As October ends, the Concord-Carlisle golf team is doing what it often does: playing for a state title.
The Patriots advanced to the MIAA Division 2 state tournament after placing first in the Division 2 Central sectional tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Maplegate Country Club in Bellingham. This is the second straight time C-C has won a sectional title.
C-C returned to Maplegate on Tuesday, Oct. 25 for the state tournament.
“We came in on Tuesday expecting to play as well as we could,” said C-C coach Andrew Wester. “We knew we could do well and thought we’d have a chance.”
In the MIAA’s tournament format, teams play 18 holes and have six golfers each. The four best scores count. If there’s a tie, the fifth golfer’s score is counted.
That’s exactly what happened in the Central tournament. The Patriots finished with 310, tied with Billerica. C-C;s fifth golfer, sophomore Erika Redmond, shot an 80 to Billerica’s fifth golfer’s 84, giving C-C the first- place trophy.
The low scorer for C-C was Tommy Murdough, a junior who shot 75 (par 72). Will Spring finished at 77. Seniors Jack Miller and Jack Gorewitz each shot 79. Sophomore Michael Small finished at 90.
During the season, C-C finished with a 10-3 overall record and was 9-1 in the Dual County League.
The MIAA allows each league to determine its own scoring system for its league competitions. This year, the DCL switched to a match play format, where each player competed directly against another from the opposing team and whichever golfer won the most holes out of nine won and the team that won the most matches won the team competition.
In previous years, the DCL used a modified Stableford system, where each golfer gets points on each hole for an eagle, birdie, par, bogey or double bogey and their points went toward the team score.
The MIAA tournaments are 18-hole stroke play contests.
“In stroke play, if you have one bad hole it can really set you and the team back,” Wester said. “If you hit a shot in the woods, you don’t want to hit that big hero shot that if you miss could blow up a hole.”
C-C has won state tournaments in past
years. Its best recent performance was in 2019 when it finished second behind Winchester. This year. Winchester is playing in Division 1.
Wester, a 2012 graduate of Concord- Carlisle, played golf at C-C for former coach Phil Gibson. Wester went on to play Division I college golf at Monmouth University and the University of Rhode Island. This is his fifth year as head coach at his alma mater.
While he has arrived at his own way of doing things, he did retain one lesson from Gibson more than anything.
“Golf is such an individual sport,” he said. “We try to develop a team concept where everyone is playing for each other. Even if you’re not doing well in a particular day, you still try to do the best you can to help the team.”
The Concord-Carlisle golf team placed fourth in the MIAA Division 2 state championships on Tuesday at Maplegate Country Club in Bellingham on Tuesday, Oct. 25
C-C’s four best golfers totaled 307. Old Rochester was first at 302. Bishop Stang and Duxbury tied for second with 303.
Tom Murdough led. C-C with a one-over- par 71, which put him in a three-way tie for third in the individual standings.
Will Spring shot 74, which tied him for ninth.
Jack Gorewitz shot 79. Jack Miller finished with 83. Michael Small and Erika Redmond shot 84 and 86.
