The opening day of the state golf tournament is all about positioning and for two of Howard County’s best — Howard’s Jacqueline Cherry and River Hill’s Derek Gold — that mission was accomplished on Monday at the University of Maryland Golf Course.
On a day where fast greens and windy conditions elevated scores, Cherry fired a round of 75 (4-over par) to put herself in a tie for first in the girls individual competition with Churchill’s Lena Capoccia, while Gold posted a 74 (2-over par) to currently sit two shots behind Nick Roberson of B-CC.
In all, 10 Howard County golfers between the 3A/4A classifications competed on Monday. Cherry’s strong round did not end up being enough to help lead Howard to making the cut as a team, as the Lions (342 combined strokes) finished 10 short of the number needed to make the final round on Wednesday.
Churchill (318) is the current team leader and Northern (323), Sherwood (330) and Walt Whitman (332) all made the cut as well.
The 1A/2A schools and individuals are scheduled to compete on Tuesday, with no individual cuts being made until after that round is completed.
For Cherry, her round was a rollercoaster ride. Back-to-back bogeys early in her round, combined with a string of birdies from Capoccia, put the Lions’ junior in an early four-shot hole.
But as the round went on, Cherry settled in and methodically pulled herself back into it. A birdie on her 12th hole highlighted her back nine, as did a pair of closing pars with the wind picking up.
“I’ve put myself in a good position to score better and I don’t have to make up strokes on Wednesday,” Cherry said. “I can just focus now on trying to play well.”
After cruising to comfortable victories at the county and district championship tournaments, Cherry said playing with a talented player like Capoccia was a good challenge.
“Having someone who is playing the same number as you or a little bit better makes you try that much harder and play better,” Cherry said. “She obviously hits it a lot further than me, but I was trying to not focus on that and just play my own game.”
Capoccia ended up finishing with back-to-back bogies to slip into the tie for first.
Only three other girls — Richard Montgomery’s Alyssa Cong (77), Northern’s Elizabeth Coffren (78) and Churchill’s Aine Kenwood (79) — ended up breaking 80 on the day.
Other Howard County notables for the girls were Centennial’s Isabel Trojillo (86), along with Howard’s Harper Lurie (92) and Alex Abrams (95).
The boys side saw similar premiums on low rounds, with only three players shooting rounds of 74 or better. To put it in perspective, last year there were eight boys players between the 3A/4A classifications to shoot 74 or better on the opening day and four of them shot under par.
This year, Roberson’s even-par score of 71 was the best of the bunch. His round featured four bogies and four birdies and was a drastic improvement over his qualifying score of 81 at Districts.
In fact, each of the three guys currently atop the leaderboard shot 79 or worse at their respective district events.
Gold figured out pretty early that he was in for a good day. Starting on hole 15, he played his first four holes in one-under par. The start was highlighted by a birdie on the par 5 16th hole.
“I was trying to get off to a quick start and I knew that was important, get some pars and maybe a few birdies as I was starting on 15. I knew there were a couple of chances early on,” Gold said. “Other than that, it was really hit the fairways and give yourself a chance at birdie and I was able to do that a lot today.”
Gold had his hiccups, including three-putt bogeys on his fifth and 12th holes, but overall he scrambled incredibly well around the greens. He nearly holed several chips and left himself mostly manageable par putts throughout the day.
He closed his round with six straight pars.
“Obviously I did leave a few (shots) out there, as you are always going to, and I missed a few birdies. But, you know, I played pretty well and I can’t complain,” he said. “A 73 is very solid, so I’m in a good spot going into Wednesday.”
Of the 17 total players that broke 80, the only other boys player from Howard County in that group was Centennial’s Kenneth Chaplain. He bounced back from a rough start that saw him sitting at 6-over through his first eight holes to play his final 10 holes in just 3-over.
Atholton’s Branden Nguyen and Howard’s Shashank Gupta each fired rounds of 83 and figure to be right around the cut line. Glenelg’s Hayden Mikk (86) and Howard’s Brett Pool (89) will likely find themselves on the outside looking in for the final round.
The qualifying players will return for a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Wednesday morning to determine this year’s champions.
Top boys individuals: 1. Nick Roberson, BCC, 71; 2. Ayden Whitehead, JM Bennett, 72; 3. Derek Gold, River Hill, 73; T4. Oliver Whatley, Churchill, 75; T4. William Garrett, Huntingtown, 75; T4. Dugan McCabe, Walt Whitman, 75; 7. Brett Babb, Northwest, 76; T8. Matt Holman, Oakdale, 77; T8. Matthew Kinsey, Stephen Decatur, 77; T8. Noah Siman, Wootton, 77.
T11. Brad Riley, Sherwood, 78; T11. John Ervin, Sherwood, 78; T11. Joseph Gaulin, South River, 78; T14. Ryan McFadden, Linganore, 79; T14. Dylan Rotter, Churchill, 79; T14. Tyler Potts, Northern, 79; T14. Kenneth Chaplain, Centennial, 79; T18. Elliott Haas, Urbana, 80; T18. Mitchell Hardin, Aberdeen, 80; T18. Chandler Kuhn, Walt Whitman, 80; T18. Ryan Balow, Quince Orchard, 80; T18. Chan Park, Dulaney, 80.
Top girls individuals: T1. Lena Capoccia, Churchill, 75; T1. Jacqueline Cherry, Howard, 75; 3. Alyssa Cong, Richard Montgomery, 77; 4. Elizabeth Coffren, Northern, 78; 5. Aine Kenwood, Churchill, 79; 6. Jenny Hua, Northwest, 81; T7. Amanda Levy, Walt Whitman, 82; T7. Sumayah Arcusa, Bowie, 82. 9. Eowyn Pak, Churchill, 83; 10. Johnna Parlett, Northern, 84.