Henry sizzles in the heat at Skippack to claim a Philly Junior Tour victory

 

   Declan Henry, a junior on the Souderton golf team, was nearly as hot as the weather as he carded a sizzling 3-under-par 67 at Skippack Golf Club in Evansburg State Park in northwestern Montgomery County to claim a Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour victory in the 16-to-18 division July 1^st.

   It didn’t quite reach an actual temperature of 100 that day, but the junior golfers were certainly dealing with triple-digit real-feels. It was hot.

   None of which seemed to bother Henry, who ripped off birdies at the second, fourth and eighth holes while touring the outgoing nine at Skippack in 2-under 33. Henry added birdies at 12 and 17 on the incoming nine and had 11 pars on his scorecard.

   Joey Bilotta, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Boyertown last fall, made birdies on the fourth and 10^th holes and had 13 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from 11 through 14 as he earned runnerup honors with a 1-over 71.

   Chase Andrews, Henry’s teammate at Souderton, and Harry Traynor, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Great Valley last fall, finished in a tie for third place, each signing for a 3-over 73.

   Andrews, a District One Class AAA qualifier for the Big Red as a junior last fall, made a birdie at the second hole and had 13 pars on his card, including a run of seven straight pars from eight through 14.

   Traynor made birdies at the second, seventh and 11^th holes and had nine pars on his card.

   Onyu Park, a Blue Bell resident and a junior on the Germantown Academy golf team, and Braydon Dolan, a junior on the Springfield golf team, shared fifth place, each tallying a 74, and William Thorkleson, a Bryn Mawr resident and a sophomore on the golf team at The Haverford School, and Trey Barkman of West Chester finished in a tie seventh place, each recording a 75.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Frank Kunze, a junior on the Garnet Valley golf team, and Nicholas Milone of Bryn Mawr as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each posting a 77.

   Kunze had a nice showing in one of the bigger events on the Philly Junior Tour schedule in June as he lost in a playoff for the overall title in a two-day, Junior Golf Scoreboard tournament at Turtle Creek Golf Course.

   Helmut Dang, a talented 13-year-old from Newtown Square, made birdies at the fourth and 10^th holes and had 13 pars on his scorecard, including six straight pars to finish out his round, as he claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory in the 13-to-15 division with a solid 1-over 71.

   James Park, a sophomore on the Central Bucks West golf team, Preston Minio of Lansdale and Kaycen Subbio of Blue Bell shared runnerup honors as each finished a shot behind Dang with a 2-over 72.

   Park started each nine with a birdie as he made birdies at the first and 10^th holes and had 12 pars on his card, including six straight pars on his way to the clubhouse.

   Minio had a closing birdie barrage with birdies at the 14^th, 16^th and 17^th holes and had 11 pars on his card, including a string of four straight pars from seven to 10.

   Subbio made birdies at the fourth, eighth and 14^th holes and had 11 pars on his card.

   Sam Nelligan, an incoming freshman at Boyertown, finished alone in fifth place with a 3-over 73. Nelligan had claimed a Philly Junior Tour victory a week earlier at Berkleigh Golf Club.

   Declan Mayo of Chadds Ford and Jonathan Thomas of Landenberg finished in a tie for sixth place, each recording a 79. Thomas had earned a Philly Junior Tour victory eight days earlier at Inniscrone Golf Club.

   Bryce Moyer of Bryn Mawr took eighth place with an 80 and Charlie Murray of Berwyn and another Souderton standout in Daniel Ross, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier for the Big Red as a freshman last fall, rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division, each registering an 81.

   Corinne McReynolds, who helped Conestoga capture the PIAA Class AAA team crown as a junior last fall, had the best score among the girls as she carded a solid 7-over 77 to finish in first place in the 16-to-18 division.

   McReynolds made back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes and had eight pars on her scorecard, including three straight pars to close out her round.

   McReynolds, playing out of Whitford Country Club, was coming off a tie for 26^th place in the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship, a 54-hole test that wrapped up at Lebanon Country Club a day before the Philly Junior Tour stop at Skippack.

   Kallista Spence of Phoenixville finished up her round with a birdie at Skippack’s par-3 18^th hole and made a par at five as she earned runnerup honors with a 99.

   Faridah Ismaila, a junior on the Great Valley golf team, made pars on the fourth and 18^th holes as she took third place with a 108 and Erin Urbanski, a West Chester resident and a junior on the Villa Maria Academy golf team, rounded out the field in the 16-to-18 division as she finished fourth with a 114.

   Stella Varano of Schwenksville had four pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 90.

   Molly Wagner, a Newark, Del. resident and a junior on the St. Mark’s golf team, and Lila Collingwood, a Collegeville resident and a sophomore on the Villa Maria Academy golf team, shared runnerup honors as each tallied a 93.

   Wagner had five pars on her card, putting together three straight pars at the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes.

   Kate Benson, a sophomore on the Great Valley golf team, took fourth place with a 97, Hridya Shah of Downingtown was fifth with a 101, Natalie Soporowski of Nazareth was sixth with a 102 and Gian Patel of Malvern, Texas was seventh with a 108.

   Rounding out the field in the 13-to-15 division was Benson’s Great Valley teammate Olivia Rosen, a junior, as she finished in eighth place with a 128.

   It was still three days before the Fourth of July, but there were some serious fireworks among the boys 12-and-under nine-holers.

   Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del. bested the field with a 1-under 34 on the strength of a spectacular double eagle, an albatross, on the 432-yard, par-5 fourth hole. He also had six pars on his scorecard, finishing out his round with five straight pars.

   Samuel Karas of Blue Bell and Niko Muego of Bryn Mawr finished in a tie for second place, two shots behind Wang at 1-over 36.

   Karas made an eagle on the 484-yard, par-5 second hole, added a birdie at the par-5 fourth and had three pars on his card.

   Muego was 3-under through five holes as he made birdies at the first, second and fourth holes and pars at three and five before cooling off to get a share of second place with Karas.

   Ryan Kaye of Lansdale, coming off a victory in a Nine-Hole Series event two days earlier at Phoenixville Country Club, took fourth place with a 40.

   Nolan English of Villanova and Jack Kolmer of Wayne shared fifth place, each recording a 41 and Andrew Herman of Telford and Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville finished in a tie for seventh, each signing for a 42.

   Kash Gray of Eagleville took ninth place with a 43, Bennett Cho of Chesterbrook was 10^th with a 46 and Aidan Herbert of New Hope rounded out the field in the boys 12-and-under division as he finished 11^th with a 50.

   Skylar Crutchfield, a 9-year-old from Elkins Park, edged Arianna Testaiuti, an 11-year-old from Newtown Square, by a shot with a 48 in the girls 12-and-under division.

   Crutchfield made a par on the seventh hole and Testaiuti made a par on four to round out a short field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 49.

   A 9-year-old and an 11-year-old breaking 50 on a day when the real-feels were heading for 100 degrees? Pretty strong.