Spearheaded by adept play from Evan Kudlinski ’13, Andover Golf excelled in its final tournament of the season, pulverizing Exeter and Governor’s by 16 and 19 strokes, respectively.
With its wins on Saturday, Golf secured the annually awarded Lovell and Witherspoon Cups. The Lovell Cup goes to the winner of match play between Andover and Exeter, while the Witherspoon cup goes to the winner of a season long stroke play competition between Exeter, Governor’s and Andover.
“Kudlinski and John Perkins ‘13 played phenomenally and really carried the team on Saturday. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to secure the cups, and I am very proud for both of them,” said Kavan Canekeratne ’14.
The tournament was played for two days on Wednesday and Saturday. On the first day of competition, golfers were only allowed to play 15 of 18 holes due to darkness, thereby forcing par to be lowered from 71 to 61.
On Wednesday, Canekeratne led the team in scoring, posting a 4 over par, while Perkins and Kudlinski were 5 and 7 over par, respectively. Captain Charlie Pecora ’12 and Shin-Jae Lee ’13 each posted a 10 over par.
Andover finished the day one stroke behind Governor’s and well ahead of Exeter.
On Saturday, Melissa Wattana ’12 and Lee each posted an 86, while Canekeratne posted an 83. These scores were uncharacteristically high for Andover, but luckily, Kudlinski and Perkins posted a 74 and 79, respectively.
Through 10 holes, Kudlinski and Perkins were at even par. Kudlinski explained, “On the 14th hole, I had made three bogeys in my three previous holes and was on a downhill slide. The 14th was a very tough par three, playing 155 yards into the wind. The flag was placed only 4 or 5 yards on the green, and there was a sharp drop-off into a water hazard immediately in front of the green.”
