The Hopkinton Varsity Golf Team is wrapping up their season and is beginning to prepare for the state tournament scheduled for Thursday, October 6 at White Mountain Country Club in Ashland.
All four classes are represented in the team’s starting six golfers, a starting six that is the deepest that coach Jeff Cahill has had to work with in his four years at Hopkinton. “Any golfer [on the team] could shoot the lowest round on any given day,” says Cahill. “Before, it was always one guy, maybe two, that would come in with the low round.”
The team has been plagued by a difficult schedule for the second season in a row, and is 8-9 through its first six matches. Each loss has been to either Moultonborough, Newport, Derryfield, or Profile, the top four teams in Division IV, respectively. The team lost to Newport (15-2) by a stroke on back-to-back days last week. “Every stroke is huge,” Cahill says. “At least three matches have come down to the last few strokes.”
Hopkinton’s number one golfer, co-captain Ben Olimpio agreed with Cahill’s opinion. “It’s really anyone’s division to win.”
Having by far the shortest season of any varsity sport, the golf team has only three matches remaining before the state tournament. The compact schedule, where every team plays all of its matches over the course of just four weeks is a real test of the athletes’ mental strength. “Kids can get burned out,” says Cahill. “It’s hard to take a day off.”
Hopkinton has gotten strong contributions from three different freshmen over the first six matches. Peter Benson, Evan O’Keeffe, and Jamison Crouch have put up consistent numbers and have seemingly assured the team to be in good shape in years to come. “The freshmen have impressed with their positive attitudes and their motivation to improve,” said Cahill. “They will be around [for the next four years].”
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