Naseem overcomes harsh conditions at Honeybrook to cruise to a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   The cold-weather gear was required with temperatures in the northwest corner of Chester County barely reaching the 40s and a cruel March wind consistently blowing 20 mph with higher gusts.

   But give the intrepid kids who play the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour credit. They came out in force Saturday at Honeybrook Golf Club and some of them played pretty darn well on a day when just finishing was an accomplishment in itself.

   Take for instance, Taimoor Naseem, a talented 13-year-old from Sinking Spring who had the best round of the day among the guys with a 1-over-par 66 that gave him a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division.

   The 18-hole divisions only played 17 holes as the par-5 fourth hole at Honeybrook remains out of commission. This time last year I guessed that the hole was closed because some kind of offseason renovation wasn’t quite completed.

   I’ve heard since then there is some kind of property dispute with one of Honeybrook’s neighbors that might be making its way through the courts.

   Naseem, seemingly unbothered by the cold and wind, made a birdie on the 16^th hole and had 14 pars on his scorecard, making pars on 10 of the first 12 holes he played.

   Evan Smith of Elkton, Md. and Ryan Agan, a freshman on the Oxford golf team, finished four shots behind Naseem in a tie for second place, each posting a 5-over 70.

   Smith had 13 pars on his card, including eight straight pars to finish out his round. Agan made a birdie at the seventh hole and had 10 pars on his card as he toured the outgoing eight holes in even-par 30.

   Luciano Follo of Newtown Square and Carter Bove, a 12-year-old from Kennett Square, shared fourth place, each signing for a 75, Benjamin Lear of West Chester was sixth with a 76 and Declan Mayo of Chadds Ford and Mason Arnold of Ambler finished in a tie for seventh, each recording a 77.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division were Nolan Sweigart of Lancaster and Charlie Orio of Downingtown as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each tallying a 79.

   Alex Hoskins, a sophomore on the State College golf team, made a road trip from central Pennsylvania pay off with a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division with a 6-over 71.

   Hoskins made birdies on the second and 14^th holes and had eight pars on his scorecard.

   Ian Larsen, a junior on the Downingtown West golf team, and Joey Bilotta, who wrapped up is scholastic career at Boyertown last fall, finished a shot behind Hoskins in a tie for second place, each registering a 7-over 72.

   Larsen was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore in the fall of 2024 when he finished in a tie for second place in the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course, but came up short of a return trip to states last fall. Larsen has always played well in the Philly Junior Tour stop at Honeybrook and had 11 pars on his card this time around.

   Bilotta made a birdie on the third hole and had nine pars on his card.

   Colby Seislove, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Spring-Ford by qualifying for the District One Class AAA Championship last fall, and Pierce Drake, a junior on the Downingtown East golf team, finished in a tie for fourth place, each carding a 73.

   Brady Morris, a junior on the Governor Mifflin golf team, took sixth place with a 74, Jack Yantosh, a junior on the Garnet Valley golf team, was seventh with a 75 and Michael Liu, a Garnet Valley resident whose senior season at Archmere Academy is just getting under way, finished eighth with a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Shane Cornell, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a junior on the Avon Grove golf team last fall, and Joey Gangemi Jr., who wrapped his scholastic career at Downingtown East last fall, as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting an 82.

   The best score among the girls also came out of the younger 13-to-15 division as Noor Mehta, who came up just short of earning a trip to the state tournament as a freshman at Council Rock North last fall, carded a 1-over 66 to earn a Philly Junior Tour victory.

   Mehta made birdies on the 12^th and 17^th holes and had 12 pars on her scorecard. Seven of those pars came on the outgoing eight holes, which Mehta toured in 1-over 31.

   Raegan Young of Middletown and Molly Wagner of Newark, Del. shared second place, each ending up with a 79.

   Young made birdies on the 12^th and 17^th holes and had three pars on her card. Wagner had six pars on her card.

   Alexa Mcelwain of Schnecksville took fourth place with an 80, Olivia Kirmayer, a freshman on the Downingtown East golf team, was fifth with an 81, Allison Choi of Penn Valley was sixth with an 86 and Giuliana Orlando of Cheser Springs was seventh with a 92.

   Sophia Carvalho of Downingtown took eighth place with a 97, Emily Milito of Coatesville was ninth with a 99 and the Malvern pair of Olivia Rosen and Kate Benson, a freshman on the Great Valley golf team, rounded out the field in the 13-to-15 division as Rosen was 10^th with a 109 and Benson was 11^th with a 112.

   Two of the Central League’s top players, Megan Choi, a sophomore at Harriton and another member of Penn Valley’s Team Choi, and Jill Burks, a junior at Conestoga, went 1-2, respectively, in the 16-to-18 division.

   Megan Choi, who has qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons at Harriton, made a birdie at the fifth hole and had 12 pars on her scorecard, grinding out eight straight pars in the difficult conditions to complete her round, as she claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory among the older girls with a 4-over 69.

   Jill Burks earned her third straight trip to states in Class AAA last fall and led the Pioneers to the PIAA Class AAA team crown. She made birdies at the first, 15^th and 17^th holes and had five pars on her card as she finished five shots behind Megan Choi in second place with a 74.

   Emma Gangemi, a sophomore on the Downtown East golf team and a member of Downingtown’s Team Gangemi, had four pars on her card, including three straight pars at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, as she finished in third place with an 87.

   Rounding out the field in the 16-to-18 division was Faridah Ismaila, a sophomore on the Great Valley golf team who finished in fourth place with a 100.

   Brody Rollins of Milton, Del. made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had six pars on his scorecard as he bested the field of boys 12-and-under nine-holers with a solid 1-over 36.

   Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr had seven pars on his card, including four straight pars to close out his round, as he earned runnerup honors with a 2-over 37.

   James Wilson of Wilmington, Del., coming off co-medalist honors in the boys 12-and-under division in a Philly Junior Tour stop at Shore Gate Golf Club at the Jersey Shore, made a birdie on the 12^th hole and had five pars on his card as he took third place with a 3-over 38.

   Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville took fourth place with a 39, Connor Michaels of Lancaster and Andrew DElia of Clarks Summit shared fifth, each signing for a 40, and Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. was seventh with a 44.

   Dino Luccia of North Wales took eighth place with a 45, Nolan Dunkelberger of Nazareth was ninth with a 46 and the pair of Caden Bartra of Yardley and Sid Joshi of Coopersburg rounded out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for 10^th, each recording a 47.

   Tight battle between two talented youngsters as 12-year-old Katelyn Burks, another member of Paoli’s Team Burks, claimed a two-shot victory over 11-year-old Trisha Lobo of Collegeville, with Katelyn Burks besting the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 4-over 39.

   Katelyn Burks had six pars on her scorecard, including a run of fourth straight pars from the 14^th to the 17^th holes.

   Lobo, the reigning Philly Junior Tour Player of the Year in the girls 12-and-under division, had four pars on her card as she earned runnerup honors with a 41.

   Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square had two pars on her card as she finished in third place with a 46.

   Addison Sabatini of West Chester took fourth place with a 52 and the Chester Springs duo of Lauryn Kirby and Sophia Kim rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as they finished in a tie for fifth, each tallying a 55.