2026 Junior Championships Preview

Title defenses headline state junior championships

The defending state champions in both the Boys’ and Girls’ divisions will return in quest for another title when the Pennsylvania Golf Association hosts its junior championships, June 29-30, 2026. The 54-hole events are presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. 

On the boys’ side for the 19th consecutive season, the Hershey Country Club’s East course will be the venue for the 83rd playing of the Junior Boys’ state championship. The winner earns an exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship set for Bethlehem, PA’s Saucon Valley Country Club, July 20-25. In addition, he qualifies for the prestigious 2027 Sunnehanna Amateur, one of the events in the country’s Elite Amateur Golf Series. The 63rd Junior Girls’ event will be played at Lebanon Country Club for the seventh time, with an automatic exemption for the winner into the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship July 13-18 at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, NC.

Rivercrest Golf Club and Preserve’s Chase Yenser led after the first day last year, shooting the tourney’s low round, a six-under par 65 on the way to the crown. He, along with runner-up Freddy Hartman (Overbrook Golf Club), were the only players to be in red numbers both days. Yenser’s day-two 70 was good enough for the two-stroke victory as Hartman shot 68-69.

As expected, the quality of competition Yenser, who this week moved on to the next round of U.S. Amateur qualifying, faces in the 131-player field is deep and strong. The recent winner of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association’s (WPGA) junior championship, Camden Reyes (Chartiers Country Club), along with one of the finalists in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s junior championship, Luca Kleinschmidt (The Springhaven Club), possess some of the latest successes in state-wide junior events. While Michael Qualich (South Hills Country Club) and Nicky Nemo (Merion Golf Club), who finished third and fourth, respectively, in 2025 are the only other players in this year’s tournament who finished under par last year.

Throw in Carson Kittsley (Oakmont Country Club), who surprised the field in the weather-abbreviated WPGA Amateur Championship earlier this season at The Kahkwa Club. It made him the youngest known player to capture that title, finishing ahead of several of Pennsylvania’s best amateur players. Kittsley’s credentials also include this year’s PIAA AAA high school champion and an eighth-place finish at Hershey last year. The runner-up to Kittsley in the PIAA event, Jack Sacriponte (Hannastown Golf Club), Nemo’s clubmate at Merion, Sean Curran, who reached the semi-final match of the GAP event, and Cole Powell (Elkview Country Club), the current PIAA AA champion, are also in the field. Sacriponte recently qualified for this year’s PA Amateur.

Emphasizing the strength of the field is the entire roster of Team Pennsylvania in the U.S. National Development Program (USNDP). Along with Yenser, Qualich, Nemo, Kittsley, Sacriponte, and Curran, Charlie Barrickman (Radley Run Country Club), the reigning Golf Association of Philadelphia Player of the Year, Nico Ward (Montour Heights Country Club), a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier already, Luke McGraw (Toftrees Golf Resort), Bailey Donahue (Oakmont Country Club), Ian Larsen (Honeybrook Golf Club) and Colby Komancheck (Rivercrest Golf Club & Reserve) are participating. Barrickman also earned a spot in the next level to compete for a spot in the U.S. Amateur with success in local qualifying this week.

Dane Mohap (Lehigh Country Club), another qualifier for the PA Amateur, further deepens the cavernous field along with an intriguing participant,13-year-old Logan McGinn (Williamsport Country Club), who also qualified for the Amateur and earned a USNDP training spot earlier this season.

The full field will be cut to the low 60 scores and ties after the 18 holes on the first day. The remaining players left after the cut will play 36 holes on the second day to decide a winner.

Just up the road in Lebanon, a smaller field of 57 girls will not be lacking for the number of players who could lift the trophy after 54 holes. Defending champion Alaina Carson (GAP Youth on Course) will be the one all others will chase for the title. Last year, she was one of only two players under par, shooting an even par 72 on day one and following up with the event’s lowest score at 69 for her three-under winning score. This year’s PIAA AA champion, Madison Koshko (Centre Hills Country Club) finished second a year ago, matching Carson’s 72 on the first day before posting a one-under 71 in the final round.

Cora Hirz (Lake Shore Country Club) was third in last year’s championship, posting a pair of 72s to finish at even par. Hirz also finished in fourth place at the Fall’s PIAA AA competition.

Four other players who finished in the top 10 last year, 2024 champion Kate Sowers (Tam O’Shanter Golf Course), Kiersten Bodge (Overbrook Golf Club), Piper Smith (Conestoga Country Club), and Bryn Krosse (Regents Glen Country Club), all will be back title hunting.

Ellie Benson (Valley Brook Country Club), who won a recent qualifier and has already earned a spot in the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship, Mya Morgan (Nemacolin Country Club), who won the PIAA AAA title, Alyssa Zhang (Wildwood Golf Club), the third-place finisher in PIAA AA, Kayley Roberts (PAGA individual member), the PIAA AAA runner-up, have all had past successful appearances in the state championship event.

Similar to the boys’ tournament at Hershey, this strong field also includes the entire girls’ roster for Team Pennsylvania. Joining Carson, Koshko, Hirz, Sowers, Bodge, Smith, Benson, Morgan, Zhang and Roberts are teammates Jillian Burks (White Manor Country Club) and Myra Tomer (GAP Youth on Course).

The field will play 18 holes on day one and 36 holes on day two.