Golf: Silberberg, Flach lurking after first day at states

You can't win a title on the first day of the state championship golf tournament, but you can lose one.

Wilde Lake's Tyler Silberberg and Centennial's Connor Flach learned that the hard way last fall as sophomores. Silberberg shot a 76, while Flach shot an 81 to open up last year's state tournament and neither found themselves in the hunt on the second day.

So as the duo embarked on the University of Maryland golf course Monday, positioning was priority No. 1.

"The goal coming into today was to shoot myself into position where I could make a run on Wednesday … if you're within a few shots of the leader, anything can happen," Flach said.

Both Silberberg, who shot an even-par round of 71, and Flach, who fired a two-over 73, indeed put themselves within shouting distance of the leader heading into the final 18 holes of this year's event. Linganore's Ryan Cole and North Point's Marcus Byrd, with their two-under-par 69s, are two ahead of the field and the only boys under par through the first day of 3A/4A play.

Silberberg is alone in third two shots back, while Flach is part of a group of three guys four back and tied for seventh.

"With how well I hit it today, it should have been better. But I'm happy," Silberberg said. "I didn't give anything away."

Silberberg, who began on hole No. 2, opened with a bogey before immediately bouncing back with a birdie on No. 3. He stayed steady after that until a three-putt bogey on the ninth dropped him back to one-over.

Over the final 10 holes, though, he was in complete control. He sandwiched nine pars around a birdie on No. 13 to give himself a shot at playing in the top group on Wednesday.

"I think I only missed two greens today, so that certainly helped," Silberberg said. "If I could have just sunk a couple of those birdie putts, it could have been a really good day instead of just a pretty good one."

Flach found himself on the opposite end of the spectrum. He started his day with 12 pars and one birdie, not making his first bogey until the uphill par 3 14th hole.

That, however, was when things started to unravel.

Finishing with four bogeys over his final five holes, Flach quickly went from being tied for the lead to a handful of shots behind.

"I missed a couple greens early, but it didn't hurt me because I was able to get up and down," Flach said. "On the back nine, though, it caught up to me. I missed a string of greens in a row and didn't make pars on any of them. (It was) a tough way to finish."

Still, the round of 73 keeps him in contention to make history.

Should Flach or Silberberg come from behind and capture the state crown, they would be the first golfer from the county to do so.

They won't be the only ones, though, looking to stage a championship comeback.

On the girls side, Atholton's Bryana Nguyen shot a 76 and trails defending state-champion Elyse Smidinger, of Arundel, by six.

Smidinger, who finished with a two-day total of 143 last fall to win by six over Nguyen, was aided by an eagle and four birdies on her way to this year's early cushion.

Behind Nguyen, Westminster's Jordan McKelvin (78) was the only other girl to break 80 on the opening day.

While most might be satisfied with a second-place position after day one, such wasn't the case for Nguyen. After defeating Smidinger at this year's District championships, the Atholton sophomore had her eyes set on this year's title.

Now, after a round that included five bogeys and one double bogey, she'll need something special Wednesday to make that happen.

Other county golfers to make the cut were River Hill's Henry Ko (78), Wilde Lake's Rafey Iqbal (80) and Centennial's Alex McShane (88). The cut line was 82 for the boys and 88 for the girls.

The first round for the 1A/2A boys is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. Among the competitors will be county teams Glenelg and Marriotts Ridge.