As the summer began, many Atherton students were looking forward to hanging out with their friends, going on vacation, and not going to school. Members of the golf team were looking forward to doing all of those things, but had one other important priority: playing golf. Summer is the perfect time to get out onto the course and enjoy the nice weather, and is usually when golf courses are in the best condition.
At the end of the summer, the team began prepping for the golf season. The first tournament was in late July, but practices started in the earlier parts of the summer.
The team had 3 seniors who had played at Atherton for all four years of high school: Jonathan Bornstein, Cyrus Williams and JC Waters. Plus the addition of a new senior, Nate Celello. These three have all greatly improved over the past few years, and they hoped that they would be able to challenge for a state qualification bid. In golf tournaments, the top 5 players for each gender make up the varsity team, and scores are used for the top 4. In order to be competitive, teams need at least four good players so that they have a generally good average in tournaments.
The season was kicked off at the German American Bank Classic in Warsaw, Kentucky on Wednesday, July 31st at Sugar Bay Golf Course. This course isn’t rated very difficult, and is rated 67.0, but the combination of a lack of rain and high winds made the course somewhat challenging. Despite this, Bornstein shot 71, on the par 71, tying for first place. The course measured 6103 yards, but the greens were incredibly firm and many shots went long because of this.
“It was like playing on cement,” Williams said. Many players did not enjoy the course due to the inconsistent greens. It hadn’t rained in 43 days, leading to extremely dry conditions. “Some of the greens were rock solid and some were so soft that your ball would plug. They were also slanted, I would say a 20 degree slope. It was ridiculous,” Waters said, and these two continually bemoaned the issues they encountered.
The next tournament was at Juniper Hill Golf Course in Frankfort, a par 70 course on the shorter side. There were better results overall, and that was partially because the course was much more fun to play on.
“In terms of playability, it was much better,” Williams said. He didn’t shoot as well as he did at Sugar Bay, but it was a much better experience in the state’s capital. Bornstein again played very well, earning a top 4 spot in the tournament. The ravens got fifth as a team.
It was a very hopeful start to the season, and was looking like it could be one of the best Atherton teams ever. Despite this, many players weren’t having a great time and just wanted to get to regionals and the postseason.
“I wanted the season to be over as quickly as possible because I actually wanted to compete in tournaments, not matches,” Williams said.
Finally, in late September, after all of the matches, the team headed to the Seneca Park golf course to compete in the regional tournament. On Monday, September 23rd, Carter Moore, Nate Celello, JC Waters, Cyrus Williams and Jonathan Bornstein all teed off with semi-state aspirations.
Williams was on an incredible hot streak, performing incredibly well at the Cherokee Cup two days earlier and shooting a 65, which won him the whole tournament. He had also placed very well at a previous tournament at Quail Chase.
“I was looking forward to regionals all year, and I was hoping that this would finally be the year where I would qualify for state,” Williams said.
Moore was the first to tee off, and Celello followed shortly after. Waters was third, then Bornstein and Williams finished out the Atherton team. Moore, Celello and Waters all had very poor front nines, while Bornstein and Williams played solidly, both barely over par. On the back nine, Williams and Bornstein both needed to make something happen. Williams made a birdie on the par 5 15th hole, but unfortunately a costly quadruple bogey put him out of contention. Bornstein was right at the cutline of +1, but back to back bogeys on 17 and 18 put him out of contention as well.
It was an unfortunate way to end the season, but there was a lot of good that came from it. It was the lowest scoring Atherton team in history, despite relatively poor performances from several different team members.
“I was super proud of the team, and even though it didn’t end the way I wanted it to, I’m still happy with the season and how the team has developed,” says Williams.
The Atherton golf team found a similar fate as many other Atherton teams, and that was an unfortunate season end at the regional level. The level of competition proved to be too strong and the team missed out on qualifying as a team as well.
There is still plenty to look forward to in the future, and despite graduating each of the top 4 players there are plenty of freshmen, sophomores and juniors ready to take their place. Carter Moore (10), Sawyer Driscoll (9), Luca Da Silva (10), Sean Baron (11), Oliver Parks (10) and Alexander Dietz (9) each had remarkable seasons, and many were new to the game so they will only continue to improve. It was an incredible season for a team that is excited to improve, and the future looks bright.
