Drew DiGeronimo ’15 left Newport Country Club having shot a team-low 79 to secure third place for Andover at its most important tournament of the year: The Andover Invitational. DiGeronimo once again finished strong to secure a critical score for Andover, earning five straight pars to close out his round. His 79 tied for fourth-best in the 40-player field.
At Newport, Andover fell to both Phillips Academy Exeter and Tabor by margins of 313-333-338, but secured third place in the field of eight teams, topping Taft, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Salisbury and Loomis.
“I played well at Newport, made some big putts when I had to but felt like I left a lot of shots out there. The key moment was a birdie I made on 12 which gave me some momentum down the stretch,” said DiGeronimo.
Head Coach Brian D. Faulk ’00 said, “As usual, the Post-Graduate [DiGeronimo] was our top performer at Newport,” said Faulk.
Last Saturday was Andover’s first chance to examine rivals Exeter and Governor’s, who they compete against for the Lovell and Witherspoon cups. Ellie Blum ’15 said, “Newport was a lot of fun. We’re so lucky to be able to compete at such a great facility. We got our first look at Exeter this season. They have some new players on their ladder and so we got to size them up a little bit before [our future matches],” said Blum.
The strong play of DiGeronimo continued at St. Mark’s Golf Course against BB&N and St. Mark’s. He contributed the sole victory against BB&N and dominated his match against St. Mark’s. Andover lost 5.5-1.5 despite defeating St. Mark’s 5.5-1.5 in the tri-match.
Andover was restricted in its match because it was forced to navigate the course without its rangefinders. Alexa Tsay ’17 said, “The course conditions were alright. [We] couldn’t use rangefinders which I typically rely heavily on, so I had to gauge distance on my own which was a challenge.”
The greens also presented a challenge. Andover’s approach shots rolled off upon landing. Ryan Simard ’16 played well, but luck never shifted his way. “My matches came right down to the wire, and I ended up losing both of my matches one-down. The greens played really fast and it was impossible to make the ball stick on them,” said Simard.
Blum excelled on the course this Wednesday, winning the St. Mark’s portion of the match 5&3.
“Today my match against St. Marks went pretty quickly, and I won 5&3. I lost my match against BB&N after 8 holes. It was definitely tricky having to play without our rangefinders. Once I adjusted though it was somewhat of a fun trip down memory lane, because that’s how I grew up playing in junior tournaments,” said Blum.
Andover looks to get back on track against Dexter and its longtime rival Deerfield, whom it has not beaten in over a decade. Both matches will be at the Indian Ridge Country Club, Andover’s home course, on Friday and Saturday.
