I’ve got a lot of catching up to do when it comes to reporting on the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour events. Just couldn’t stay away from the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, where I watched some Philly Junior Tour stars from the past teeing it up in the most important amateur event in golf. Proves it’s OK for you Philly Junior Tour kids of 2026 to dream big. You just never know. I’m skipping ahead to the Junior Tour Championship, but I have every intention of reporting on all the Philly Junior Tour events from late July and into August. High school golf has already started and the players getting off to hot starts probably have the Philly Junior Tour events they played in to thank for enabling them to hit the ground running …
Cole Powell, the PIAA Class AA champion as a sophomore at Scranton Prep last fall, blitzed Chester Valley Golf Club, a classic layout in East Whiteland, Chester County, with a dazzling 4-under-par 66 to capture the boys overall title in the 48th Junior Tour Championship Aug. 10th.
That was the same day that the U.S. Amateur teed off at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and Philadelphia Country Club in the opening round of qualifying for match play.
Play at the U.S. Amateur was suspended late in the day and the opening round had to be completed the next morning.
That stormy weather limited the girls divisions to nine holes and the boys and girls 12-and-under nine-holers were only able to get in six holes.
Valerie Danby, the talented 12-year-old from Avondale, defeated Harriton junior Megan Choi, who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons of high school golf, in a playoff for the overall girls title after they each finished with a 2-over 37 over Chester Valley’s outgoing nine.
Pretty sure, the Junior Tour Championship is a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) event, offering points to the top finishers that can earn them status on some of the higher-profile junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).
The JGS points go to top finishers in the 13-to-18 age group. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 13-to-15 and 16-to-18 divisions, so I’ll wrap them up while referring to the overall scoring.
Powell, who has also led Scranton Prep to its second straight PIAA Class AA team crown, was just too good at Chester Valley, once the home of a stop on the PGA Senior Tour (known these days as the PGA Tour Champions).
Powell got out of the gate with back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes and another at six while touring the outgoing nine at Chester Valley in 3-under 32.
Powell also made birdies at the 13th and 18th holes and had 12 pars on his scorecard, including a pair of strings of four straight pars from seven through 10 and again from 14 through 17.
His 66 left Powell at the top of the leaderboard in the overall scoring and in the 16-to-18 division and, as it turned out, all of the top-10 finishers in the overall scoring came out of the group of older guys.
Declan Conner, a senior on the Ridley golf team, and Carson Will, a senior on the Cumberland Valley golf team, shared second place in the 16-to-18 division as each ended up in red figures with a 1-under 69 that left them three shots behind Powell.
It’s been a big summer for Conner, who qualified for two of the biggest events in junior golf, teeing it up in the Boys Junior PGA Championship at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas and in the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Saucon Valley Country Club.
Conner made birdies at the first, fourth, 11th, 14th and 17th holes and had nine pars on his card.
Will, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier a year ago, made an early birdie at the second hole and then finished off his round with consecutive birdies at 16, 17 and 18. He had 11 pars on his card, including a run of eight straight pars from the third through the 10th holes.
Ravi Gohel of Mount Laurel, N.J. took fourth place among the older guys with a 1-over 71 and the trio of Quinn Gallagher, a Bryn Mawr resident and a senior on the golf team at The Haverford School, Wissahickon senior Ty Sheftic, a District One Class AAA qualifier a year ago, and State College senior Luke McGraw, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall, finished in a tie for fifth, each tallying a 2-over 72.
The Chester Valley layout seems to fit McGraw’s eye as he lost in a playoff for the overall title in the Junior Tour Championship a year ago.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring was the trio of Malvern Prep senior Colby Komancheck, who capped his junior season by claiming the individual title in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) Championship at Radley Run Country Club, Souderton senior Chase Andrews, a District One Class AAA qualifier a year ago, and Devon Prep sophomore Logan Turner, a District One Class AA qualifier as a freshman a year ago, as they finished in a tie for eighth place, each signing for a 3-over 73.
Turner was coming off a victory in one of the major championships on the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s junior schedule, the Jock MacKenzie Memorial at Sandy Run Country Club the previous week.
Brody Campbell, a Plymouth Meeting resident and a sophomore on the Malvern Prep golf team, made birdies at the third and 17th holes and had 10 pars on his scorecard as he finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with a 5-over 75.
The trio of Helmut Dang of Newtown Square, Liam Woznicki, a sophomore on the golf team at Hazleton High, and Jonathan Thomas of Landenberg finished in a tie for second place, each ending up two shots behind Campbell with a 7-over 77.
The 13-year-old Dang, who has been solid all summer, made a birdie at the 10th hole and had 10 pars on his card.
Woznicki made birdies at the fourth and 10th holes and had nine pars on his card, including a string of five straight pars from 13 to 17. Thomas, another talented 13-year-old, made a birdie at the 15th hole and had 11 pars on his card, finishing up his round with consecutive pars at 16, 17 and 18.
Aidan Maguire of Blue Bell was another shot behind Dang, Woznicki and Thomas in fifth place with a 78.
Another Souderton guy, Daniel Ross, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a freshman a year ago, headed a six-player logjam that rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division, as each recorded a solid 79.
Joining Ross in the group at 79 were Thomas Holt IV of Haddonfield, N.J., Dean Matta of West Grove, Preston Minio of Lansdale, Jack Lobley, a Gladwyne resident and a sophomore on the golf team at Shipley, and Owen Ciesielka, a West Chester resident and a sophomore on the golf team at Malvern Prep.
