Chalk one up for experience and wait till next year.
The Gray-New Gloucester golf team qualified for last week’s Class A state championship tournament and they used that opportunity to gain some valuable experience for the 2008 campaign when all of the Patriots golfers return to the links. They finished ninth, with a disappointing team total of 342 and although they knew they were unlikely to win the state crown, they did want to perform better than they did.
“We didn’t have a good day,” said Gray-New Gloucester golf coach Aaron Talon. “We thought we were capable of being in the 317-325 range. We shot very well on the front side, but not very well in the back.”
And those struggles on the back nine ballooned scores that normally are much lower than those turned in last Saturday. The Patriots top four scores were turned in by Ben Farynaz (81), Orrin Googins (85), Cody Edmiston (88), and Tyler Rollins (88).
Gray’s best golfers this season have been Rollins and Googins and their play on the back side of the Tomahawk Course at the Natanis Golf Club in Vassalboro prevented them from scoring well. Rollins carded a 51 on the back nine and a 37 on the front side with Googins playing the course in nearly the exact same number of strokes – 48 in back and 37 on the front.
Coach Talon knows his squad can play better than it did, but he also knows this was a first for most of these players and – without a senior on the team – they’ll all be back next year.
“We didn’t go in expecting to win, but we expected to be more competitive,” said Talon. “If anything they were angry at themselves for their play (on the back nine).”
The Patriots qualified for the state championship event by scoring 317 at the Willowdale Golf Course in Scarborough back on Wednesday, Oct. 3, in the Western Maine Conference competition.
That event in Scarborough also helped decide who would be playing for the schoolboy and schoolgirls state championship that will take place on Saturday. The Gray-New Gloucester team will have three players seeking an individual title (again at Natanis) – Ben Farynaz, Orrin Googins and Tyler Rollins.
Thornton Academy won the Class A state championship with a 299 total.
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