Holderness really just did not have a chance as PA’s undefeated varsity golf stomped over their competition en route to earning their first win of the season. The team played a combination of individual match play and partnered best ball. Coach Nat Smith decided on a starting team the night before, which turned out to be a wise choice. The top five remained the same with Greg Feldmann ’05 and Anthony Pucillo ’03 playing the one and two spots, James Ford ’03 and Kirk Lepke ’04 in the third and fourth seeds, and James Watson’06 rounding out the top five. In a battle for the three remaining spots, Paul Tassinari ’04, Meade Curtis ’04, and Jayme Mendal ’03 prevailed, positioned in the six through eight slots respectively. Coach Smith brought Matt Brennan ’05 when Holderness’ coach called for a last minute ninth player. Eager to finally play their first match, the team was both anxious and confident. Everyone knew that Pooch and Feldmann would play well, who both shot rounds of two-over-par 38’s, but not everyone was sure about the potential of the team’s four rookies. Wednesday marked the first matches for Watson, Tassinari, Curtis and Brennan. Pucillo, the team’s captain, commented on the performance of the ‘rookies,’ “Well, I guess you could say that the new guys went three for four. Watson and Tassinari took all three points in their match, Brennan won his, but Meado, apparently he had some problems.” By earning one point for every individual who beat their head-to-head opponent and one point for each pair who combined to outshoot their rival twosome, the team won by a margin of 10.5 to 2.5, earning half-points for any ties. Pucillo and Feldmann at one and two, as well as Watson and Tassinari at five and six, swept all three points in their partnerships. Lepke also won his match and his pair won the team point despite Ford falling in the number three spot. Mendal tied his match, and partnered with Meade, won the team point. Brennan also won a point in a single match up. Lepke claims, “Our team is like the Pats; no one thinks we’re any good, but we find a way to win.” After determining PA’s clear victory, Mr. Smith began to supply the typical comedy with a little help from Curtis. Before even finishing his round, Meade came over to explain his situation, “I shot par on the last five holes and still lost.” After a little thought, Mr. Smith refused to believe Meade and upon telling the coach of Holderness, the coach joked, “Maybe he shoots bogie golf and thinks a bogie is par.” On the ride back from the match Mr. Smith continued the jesting, “Meado had a big day today. It was his first loss. And his last match.” After the dominating victory, everyone made their predictions for the rest of the season. Mr. Smith declared optimistically, “You guys better tell everyone you’re undefeated because by our next match, we won’t be.” Mr. Smith continued to raise the team’s hopes by informing them, “Belmont Hill will crush us. So will GDA, and probably New Hampton and definitely Tabor. You know, it’s too bad that our match against Tilton wasn’t rescheduled because then we might have ended up with two wins. Boy, do those guys s***.” Feldmann was one of the few with a positive attitude, “We can be really good if everyone plays the best golf of their lives next week against New Hampton and then plays a little better every match. Even if we lose, everyone wants to be on the golf team. We get shirts and jackets and the chance to play golf everyday.” The team hopes to act upon Feldmann’s words of encouragement and play well next Friday and Saturday in their matches against New Hampton and Belmont Hill.
