Golf Places Seventh at Andover Invitational

Boys’ golf finished seventh in the Andover Invitational meet last Saturday at Newport, Rhode Island, the birthplace of American golf. Big Red sent senior co-captains Nissim Ray and Rudy Oku, upper Kyle Alexander, lower Cole Gendron and prep Michael Kim to compete in the event.Deerfield finished first with a score of 299, followed by Andover (309), Taft (316), Hotchkiss (322), Salisbury (322), Tabor (326), Loomis Chaffee (342) and Exeter (351). The team currently has a season record of 2-3-1.Despite the poor performance, Gendron, who shot a 90, was optimistic about the match. "It was an extremely nice golf course and it was beautiful," he said. "We were right next to the Atlantic Ocean. Unfortunately, our team came in last place. We lost by 9 strokes to the second to last team and Deerfield came out on top and beat us by like 60 strokes, but other than that it was fun."Prep Matt Kim agreed. "I don’t really think that there was anything in particular that we could have improved in. We’re playing well so far."Alexander had an especially strong performance, with other top scorers including Oku and Michael Kim. The team didn’t perform as well as they should have given the strong sea breeze and fast greens.Last year, the team shot a higher score (356), but placed 5th overall. Upper Jack Bright said, "I mean, we’ve been playing better, but most of the other teams are playing well, too. I think that one thing that the team could improve in is putting and the short game in general."The coaches have been strong this year, with many of the new players performing to their standards. The team will also have several new recruits for next season, which would make the team one of the best teams in the area."I think that our coaches are always really good and they have helped make me a much better player overall," Bright said. "I know that we will have several great recruits next year and so we will probably be one of the better teams around here."The team hopes to perform well in their away game against Proctor Academy this Saturday at Lake Sunapee Country Club, where they tied last year.