Kevin Zheng ’26 just misses his putts for birdie on the 18th hole.
Five of Andover Golf’s best players were selected to compete at the historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island to play in the annual Andover Invitational, the highlight of the spring season. Despite the competitive field and tough conditions, Andover managed to snag a strong 4th-place finish in the tournament. Andover Golf hopes to continue their undefeated excellence on the course, particularly with their toughest challenge yet in the Andover Invitational winners, Deerfield, fast approaching.
Sean Niu ’25 noted the challenging windy conditions on the course, which made play more difficult. While the team wasn’t entirely satisfied with their performance, they were pleased with how they managed to compete under such tough conditions.
Niu said, “The Andover Invitational went well. Lucas Lee [’25] and I shot 78; Abby [Zhu ’26] and Kevin [Zheng ’26] shot 77, and those were the four scores that we took. The conditions were a little windy. We could have done better, but the coach said we played fine.”
Zheng mentioned that although he did not see most of his teammates’ shots, he did see an impressive putt on the 17th hole by Niu and an impressive 35-foot slider of his own on the 15th hole.
“At the Andover Invitational, ten schools from all around the New England area came to play at Newport Country Club. I wasn’t able to see the shots of my Andover teammates. However, Sean played behind me, so I saw some of his plays. Going into the last three holes, he was -1, so he secured our 4th-place finish. He made a really great putt at 17 to secure our place. I also think that my 35-foot slider for par on hole 15 was really important and definitely contributed a lot to my score of 77,” said Zheng.
The team excelled in numerous areas at the Andover Invitational. Nevertheless, Sebastian Montemayor ’27 highlighted mental toughness as the key to success in the tournament, emphasizing that without it, winning matches is impossible.
Montemayor said, “I think that we are mentally tough. I think it is really important in matches. If you aren’t mentally tough, you are losing. You might have great talent, but you need to have great mental strength. We are undefeated so far, so we have done well, but there is still more to come.”
During the Andover Invitational, the team displayed strong consistency with all players shooting solid scores. Niu noted this uniformity as a positive sign but emphasized the need for at least one player to deliver an exceptionally strong round, which their performance ultimately lacked.
“I mean, we all basically shot the same score. You can take that how you want. It’s a pretty good thing, given the team is really consistent and we are all on the same skill level. That is definitely a strength. A weakness was that none of us showed out a lot. By no means did anyone play badly, but we sometimes need a really good round in order to win,” said Niu.
Despite their impressive performance, Andover Golf is looking to enhance several aspects of its game before the next match. Montemayor mentioned that the team’s primary focus will be on refining its strategy and course management ahead of its away match against Deerfield.
Montemayor said, “So we have a match on Thursday. We want to improve on strategy. We want to make sure we have a good strategy going into the match. We are looking ahead to our Deerfield game, and we want to feel prepared to go into that match because it is away. To answer the question again, I think that we need to work on our course management.”
Andover Golf still has many goals moving into the second half of the season. However, there is only one team on Andover’s mind: Deerfield. Montemayor stated that his goal is captured with just two words.
“Beat Deerfield,” said Montemayor.
Andover will play Brooks on Thursday, Dexter Southfield on Friday, and Deerfield on Saturday.
