After going 8-2 last season, Andover Golf will try to best its record from last season. Led by Captain Kavan Canekeratne ’14, the team will look to rebound from losing three Seniors. “We lost some great varsity players in Evan Kudlinski ’13 and former Co-Captains John Perkins ’13 and Shin-Jae Lee ’13,” wrote Luke Stidham ’14 in an email to The Phillipian. “But while we have big shoes to fill, I’m confident this year’s team, led by Tyler Tsay ’15 and Captain Kavan Canekeratne ’14, is up to the challenge.” Canekeratne said, “One of the things you need is consistency, and we were really consistent last year because we had five players that could all compete at the same level. This year, that might be a weakness since we don’t really know where everybody is at and we have a whole bunch of new pieces and lack a lot of returners. I definitely think that Ellie Blum ’15 could step up. I know that she can play really well.” The team will look to defend its Lovell and Witherspoon Cup titles, which it earned last season with wins over Governor’s and Exeter by a combined 34 strokes. “The team this year has lost a majority of our more senior players, three of which were on the Varsity squad,” Canekeratne added. “However, I do not think that this has weakened our playing ability in a significant way, as the underclassmen and newer players have begun to show much promise in these first few days of tryouts and practice.” Tsay won two awards last season, winning the Mangan Award and the Mooves Award. After the competitions against Governor’s and Exeter, Tsay was awarded these trophies for excellent play throughout the tournament. Andover lost to rival Deerfield last season by a score of 9-3. “Personally, I think that I’d like to give Deerfield a bit of a run for their money this year,” says Tsay. “It was an extremely close match last year, and we’re not letting it slip away this year.” Another highlight for the team is the tournament at Newport Country Club. “The most challenging course that we play is Newport. It is our biggest tournament. There is us and seven other schools that get together at Newport Country Club in Rhode Island,” said Canekeratne. “The golf course is the same that Tiger Woods won the U.S. Amateur at, so it’s a really nice golf course. It is right on the water, so it’s really windy, which adds to the difficulty.” Andover starts its season on April 5 when it travels to Tabor.