That’s only four shots separating the top 11 finishers in the 13-to-15 division with only seven shots separating the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division, a testament to the kind of competitiveness the guys brought to Chester Valley.
The 13-to-15 division made a little more noise on the girls side, led by Danby, whose 37 on the front nine at Chester Valley left her at the top of the leaderboard among the younger girls. She then defeated Harriton’s Megan Choi in a playoff to capture the overall title.
Danby, who finished in a tie for third place in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at DuPont Country Club last month, made a birdie at the sixth hole and had six pars on her scorecard, twice rattling off three straight pars at two, three and four again at seven, eight and nine.
Noor Mehta, a sophomore on the Council Rock North golf team, and Emilie Davoli, a talented 12-year-old from Ambler, finished in a tie for second place in the 13-to-15 division and in a tie for fifth in the overall scoring, each registering a 4-over 39.
Mehta made a birdie at the fourth hole and had four pars on her card. Davoli had six pars on her card, opening her round with four straight pars.
Raegan Young of Middletown finished in fourth place among the younger girls and seventh overall with a 40.
Molly Wagner, a Newark, Del. coming off her freshman season at St. Mark’s, took fifth place in the 13-to-15 division with a 43.
A couple of clubmates at Overbrook Golf Club, Katelyn Bodge, a freshman on the golf team at Notre Dame Academy, and Sara Fanelli, a junior on the Radnor golf team, were joined by Emma Cowan of Moorestown, N.J. in a three-way tie for sixth place, each posting a 44.
Katelyn Bodge finished in sixth place in the Inter-Ac League Championship at Sandy Run Country Club as an eighth-grader in May.
Allison Choi, another member of Penn Valley’s Team Choi, took ninth place with a 46 and Gabrielle Kim of Ambler rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as she finished 10th with a 47.
Megan Choi was solid with a birdie at the fifth hole and had five pars on her scorecard, three consecutive pars at two, three and four and back-to-back pars at eight and nine as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division with a 2-over 37.
Megan Choi settled for runnerup honors in the overall standings after falling in a playoff to Danby.
Conestoga senior Jill Burks, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier who led the Pioneers to the state Class AAA team crown last fall, and Ellie Walls, who capped her sophomore season at Indian River by finishing in third place among the girls in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at Baywood Greens in May, finished in a tie for second place among the older girls and in a tie for third in the overall scoring, each ending up a shot behind Danby and Megan Choi with a 3-over 38.
Jill Burks had seven pars on her card, including three straight pars at the third, fourth and fifth holes and three more in a row to conclude her round at seven, eight and nine.
Walls had six pars on her card, opening her round with three straight pars.
A talented trio of Cardinal O’Hara junior Alaina Carson, who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf, Conestoga senior Corinne McReynolds, Jill Burks’ teammate on the Pioneers’ state Class AAA championship team, and Notre Dame senior Kiersten Bodge, the Inter-Ac League and PAISAA individual champion in May, finished in a tie for fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring by sharing eighth as each signed for a 41.
Kiersten Bodge was the runnerup in the Philadelphia Girls Junior PGA Championship at DuPont Country Club and represented the Philadelphia Section PGA in last month’s Girls Junior PGA Championship in the Texas heat at PGA Frisco.
Kiera Post, a junior on the Avon Grove golf team, took seventh place in the 16-to-18 division with a 45, Morgan Tyhanic of Egg Harbor Township, N.J. was eighth with a 46 and Reagan Miller, a junior on the Lampeter-Strasburg golf team, finished ninth with a 48.
Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division was Nicole Tarquinio of Bridgeton, N.J. as she finished in 10th place with a 50.
Joey Charpentier of Schwenksville made a birdie on the fourth hole and made back-to-back pars at two and three and again at five and six as he bested the field of 12-and-under nine holers by matching par for six holes with a 24.
Grayson Wright of Philadelphia had pars on the first five holes on his scorecard as he earned runnerup honors, a shot behind Charpentier with a 1-over 25.
Jace Collins of Spring Brook Township and James Wilson of Wilmington, Del. were another two shots behind Wright in a tie for third place, each tallying a 3-over 27.
Collins made consecutive pars at the second, third and fourth holes. Wilson made a birdie at the fifth hole and added a par at the first.
Chase Venne of Moorestown, N.J. and Kash Gray of Eagleville shared fifth place, each recording a 28 and Michael Antolino of Richboro finished seventh with a 29.
Rounding out the top 10 in the boys 12-and-under division were Victor Wang of Hockessin, Del., Brody Rollins of Milton, Del. and Jack Kolmer of Wayne as they finished in a tie for eighth place, each registering a 30.
Katelyn Burks, another member of Paoli’s Team Burks, made a birdie at the fourth hole and had pars at one and six as she bested the field of girls 12-and-under nine-holers with a 3-over 27.
Lillian Fry of Pennsburg had three pars on her scorecard as she earned runnerup honors with a 4-over 28.
Trisha Lobo, the talented 11-year-old from Collegeville, made pars at the first and fifth holes as she finished in third place with a 31. Lobo was the Philly Junior Tour’s girls 12-and-under division Player of the Year in 2025.
Addison Sabatini of West Chester took fourth place with a 33 and Skylar Crutchfield of Elkins Park and Aashi Chakraborty of Kennett Square shared fifth, each posting a 34.
Arianna Testaiuti of Newtown Square rounded out the field in the girls 12-and-under division as she finished in seventh place with a 40.
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