in 12 Philly Junior Tour events, winning four of them while piling up 204.67 points.
Katelyn Burks, another Class of ’32 competitor from Paoli, rounded out the top five in the Player of the Year chase as she made five starts and won twice for 135.67 points that left her in fifth place.
Eleanor Brillman, a Class of ’30 entry from Elkins Park – an older sister of Evelyn’s, perhaps – finished in sixth place in the 12-and-under division as she made 12 starts and won once for 50.67 points.
The post rounding up the Player of the Year winners is always a good opportunity to give a shout-out to the parents, especially of the younger kids, who put some serious miles on the odometer getting these youngsters to their appointed rounds. Damien Dollard didn’t drive himself to 51 tournaments in 2025. Just sayin’.
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